It would be misleading and deceitful to imply that conference realignment is about anything other than money (though that hasn’t stopped conference commissioners and university presidents), or that basketball is at the forefront of presidents’ minds when moves are made. But regardless of the motives behind the seismic moves that have taken place across the college athletics landscape over the last handful of years, fans of all the involved schools and of all relevant sports must adjust to the changes. With the swiftly breaking news of Maryland and Rutgers set to join the Big Ten for the 2014-15 school year, here are a few of the basketball implications of the realignment and the likely 14-team Big Ten:

We can only hope Maryland joining the Big Ten will provide us with a few more classics like this game from the 2010 NCAA Tournament.

• Schedule Changes — With two more teams added to the mix, you can expect that the already-diluted conference basketball schedule will become even more so. As it stands now with 12 Big Ten teams, each school plays 18 conference games. That means each school plays four other conference schools only once, and seven teams twice. If the conference keeps an 18-game conference schedule, under the new 14-team format, each school would then play more fellow Big Ten schools only once and fewer teams twice. What that means: fewer rivalry games and marquee match-ups will be played on an even-keel home-and-home basis, also leaving room for an unbalanced conference schedule across the board. When that’s the case, regular season championships carry less value if teams don’t have a consistent conference slate from top to bottom.

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Brendon Mulvihill is the head curator for @SportsGawker and an RTC contributor. You can find him @TheMulv on Twitter. See bottom of the post for the Official RTC Star System.

Thanksgiving week, otherwise known as “Feast Week” for college hoops fans tuning into ESPN, provides us a bunch of viewing options while we gorge ourselves with turkey and stuffing. Several of the higher profile preseason tournaments get going or finish up this week including the Maui Invitational, the NIT Tip-Off, and the Battle 4 Atlantis. While we don’t know all the potential match-ups in those tourneys just yet, you can be sure there will be some great games. We’ll take a look today at the first round games for a few of the tournaments but definitely tune into the later rounds as they progress. Let’s get to the breakdowns.

Game of the Week

#5 Michigan vs. Pittsburgh (PNIT Semifinals) – 9:30 PM EST, Wednesday on ESPN HD (****)

The battle between Michigan’s Trey Burke (above) and Pitt’s Tray Woodall could be the best point guard match-up we see all season(AP)

• The battle between Pittsburgh’s Tray Woodall and Michigan’s Trey Burke at the point guard position could be one of the best we see all season. Woodall is averaging 14 points and seven assists through four games this season and shooting a fantastic 57.1% from inside the arc. Burke is averaging 18 points and eight assists through three games and is also shooting 57% from inside the arc. There are two areas to keep an eye on as these two battle throughout the night – turnovers and three-point shooting. Burke is turning the ball over at a slightly higher rate than Woodall – 20% vs. 15%. While both are excellent distributors of the basketball, the player who wins the defensive battle and can create more turnovers will give his team a huge advantage. Additionally, Burke is extending defenses with his 43.8% shooting from downtown. His ability to continue to hit threes against a Pitt team that has shown weakness against perimeter shooting will be vital to a Michigan victory — particularly so if Michigan wants to free up space on the inside for its frontcourt.
• Speaking of the frontcourt battle, Michigan’s Glenn Robinson III, Mitch McGary, Jordan Morgan, and Jon Horford finally give coach John Beilein some rebounding to go along with his penchant for the outside shot. Michigan has been a three-point heavy squad with very little rebounding support under Beilein. With the additions of McGary and Robinson, the Wolverines can go big and hit the offensive boards hard should their outside shooting go cold. They are going to need it because the Panthers bring their own talented frontcourt to the party in Talib Zanna, J.J. Moore, and 7’0” freshman center Steven Adams. Offensive rebounding will be a huge factor in this game. Michigan is only allowing opponents to grab 14% of their offensive rebounding opportunities, good for third in the nation. They face a much tougher Pitt frontline however whose offensive rebounding rate is sixteenth in the nation at 46%. Something has to give.
• Given the great match-ups we are going to see in this game, it should be a close one in Madison Square Garden. The difference could be Michigan’s outside shooting. The Wolverines are currently hitting 49% of their three-point attempts. Outside pressure can come from Burke, Tim Hardaway Jr., freshman Nick Stauskas, and even Robinson. If Jamie Dixon’s squad can improve its perimeter defense and get Adams more involved in the offense, they will have a chance to take down the Wolverines. Otherwise, U of M will walk out of the Garden with a victory.

