FanPost

The Pac-10 Effect On Texas Basketball



With the seemingly inevitable move from the Big 12 to the Pac 10 by Texas and several other Big 12 schools, something that is being overlooked a little bit is the basketball side of the situation.

Does anyone remember how terribly bad the Pac 10 conference was last year in basketball? Pretty much all of the teams were very, very bad, and the conference only sent two teams to the NCAA's (Cal and Washington). With the Big 12 always being competitive, and bringing some of the better teams to the Pac 10, the soon to be Pac 16 should be rejuvenated with basketball talent.

Texas is one of the best programs in the nation. We all know that. We also know that Texas also has a bright future ahead of them, if they continue along the path that they have paved over the last couple of years, bringing in some of the nations top recruits. The same can be said for the rest of the Big 12. They are no slouch when it comes to recruiting.

With the impending move, the Pac 10 will suddenly be one of the best basketball conferences in the nation, besides the Big East. With 16 schools in the conference, at least half of those teams should compete every year for NCAA Tournament births, some years more than half. That was how it was in the Big 12, and it certainly will not be any different in the Pac 10.

But one of the downsides of moving to the Pac 10 is that Kansas will most likely not be coming along for the ride. This means no more rivalries between the two teams. Of course, I could be wrong, and the two schools could schedule yearly out of conference games, to continue the rivalry, but there is no guarantee of this.

Kansas was one of the few schools that challenged Texas for the conference title every year, and are also one of the best teams in the nation. So not playing in the same conference hurts the Longhorns in a way that no new conference can repair, especially since the Pac 10 does not feature any teams that could challenge Texas right away for the conference title.

So with the move to the new conference, it would be an arms race between the new Big 12 schools, and a select few old Pac 10 schools for the title for the short future.

Despite all of this, the Pac 10 does feature some very storied schools that will be back on top very shortly. UCLA basketball will inevitably be back, and even though the great Lute Olson is gone, the Arizona Wildcats should be contenders as well. For now, Washington and California will be in the conversation as well.

But the fact that Kansas will not be battling Texas for the conference title takes out all of the fun for me. While the move will be good/great from a football standpoint, consider the basketball point of view.

There will be less quality teams for Texas to compete with. There will be less in conference rivalries, such as the classic Jayhawks vs. Longhorns.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for the move to the Pac 10, I am just worried about the basketball side of things, and while the Longhorns may find it easier to get into the Tournament for now, how will they fare uin the tourney if they have a cupcake schedule like the Pac 10 featured all of last year for every team in their conference?

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