July 1st marks a new era for 19 basketball programs in Division I, for better or for worse, thanks to conference realignment.
Conference realignment has become a pretty common thing in the college athletics ranks since the turn of the 21st century. The old Big East. The new Big East. The creation of super leagues like the Big Ten and the SEC. Leagues are constantly fighting for survival and supremacy, as are individual programs. Sometimes the move is for money. Sometimes it’s for one particular sport (looking at you, football).
Regardless, moving into a new home can be exciting. For some programs, that excitement will build into immediate contender territory, both in league and nationally. For others, they will be quickly overwhelmed by unpacking a new home and neighbors that aren’t as friendly in competition.
Division I Conference Realignment Report Cards
BYU Cougars
WCC ⇒ Big 12
Grade: B
BYU is hoping this move for football pays off in basketball as well. The Cougars have won at least 19 games in each of the past 8 seasons but have just one NCAA appearance to show for it. However, it remains to be seen if that success will translate to what’s been arguably the best league in college basketball the past few seasons. Certainly BYU is making this move for football more than basketball, but perhaps being tested by Gonzaga, a power program within a mid-major league, gives the Cougars a glimpse of what it’ll take to succeed in their new home.
Campbell Camels
Big South ⇒ CAA
Grade: B
Campbell comes to the CAA looking to break a 31-year tournament drought. Leaving the Big South actually makes it a bit tougher to do that, but for the CAA, it bolsters their other southern members for travel and brings in a Camels squad that’s been relatively competitive in its prior league over the past six seasons. This is a jump up in competition, which didn’t do any of last year’s new league members any favors.
Charlotte 49ers
Conference USA ⇒ AAC
Grade: B-
Charlotte is coming off its first 20+ win season in 10 years, but is making what feels like, at minimum, a lateral move, if not a slight step down in competition. Maybe that opens the door for the rebirth of a program that saw lots of success in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. The 49ers did, after all, win the CBI this past season. However, they’re following some of their more successful CUSA brethren and now have Memphis to deal with every season once again.
Cincinnati Bearcats
AAC ⇒ Big 12
Grade: A
Cincinnati is no stranger to big time basketball, having been in the monstrous version of the Big East for 8 seasons. The first five of those seasons were spent building a program that could compete at that level, and there will certainly be a readjustment period here. However, with Wes Miller leading the way and an athletic program as a whole that’s committed to success on the court, Cincy has the potential to thrive in their new environment.
Florida Atlantic Owls
Conference USA ⇒ AAC
Grade: B+
How do you follow up the best season in school history? By moving leagues! FAU will most likely be a preseason top 15 team, which the AAC more than welcomes given the loss of Houston. The Owls move to a league that has consistenly gotten at least two bids throughout most of its brief history, so there’s hope that there’s more room for error this season. However, the stiff competition they will face comes mostly from newcomers joining FAU from their old league and their first round opponent from last year’s tournament in Memphis.
Hartford Hawks
Division I Independent ⇒ Division III
Grade: F
The move to Division III has been in the cards for a few years with Hartford, being announced quizzically after the Hawks made their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. It’s led to some nasty clashes between fans, alumni, and university leadership, but ultimately Hartford leaves the D-I ranks due to supposed budget issues. The transition period the last few years has crippled multiple athletic programs, including basketball. I don’t want to crucify any university for making decisions that may be best financially to keep the institution running, but it hasn’t made the pain hurt any less for those who are passionate about Hartford basketball.
Houston Cougars
AAC ⇒ Big 12
Grade: A+
Houston may be the biggest winner of the realignment period for this academic year. The Cougars are finally moving to the Big 12, a move that felt like a no-brainer for a long time, but was only initiated because of the loss the league will take when Texas and Oklahoma leave for the SEC next year. Houston brings three 30+ win seasons in the last four seasons, and presumably would have six straight NCAA appearances if not for the COVID season. Houston has been earning high-level single-digit seeds in a weaker league, so competing for the top overall seed in a better league seems likely moving forward. The Big 12 needed Houston more than Houston needed the Big 12.
Jacksonville State Gamecocks
Atlantic Sun ⇒ Conference USA
Grade: B
Jacksonville State has been a big mover in conference realignment over the past five years. The Gamecocks moved from the OVC to the A-Sun for 2021-22, and now jump to Conference USA just two years later. Jacksonville State brings more from a football standpoint than a basketball standpoint for this move, but their performance on the court had been somewhat overshadowed in their final few years in the OVC due to Belmont and Murray State’s dominance there. JSU’s only NCAA appearances have both come within the last six seasons, and Ray Harper has only posted two losing seasons out of seven at the helm. This is a team that should find some success right away, with officials at CUSA hoping they maintain the high level of basketball seen from the league over the past few seasons.
Le Moyne Dolphins
Division II ⇒ NEC
Grade: A
The NEC has been adding new teams like crazy to Division I over the past few seasons. Merrimack has finally broken free from its probationary hell, where they won the league in two of the four seasons they were stuck in the NCAA’s archaic four-year transition phase. Stonehill joined last season, and now Le Moyne, once a D-II conference rival of both, finally makes the jump. The Dolphins bring five Division II tournament appearances over the past decade with them, including an Elite Eight run in 2018. The past two seasons have been .500 or worse, but we’ve already seen that competing in arguably the worst conference in Division I basketball has opened the door for other transition teams. Le Moyne should settle in fine in its new home.
Liberty Flames
Atlantic Sun ⇒ Conference USA
Grade: B+
Liberty has been one of the best mid-major programs in the nation over the past five seasons, which as led to this opportunity to jump to CUSA. The Flames have won at least 21 games in each of the last seven seasons, including a 30 win season that was cut short by COVID in 2019-20. The hope is that Liberty can keep the torch held high for a league that just lost a majority of its key basketball pieces to the AAC this off-season. However, if the Flames continue their own success, membership here may not last long either given the school’s commitment to success in both basketball and football. Liberty has a chance to quickly be the face of CUSA in year one.
New Mexico State Aggies
WAC ⇒ Conference USA
Grade: C
New Mexico State’s transition to CUSA has largely been overshadowed by off-the-court news that’s been ongoing since the end of 2022. The Aggie program’s issues have been well-documented, and now they start in a new league where the level of competition they’ll face is arguably the same, if not a little weaker, than what they found in the WAC. Perhaps moving to CUSA seemed more attractive when UAB, North Texas, and FAU were around, but NMSU is here because those programs are gone. There’s no question that the Aggies have been one of the best mid-majors in the last decade, but time will tell if they are leaving a league that’s stronger moving forward.
North Texas Mean Green
Conference USA ⇒ AAC
Grade: B
The North Texas program saw a resurgence under Grant McCasland that eventually landed him a new job and the Mean Green a new conference home. UNT earned both an NCAA Tournament win and an NIT championship during McCasland’s six seasons, and had been strongly mentioned in at-large conversations the past few seasons, something that’s hard to do as a mid-major. North Texas vaults into a new league with a new leader in Ross Hodge. The AAC is looking to rely on UNT as one of the teams to keep the league as a slight step above mid-major status, but frankly the new AAC looks like a second version of an older CUSA given the teams there now. The Mean Green could end up in the same situation where riding the bubble isn’t ideal because of conference affiliation.
Rice Owls
Conference USA ⇒ AAC
Grade: C
Rice is moving for one reason: geography. The AAC didn’t want to lose its Houston-area footprint when Houston left for the Big 12, so they brought in another larger Houston school in the Owls. Scott Pera should get some credit in that the Owls have been improving in each season under him since 2017-18, but it feels like Rice will end up just like many of their old CUSA foes now facing them in the AAC: relegated to average performance without much benefit of a league change. The move makes sense for the AAC, just not for Rice.
St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers
NEC ⇒ None (Eliminating Athletics)
Grade: F
Arguably the saddest affiliation change this off-season is the disbanding of all athletics at St. Francis Brooklyn. The Terriers have played 104 seasons of basketball, but the last will go down as 2022-23. Unfortunately, this longstanding Division I program will most likely be remembered as one of the four original D-I teams to never make the NCAA Tournament, and now they’ll never get the chance unless the school changes its mind about athletics sometime in the future. SFBK had just six winning seasons since the beginning of the 21st century, That included a regular-season NEC title in 2014-15 and a heartbreaking loss in the league tournament final. We thank you, Terriers, for your time, are saddened to see you leave, and hope to see you again in the future.
Sam Houston State Bearkats
WAC ⇒ Conference USA
Grade: B-
Sam Houston State is coming off one of their best season’s in school history, and they are parlaying that into membership in Conference USA. The Bearkats spent years in the Southland Conference, where they made two NCAA appearances. The last two seasons were spent in the WAC, where SHSU had no problems competing right away. This move to CUSA is largely a football one, but the basketball program has the pieces to be competitive in their new home as well. The biggest question mark is the same one for fellow mover New Mexico State: is this a lateral move or an improvement?
UAB Blazers
Conference USA ⇒ AAC
Grade: B
UAB makes the move to the American after being on of the basketball programs that Conference USA could hang its hat on for most of its membership. The Blazers peaked under Mike Anderson during their CUSA membership in the mid 2000’s, earning three straight bids and making one Sweet 16. Now, UAB will be tasked with trying to find that success to help the AAC stay relevant in the college basketball landscape under Andy Kennedy. There will be plenty of familiar competition from the ghosts of the CUSA both past and present. The hope is that it translates into potential at-large bids like it did 15+ years ago.
UCF Knights
AAC ⇒ Big 12
Grade: B
UCF’s move to the Big 12 may be the biggest football decision of all the movers for the 2023-24 college athletics season. The Knights are historically known for declaring themselves national champions on the gridiron after a 13-0 season in 2017, and the hope is that football success in a power conference will earn them the respect they deserve. What does that mean for the basketball program? It may not be great. Don’t get it twisted though. It’s been said that UCF has more than enough resources to compete in most sports, so the door is open. But, the recent success of the basketball program in the AAC doesn’t give one hope that they will become a threat right away. Johnny Dawkins has his work cut out for him to compete at a higher level, but perhaps attracting higher level recruits to the sunniest state in the country will be much easier now that they’ll be playing high level basketball.
UTSA Roadrunners
Conference USA ⇒ AAC
Grade: C-
UTSA is being welcomed by the American on July 1st, but that might be the extent of the warm fuzzies for a basketball program that has been one of the worst during their 10 year run in Conference USA. Factor in that many of their rivals that did them damage are coming with them, and add the likes of Memphis and a rising Tulane program to their schedule for conference play, and the Roadrunners are already looking cooked. UTSA is moving for football, just like other movers and shakers for this year’s realignment changes. On the basketball court, it’s hard to imagine much changing in a new league.
Western Illinois Leathernecks
Summit League ⇒ OVC
Grade: A-
Western Illinois made the most recent announcement of a league change, jumping from the Summit League to the OVC back in early May. The Leathernecks have known no other home, being a member of the Mid-Continent Conference before it rebranded to the Summit League. Overall, it’s been a rough Division I existence, but there’s hope as Rob Jeter enters his fourth season at the helm, bringing back-to-back 16-win seasons to the program as they make their shift. The Summit has been dominated by Dakota schools (and more recently Oral Roberts), so moving to the OVC where the competition may be a little more balanced provides excellent opportunities for WIU. The Leathernecks could find themselves quickly earning their first NCAA Tournament bid in their new home.