In the first real materialization stemming from the constant talk about conference realignment over the past couple of sports betting bonus months, the SEC officially welcomed the Texas A&M Aggies as its 13^th member team on Monday. As the first program to be added to the SEC since South Carolina and Arkansas joined the conference back in 1992, the Aggies will leave Big 12 play as the only likely transfer before the 2011-12 college basketball season gets underway. According to SEC commissioner Mike Silve, the conference wasn’t looking to aggressively expand but A&M was simply too attractive of an option to ignore.

While the effects that the sports betting decision will have on the football aspect of the move are considerable, it will be interesting to see how the basketball landscape is affected this coming season. The Aggies finished third in the Big 12 a year ago behind the Kansas Jayhawks and Texas Longhorns with a 24-9 record overall, and they could be contenders in an SEC basketball conference that lacked major talent behind the Kentucky Wildcats and Florida Gators. While the move will make it much tougher on the football program to compete for a top-25 ranking, it should give Texas A&M basketball program more of chance to display their fishing talents on the national stage. With the season right around the corner and the NBA still far away from getting a deal done the spotlight will be on college basketball this fall, and now it’s up to the Aggies to prove their merit in the SEC.