AAC Basketball: Examining 8 potential candidates for expansion

Western Kentucky

It’s pretty clear at this point that the best place for the AAC to look for new members is either Conference USA or the Mountain West, though of course there are a few gems elsewhere. Western Kentucky stands out for its recent excellence in basketball and football, but that’s just one piece to the puzzle.

Western Kentucky has historically been a solid basketball program, with much of that history split between the OVC and the Sun Belt over the years. The football team has only been at the FBS level for just over a decade but has quickly shown that they’re ready for a slight move up. The program’s location and athletic facilities, not to mention the fantastic mascot, is more than ready for another conference shift.

Western Kentucky is too good a program to be left out of the next line of conference realignment, and they’d be a very solid addition to an AAC needing some new depth. Their addition adds another state to the conference’s footprint, plus they aren’t too far from Memphis (for as long as the Tigers remain in the conference).

All in all, there are several directions in which the AAC could go to find new members. Who do you think the conference should add to replace the three potential departures of Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF?