Big South/SoCon Challenge announced

By Jacob Conley (@gwujake)

The Big South and Southern Conference has always featured regional rivals that play each other on a regular basis.

Now, there are even more bragging rights on the line, because the two conferences recently announced a scheduling alliance for both men’s and women’s basketball programs beginning in the 2026-2027 season.

Functionally, it will operate much like the ACC/SEC challenge, except this scheduling alliance will feature a home-and-home series between two teams during the non-conference portion of the schedule.

“This scheduling alliance underscores our continued commitment to strengthening basketball in the Big South Conference,” Big South commissioner Sherika Montgomery said in a release. “Our basketball coaches and directors of athletics were united in the need for an intentional scheduling approach, one that balances competitive excellence with regional relevance. The partnership with the Southern Conference enhances competitive opportunities, preserves regional rivalries, and delivers quality home games that strengthen the Big South’s basketball profile while enriching the experience for student-athletes and fans alike. This forward-looking initiative represents a strategic approach to scheduling and positions both conferences to further elevate their basketball profiles and competitive impact.”

On the men’s side, matchups for the inaugural event will be held November 17-21, 2026. In order to ensure the most competitive matchups, the games will be determined by analytics, mainly NET rankings, after the transfer portal closes on May 31.

"Our athletic directors and basketball coaches continue to be proactive in addressing one of college basketball's most persistent challenges, Division I non-conference scheduling,” SoCon commissioner Michael Cross said. “This alliance with the Big South reflects a shared commitment to providing our student-athletes with competitive, geographically aligned scheduling opportunities that strengthen our programs and give fans the quality matchups they seek. By partnering with the Big South, we're taking a proactive approach to solving scheduling problems while creating games that will generate excitement across both leagues. This is exactly the kind of collaborative solution basketball needs and we’re looking forward to a long-standing partnership."

Coaches in both conferences eagerly anticipate facing off with one another regularly.

“I love the idea of the SoCon/Big South Challenge,” Gardner-Webb head coach Jeremy Luther said. “It makes sense with the proximity of all the schools. We have a lot of built in rivalries. I am look forward to seeing the matchups once they released!!! I hope we can keep this scheduling alliance for years to come.”

Western Carolina head coach Tim Craft says the event will boost already strong rivalries.

“The SoCon/Big South scheduling alliance is a good way for schools from both leagues to get regional home and home series,” he said. “It is exciting.”

JAKE’S TAKE

Like Coach Luther, I love this idea and have been advocating for it for years. The ACC/SEC Challenge is one of my favorite events in the college basketball calendar. It not only gives fans bragging rights over friends and neighbors when their team wins, you also have quantifiable proof of which conference is better. For those wondering, the Big South is 9-4 against the SoCon in matchups this season. Then you have potential dream matchups like Gardner-Webb vs. Western Carolina, which would feature Tim Craft against his former Runnin’ Bulldogs program. Both those fan bases know at least one person who went to the other school and in some cases, they attended both.

That doesn’t even account for the matchup of Luther versus Craft. The subplot of two childhood friends who were on the same staff together for 11 years, suddenly facing off on opposite sidelines? That’s the kind of subplot that fans and journalists dream about. If it were at a Power 5 program, College GameDay would be there and Dick Vitale would likely be on the call. I sincerely hope the basketball gods and the analytics do us all a favor and make it happen.