Dribble Handoff: UConn, Gonzaga among teams that would benefit from a basketball-first realignment plan

rewrite this content material with complete duration and stay HTML tags Conference realignment continues to rock the root of school sports activities, dissolving geographical ties and keeping apart colleges into extra distinct categories of wealth. While soccer is on the root of realignment, the fallout will definitely be felt at the courtroom. Take Oregon, for instance. Instead of a convention slate that includes within reach Oregon State and different teams within the Pacific time zone, the Ducks will probably be required to make a number of cross-country journeys in step with season as soon as they’re participants of the Big Ten for the 2024-25 season.A reinvigorated competition between longtime Pac-12 foes Arizona and UCLA is any other most likely casualty with the Wildcats off to the the Big 12 and the Bruins becoming a member of the Big Ten in 2024-25. Of route, it is not all dangerous. There are some intriguing new matchups that will probably be created, lots of which our Cameron Salerno tested in a fresh article.For this week’s version of the Dribble Handoff, our writers are taking part in the position of College Sports Commissioner and placing basketball first. “If you could choose one realignment move for the sake of college basketball, what would it be?” Here are our responses to that advised. Maryland to the ACCEnough is sufficient. Maryland does now not resemble a Big Ten college, hasn’t ever resembled a Big Ten college and does now not belong within the Big Ten. That league can have the funds for to lose one program and nonetheless clutter thru one way or the other. Send the Terrapins again to the place they belong — within the convention they helped shape and construct at the Atlantic coast. Maryland is an ACC college. It belongs within the ACC. Its go back would deliver steadiness to that league, up its hoops status the entire extra, and make allowance the soccer program a higher probability at good fortune. Conference realignment has ended in a lot of idiotic dispersement of colleges in leagues the place they do not belong (Boston College, Syracuse, UCLA, USC, the checklist is going on) and Maryland is close to the highest of that checklist. Get those reptiles again of their herbal habitat. — Matt NorlanderUConn to the ACCI know, I do know, for Huskies fanatics, leaving the Big East after in the end reestablishing your id as a nationwide powerhouse is not all that interesting. UConn and the Big East are synonymous, and there’s no counter argument to the conclusion that staying within the league is best possible UConn’s long-term viability. I imply, the crew gained a nationwide identify at the back of a true training megastar mere months in the past. I pay attention you and I admire that. It’s legitimate. Howevah, a bounce over to ACC nation could be a web certain each for the varsity and for the school hoops panorama writ massive. There’s extra publicity available taking part in the Dukes and North Carolinas of the arena than taking part in the Villanovas and Xaviers. There’s considerably more cash available, too. That’s all to mention not anything of the price in consolidating much more blueblooded energy into one convention. Geographically it would not also be a overall stretch, both, with the entire different teams within the ACC working at the similar time zone. It would take a little time to get used to and there is no ensure it would cross neatly, however on paper it might make a ton of sense for the 2 to marry up. — Kyle BooneMemphis to the ACCTo be transparent, I do NOT imagine the ACC must upload Memphis now. Financially, it would most likely make little sense. But ultimately, I believe, some aggregate of North Carolina, Virginia, Florida State and Clemson are going to go away the ACC, at which level Memphis must be an obtrusive choice as a alternative. I’m hoping it occurs.It’s comprehensible, however nonetheless unlucky, that a college that cares as deeply about basketball as Memphis has been caught in so-so meetings for far of my grownup existence. Going ahead, the Tigers will compete in a decreased American Athletic Conference, the place they are going to have few friends (perhaps 0) that can fit their degree of dedication to the game. It’s now not ideally suited. As you most likely know, Memphis has lengthy sought a Big 12 invitation, however that league has constantly handed Memphis over. So with the Big 12 not a reasonable choice, the Tigers’ best possible hope of bettering their community could be for some large manufacturers to go out the Atlantic Coast Conference (like any have indicated they would cherish to do), leaving the ACC searching for replacements. If that occurs, Memphis would make sense for lots of causes, and it is value noting that the Tigers did up to now percentage a league with present ACC participants Florida State, Georgia Tech and Louisville.(Shouts to the Metro Conference.)I am getting why when the Big 12 regarded towards the AAC to switch Texas and Oklahoma, it most popular top-40 markets like those Houston, Cincinnati and UCF may give. But something convention directors have in large part did not snatch over time when comparing growth applicants is that the University of Memphis issues WAY extra in Memphis than the University of Houston issues in Houston, far more in Memphis than the University Cincinnati issues in Cincinnati, and far more in Memphis than UCF issues in Orlando. In reality, I’m now not certain there may be any other marketplace within the nation with an NFL, NBA or MLB franchise that cares as a lot concerning the native college’s athletic division as Memphians care concerning the University of Memphis’ athletic division even with the NBA’s Grizzlies additionally on the town.Simply put, Memphis has a soccer program that completed No. 17 within the Associated Press Top 25 ballot simply 4 years in the past with a 12-2 file and convention championship, a males’s basketball program that’s made 3 Final Fours in 3 other a long time with 3 other coaches, and sufficient give a boost to in and across the town to flourish in a primary convention if it ever in reality will get the chance to be in a single. It was once intended to occur with the Big East — but it surely did not. Some concept it would occur with the Big 12, however that now turns out lifeless. In this second, there are not any clearly nice choices. But if the ACC ever will get picked aside and reveals itself short of new participants, Memphis is where it must glance. — Gary Parrish Gonzaga to the Mountain WestMark Few is an absurd 333-34 in convention motion over his 24-year training run, and the Zags have by no means misplaced greater than 3 league video games in a season underneath his watch. In a six-year length from 2017 to 2022, Gonzaga misplaced simply 4 overall convention contests. But what do the Zags acquire from obliterating the WCC once a year? Sure, profitable is amusing. But the Zags would nonetheless win at a top clip within the Mountain West and likewise get challenged in a manner that would higher get ready them for the NCAA Tournament. The MWC has been a multi-bid league prior to now 5 NCAA Tournaments, and the league had 4 representatives the previous two years. The WCC remains to be prone to being a one-bid league when St. Mary’s isn’t in top shape. With BYU off to the Big 12, the WCC is solely getting weaker. Adding Gonzaga would lift the Mountain West’s nationwide profile, and it would benefit the Zags by way of protecting them on their feet all the way through January and February. — David CobbGonzaga to the Big 12The Zags becoming a member of the Big 12 is a fit made in heaven. Gonzaga has been probably the most constant methods at the West Coast and their addition would make the Big 12 even more potent. Look, the Big 12 was once already in reality, in reality excellent after which the convention added BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF closing realignment cycle. Brett Yormark subsequent took the “Four Corner” colleges from the Pac-12 (Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah) to solidify the Big 12’s standing because the premier school basketball convention within the nation. Adding Gonzaga would make that argument even more potent. Gonzaga has gained 23 or extra video games each season since 1997-98. One of the one methods to problem Gonzaga within the WCC (BYU) is off to the Big 12. So why cannot the Zags’ sign up for them? To make it an excellent quantity, I would pitch to take a look at and upload UConn to the Big 12 as a basketball-only college, too. But for the sake of this workout, let’s persist with Gonzaga. The Zags may compete with each crew within the convention. Sure, they would not dominate the Big 12 like they’ve the WCC, however each convention recreation would be…