When word broke over the weekend the University of Connecticut, widely known as UConn, was leaving the American Athletic Conference for the Big East, fans at most Conference USA began dreaming of moving on up.
Conference USA is in many ways an outstanding league. Certainly, C-USA football is vastly underrated. But the AAC plays on a higher level. Central Florida claimed a mythical national football title after an unbeaten season in 2017 and Memphis may be considered Final Four material in the near future.
Many in the media quickly settled on Old Dominion and UAB as the favorites, with most giving the Monarchs a slight edge.