Andy Katz discusses ramifications on USC, UCLA for college basketball realignment

Having UCLA travel to the Horseshoe, or having USC play at the Big House are just a couple of dream matchups fans never thought were possible. Those dream matches will soon become reality – in more sports than just football.

Following both Pac-12 program’s announcement that they intend to join the Big Ten in 2024, college basketball insider Andy Katz discussed the ramifications the Bruins and Trojans’ moves will cause regarding the future of conference realignments.

“Clearly, the era in realignment has moved on from one state school protecting another,” Katz said. “Back in the ACC when Virginia helped Virginia Tech get into the ACC we all kind of thought that maybe that would happen with other moves. But when Texas and Oklahoma went without state schools in their respective states to the SEC – that was a signal.

“So when UCLA goes to the Big Ten Without Cal – USC is private – but without its fellow UC school in Berkeley, that is a strong sign that each school is out for itself.”

Loyalty, tradition and history mean nothing in the Wild West that is college athletics at this time. 1,500 miles separate the Southern California universities from the nearest Big Ten program, though it seems as though financials are the main reason for the move – but what does that mean for the rest of college athletics?

“What are the next dominoes will clearly everyone wants to know what’s going to happen with Notre Dame,” Katz continued. “Can Notre Dame be an independent in football going forward? Can they get out of the ACC deal? What happens to Washington, Oregon in the Pac-12? … Does the Big 12 Try to gobble up Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah? Or does the Pac-12 reach into the Big-12 part of the country to stay relevant?”

Both the Pac-12 and Big-12 will be nursing the losses of their two historically storied football programs, but at least the Big-12 has a plan. Cincinnati (coming off a College Football Playoff berth), Houston and UCF are all expected to join the conference in 2023, while the Pac-12 hasn’t had time to think of replacement programs this soon after the shocking announcements.

“There’s a lot still to figure out, but this is what we know at this moment here in early July,” Katz said. “The Big Ten got better – it got richer. USC and UCLA are surviving and advancing to a conference that’s got tremendous stability for decades to come.”