Pac-12 Shakes Up College Basketball with Gonzaga Addition
Gonzaga has officially joined the Pac-12, reshaping college basketball. The Pac-12 isn't done yet. Will the conference reclaim "Power" status?
The Pac-12 realignment is causing chaos in college basketball right now. In the last couple of weeks, San Diego State, Fresno State, Colorado State, Utah State and Boise State announced that they had accepted invitations to join the Pac-12. This left behind quite the hole for the Mountain West, but creating a unique advantage for the Pac-12.
It was no secret that the Pac-12 was looking at Memphis and Tulane for both football and basketball. South Florida was also being mentioned, but that was definitely a longshot given the massive coast-to-coast geographical differences. UT San Antonio was being tossed around as well. Last week, these four teams officially announced that they were going to be staying committed to the American Athletic Conference.
For many fans, it might’ve been a bit of a shocker. You could argue that Memphis made a lot of sense as an addition. However, there’s plenty of baggage right now with the investigation of the Men’s Basketball team, plus the AAC didn’t hold back, placing an outlandish $27.5 million exit fee for any school that leaves the conference. My heart goes out to Gary Parrish.
Following this last week, it was announced that Gonzaga has accepted an invitation to the Pac-12. The kicker here was, the Zags would be receiving a full revenue share contract, despite not being a football participant. There was quite a bit of belief that the Pac-12 wasn’t willing to bite on the full revenue share, however, it appears that they did what it takes to nab one of the top basketball programs in the country. This move also helps elevate the conference towards the “Power” conference title it used to hold. However, Jon Rothstein then said there was no “official agreement” at the time.
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However this week, it was officially announced that Gonzaga had in fact received an offer from the Pac-12 and it was a done deal to take the Zags to the revised conference. The Pac-12 will still have to build on football, but adding Gonzaga immediately elevates their basketball status. There’s no other way to put it, but the Pac-12 is essentially just the Mountain West at this point, however, the Mountain West didn’t have a team like Gonzaga previously. There’s some opportunity here between the Zags and San Diego State to make some special runs within the Pac-12, which now creeps more towards their old stature of a “Power Conference”.
Regardless of the Pac-12’s status, it will still receive 2-4 bids a season in the current state. There are plenty of years for them to improve anymore and for Gonzaga it should have been an easy decision. The mid-major fan in me wanted to always see Gonzaga stay in the WCC, however, this is an opportunity for other schools not named Saint Mary’s to final have a reasonable shot at potentially making the NCAA Tournament from the WCC. On the other side for Gonzaga, Mark Few is going to retire at some point. What if the program retracts? Moving to a conference where they will have better financial standing will inevitably help continue to the dynasty for the Zags.
This has turned into quite the fiasco in college basketball. The WCC is left with a massive whole in Gonzaga, although they still have some great teams in San Francisco & Saint Mary’s, while adding Grand Canyon and Seattle U. The plot thickens though as it was mentioned that the Pac-12 could be eyeing Grand Canyon and Saint Mary’s as another basketball addition. The Mountain West is currently in shambles and is going to be left picking up the pieces. Fortunately, while everyone jumping ship, the conference is receiving millions in funding from the schools leaving. This opens up a plethora of opportunities for the conference to pick up some new pieces. We highlighted some FCS schools in a recent article you can read below. This week, the Mountain West officially added UTEP which was an excellent move to help stop the bleeding while they figure out their next moves.
Mountain West’s Future After Pac-12 Realignment: What’s Next?
After the demise of the Pac-12, it was no secret that the conference wanted to make a return to college sports. The last two members, Oregon State & Washington State headed to the West Coast Conference where the Pac-12 had stated it wanted to retain the two schools and then build around them. That work has begun as Colorado State, San Diego State, Fresn…
This isn’t the last domino to fall and it’s only going to get more chaotic as there is more movement and it’s not going to stop anytime soon. These conferences like the Mountain West that are being poached are going to have to fill the spots, so they are going to have to go to smaller conferences, then those smaller conferences go to DII, DII, or NAIA, and so on. Just one realignment after another.
There is a realistic possibility that the WCC is dismantled next. If the rumors surrounding Grand Canyon and Saint Mary’s are true, the WCC will lose Gonzaga, Grand Canyon, Saint Mary’s, Washington State (Basketball), Oregon State (Basketball), which would most likely lead to San Francisco moving on as well. It’s worth noting that Matt Norlander mentioned that Saint Mary’s has a low possibility.
What’s truly wild about this story is…five of these Pac-12 teams were already in a conference that just a few months ago was celebrating their success leading up to the NCAA Tournament. The two schools that were the “anchor” for the Pac-12 were left behind when the original dismantling of the Pac-12 occurred. This will need to be studied as one of the more wild debacles in college sports for many years to come as the Pac-12 will have spent over $100 million to build…another version of the Mountain West with the addition of the power house in Gonzaga for basketball. Obviously, they aren’t done yet so they could make another splash and help elevate the conference to a Top-6 stature.
With that being said, this is still going to be an excellent conference. Gonzaga with San Diego State have some true potential of building this conference from a basketball perspective. The football product at this point is essentially just the Mountain West and it’s hard to look at that through any other lenses. Is this going to be a “Power Conference”? Most likely no, but we are creeping closer and closer and adding another powerhouse like Gonzaga certainly would make it an intriguing conversation.
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You're right about the football side, but this looks like a really fun basketball conference. I wonder if they decide to go all in on hoops? Either way, they'll need to find an eighth member for football and I don't think Gonzaga has any plans to bring a team back anytime soon