The Pac-12 is down to Washington State and Oregon State after Cal and Stanford left for the ACC
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Hey there, Dan DeKalb for Gonzaga Nation.
00:05 As we head into the weekend,
00:09 not a ton of news in regards to Gonzaga basketball,
00:13 although school for Gonzaga has started,
00:17 individual and group workouts have started.
00:20 Looking forward to hearing some updates
00:23 from some of the assistant coaches on those.
00:26 We're working on planning on getting a number of the players
00:29 in studio here in Spokane to be able to talk about
00:34 their past experiences, their mentors,
00:38 their role models growing up,
00:39 maybe the influences that were on them in their games,
00:43 in their progression of their games growing up,
00:45 their hopes, their goals, their dreams
00:47 for this upcoming season,
00:49 collectively as a team, as well as individually.
00:52 And maybe touch a little bit on NIL and what intrigues them
00:55 or what businesses may intrigue them
00:57 to partner with in Spokane.
00:59 But that will be upcoming on Gonzaga Nation.
01:02 But what I wanted to touch on today
01:05 was more conference realignment news.
01:09 We had a recording with Stu Jackson,
01:12 the WCC commissioner a few days back
01:14 that we'll be releasing very shortly.
01:16 We touched on a number of topics, conference realignment,
01:21 NIL to the brand of Gonzaga, the brand of the WCC,
01:26 the strength of the conference.
01:28 But in regards to the WCC and how they're positioned
01:31 so well, he feels with the member schools.
01:34 Well, you can't say that about the Pac-12 anymore
01:37 because they are down to the Pac-2.
01:40 Stanford and Cal are joining the ACC alongside SMU,
01:45 who I think is a great addition for the league as well.
01:49 SMU would be a better addition than say, Cal and Stanford.
01:53 I don't get that one.
01:55 The travel just becomes even more of a nightmare.
01:58 You know, it's so disappointing to see
02:01 what has become of the Pac-12.
02:03 It started as a year ago or so,
02:05 like we talked about many times with USC
02:07 and UCLA jumping ship to the Big 10.
02:10 And then the last month, you've just seen a downright
02:13 just abandonment of the league.
02:15 So the reason I wanted to touch on this
02:17 is because, you know, Gonzaga fans
02:20 being mostly from Eastern Washington,
02:23 there's a local regional tie in to Washington State.
02:28 And so I wanted to share what my thoughts are
02:30 with the final Pac-2 schools being Oregon State
02:34 and Washington State in regards
02:38 to what their futures look like.
02:39 Well, obviously the Pac-12 is done.
02:42 An iconic brand flushed down the tube
02:45 because of the almighty dollar
02:48 and because of football and the media rights
02:50 and the revenue that it generates.
02:53 It has impacted every other sport.
02:56 I think most of those sports for the negative.
03:00 We'll see how that turns out.
03:01 But I was really holding out hope
03:03 that something would happen in the last month
03:06 where there would have been, say, a name branding
03:10 of say the Pac-West, where the Pac-4 that was left
03:13 in the Mountain West decided to figure out a way to merge
03:17 and create a more powerful conference on the West Coast.
03:21 As it is now, I mean, you look at the WCC,
03:25 they are the premier conference
03:28 in my estimation on the West Coast,
03:30 at least for men's basketball.
03:31 You know, they don't have football,
03:32 so the Mountain West is gonna try to lay claim to that.
03:35 But, you know, in regards to basketball,
03:37 the WCC is the preeminent league.
03:41 So where does that leave Washington State?
03:43 Where does that leave Oregon State?
03:44 I think that they're gonna be moving to the Mountain West.
03:49 I just don't see how they get an invitation from the Big 12.
03:53 The Big 12 has already said they're done,
03:56 they're set with their expansion plans.
03:58 They're gonna sit tight for a couple of years
04:01 and see how their current allotment of schools
04:05 and programs go before they look to add more.
04:08 I don't see the Big 10 being an option
04:12 for the Oregon State Beavers
04:14 or the Washington State Cougars.
04:15 Had those options been there,
04:17 they probably would have jumped at them already.
04:19 I don't see, you know, in another league like the ACC
04:24 jumping at and inviting Stanford and Cal to join them.
04:28 And the reason being, and like it or dislike it,
04:31 it just is what it is, is they're not in media markets.
04:36 You're looking at Corvallis,
04:38 an hour and 40 minutes outside of Portland.
04:40 It's not a major media market.
04:42 Well, you could almost say the same about Oregon
04:44 and going to the Big 10.
04:45 Well, the difference for Oregon
04:48 is they've got that booster money
04:51 that is almost unrivaled through a former alum
04:55 and Nike founder, Phil Knight.
04:57 So they almost have a blank checkbook.
05:00 And you've seen it in their athletic departments,
05:02 their facilities growth in the last 15, 20 years or so,
05:05 everything that they've done there.
05:07 So they're a little bit of an anomaly.
05:09 The University of Washington
05:11 is in a major media market in Seattle.
05:14 So that kind of gives those two schools an upper hand.
