NCAA Basketball: TCU’s struggles, Maui breakdown among biggest takeaways
By Joey Loose
7. How some teams are adjusting in new leagues
We’re still a few years away from some of the major moves from conference realignment, with programs like Oklahoma, UCLA, and Houston on the move soon, but there have still been changes that have taken effect this season. We’re still over a month away from conference play getting underway, so these teams haven’t really been inundated with their new leagues, but it’s still worth taking a peak at them.
One of the biggest moves by far of the offseason was Loyola-Chicago bolting the MVC for the A-10. Expectations are high for the Ramblers to compete in their new league this season but they’ve floundered to start the season. After barely getting by Fairleigh Dickinson on opening night, they just accumulated three losses and an 8th-place finish at the Myrtle Beach Invitational, dropping games to Tulsa, Boise State, and Texas A&M by an average of 19 points.
Among their replacements in the MVC, Murray State has already upset #24 Texas A&M in that same Myrtle Beach Invitational, while Belmont and UIC have looked decent early but haven’t picked up that big win. There were other major changes in conferences like the A-Sun, OVC, and Sun Belt, though the addition of Bryant to the America East looks like one of the most intriguing other changes of the offseason, especially with former Saint Peter’s star Doug Edert off to a nice start.
There were also five new D1 programs this offseason and a few of them are settling in quite nicely. Queens sits at 4-1, including an opening night win over Marshall, while Southern Indiana got a nice win over Southern Illinois two weekends ago. It will certainly take time for these new programs to adjust to this new level of athletic play, but they’ve got plenty of time. As Bellarmine learned last season (shout out to them for winning at Louisville two weeks ago), these new D1 programs aren’t eligible for the Big Dance for a few more years.