How will the recent expansion news from the WAC affect college basketball in the near future?
With news that had been expected these last several weeks, the WAC recently announced a conference expansion that will lead to the conference reinstating football in the near future. The conference will add Abilene Christian, Lamar, Sam Houston State, and Stephen F. Austin (all from the Southland Conference) as well as Southern Utah from the Big Sky. Additionally, Chicago State will exit the conference next year, giving the conference 13 teams once the moves go into effect.
The ability to field football again is clearly a driving force for these announcements, but there will be plenty of effect on the basketball side of things as well. The WAC has been a rather weak conference in recent years, with New Mexico State fielding what has by far been the best program in the league. In fact, more than half of the current conference has never been to the NCAA Tournament, a fact that will certainly change with these moves.
College basketball is an ever-changing landscape, and this move also allows the WAC to keep up with those changing times. On the other hand, these moves will have a profound effect on the Southland’s future as well as details that will affect each of these schools, especially the ones already in the WAC.
We’re going to take a closer look at some takeaways from this announcement and look at the domino effect it will cause in college basketball. Even if this was a move made long-term for football, there’s good (and bad) all around as a result.