I believe I have read Washington State and Oregon State wanted in and tried hard to stay with Stanford and Cal, but there was not enough support for them.
Not sure any others from the AACKK! tried to join with SMU.
Honestly, when the whole ACC expansion story broke, I expected to read that UConn saw what SMU was doing and tried to do the same thing. And perhaps they tried and the ACC told them no thank you very quietly.
Or maybe they just couldn't do it right now.
No question SMU has is better positioned to throw a lot more money at a conference to buy a membership.
I don't think UConn has the money or the big money donors to make a similar play. At least not on short notice. Maybe they will do some back door negotiations with donors who agree to back this kind of a move sometime down the road.
But we know FSU and Clemson were 100% against UConn before. They might have enough support to block this. SU and BC might also be against it for territorial reasons. Not sure on that.
I will say this: if Clemson, FSU and probably UNC ever leave the ACC, I would think it becomes a lot easier for UConn to get the votes to get added to the ACC.
It will be interesting to see what happens down the road.