REALIGNMENT

[Affirm]

THERE ARE CONCERNS THAT SEEMINGLY HAVE NOT BEEN BROUGHT UP IN THE THREAD CALLED "BOUND AND DETERMINED" IN "FBS FOOTBALL" nor in any Furman Basketball thread. There will be ripple effects on Furman Football. There may also be equally large or larger ripple effects on Furman basketball. "Conference Realignment Today" is driven by football, but it is relevant to Furman basketball.

Article by Matt Bonesteel, Washington Post, "Southern Cal, UCLA's move shakes up more than just Big Ten." Published in The State Tuesday July 5, 2022.
"What will college sports look like in 2026? We're pegging this question to 2026 of (sic) two reasons: College football is driving all of this, and the CFP's television contract with ESPN expires after the 2025 season. After that, the college sports landscape as we know it could receive a wholesale makeover. What if the Big Ten and SEC continue their likely raid of other conferences to the point where their size and strength are such that they decide to leave the NCAA entirely, entering into talks with the television networks about creating theri own personal fiefdom? Any school not desired by one of those two conference would be left with scraps. What if the Big Ten and SEC decide to break away from the NCAA but bring along all 64 teams in the Power Five conferences ... plus Notre Dame? ... And let's not forget about college basketball, which doesn't bring in nearly the money that ... football does but still generates a lot of revenue, thanks in great part to the NCAA's television contracts for ... basketball ... tournaments. The NCAA's deal with CBS and Turner Sports for the men's tournament runs through 2032, and its blue-bloods-and Cinderallas format makes for compelling television every March. But what if all those blue bloods - basking in the prospect of further college football-generated riches - decide to leave the NCAA and create their own tournament?"

[apaladin]

Total speculation and BS. Not even the power 5’s want to mess with March madness.

[Furmanoid]

Total speculation and BS. Not even the power 5’s want to mess with March madness.

I don’t know. They’ve already messed with it pretty good. They seem to want ncaa bids as participation trophies for their entire conferences.

[Roundball]

This is definitely something that cannot be ignored. Football is the cash king for the P5 schools. There is not much doubt the basketball landscape will change too. Might was well be ready.

[Affirm]

Yes, we need to acknowledge that it could happen as described at the end of that quotation from the article - even if it does not happen.
Something is going to happen with the football part at least.
We should not keep our heads stuck in the sand and ignore what is going on.
It is a slow-unfolding process, but when something does happen, it seems to take us all by surprise.
Right now, we are all waiting to find out what Notre Dame is going to do and what various ACC schools (Clemson especially of interest here) are going to do; and waiting to find out who will be leaving the PAC-12 next and where they are going (probably Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Colorado, Oregon, Washington especially); and waiting to find out if KU and any other Big-12 schools are going to leave the Big-12 whether for the B1G and/or for the SEC (Oklahoma State?).

[DungeonRealm]

We've already been talking about this sort of thing for like 10 years now, nothings going to change for us until the the big boys make all their moves and the dust settles, out of our control until then

[Furmanoid]

I wish football would just break away from the other sports. You can do all sorts of combinations for football since the money (for big guys) is massive and you only have 5 or 6 road trips. So why not put Clemson with some Bid 12 teams? But that doesn’t work well for the other sports. So the conferences should remain intact for other sports. But we should blow up the football conferences and start from scratch. There are too many football patsies in “P5” conferences and there are better teams stuck in lesser conferences. We’re gonna need a separate fb conference for those crazy enough to go the extreme NIL road. That won’t be more than 30 teams.

[apaladin]

Clempson would be stupid to move unless they are forced to by other ACC schools, Yes they could make a few more millions by moving to the SEC but is that worth losing their cake walk to the CFP?

[Roundball]

Clempson would be stupid to move unless they are forced to by other ACC schools, Yes they could make a few more millions by moving to the SEC but is that worth losing their cake walk to the CFP?