Six Other Games to Watch This Week

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Nick Fasulo is an RTC correspondent who writes the column College Basketball By the Tweets, a look at the world of college hoops through the prism of everyone’s favorite social media platform. You can find him on Twitter @nickfasuloSBN.

Aside from a great night of hoops at the Champions Classic, week two of the college basketball season was fairly tame, as hungry fans await the always entertaining Feast Week. There’s been a of talk lately about how college basketball is an eroding sport, but don’t tell that to Tim Brando, who was giving his undivided attention to the Champions Classic on Tuesday night.

https://twitter.com/TimBrando/status/268512307582226433

And Brando couldn’t be any more spot on, as the now annual event did not disappoint last Tuesday. Michigan State snuck past Kansas due to great late game execution on offense, while Duke’s experience was too much for Kentucky’s youth. A fantastic four hours of hoops.

Calipari, Duke & Flopping

The incident that sparked the most witty tweets this week? That would unquestionably be John Calipari‘s public indictment of Duke’s uncanny ability to flop around the basket. Cal dropped the zinger to Andy Katz while heading into the locker room at half time, when the Wildcats trailed the Blue Devils by two.

The tweets came in droves…

https://twitter.com/Mengus22/status/268557963688570880
https://twitter.com/BH_Orange44/status/268560524336324608
https://twitter.com/DanWolken/status/268562089164034049

Never one to back down, Coach K did not shy away from offering a response to Calipari during his post-game press conference.

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1. Last year, the Pac-12 didn’t have a win over a ranked opponent all year. This past weekend, the Colorado Buffaloes managed to get that victory for the Pac-12 very early in the season. The Buffaloes beat the No. 16 Baylor Bears in the Charleston Classic before taking down the Murray State Racers in the final yesterday. Colorado’s Charleston Classic Title is the first step in proving that the Pac-12 is back, but also a step in the continued evolution of the Colorado program. They were able to beat Dayton, Baylor, and Murray State in the tournament, which will bode well for them come Selection Sunday when the committee is evaluating whether they should be in the field of 68. Sophomore guard Askia Booker was named the tournament’s most outstanding player after pouring in 58 points over the course of the weekend, leading his team in scoring in each game.
2. What won’t help the Pac-12 is what Stanford did last night, losing a home non-conference game to the Belmont Bruins. Belmont is an experienced team that has gone 57-13 over the last two seasons, but this was supposed to be a win for Stanford in that it was played at Maples Pavillion. But, Dwight Powell got into foul trouble and the team continued to struggle from deep, hitting just two-of-19 three-pointers over the course of the night, making the Cardinal a miserable eight-of-50 from deep in their last three games. And things aren’t going to get any easier as the team heads to the Bahamas this week to take part in the Battle 4 Atlantis, with their opening game coming against Missouri. This was supposed to be Stanford’s year to return itself back to the top of the Pac-12 and losing at home non-conference game to a mid-major doesn’t help Johnny Dawkins. These are the type of games Dawkins needs to win to prove he is the right long-term coach for the Cardinal.
3. UCLA‘s highly touted freshman Shabazz Muhammad will finally see his first action tonight in the Legends Classic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The Bruins looked sharp in their last game against James Madison, as they won 100-70 but will now face their toughest opponent this year, the Georgetown Hoyas. Muhammad should start in this game, but it will be interesting to see how he fares on the court and how many minutes he’ll get with freshman Jordan Adams and sophomore Norman Powell also looking for time. However, with Muhammad now fully back, the Bruins are a much better team and if they beat Georgetown, the final of the Classic on Tuesday night could represent a potential NCAA title game preview in setting the Bruins up against the #1 Indiana Hoosiers.
4. Although the Oregon State Beavers were able to beat the Purdue Boilermakers 66-58 Friday night in the 2k Sports Classic, they were unable to play with Angus Brandt for the entire game as he injured his knee during the second half . He was unable to walk off the court without help and word came down yesterday that his injury would keep him out for the rest of the year. Brandt was averaging 11.3 PPG and 8.5 RPG this season after he was able to provide 9.1 PPG and 3.4 RPG last year for the Beavers. Craig Robinson’s team will sorely miss Brandt and his presence as it’s hard to replace a big man of Brandt’s size and skill, but at least the Beavers have big guys Devon Collier, Eric Moreland and Joe Burton ready to pick up the slack in Brandt’s absence. Expect Collier to regain the starting spot he had last season after exploding for a career-high 27 points and 14 boards in the third-place 2kSports game in New York.
5. Top ten recruit Aaron Gordon cut his list of schools down to three this past weekend, including a pair of Pac-12 schools, Washington and Arizona. However, the other school in Gordon’s three is Kentucky and it’s hard to bet against John Calipari when he wants a recruit. Still, with Aaron Gordon having ties to the West Coast, there’s a good chance he could end up in Seattle or Tucson. Scouts say Gordon has an NBA future and if Gordon were to land in the Pac-12, it would be great for the conference to continue its attempt of getting back to being a dominant conference in college basketball.

