I had no idea either, I just remember from when we added Louisville that there was a (small) uproar among some that we didn't get UConn bc their academics fit in closer with what we were losing (Maryland). That said, I think Navy is up there too in terms of academics.
Navy is in the first year of its affiliation with the American Athletic Conference and would find it very hard, and expensive, to get out. Not sure how they could raise enough cash without tax assistance, and they won't get that. They would have been great two or three years ago but somehow weren't considered or if considered, not chosen. (They are playing ECU, a conference game, at the same time as GT-NT.) But to say Navy is "up there" in academics is like saying Zsa Zsa Gabor's seven marriages were a bit much. They will do quite well in any comparison, as I assume would the other service academies. There's a reason their football programs took a dive.
