The 2025-26 faculty basketball season will convey a comparatively tame spherical of convention realignment following the mayhem of a 2024-25 marketing campaign marked by high-major upheaval. This time round, with most of the strikes changing into official as of July 1, there are simply 5 faculties on the transfer and no modifications coming to the high-major stage.
Among the many hoops-centric highlights on this 12 months’s realignment is Seattle becoming a member of the the WCC, because the convention briefly expands to 12 basketball groups earlier than Gonzaga departs for the Pac-12 in 2026-27. Oregon State and Washington State shall be becoming a member of the Zags within the reformed Pac-12, that means the upcoming season will even be the second and closing 12 months for the Beavers and Cougars as non permanent WCC hoops members.
These modifications will drop the league again to 9 members, which was its tally in the course of the 2023-24 season. However for now, the WCC will get pleasure from one season as a 12-team league led by a supercharged model within the Zags, who’ve been its bell cow for practically 30 years. Final season was a banner 12 months for the WCC, which completed a record-high No. 7 in KenPom’s convention rankings amid the non permanent additions of Oregon State and Washington State.
Whereas the retention of Saint Mary’s and addition of Seattle solidified the WCC’s future, the upcoming season will mark a swan music of kinds for a longstanding, Gonzaga-oriented model of the convention.
The daybreak of the 2025-26 educational and athletic 12 months additionally brings yet one more new member to the Division I ranks, because the College of New Haven begins its transition from Division II. The Chargers went 12-17 in D-II final season however reached the D-II Elite Eight in 2023.
Different strikes for the 2025-26 are football-centric, as Delaware and Missouri State will be part of Convention USA and start enjoying FBS soccer. UMass can be shifting to the MAC, which marks a downgrade in basketball for the Minutemen. Nevertheless, the MAC supplies a house for the UMass soccer program, which was beforehand impartial.
Convention modifications for 2025-26
Delaware: CAA to CUSA
Missouri State: MVC to CUSA
New Haven: Division II to NEC
Seattle: WAC to WCC
UMass: Atlantic 10 to MAC
Reflecting on final 12 months’s realignment
The mud has settled on a major wave of realignment that permeated faculty hoops within the 2024-25 season. With 10 of the Pac-12’s former members becoming a member of three totally different high-major leagues, brand-name leagues swelled to document numbers.
That led to a document NCAA Match haul of 14 for the SEC, which had its two new members, Oklahoma and Texas, every qualify for the Huge Dance. Nevertheless, life in a brand new league wasn’t straightforward for the Sooners and Longhorns, who every completed 6-12 in SEC play.
Of the 13 high-major faculties that have been of their first season in a brand new convention final season, solely UCLA, SMU and Stanford completed with a greater league profitable share in 2025 than they did in 2024.
Making the transfer
How faculty basketball groups which modified conferences final season fared within the common season and within the NCAA Match (if relevant)
| Faculty | 2023-24 | 2024-25 |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona | Pac-12 (27-9, 15-5 – Candy 16) | Huge 12 (24-13, 14-6 – Candy 16) |
| Arizona State | Pac-12 (14-18, 8-12) | Huge 12 (13-20, 4-16) |
| California | Pac-12 (13-19, Sept. 11) | ACC (14-19, 6-14) |
| Chicago State | Unbiased (13-19) | NEC (4-28, 4-12) |
| Colorado | Pac-12 (26-11, 13-7 – second spherical) | Huge 12 (14-21, 3-17) |
| Kennesaw State | ASUN (15-16, 6-10) | Convention USA (19-14, 10-8) |
| Mercyhurst | DII PSAC (15-16, 11-11) | NEC (15-16, 9-7) |
| Merrimack | NEC (21-12, 13-3) | MAAC (18-15, 14-6) |
| Oklahoma | Huge 12 20-12 (8-10) | SEC (20-14, 6-12 – first spherical) |
| Oregon | Pac-12 (24-12, 12-8 – second spherical) | Huge Ten (25-10, 12-8 – second spherical) |
| Oregon State | Pac-12 (13-19, 5-15) | WCC (20-13, 10-8) |
| Sacred Coronary heart | NEC (16-16, 10-6) | MAAC (15-18, 10-10) |
| SMU | AAC (20-13, 11-7) | ACC (24-11, 13-7) |
| Stanford | Pac-12 (14-18, 8-12) | ACC (21-14, 11-9) |
| Stephen F. Austin | WAC (18-15, 10-10) | Southland (14-17, 7-13) |
| Texas | Huge 12 (21-13, 9-9 – second spherical) | SEC (19-16, 6-12 – First 4) |
| UCLA | Pac-12 (16-17, 10-10) | Huge Ten (23-11, 13-7 – second spherical) |
| USC | Pac-12 (15-18, 8-12) | Huge Ten (17-18, 7-13) |
| Utah | Pac-12 (22-15, Sept. 11) | Huge 12 (16-17, 8-12) |
| UTRGV | WAC (6-25, 2-18) | Southland (16-15, 8-12) |
| Washington | Pac-12 (17-15, Sept. 11) | Huge Ten (13-18, 4-16) |
| Washington State | Pac-12 (25-10, 14-6 – second spherical) | WCC (19-15, 8-10) |
| West Georgia | DII Gulf South (27-6, 19-5) | ASUN (6-25, 4-14) |
Wanting forward on realignment
The 2025-26 season will even mark the ending of a robust period of Mountain West basketball. When the Pac-12 reforms for 2026-27, it will likely be including Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State, San Diego State and Utah State from the MWC. In essence, the Pac-12 shall be siphoning off a large chunk of one of the best basketball manufacturers from the Mountain West and WCC to create a league that ought to function because the strongest within the nation exterior of the high-major construction. Along with these modifications, the Mountain West will add Grand Canyon, Hawaii, UC-Davis and UTEP.