You can't kill the Pac-12....

Yesterday, the Pac-12 announced that Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State will be joining in 2026. This is a football deal, and Washington State and Oregon State will remain from the old Pac-12, making 6 teams. I guess they need 2 more to keep an auto bid, so watch for other football schools (possibly Cal and Stanford?) to join up.

From a Loyola Basketball standpoint, the Mountain West loses some good hoops programs in SDSU, Boise State, and Colo State-- perhaps weakening the conference behind the A10. If the A10 can look west to get some better non-con games (and win them), then our conference might move into the top non-P5 conference role, and even ahead of the new Pac-(#).

Does it matter? Yes, I think. Football conferences like the MAC, CUSA, and Sun Belt are going to get some pretty good money, but it's all going to be poured back into football. By being on the cusp of the multi-bid conferences, there's still some negotiating power with the Mountain West, WCC, and new Pac-12 to get some quality non-con games.

I'd love to hear everyone else's opinion....

Cal and Stanford already joined the ACC. So unlikely they go back to the conference they just left.

Thinking about it logically. The Pac-12 is going to want schools with some sustained football success at some point in their history. Not to mention they'll have to reach a certain academic standard.

The whole reason Boise State needed to wait this long was because the Pac-12 didn't think the school was strong enough academically to join the conference. Obviously with the Conference now dying they needed to make a change.

But, some schools that immediately come to mind that could fit this new Pac-12:

Utah State
Nevada
Notre Dame (Won't happen but you know they're going to ask)
UTSA
North Texas

From a basketball standpoint. The Mountain West may just lose pretty much all their top schools if Utah State and Nevada leave. Which would basically cripple the conference from an athletic standpoint.

Horrible news for the Mountain West.

This conference is insanely entertaining and one of the top basketball conferences in the country, if looking at basketball-only competition, matchups/rivalries, and bids. Yes, even despite the early-round flameouts. San Diego State is carrying the load - they are elite.

The Mountain West football product is beyond pathetic nowadays. Who stays up late to watch it? Who also stayed up late to watch the Pac12 before its most recent collapse? Just sad they cannot save themselves from this.

UtahST, Nevada, and New Mexico will bail Mountain West next. There goes its basketball entirely.....

All the Mountain West football programs are beyond terrible currently. Have fun with them, Pac 12.....

I do hope this can strengthen the A10 and the way committees will view it from a basketball-quality standpoint, and this won't influence the potential for realignment to affect this conference any further beyond losing Umass...... Umass got destroyed by Buffalo today, so the football move should continue to very go well and be beneficial for them......

Unless Stanford and Cal come back to the fold, to me it’s just a rebranding of the “Mountain West” as the “PAC (instert number here)”

The ACC is much closer to being on the right side of the “Power” line than this Pac12, so Stanford/Cal would really need convincing. It might depend on what happens to the ACC. Florida State is suing to be able to leave. Clemson and Miami have also been rumored to be wanting to jump. This year aside, those are the football power schools of that conference, and if they go then I could see Stanford/Cal jumping back.

As said before, however, I think the more likely scenario in the end is that this is all headed towards the power football schools splitting off completely from the conference model for football, and forming a new structure of 60-70 or so schools. The rest of the sports (including basketball) could then return to a more traditional regional conference structure. Given the immense gap in football driven money, that would be best case scenario for every sport.

I also think Missouri State and UMass are going to regret letting football drive their conference decisions.

I've seen some musings in print that Stanford and Cal want to stay in a West Coast based conference, and are nervous about the shaky legs of some of their new ACC partners. There also might be some issues with exit fees and entrance fees. If Cal and Stanford come back, the "New" Pac 12 will land about where the Mountain West of 2 years ago was, in both hoops and football.

But the Mountain West itself is a crumbling shell in this scenario, especially if Nevada, and Utah State bail. If that happens, the MWC could lose their hoops auto bid by falling under the required number of legacy teams. They might have to poach some Big Sky or Big West teams just to keep their status.

But the thing that is most shocking is the turn of events after the past two years, when the venerable Pac-12-- Conference of Champions, with huge media markets and history-- disintegrated in a two-week period. And then--not long after-- the Mountain West (seen as a potential conference that might join the P5 to replace the Pac-12) falls apart after having shown such promise. The MWC had 10 NCAA bids in the past two seasons, which included a National Runner-Up, a Sweet 16 team, and two Round of 32 teams.

The MWC still has a lot of hoops history and legacies in the fold-- UNLV and Wyoming have won National Championships. New Mexico and Colo St. have great histories and strong programs. But wow--- these are a bunch of self-inflicted wounds. I just can't wrap my head around the fact (?) that MAC, Sun Belt, CUSA, and lower-tier MWC football is so freaking obscenely lucrative that it distorts every other athletic endeavor at every school that fields a football team.

It’s being reported that Gonzaga is leaving for the new Pac12. That’s going to hurt the WCC. It’ll be interesting to see if or how the other schools react. Especially with the Mountain West now also gutted

Edit: Now others are saying there is no agreement. At least not yet. It’s a good old fashioned battle of sources.

Edit, part deux: apparently Memphis, Tulane, and South Florida are now staying in the American and not going to the Pac12. Wild swing of events.