NCAA Basketball: Examining 10 potential moves in conference realignment

Liberty to AAC

There’s one last move to discuss, even if it isn’t as sexy as power conference teams changing conferences. While the university leadership has had their fair share of controversy in recent years, it’s hard to deny that Liberty’s athletics programs have been great the past decade. In need of new members following that much-discussed exodus, could the AAC be the perfect partner for the Flames?

The basketball team has won the last three A-Sun league titles, dominating the conference since joining it in 2018. The football team is an independent and could easily slide over to the AAC, having done some pretty solid work against makeshift schedules. Liberty is right there in Virginia, located near enough to East Carolina to make sense in the league.

Unless the conference collapses, the AAC has a number of potential directions, but adding Liberty is another safe option that not only opens up a new market for the conference but increases the level of competition in the flagship sports. Replacing Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF is not something Liberty can do, but it’s certainly a start. Plus, it seems like a sensible move for a Liberty program seemingly on the rise.

We’ve looked closely at ten major realignment moves that could happen in the coming months. Which moves do you think are on the horizon in this new cycle of realignment?