Another wave of NCAA conference reorganizations is upon us, and college sports fans are already starting to get ready for big changes across the Division I college basketball conference landscape as they know it. .
While the reorganization in college sports is mainly focused on Earth-shattering moves come in college football, men’s and women’s college basketball is hardly immune to impending change. Of college basketball’s 32 Division I conferences, 15 have a pending membership change. The biggest moves – all fueled by football – will happen in the Big 12, SEC, AAC, Conference USA and Sun Belt, but regular multiplayer basketball conferences include Atlantic 10, Missouri Valley and WCC will also be changing the footprint.
To keep an eye on the changes, ESPN has compiled a conference-by-conference guide to pending motion throughout Division I. Future league markers for each affected conference are included, as well as the latest update on the schedule for upcoming moves. This page will be continuously updated as further changes are made.
East America
Hartford announced in May that it would be leaving Division I, with the school planning to apply for reclassification to Division III in January 2022. Although Hartford’s transition to D-III is expected will not be completed until 2025, outgoing America East commissioner Amy Huchthausen told the Lowell Sun that July. 2021-22 will be the school’s last year in the conference after 38 seasons.
Future look: Albany, Binghamton, Maine, UMBC, UMass Lowell, New Hampshire, NJIT, Stony Brook, Vermont
American
Current AAC members Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF have accepted an invitation to join the Big 12 in September and will be leaving the US “no later than” the 2024-25 season (still possible to negotiate a departure from the season). tournament 2023-24. ).
In October, Americans announced they would be adding six former Conference USA members: Charlotte, FAU, North Texas, Rice, UAB, and UTSA, bringing the convention’s basketball membership to 14 schools, pending approval. departure of the Big 12 defection. (The football side of the league will also have 14 programs, excluding the non-soccer Wichita State and including its associate membership in the Navy, which will continue to serve as core members of the Patriot League for the teams. other sports). All six upcoming schools are said to plan to start playing AAC in 2023-24.
Future look: Charlotte, East Carolina, FAU, Memphis, North Texas, Rice, SMU, South Florida, Temple, UTSA, Tulane, Tulsa, UAB, Wichita State
SUN
Jacksonville State and Liberty will end their short time with ASUN when they move to the United States Conference in 2023. Another league move, announced in September, is the addition of Austin Peay from the OVC for the 2022-23 season.
Future look: Austin Peay, Bellarmine, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, Florida Gulf Coast, Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, North Alabama, North Florida, Stetson
Atlantic Ocean 10
Loyola Chicago accepted an invitation from A-10 in November, announced it was leaving the Missouri Valley and expanding its new convention to 15 schools.
Future look: Davidson, Dayton, Duquesne, Fordham, George Mason, George Washington, La Salle, Loyola Chicago, UMass, Rhode Island, Richmond, St. Bonaventure, Saint Joseph’s, Saint Louis, VCU
Big sky
Southern Utah announced in January that it would join the WAC in July 2022.
Future look: Eastern Washington, Idaho, Idaho State, Montana, Montana State, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, Portland State, Sacramento State, Weber State
Large 12
In July, Oklahoma and Texas announced that they would be leaving the Big 12 for the SEC in the summer of 2025. Despite speculation that an exit could be negotiated for the schools to leave in 2023, no progress has been made. is known to have been made during those negotiations.
Current AAC members Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF have accepted an invitation to join the Big 12 in September and will be leaving the US “no later than” for the 2024-25 season (a timely exit can still be negotiated. time for the 2023-24 season). BYU, a member of the WCC in boys and girls basketball, is scheduled to join the Big 12 all-round in 2023-24, although it’s possible the school could pay the WCC’s relatively small purchase and join as a member. How to be a basketball member next season.
Future look: Baylor, BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech, UCF, West Virginia
CAA
James Madison, who has been actively and transparently seeking an FBS conference for his football programming for over 20 years, in November accept the invitation to join the Belt of the Sun in time for the 2022-23 season. In response, the CAA took the unusual (and in this round of reorganization round of reorganization) measure to ban the Duke from winning any more congressional titles for the remainder of the 2021-22 season. This means that the men’s basketball Dukes (who started the season 9-2, including a win over Virginia) will have to make a big bid to enter the NCAA tournament unless the CAA presidents and AD reconsidered their hurt feelings and/or the mystery of the law conference and allowed JMU to compete in the CAA.