Brian Goodman is an editor and contributing writer to RTC.

The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame enshrined its seventh class of inductees Sunday night in Kansas City, paying tribute to 10 players, coaches and contributors who helped shape the game we all love into what it is today. Georgetown legend Patrick Ewing led the star-studded group, which also included Kansas great Clyde Lovellette, North Carolina‘s Phil Ford, Kenny Sailors of Wyoming, Earl “The Pearl” Monroe of Winston-Salem State and another Knicks great, Willis Reed. In addition, former coaches Joe. B Hall of Kentucky and Dave Robbins of Virginia Union were honored as well as contributors Joe Dean and Jim Host.

Patrick Ewing

Patrick Ewing led the Hoyas to three straight NCAA Tournament final appearances and captured the 1984 title. (SI Photo/A. Hayt)

You Might Know Him As… A lockdown defender who brought Hoya Paranoia to Washington and one of the best centers the game has ever known. Despite not picking up a ball until he was 12 years old, Ewing flourished under John Thompson. To this day, Ewing remains the school’s all-time leader in blocks, rebounds and games played. The dominant center was a mainstay of the Hoyas for four memorable seasons, including Georgetown’s 1984 title run. He went on to win two gold medals for Team USA and was an 11-time all-star with the New York Knicks.

Quotable: “I chose Georgetown because of Coach Thompson. (He) was a great man and afforded me the opportunity to come in as a boy and leave as a man.”

Phil Ford

You Might Know Him As… One of the most beloved players in North Carolina basketball history. Ford was the first freshman to start the first game of his career in Chapel Hill, and by the time his collegiate career ended, Ford would rack up three All-America selections and capture the 1977 Wooden Award along with consensus Player of the Year honors. Until he was overtaken by Tyler Hansbrough in 2009, Ford was UNC’s all-time leading scorer and a master of Smith’s “Four Corners” offense.

