NCAA Basketball: 5 ideal conference realignment scenarios to consider

Realignment news is currently going on in NCAA Basketball. What other scenarios could be beneficial to the sport?

Even during a global pandemic, the NCAA Basketball world continues to move and make headlines, and that was on full display on June 11.

With the news that a pair of teams (New Jersey Institute of Technology and Robert Morris University) plan to move to new conferences this coming year, college athletic programs again proved that they are constantly considering new options and avenues. This comes on the heels of overwhelming uncertainty surrounding a season occurring this fall as well as in-class instruction resuming for most college campuses.

Conference realignments are nothing new to college basketball in recent years, as a select group of teams has continued to outplay their conference competition and look for greener pastures to improve their programs.

Reasons for these moves to more prominent conferences include; increased national attention, more lucrative TV deals and exposure for their school, ability to attract higher-level recruits as well as to improve their resume for an at-large bid. The last of which being something many mid-major teams have sought to achieve in recent seasons.

Some successful examples of this from the past decade include Creighton University, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and Wichita State University. All of which left their previous conferences (Missouri Valley Conference, Colonial Athletic Association) and have continued to rise as contenders in college basketball despite increased competition and have yielded far more NCAA Tournament appearances since.

With the potential for additional conference realignments in mind, here are five potential moves that would be great for college basketball going forward.