Rumor has it that UConn is going to give up the football dream when the Big 12 expands (or not) without them and join the Big East.
At that point (and they'll probably add a Temple-type to balance it out) I think we can all just come to terms with the Power Five including the Big East for basketball purposes.
The AAC will die and there will be a very clear delineation between the Top 6 and everyone else.
Without football, it is impossible for a school to co-exist in the same conference with football schools, given current sports dynamics. For the simple reason that revenue sharing becomes impossible, and the conference breaks up. So what happened in the Big East (the old big east) was inevitable.
Now, the terms "high major," mid-major," "low-major," were mostly what I call "created" terms to signify strength, that eventually took a life of their own in publications and media with people making association with conferences etc. That is fine, and as I said in my statement, it really often depends on "definition" that people associate. IMO it is less important but others feel more strongly.
For example, I do not consider UConn a mid-major in basketball, independent of conference, for the same reason that I never considered Louisville a mid-major, even when they were in C-USA, etc. Similarly, just because Butler or Creighton joined the water-down new Big East, I still do not all of a sudden personally consider them "high-majors." But as I said, others may go by strict definitions and associate other meaning. That's OK, it is more semantics than anything else, not as important. For example, when I say it would be to Coach ABC's best interest to get a job at a mid-major, I do not have Louisville or UConn in mind.
