Sports: UConn falls to Providence, 90-76, in men’s basketball exhibition

Hartford The inconvenience of complexity is among the reasons we refuse to accommodate new evidence or changing circumstances. But this just in: Circumstances surrounding whether to pay for major renovation to the XL Center have changed.

And all of us, particularly the state's biggest sports fans and loyalists of UConn sports, ought to spend some time in thought about it.

Is a new XL Center truly worth it anymore? Sadly … no. I hate that. It hurts.

Because as someone who has harrumphed about the necessity of a new building for years, I get the significance of a vibrant, downtown arena in the capital city. I get the plight of the downtown merchants and what a crumbling XL Center means to the future of UConn sports.

But what evidence exists anymore that supports the $250 million necessary? We are in a treacherous budget crisis with too many people going without to justify $250 million in a state with declining interest in UConn sports.

I'll write it again: declining interest in UConn sports.

Huskymania died when said Huskies were relegated to the relative irrelevance of the American Athletic Conference. And that's where this begins and ends.

Why would you dump $250 million that could be earmarked elsewhere to serve the primary tenant whose conference affiliation has turned Villanova into East Carolina? Shall we examine? Men's basketball: The program has been in decline since Jim Calhoun's departure. I get that Kevin Ollie won a national championship here in 2014. And this isn't necessarily a knock on Ollie, although his personality and charisma in selling the program aren't in the same stratosphere with Calhoun.

But attendance and interest have waned in recent years for many reasons, not the least of which is this: When you grow up on Georgetown, Syracuse and Providence, your reaction is nothing but disappointment when they're replaced by Tulsa, Tulane and Memphis.

Even with a shiny, new downtown arena, how many people are going to show up on a Tuesday night in January to see UConn play Houston?

Women's basketball: No one's denying this isn't the preeminent program in the country. But it's become event oriented: bigger on Notre Dame and Baylor than SMU and Tem-

ple. Then there's this: What happens when Geno Auriemma retires? It's not that far away.

Can anyone expect the program, which hardly sells out now, to maintain such excellence when the best coach of them all leaves? How is it not all but guaranteed that overall interest in the UConn women declines with Geno's departure?

Hockey: Mike Cavanaugh is a terrific coach, evidenced by UConn's rapid escalation to respectability in Hockey East. But it's still college hockey, which means a limited audience.

Hence, we revisit the premise: If UConn is the primary tenant, does the current state of its sports programs — stuck in an uninspiring conference — inspire major funds into upgrade the downtown arena? I don't see it. Again: It hurts. I have major levels of respect for Mike Freimuth, who heads the Capital Region Development Authority, the entity that oversees the XL Center. Good man. Straight shooter. Deserves better. But how can we argue the future of an arena when pensions, town budgets and education are all imperiled at the moment?

Full disclosure: I don't belong to the aggrieved taxpayer crowd. “Aggrieved taxpayer” is a euphemism for the following: You hate everyone and everything and don't want to pay for a blessed thing unless it directly benefits your own bottom line.

You disgust me.

But if you happen to subscribe to the theory that we have more important things to pay for than a new arena … I can't argue with you.

AAC hurts

This is more about UConn and, frankly, the unfortunate set of circumstances that landed its sports programs in the NCAA's version of Elba. The sport that would play in the XL Center most — basketball — just doesn't play a sexy enough schedule anymore to warrant a $250 million upgrade.

If the opponents still read Syracuse, Nova, PC, BC, Georgetown and Pittsburgh — regularly — I'd make a stronger argument. But now? I can't. UConn sports are better off on campus, upgrading Gampel Pavilion and the ice arena. Or perhaps making one all-purpose arena, if that's possible.

But the XL Center? Rest in peace, old friend. Circumstances have changed. This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro