Some of the pushback is due to the timing of the discussions, as league officials are busy dealing with the House vs. NCAA settlement. There are also questions about how much the move would benefit the conference in football. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark has been bullish on basketball being more of a financial driver for the league's television contracts in upcoming years. UConn is the sport's dominant program and touches the country's top market, with a strong presence in the New York area. UConn is coming off back-to-back national titles in men's basketball and has boasted the country's best brand in women's basketball for the past generation. UConn's resurgence in men's basketball has come under coach Dan Hurley and coincided with the school rejoining the Big East for the 2020-21 season after playing in the American Athletic Conference from 2013-14 through 2019-20. The Big 12 has consistently been one of the country's top basketball leagues, and adding UConn would potentially bolster that reputation. The 16-team Big 12 added four new members -- Houston, BYU, Cincinnati and Arizona -- last year and will welcome Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State this year. Yormark has been bullish on expansion. He outmaneuvered Pac-12 officials to re-up the league's television deal to secure the Big 12's future soon after taking over as commissioner in 2022. He also leveraged that secure future to add the four former Pac-12 programs. Yormark also pushed hard early on in his tenure to add Gonzaga in basketball, though that did not come to fruition.https://www.ugadogsedge.com/Georgia-Bulldogs-Ali-Hall-Jersey