Ok I have a lot of thoughts on this:
(Click the quote to see my responses)
PAC 12 is having money and interest issues. Gonzaga is getting all of the espn late games while the PAC is on espn2. Thats not a good look for the PAC at all. People would rather watch Gonzaga blow people out by 20-30 than watch PAC games.
(So add Gonzaga and bring more eyes to the Pac 12! )
Does the WCC keep Gonzaga for the other sports?
(Maybe......but who cares about Gonzaga athletics......including basketball, because f*** Gonzaga (until they lose to Iowa again.......then they can go back of the list) I would assume that they would not. So maybe they go to the Big Sky??
(Honestly, it shouldn't matter. Notre Dame plays hockey in the Big Ten. Missouri is wrestling in the MAC. It's all about filling needs.) But who wants to bring on a team in a conference without getting football or basketball??
(People who aren't stubborn, first of all......
The ACC has its tie-in with Notre Dame and got them in conference this year, but it most likely was a one year thing anyway. Again, people get so caught up in these whole athletics program affiliations, when it should first and foremost be about filling individual needs (and yes, I understand it does also need to benefit the conference too).
20 years from now, what does Gonzaga basketball look like?
(Probably somewhere behind Iowa in the pecking order of life, as all things should be...) What does the PAC 12 look like?
(Probably still the 6th best conference in the Power 6.......but in all seriousness, who knows. 20 years ago, the Pac 12 was a very solid conference, and on fairly equal footing with the Big Ten.) What does the WCC look like?
(Also hard to say, because they will also probably try to replace Gonzaga in basketball. BYU may or may not stick around.. The conference itself could all of the sudden blow up and turn the Power 6 into the Super 7.....who knows. )
Would the PAC 12 AD's even want Gonzaga?
(Probably not.....) Why would you want to bring in a school that would then beat all of your current teams, or take higher rated West Coast recruits? It would be a similar argument for the Big 12 not letting in Houston.
(As I said, those are the chicken little excuses they would make. And that just makes the Pac 12 look worse. They hold very few cards here.........)
BYU is becoming a yearly tournament team under Mark Pope. Last year the WCC would have had a 1 seed a 4-5 in BYU and a 7-10 seed in St. Mary's. Is that going to consistently happen going forward?
(Also hard to say. As a whole, the WCC is actually not half bad this year. However, St. Mary's seems to have been impacted by covid pauses and are currently near the bottom of the conference and will miss the postseason. BYU, if anything, threatens to replace St. Mary's, not join them......)
How does going to the PAC 12 make Gonzaga a better basketball program?
(Money, exposure, scheduling. etc.. Why does any program need/want to be in a major conference?) Right now in the WCC, Gonzaga is the number 1 rated team in the country
(And yet we're asking what if they played in the Big 10/12.......), they have two lottery picks on their roster including a 1 and done, and are expected to pick up the #1 and 6 recruits in the country.
(Yeah well they should knock that sh** off..............at least until Iowa wins a national championship. Then, hell Notte Dame can go ham and become the greatest basketball dynasty of all time for all I care. I just want you all to get the f*** in line, and wait your damn turn.....
Is that too much to ask???)
But I think the main question is, over the next 20 years, how sustainable is this Gonzaga program, and to what level? Will they be top 5 every year, top 10, top 15? And are they more relevant from winning their conference every year or by being in the top 3 of a major conference every year?
(Gonzaga, right now, is judged by how they do in their non-conference, to build the hype, and then how they do in the NCAA tournament. Winning the WCC is mostly a foregone conclusion at this point every year for Gonzaga.
Since 1999, there have been 2 teams (in 5 different years) to win the WCC tournament, not named Gonzaga.
It's over. Move on. There's no need to be the big fish in a little pond anymore.)