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1. Rick Barnes will just need to stay patient with Myck Kabongo, it appears. The star point guard has traveled with the team to Hawaii for this week’s Maui Invitational, but the NCAA has not yet deemed him eligible to play. The Longhorns have looked lost offensively without Kabongo, and they can’t afford for him to stay on the bench much longer. They should be able to dispatch of Chaminade and, truthfully, either Illinois or USC in the semifinals, but this team can’t get off the island with a championship if Kabongo’s not playing. Here’s the funny thing about all of this — technically, according to that article linked above, there’s nothing necessarily preventing Kabongo from playing right now. It’s just that if he plays and the NCAA eventually finds him ineligible due to his relationship with an agent, Texas would have to forfeit every game he appeared in. As if there’s a chance in the world Barnes would risk that.
2. Even before Oklahoma State’s thrashing of North Carolina State in the finals of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, The Oklahoman published this piece about Le’Bryan Nash‘s maturity and improved play so far this season. Then he lit up the Wolfpack for 23 points, and his team looked immortal during the final two days of this three-day tournament. It’s obvious that some of us — like myself, who said in a preseason podcast I had serious doubts about Oklahoma State’s potential — might have been, um, dead wrong about Nash and the Cowboys. It’s early, sure, but everything’s coming together perfectly for Travis Ford. Nash looks like he gets it. Marcus Smart can play the point. His high school buddy Phil Forte really is one of the top shooters in his freshman class. There’s no telling how long the Cowboys may ride this wave of momentum from Puerto Rico.
3. It’s hard to be TCU. New league, new opponents, new era, and on top of that, Trent Johnson is really in rebuilding mode with this program right now. That’s why losing Amric Fields, the Mountain West Sixth Man of the Year last season, hurts so much. The Star-Telegram claims Fields is probably out for the season, which means he’ll join freshman center Aaron Durley on the walking wounded list (Durley’s also out for the year). Luckily, the Horned Frogs do have a lot of bodies up front still, even if they’re largely unproven. Nobody said Trent Johnson’s new job was going to be very easy.
4. TCU lost Fields in the midst of a loss to in-state rival SMU. That’s Larry Brown’s new team, of course, and here’s an interesting analysis as to how TCU and SMU differ in their approaches to rebuilding. It’s not as though Trent Johnson is some sort of up-and-comer as a coach. He’s taken three separate programs to the NCAA Tournament and established himself as one of the game’s better coaches during his tenures at Nevada and Stanford. He’s no Larry Brown, however. Nobody is. And that’s why this article is a good read, no matter if you live in TCU/SMU territory in Texas or 1,000 miles away in another part of the country. These two programs both needed a bold move, and they took different paths to achieve it.
5. Bruce Weber may not have the same sort of talent that Bill Snyder has on his football team, but he says he loves his depth so far. He has a point. Outside of Rodney McGruder and perhaps Jordan Henriquez, the rest of the rotation is mostly interchangeable. There are just solid players up and down the roster at every position. Right now, the Wildcats have 11 players averaging between 16-24 minutes per game. That will obviously change as the season progresses, but even against early cupcakes, that’s quite staggering.

On paper, the match-up between North Carolina State and Oklahoma State seemed to favor the Wolfpack. NC State has a one of the best rebounders in the country in Richard Howell while C.J. Leslie can, at times, be relentless on the glass. Meanwhile, the Cowboys were one of the worst rebounding teams in the nation last year. The math seemed simple: Even given an off-shooting night, NC State would win the battle of the boards. Even moving beyond the frontcourt, NC State’s cast of skilled veterans and talented rookies was supposed to make this team the easy favorite in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. Yet when the final buzzer sounded, the Wolfpack was a 20-point loser to the Cowboys. What went wrong?

Mark Gottfried Has to Deal With Expectations Now…

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Richard Howell and C.J. Leslie failed to make an impact on the game because they were hampered by foul trouble. The two talented players couldn’t stay on the court because of the relentless interior attack of Oklahoma State. Both players fouled out, with Howell tallying 16 minutes and Leslie managing 17. With those two gone, the Wolfpack lost their advantage in rebounding and ultimately ended up with only 27 rebounds to the Cowboys’ 42. By nullifying NC State’s clearest plus, Travis Ford’s team opened the door for an upset.

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1. Conference realignment is a hot topic again, but this time the focus is squarely on the Big Ten. The conference reportedly is interested in expanding to the east coast markets, specifically targeting Maryland and Rutgers to become a 14-team league. University officials at Maryland may make a decision as early as early this week on whether to apply for admission in the B1G. Maryland will have to pay approximately $50 Million if it chooses to leave the ACC, and if Maryland leaves its conference, it is likely that Rutgers will follow suit from the Big East. From a basketball perspective, the Terps would make an excellent addition to the Big Ten.
2. ESPN is putting Bobby Knight in some tough situations during this year’s broadcasting schedule. First, he called a Kentucky game, and now he is scheduled to call an Indiana game. Knight will call the IU game against Georgia with Dan Shulman on Monday’s ESPN telecast . It is well settled that Knight has not associated himself with the Hoosiers since he was fired over a decade ago but he will have to cross paths with the university now. The broadcast will likely be oriented around the game as usual and there might not be much else to this event except for Knight being around thousands of vocal Hoosiers fans during the game.
3. Coming into this season, Illinois head coach John Groce has expressed his concerns about the guard play on the Illini roster. Despite depth at the guard position, he was not sure if there was a true point guard fit to run his up-tempo offense without turning the ball over. After three games, Tracy Abrams is doing a great job at that position but Groce has bigger issues with his big men. The Illini were outrebounded by 20 by Hawaii on the road on Friday night, and it took a buzzer beater by D.J. Richardson to win the game. Nnanna Egwu and Sam McLaurin will continue to be a focal point as opponents will try to dominate the Illini in the paint and this could be a concern for Groce as the season goes on.
4. Speaking of big men, Michigan State freshman forward Matt Costello played for about 11 minutes against Texas Southern and that was enough to impress coach Tom Izzo. Costello injured his back during an exhibition game and had not seen any playing time until Michigan State’s home opener over the weekend. Freshman guards Gary Harris and Denzel Valentine have already shown their abilities but Costello may provide some valuable minute for Izzo off the bench to complement Derrick Nix. He averaged 25.1 PPG and 19.1 RPG in high school but understands that he needs to be patient throughout this year and hopes to constantly improve his game to earn more minutes on the floor.
5. Ohio State’s Deshaun Thomas is doing everything he promised so far this season. He scored a career high 31 points against Washington as the Buckeyes beat the Huskies 77-66 on Sunday. But Thad Matta knows that his team needs a “third guy” on offense in addition to Thomas and Aaron Craft who can consistently contribute. Lenzelle Smith Jr. was supposed to be that third option but he did not score a single point on Sunday. Matta understands that there will be certain days when Craft or Smith won’t be effective so he needs a couple of the sophomores to step up in order to achieve their long-term goals. Amir Williams and Laquinton Ross may be able to provide that spark over time — Williams is more effective defensively but Ross has the offensive skills to contribute 8-10 PPG for the Buckeyes.

1. Florida’s Scotty Wilbekin was reinstated for Sunday’s game against Middle Tennessee State after missing the first three games of the season because of a suspension. Billy Donovan felt that Wilbekin had suffered enough, though both still refuse to cite the reason the point guard was suspended. “I think he certainly paid the price of missing three games, three pretty big games to start his junior season,” Donovan said. “I think he missed out on the opportunity to play on the ship (versus Georgetown), and then the home opener against Alabama State and then playing the other night against Wisconsin. I think he has definitely paid the price.” In Wilbekin’s return, he came off the bench to add eight points, three rebounds, and three assists in the Gators’ 66-45 victory.
2. Prior to playing the Blue Raiders on Sunday, The Gators were impressive in a 74-56 win over Wisconsin on Wednesday. Winning by 18 over a Top 25 team shouldn’t draw many complaints, but Donovan had one area of concern. After a full season of struggling to get the ball to center Patric Young in 2011-12, Florida is still struggling to feed the post again this year. Donovan said many of Florida’s 12 first half turnovers were because of poor passes down low. “We’ve got to do a better job in practice,” Donovan said. “We’ve got to work on that because there are times Patric has got great post position and we are not getting him the ball and then we did throw it, we turn the ball over.” In looking at this situation another way, Young also contributed five of the Gators’ 20 turnovers in the contest. If Florida’s guards get the big man the ball, he needs to take better care of it.
3. In an impressive 77-55 win over Villanova over the weekend, Alabama again showed that its three-point struggles from a season ago may be a thing of the past. In 2011-12, the Crimson Tide shot just 28 percent from beyond the arc, but are knocking them down at above a 40 percent rate in four games this year. In fact, against Villanova the Tide shot better from behind the three point line (9-15 for 60%) than they did at the charity stripe (18-31 for 58.1%). Sophomore Trevor Lacey, who already has a game-winning three-pointer on his resume this season, has been the most consistent shooter connecting on 11-of-18 (61%) from downtown. If the Tide can continue to shoot their way through the schedule, Anthony Grant’s 2-3 zone can keep Alabama in almost any game.
4. Speaking of lights-out three-point shooting, Kentucky’s Kyle Wiltjer has been on fire behind the arc. Wiltjer knocked down a career-high seven three pointers on Friday night against Lafayette, after struggling to score just five points against Duke in the previous game. After watching his forward’s shots taken away by the Blue Devils, head coach John Calipari issued him a challenge. “He has to work hard to create the shot before he catches,” Calipari said. “If he doesn’t, I’m going to play Willie (Cauley-Stein). That’s just how it is. I’m telling you what I told him. If you don’t work hard to create space and a shot for yourself — before you catch the ball, and I’m watching, you’re out. So (Friday) what he did, he is personally in the second half, he saw gaps, erased to those gaps and guys found him also, and he made shots.” Obviously, Wiltjer could be a huge difference maker in Kentucky’s offensive game plan if he does the work to become a major part of it.
5. Tennessee coach Cuonzo Martin didn’t panic after Tennessee made a startlingly low 13 field goals in a loss to Oklahoma State on Friday. It is November, after all. “It’s early and that was just one of those days,” Martin said. And one of Martin’s starting forwards, Jeronne Maymon, is sidelined with a knee injury meaning the coach is looking for answers. “We make subtle adjustments as a staff to better suit our personnel and help those guys grow and get better in those roles. Now, all the sudden those guys are playing more minutes. You’ve got to identify your bench and rotations and the guys have to make basketball plays.” Of course, Martin’s relaxed nature paid off as the Volunteers rebounded to beat Massachusetts 83-69 on Sunday behind a career-high 24 points from Jarnell Stokes.