Future look: Charleston, Delaware, Drexel, Elon, Hofstra, Northeastern, Towson, UNC Wilmington, William & Mary
United States Conference
No Division I league will undergo a bigger change than C-USA, which will lose nine schools – UAB (American), Florida Atlantic (American), Charlotte (American), Marshall (Sun Belt), North Texas ( American), Old Dominion (Sun Belt), Rice (USA), Southern Miss (Sun Belt) and UTSA (American) – from its current roster for 2023-24.
The conference announced in November that it would counter by adding Jacksonville State, Liberty, New Mexico State and Sam Houston in time for the 2023-24 season.
Future look: FIU, Jacksonville State, Liberty, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, New Mexico State, Sam Houston, UTEP, Western Kentucky
Missouri Valley
Valley will trade one good program for another (at least in men’s basketball terms) in 2022, like Loyola Chicago departs for the Atlantic 10 and Belmont from OVC. Tournament also contacted UT Arlington (the only remaining non-soccer Sun Belt member) last December to gauge the school’s interest in joining, but nothing further materialized there.
Future look: Belmont, Bradley, Drake, Evansville, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois, Valparaiso
Ohio Valley
OVC will lose two programs in 2022-23, with Austin Peay (ASUN) and Belmont (Missouri Valley) dropping out of a conference that left Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State lost to the previous round of re-alignments.
The Alliance counterattacks by adding Little Rock, which comes from the Sun Belt in 2022-23.
Future look: Eastern Illinois, Little Rock, Morehead State, Murray State, SIU Edwardsville, Southeast Missouri State, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, UT Martin
SECOND
Oklahoma and Texas announced in July that they would be leaving the Big 12 for the SEC in July 2025. As mentioned, there has been speculation that an exit could be negotiated for the schools to leave the Big 12 and join the family. entered the SEC in 2023, but not only is progress known to have been made in those negotiations.
Future look: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
Southland
Southland lost one of its newest shows when Incarnate Word announced it would join the WAC in 2022-23. The conference countered by extending the invitation to Division II Texas A&M-Commerce, which was scheduled to enter the league and begin its four-year transition to Division I in 2022.
Future look: Houston Baptist, McNeese State, New Orleans, Nicholls State, Northwestern State, Southeast Louisiana, Texas A&M-Commerce, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Belt of the Sun
Sun Belt was the main buyer in this wave of restructuring, adding Marshall, Old Dominion and Southern Miss from Conference USA and James Madison from CAA. JMU is expected to join the league’s basketball team in 2022-23, the other teams in 2023-24.
The conference has suffered some attrition, with Little Rock announced in December that it would move to OVC in 2022-23. That makes UT Arlington the only Sun Belt school without a football program and a college reported discussions with the Missouri Valley perhaps a sign that there’s more to it than that.
Future look: Appalachian State, Arkansas, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, James Madison, Louisiana, Louisiana-Monroe, Marshall, Old Dominion, South Alabama, Southern Miss, Texas State, Troy, UT Arlington
WCC
BYU is scheduled to move from the WCC to the Big 12 in 2023-24, although as mentioned, it is not out of the question that the Cougars could move to anything other than football (this is bound by commitments). current schedule to remain independent in 2022) to 2022-23.
Future look: Gonzaga, Loyola Marymount, Pacific Ocean, Pepperdine, Portland, Saint Mary’s, San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Diego
WAC
The WAC will undergo major changes next season, with Chicago State departing without a known conference venue and New Mexico State and short-timer Sam Houston both joining Conference USA.
In the additional category, Incarnate Word (Southland) and Southern Utah (Big Sky) are both on track for 2022-23. (Though not an addition, current WAC member Dixie State will also be called Utah Tech starting next season.)
Future look: Abilene Christian, Cal Baptist, Grand Canyon, Incarnate Word, Lamar, Seattle, Southern Utah, Stephen F. Austin, Tarleton State, UT Rio Grande Valley, Utah Tech (formerly Dixie State), Utah Valley
Conferences with no pending membership changes (as of December 14, 2021): ACC, Big East, Big South, Big Ten, Big West, Horizon, Ivy, MAAC, MAC, MEAC, Mountain West, NEC, Pac-12, Patriot, SoCon, SWAC, Summit
