ACC Basketball: Best realignment scenarios for each team if conference breaks up
By Joey Loose
Virginia
The Cavaliers just won the national championship in basketball in 2019 and have been one of the nation’s most surprisingly potent programs over the last decade. Tony Bennett has done a masterful job of reviving and solidifying basketball at Virginia and it may be their ticket to relevance in their next conference.
The best option for the Cavaliers is likely the Big Ten. It makes sense from both the athletics and the geography, with Virginia instantly a contender in basketball in the league. If they join the conference with Duke and North Carolina, as previously mentioned, then the Big Ten is getting a major upgrade to their basketball prominence as a result of the ACC collapse. Anything Virginia can accomplish in football is a bonus at that point.
There’s a possibility, but the fits don’t seem right for Virginia in the Big 12 or SEC and it’s unlikely that they are going to skirt their football program and join the Big East. Joining the new-look Big Ten with several of their former ACC foes would create quite the pocket of programs forming the eastern part of the Big Ten. It’s a move that makes a lot of sense for the Cavaliers to secure their future and strengthens the Big Ten even further, though it’s not just Virginia that we’re considering.