College Football Realignment: Will It Hurt NCAA Basketball?

As even more information begins to reach us regarding college football realignment, all we can do is wonder what collegiate athletics will look like in five years.

I still struggle with the potential outlook for college football.

But what about college basketball? What do these money-hungry athletic programs have in mind for their other money-making sport?

There has to be a plan. Some people believe there isn't and that college basketball is going to lose its value because of college football's larger-than-life ego.

It's a valid question that is impossible to fully answer until all the dust has settled from these pigskin problems.

I'm a believer in the entertainment value of college basketball, and while there are certain aspects that could be affected, college basketball as a whole stands on its own.

I think they'll be just fine.

This Is Nothing New

Syracuse and Pittsburgh are just two of the latest schools to pack up and move conferences as part of the "Collegiate Great Migration."

However, these two schools moving shouldn't surprise anyone. We've seen this many times before. Even this past summer, the Pac-12 and Big Ten added two teams apiece.

In 2003 the Big East was going through problems within their conferences. The result showed three teams leaving the conference for the ACC, while bringing in five teams from Conference USA.

What happened? The Big East became the most powerful basketball conference in the land.

Another example, the current Pacific-12 has had five official names–Pacific Coast Conference, Athletic Association of Western Universities, Pacific-8, Pacific-10 and now Pacific-12.

What I'm saying is, as time goes on, the collegiate landscape changes. It's always been that way.

So, why are we freaking out about it now?

CBS/Turner Sports Television Deal

Money rules everything; it always has in the world of athletics.

With most of the reasoning for football schools moving conferences based on making money, it's no surprise that college basketball is involved in one of the most lucrative sports television deals ever.

In 2010, CBS and the NCAA signed a 14-year, nearly $11 billion television deal that gives CBS Sports and Turner Sports exclusive rights to the 68-team season-ending tournament.

Do you really think that the NCAA would let something happen that had the most remote possibility to diminish the value of something they just invested $11 billion on?

The answer is no.

Fresh Rivalries

Let me get one thing clear, we will NEVER lose Duke-Carolina, no matter what happens with conference realignments. Not even if there's a fire (Step Brothers reference).

That said, think about being able to talk about the new rivalries we can talk about already. Syracuse-North Carolina, Pittsburgh-Duke, potentially bringing in Connecticut and matching them with those two teams.

That's just the ACC.

Moving Texas A&M and maybe Missouri to the SEC could create a couple nice new rivalries in that conference.

Of course there's already Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky and Vanderbilt who fight it out. But how about a Missouri-Vanderbilt, who already play each other in the non-conference.

Maybe a Texas A&M-Kentucky?

The possibilities are endless, and in the end, you never know what will happen.

Either way, this is what super conferences presents.

Overall Scheduling Landscape

Don't ask why I have a picture of Kevin Durant throwing a football for this slide; I just thought it showed a nice juxtaposition between football and basketball.

One of the joys of college basketball is its ability to give us such a great non-conference schedule. Everyone loves seeing North Carolina play Kentucky, or Florida traveling north to play Ohio State. It's one of the things we love about college basketball.

Bringing these big schools together in the same conference essentially gives us this non-conference, tournament-like feel to the entire season.

I keep reverting to the ACC because it's the only thing official right now. Just think how entertaining it would be to see Syracuse, Duke, Carolina and Pittsburgh all play each other twice a year and still having the chance to go on the road and play other elite programs too.

We basically go from having one Big East, to each basketball conference having the Big East feel.

I truly think this could be magical.

March Madness

College basketball's NCAA tournament is the X-factor in all things college sports–especially when being compared to college football.

The college basketball tournament known as March Madness is a one-month excuse for student's grades to drop, accountants to slack off before tax day and friends and family to come together for all-around good sports.

It will never lose it's luster, no matter what college football does.

The NCAA tournament is nothing like college football's postseason. It's a tournament, which means it's largely based on individual performance.

Once in the tournament, you play until you lose and most of the time you're not even playing against a team in your conference.

At that point, conferences essentially become nonexistent.

If the NCAA tournament is the one major thing that college basketball has that college football does not, they do not need to be worried.

The NCAA tournament prides themselves on the idea that getting through a six-game mini-season is what it takes to obtain glory.

Now that is something that college football's "Great Migration" can not touch.