What if college basketball ran conference realignment? The Athletic article

zumbro clones

Well-Known Member
Jan 31, 2007
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Southern Minnesota
From The Athletic webpage....may be behind a paywall:

"What would the college basketball landscape look like if the sport were self-sufficient? I set out to reconstruct the entire layout of Division I with that hypothetical as my guiding principle. Perhaps the most important rule to fall back on is that of a truly balanced schedule. Double round-robins (in which each team plays a home-and-home with every other team in its league) are fading out of college hoops, with fewer and fewer leagues still retaining that schedule purity. Bringing back the double round-robin would enhance the meaning of the regular-season championship, so I am allowing a maximum of 11 teams in each league (which would create a 20-game double round-robin).

Included next to each conference is the members’ average Net Rating per KenPom over the last five seasons. I used Net Ratings as a loose guide to ensure each league remained somewhat competitive as I swapped members."

Nebraska drops to a minor conference:

https://www.si.com/college/nebraska...ll-big-ten-fred-hoiberg-huskers-nebrasketball


https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6521319/2025/08/01/college-basketball-conference-realignment/

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Ankency

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Oct 22, 2018
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From The Athletic webpage....may be behind a paywall:

"What would the college basketball landscape look like if the sport were self-sufficient? I set out to reconstruct the entire layout of Division I with that hypothetical as my guiding principle. Perhaps the most important rule to fall back on is that of a truly balanced schedule. Double round-robins (in which each team plays a home-and-home with every other team in its league) are fading out of college hoops, with fewer and fewer leagues still retaining that schedule purity. Bringing back the double round-robin would enhance the meaning of the regular-season championship, so I am allowing a maximum of 11 teams in each league (which would create a 20-game double round-robin).

Included next to each conference is the members’ average Net Rating per KenPom over the last five seasons. I used Net Ratings as a loose guide to ensure each league remained somewhat competitive as I swapped members."

Nebraska drops to a minor conference:

https://www.si.com/college/nebraska...ll-big-ten-fred-hoiberg-huskers-nebrasketball


https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6521319/2025/08/01/college-basketball-conference-realignment/

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Would do this in a heartbeat!! Round Robin play everyone twice. In the toughest conference. Great idea, sign me up!! Too bad it’s a hypothetical. (Also, iowa should be in the Central Conference with fredbraska)