Aresco: ‘We are a major conference in every respect’

UConn and Temple are among the AAC’s big basketball names. Photo by: GETTY IMAGES

In the March 14 SBJ, you compared Big East basketball ratings on Fox and FS1 to those of mid-major conferences and included the American Athletic Conference as a mid-major conference. We are emphatically not a mid-major conference and are not viewed as a mid-major conference. We won the national championship two years ago, UConn’s fourth. We have many venerable programs with a wealth of tradition, tournament appearances, national championships, Final Fours, all-time wins (Temple), extensive ESPN and CBS television coverage, and many other things. We placed four teams in the NCAA tournament in 2014 and this year. We have nothing in common with any conference that is considered a mid-major. We are a major conference in every respect.