But, can the cake walk continue without the extra millions per year? Sooner than later, they will not be able to keep up with the big money schools. Clemson has to move on. The ACC is toast in football, and has basketball has already started to decline.

[Affirm]

We've already been talking about this sort of thing for like 10 years now, nothings going to change for us until the the big boys make all their moves and the dust settles, out of our control until then

You're correct to an extent.
Still we are better off to pay attention to what is happening with what schools and with what conferences.
There are various things that the moves and realignments may affect for us, possibly including: recruitment; income from media; our scheduling; income or lack of income from future games we get to play or not play against FBS teams; the parts of the Greenville-area and upstate economy that benefit from the +/- strength and popularity of Clemson football, the future organizational structure of college football (e.g., how soon are we on the way to having 3 or 4 levels of Division 1 football and whether we going to stay in the lowest level of Division 1 or going to try to move up somehow or even move down, and with what results to the program whichever way we go); the job market and income opportunities for college football coaches and athletics directors and all related staff; the impacts upon all our other sports besides football; etc.
Besides, It's just very interesting and fun to pay attention to what happens. This is BIG business and BIG money and BIG "culture" in the sense of college athletics "culture".. This is politics. And it's interesting to observe that a number of schools are "sitting pretty" mostly because they are "grandfathered" in the SEC or in the B1G. A number of schools not presently in the SEC or B1G or named Notre Dame are concerned about how they can come out of this in a more positive rather than a negative way.
But yes, if you prefer to just ignore all that's going on, I do not blame you. I just want to try to state some of the reasons that I find it interesting.
You said "... nothings going to change for us until ... the dust settles, out of our control until then ...." OK. You could say that about a lot of things, every season. I just have a hard time not being interested and not paying attention to what's going on and not thinking about how it is going to affect college athletics overall and Furman in particular to whatever extent. The ripples are going to touch Furman and Furman athletics at some point.

[Furmanoid]

Clempson would be stupid to move unless they are forced to by other ACC schools, Yes they could make a few more millions by moving to the SEC but is that worth losing their cake walk to the CFP?

The problem they have is that they need to go undefeated now because their conference is so pitiful. Or they could boost their strength of schedule a little if they stop playing teams like FU. Without going undefeated I’m not sure they will get in over 2 or 3 loss B1G or SEC teams once all the moves are made.

[Furmanoid]

We've already been talking about this sort of thing for like 10 years now, nothings going to change for us until the the big boys make all their moves and the dust settles, out of our control until then

Gives us something to talk about in July. Even you were really struggling to come up with basketball content.

[Sad Din]

When Miami, Fla St and Clemson leave for SEC, look for ACC invite for Dins and Vandy.

Dins response... FU

[apaladin]

Clempson would be stupid to move unless they are forced to by other ACC schools, Yes they could make a few more millions by moving to the SEC but is that worth losing their cake walk to the CFP?

The problem they have is that they need to go undefeated now because their conference is so pitiful. Or they could boost their strength of schedule a little if they stop playing teams like FU. Without going undefeated I’m not sure they will get in over 2 or 3 loss B1G or SEC teams once all the moves are made.

Crrtainly not undefeated. How teams were undefeated entering the CFP the last few years? Virtually every CFP participant had played an FCS team so that hasn’t hurt them or there SOS.

[Furmanoid]

Clempson would be stupid to move unless they are forced to by other ACC schools, Yes they could make a few more millions by moving to the SEC but is that worth losing their cake walk to the CFP?

The problem they have is that they need to go undefeated now because their conference is so pitiful. Or they could boost their strength of schedule a little if they stop playing teams like FU. Without going undefeated I’m not sure they will get in over 2 or 3 loss B1G or SEC teams once all the moves are made.

Crrtainly not undefeated. How teams were undefeated entering the CFP the last few years? Virtually every CFP participant had played an FCS team so that hasn’t hurt them or there SOS.

Past few years are meaningless. If CU loses to somebody like UNC and Auburn loses to Bama and Oklahoma, I know who’s in.