Big 12 Basketball: Top 5 candidates to join league in potential realignment

5. UCF

When you consider what’s happened to the Knights in football recently, a move into a power conference seems like a great decision for the program. UCF claimed the national championship in 2017 when they were left out of the College Football Playoff, something that certainly wouldn’t have happened had they not been an AAC team at the time.

Geographically speaking, the SEC seems like a much better option, but a less feasible one as well. The league already has 14 schools, including Florida and Florida State. With West Virginia already in the Big 12, UCF’s inclusion wouldn’t be too ridiculous, though the Knights would be quite far away from all of the conference. In the current world climate, regular long travels aren’t exactly possible or encouraged, though this would clearly be a long-term decision.

The move would certainly be a football-based one. UCF hasn’t exactly been a basketball powerhouse in their history, though they did nearly upset Duke in the second round of last season’s NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately, that was their only Tournament bid since 2005 and a move to the Big 12 isn’t going to help that cause. Football-first programs like Nebraska and TCU have struggled to be consistent in basketball, but it’s no reason not to consider UCF a viable option for the conference.