Dribble Handoff: Arizona, UCLA among most impactful college basketball realignment moves for 2024-25 season

Conference realignment arrived on the shores of college basketball’s power-conference structure last season when BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF began their tenures as Big 12 members. Now, a tidal wave of realignment is poised to take hold in the sport’s landscape during the 2024-25 season.

Oklahoma and Texas are now part of the SEC, and the implosion of the Pac-12 splintered members of that conference in four different directions, with the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and WCC each adding new schools. SMU is also moving from the AAC to ACC, and there are a handful of low-major realignment moves taking hold.

The fallout from these moves will be vast as cross-country travel becomes more common, new rivalries form and old rivalries fall by the wayside. A 14-team SEC that was formerly thrilled to receive eight NCAA Tournament bids may now view that as the bare minimum it deserves, while the 18-team Big Ten will seek to send 10 or more representatives to the Big Dance annually.

As a new season approaches and realignment becomes a reality, our writers are using this week’s Dribble Handoff to assess which team’s movement will have the biggest impact.

UCLA to the Big Ten

Arizona is the highest-rated team in my Top 25 And 1 that’s changing leagues this season — but the Big 12 is such a monster with Kansas, Houston, Iowa State and Baylor that the Wildcats are more likely to blend in than pull away from the pack. The Big Ten should be more manageable, though, which is why I believe UCLA has a better chance of making a major impact than any other program joining a new conference.

UCLA is 19th in the Top 25 And 1 — more or less grouped with No. 12 Purdue, No. 15 Ohio State and No. 18 Indiana as the schools I believe are best equipped to win the Big Ten. On paper at least, there’s not much difference in the potential of those four teams. I could easily see them finishing in any order. Combine that with the idea that Mick Cronin should be motivated to bounce back after recording a losing record last season for the first time since 2008, and I’m expecting good things from the Bruins in their first year in a league that still hasn’t produced a national champion since Michigan State won a 64-team NCAA Tournament in 2000. — Gary Parrish

Arizona to the Big 12

If you want one more refresher on what high-major realignment looks like heading into the fall, here are the changes:

Big 12 adds: Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Utah
SEC adds: Oklahoma, Texas
ACC adds: Cal, SMU, Stanford
Big Ten adds: Oregon, Washington, UCLA, USC
WCC adds: Oregon State, Washington State

In men’s basketball, I’d argue that most of these programs aren’t positioned to make significant advancements, due to a variety of factors. I think Oregon State and Washington State might have a soft window to potentially bump up in the WCC, but I need to see it first. 

Arizona is the overwhelming choice here. It has, to me, the best coach in basketball of any school on the list. The geographic switch isn’t that significant, and Arizona’s been a top 10-level team under Tommy Lloyd the past three seasons. Heading into the Big 12 will be a big jump in degree of difficulty, but the Wildcats will claim top-two status in terms of program prestige. They’ll also have a top-three home-court advantage. I’d bottom-line it this way: Which conference feels most improved by the addition of any single one school? The Big 12 getting Arizona, to me, is the obvious choice. — Matt Norlander

Arizona to the Big 12

I’ll echo Norlander’s thoughts here: Arizona to the Big 12 is the No. 1 most impactful alignment event in college hoops this offseason lurking for 2024-25 — and maybe ever. This is an Arizona team that has been ranked in the top five each season under Tommy Lloyd’s watch, twice been ranked inside the AP poll’s top two, and was ranked No. 1 last season for multiple weeks. Since 2021-2022, it has been ranked inside the top-10 of the AP Top 25 poll for 46 weeks — 17 more weeks than two-time champion UConn in that same span. Think about how impressive that is!

This program’s a locomotive with no signs of slowing under Lloyd. His run-and-fun style has recruited well, developed well and amassed 88 wins in three seasons. The postseason failings are the postseason failings — they’re tough to ignore — but this is consistently one of the best teams in college basketball joining a conference that is consistently one of the best in the entire sport. Force, meet immovable object. The top of this league is likely to be indelibly changed by the addition of Arizona for the better and will only strengthen the Big 12’s claim as the strongest conference in college basketball. — Kyle Boone

USC to the Big Ten

USC’s move to the Big Ten, combined with the arrival of coach Eric Musselman, gives the program a chance to push the limits on its historical ceiling to become an elevated national brand. In that way, perhaps no program affected by realignment stands to gain more in the new era. Musselman is the type of dynamic personality that will energize the program, and he’s got a track record that suggests results will come in short order. Andy Enfield won 20 or more games seven times in his final nine seasons and took the Trojans to the 2021 Elite Eight, so it’s not as if he did a poor job. But the Trojans were never better than a No. 6 seed for the Big Dance under his direction, and they were bounced on the first weekend in four of their five tournament appearances during his tenure. Playing in a watered down Pac-12 certainly didn’t help.

Musselman proved himself to be a March maestro during his five-year run at Arkansas, and talent acquisition has never been an issue for the 59-year-old former coach of the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings. Musselman basically pioneered transfer recruiting during his time at Nevada (2015-19) and quickly built a competitive 2024-25 roster upon taking the job. Look for the Trojans to thrive and become a perennial force in the Big Ten under his direction.  — David Cobb

Arizona to the Big 12

I’ll side with Norlander and Boone here. Out of all the realignment moves this offseason, Arizona joining the Big 12 is the most significant on the basketball side. Sure, the SEC is king in football, but the Big 12 is improving in basketball with Arizona’s addition. Tommy Lloyd has rebuilt the Wildcats into a contender, and the program will be pushed to the brink this season when they join the conference. The Big 12 was the biggest player in conference realignment last summer, and adding a program of Arizona’s caliber just solidifies it as the best basketball conference in the country.

When you look at the landscape of the Big 12, there are at least six teams (Arizona, Baylor, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas State and Kansas) that can realistically win the league. Then you have dark horses such as BYU and Texas Tech that could make things interesting. The Big 12 will be the ultimate gauntlet and it’s going to be fun watching it play out on the hardwood. — Cameron Salerno