1. Raleigh News & Observer: After several months of beating his drum, Dan Kane finally found a whistleblower from the North Carolina athletic support staff. Mary Willingham is the first named source to come out and directly say that plagiarism was tolerated by the tutors and professors in many no-show classes at UNC. A witness has been the missing piece to this story, and Willingham’s criticism is damning to say the least. She alleges special treatment for revenue sport athletes, both in terms of admissions and questionable classes. Willingham’s comments will take some further dissection but do not look good for the school at first reading.
2. ESPN: The biggest news over the weekend was the bombshell dropped out of College Park when sources within the athletic department told ESPN that Maryland is far enough along in negotiations to join the Big Ten (along with Rutgers) and that an official announcement could come as soon as later today. This makes the ACC’s recent addition of Notre Dame even more important, though it could also spark additional expansion moves (does Connecticut become an ACC target?). By switching leagues, Maryland would likely see a significant boost in television profits in the long run, but the recently increased $50 million dollar ACC buyout could cripple an athletic department already in the red in the short term.
3. Washington Post (pro and con): Two Maryland legends spoke out for and against the Terps’ potential move to the Big Ten. Gary Williams is all for the move despite supporting the ACC throughout all the expansion rumors. It should be noted that Williams serves as assistant to the athletic director, so it may color his opinion a little (though Williams was never scared to speak his mind before this). He cited the increased television revenue and hinted at a lack of respect from the ACC (noting the conference tournament was only hosted in Washington, DC, once in his 22 years). Len Elmore on the other hand fought for tradition: “Anything that’s driven solely by dollars, it’ll turn out badly.” Elmore took some shots at Maryland’s president and athletic director for not having Maryland pride. Expect more from us here at the ACC microsite on the potential move today.
4. Wilmington Star News: NC State’s Debbie Yow earned herself an extension with increased supplemental compensation. Yow’s new deal runs through June 2017 and is a direct result of a successful coaching search (in hindsight at least) and the steady improvement that the Wolfpack’s athletic teams have seen under her tenure –most prominently, on the basketball court. Yow will continue making $354,000 a year with an extra $150,000 in supplemental earnings and an enhanced bonus structure going forward.
5. Hampton Roads Daily Press: David Teel sat down with John Swofford to talk all things ACC. The majority of the interview is covered in his excellent profile, which ran Sunday. But the extras are also worth reading, especially Swofford’s optimism on merging the Notre Dame and ACC football deals in the near future. He also talked briefly about working above Dean Smith at North Carolina and the ongoing scandal in Chapel Hill.