05:18 When you look at Washington State and Pullman,
05:20 you know, they are even further from a media market
05:25 than Oregon State being from Portland.
05:28 You know, Gonzaga and Spokane is a media market,
05:33 but it is not a big media market.
05:35 And it doesn't drive a lot of eyeballs in traffic
05:39 other than Gonzaga men's basketball.
05:41 So for Washington State being that
05:43 they are also isolated and in a college town,
05:46 that has really hurt them.
05:48 Now you could say, well, what about the Big 12?
05:50 If you look at the Big 12,
05:51 a lot of those schools are in college towns.
05:54 No, and I don't disagree with you.
05:56 You know, you're talking about Ames, Iowa with Iowa State.
05:59 You're talking about Stillwater, Oklahoma.
06:01 You're talking about, you know,
06:03 some of these, you know, college towns.
06:07 Well, the difference is, you know,
06:09 Dallas might be an hour and 10 minutes
06:11 possibly from one of these campuses.
06:15 You know, you're looking at a concentration
06:18 of bigger cities closer to those campuses
06:23 than you are looking at Pullman to, you know,
06:27 a major media market such as a Seattle.
06:29 You know, I think this is,
06:30 it's frustrating and it's disappointing.
06:32 And, you know, I'm not a Washington State Cougar fan per se.
06:37 I'm not an alumni, but it really bugs me
06:40 because the Cougar faithful is exactly that.
06:44 They're faithful almost to a fault sometimes
06:47 with their sports.
06:48 You know, they really get behind
06:49 and pull for the Cougar basketball team when they're good.
06:53 And I think Kyle Smith has done a really good job
06:56 over the last few years, and hopefully, you know,
06:58 they can pull for him this upcoming season
07:01 and continue to increase those attendance numbers.
07:06 The football team, you know,
07:08 has gotten tremendous support over the years.
07:10 So I think it's, for me, when I look at it,
07:13 it's a disappointment in the fact
07:14 that the Pac-12 broke up,
07:16 and it's a concern for what Oregon State
07:18 and Washington State are gonna do.
07:20 So again, back to what I think they're gonna do,
07:22 I would imagine and I would expect both of those two teams,
07:25 those programs to join the Mountain West.
07:29 I know Oregon State has met with the Mountain West,
07:33 Mountain West's commissioner, Gloria Navarez,
07:36 who used to be the WCC commissioner,
07:38 is actually going to be in Colorado
07:41 at the Colorado State game
07:44 where they're hosting Washington State.
07:46 So I'm sure, I would imagine there's gonna be
07:48 a little bit of opportunity for the powers that be
07:53 or some influential powers of Washington State
07:56 to meet with Gloria,
07:58 and who knows how far those conversations
08:00 have already occurred,
08:01 'cause I'm sure they've already been happening.
08:03 But I would just imagine that those two schools
08:06 moved to the Mountain West, I think it makes the most sense.
08:08 When you look at the footprint of the Mountain West
08:10 and some of those other schools,
08:12 you've got some state schools,
08:14 and you've got some schools that are in
08:18 what you would call college towns,
08:20 Laramie, Wyoming, for example, with University of Wyoming,
08:23 Fort Collins with Colorado State.
08:26 So I think you're gonna find a good,
08:31 I don't wanna call it a backup plan,
08:34 but I think you're gonna find a good home
08:36 for those two schools in the Mountain West,
08:38 'cause I really don't see anything else happening
08:42 in regards to conference realignment
08:44 with the near future for anybody.
08:46 So that would be my guess
08:49 that they moved to the Mountain West,
08:50 the Big West, the Big Sky,
08:52 none of those conferences make any kind of sense.
08:56 I don't think it makes sense for the WCC
08:59 to add those two state schools.
09:01 Now I could be mistaken,
09:03 and if that were the case, that would be interesting,
09:06 because I think you've got two basketball programs,
09:09 and the problem is because those schools have football.
09:11 But with the other sports,
09:12 and in particular with my focus on basketball,
09:14 it could work and it could be interesting.
09:17 Oregon State, a couple of years back,
09:18 they were in the Elite Eight,
09:19 so they would add a little bit of credibility to the league.
09:23 Washington State has knocked on the door
09:26 of the NCAA tournament the last two years.
09:28 They just haven't made it.
09:30 So that's something to keep an eye on,
09:33 but I don't think that'll happen.
09:34 I would expect to hear news in the near future
09:38 that Oregon State and Washington State
09:40 will be going to the Mountain West.
09:42 But disappointing news for anybody
09:44 that has been a part of or been a fan of the Pac-10,
09:48 the Pac-12, whatever time frame
09:52 you've been a part of the league,
09:53 disappointing news over the last month or so,
09:56 and even more disappointing news today
09:58 in regards to Cal and Stanford going to the ACC.
10:02 So for Gonzaga Nation, thanks for listening.
10:05 Don't forget to like, subscribe, review,
10:07 and also tons of content is coming up
10:11 in regards to men's basketball
10:13 now that the season is really right around the corner.