TKthunder wrote:
Boise, Hawaii football, Gonzaga non football, and Nevada are all solid schools so they likely get invited too.
So the current MWC plus BYU/Gonzaga and without Wyoming, San Jose St, Utah St, Fresno St (and I’d bet 2 of those 4 would still be invited), plus whoever else they add. Seems like a dumb plan when the point is simply to kick out Utah State and another random school BYU doesn’t like.
School #8 might be Nevada, if they can sustain that basketball success.
BYU, Boise State, Gonzaga are obvious.
Air Force is a national presence, never mind the athletics.
Hawai’i seems to like their arrangement, BYU wants that football and doesn’t mind not having the rest. Also, it’s a knockout visit and a decent bowl tie.
San Diego State is close to the same as a destination, though if their stadium issue isn’t resolved to their satisfaction, that becomes a problem. But they’ll probably have a reasonable outcome. Basketball has been good of late, and they probably have the most momentum going into the conference tourney this week.
UNLV may not have their athletic programs in a row right now, but it’s Vegas! They’re not the only school that could be considered that has glory in their past (UTEP), but you just want to be there.
Now the shocker. This conference needs a Northwestern or Vanderbilt. It needs it because BYU and Boise are rather suspect academically. Not that Gonzaga isn’t good, not that AFA isn’t revered. Thing is, a school two hours from a mega-market and 15 minutes from a “pro market” can be had at the same time. Athletically, they’ve been meh... but they have churned out a lot of good football coaches, they have the largest California arena in the Big West, and while the recently completed football stadium only seats 10,000, it was built with expansion in mind- so they’re thinking about this. Oh, the endowment is bigger (substantially) than every current MWC school. I present you the University of California at Davis. Having a UC school would be a real coup here. But would Davis run with BYU? Eh...
Now, Colorado State to pair with Air Force? New Mexico because it delivers A market? Fresno State if the suddenly resurgent football program sustains? Nevada? BYU can wait until the last minute on the final decision, meaning let the remaining cream rise.
Having gone through this silly exercise, though, reading on the Gonzaga board about the possibility of a “western division” of the Big East or the AAC intrigues me more, because you don’t even need 8 schools, and- at least for the AAC- has a marginally better chance of happening.