RT @VandalNation: So uh, congrats Boise State, you traded the WAC for the WAC 2.0.
9 thoughts on “Twitter: RT @VandalNation: So …”
David K.
Thompson has shown he’s agressive, Hawaii may not be his last stop, there are some strong teams in the western edge of Conference USA, plus UTEP who could make good additions. Might even help out the WAC by kicking out New Mexico, Wyoming.
Kicking out Wyoming and New Mexico? That’s a little harsh. On what basis? For not being flashy superstar programs? Both of those teams have been competitive in both football and basketball in recent years. Why would you boot them but keep SDSU and UNLV when the latter schools’ performance has been arguably more futile in recent years — just because the latter are the only major programs in very big cities?
David K.
Primarily to build up the conferences membership if you are adding teams like Houston or SMU. You are right they haven’t always been terrible, I’m not saying it will happen, i’m just saying it COULD be a route to take.
The reason I suspect UNLV stays is because of Nevada-Reno joining. There was actually some legislative push to get the two schools in the same conference, which helped sell them on the conference move, removing UNLV would be a step back for them and might necessitate losing both Nevada schools. SDSU you keep because they are solid in basketball, its a great recruiting area, a great city from a media standpoint and they are doing better in football.
I think Wyoming and New Mexico make the most sense. My impression from reading the WAC/MWC related blogs and reader comments is that Wyoming is not a real draw of a trip and financially not very beneficial to any of the other schools. New Mexico because they have been awful recently and if you are going to get rid of schools they make some sense?
Brendan Loy
New Mexico is really good in basketball, though. But more importantly, as Karl Benson told me personally last week, those schools aren’t on the WAC’s radar because they’d have no reason to voluntarily leave the MWC for the WAC, and the MWC has no mechanism to involuntarily kick them out, at least so far as Benson was aware.
Seems to me, the next schools to watch are Louisiana Tech and Utah State. Presumably, LaTech has already ascertained that C-USA isn’t interested; I don’t know that, but it’d be malpractice for them not to have looked into it. However, at this point, the Sun Belt is starting to look superior to the WAC. (Hi Denver!) As for USU, the Blue Aggies are like “mini-Kansas” of this situation (think back to when the Pac-16 was on, and KU was scrambling), in terms of being a great basketball program in a threatened conference without a strong football tradition, and therefore without much attractiveness to the conferences that are picking apart its current home. What does USU do now? Do they stick with the WAC as it (presumably) goes to the NCAA for a waiver of the 6-core-team rule? Do they call the WCC, and/or the Mountain West (especially if TCU leaves)? WCC in basketball, MWC in football only would be a pretty good fit, and would complete the destruction of the WAC, which would then be left with only New Mexico State, Idaho, Louisiana Tech (but see above) and San Jose State. That might set up a battle where the New Mexico legislature pushes the MWC to let NMSU in (I’m just speculating), and maybe San Jose State ends up in the Big West in everything except football and, I dunno, independent/FCS in football?!? And Idaho drops to FCS and joins the Big Sky?!? #PANIC
David K.
Yeah i don’t think the schools would voluntarilly leave either, and I wasn’t sure they coudl even be kicked out, that was just idle speculation. I have very little knowledge of b-ball so its good you are around otherwise I wouldn’t know about NM’s success there.
Seems like Utah State had their opportunity to join the MWC and they aren’t really needed anymore, I could see them ending up in the Big Sky or something though. Same with Idaho. Seems like Louisianna Tech isn’t going anywhere though because C-USA doesn’t seem interested and they don’t want to go back to the Sun Belt.
UNLV ain’t bad in basketball either, and they haven’t just recently been good — they’ve been to Final Fours. Granted, the days of UNLV as a basketball superpower are long gone, but the point still stands that booting Wyoming, New Mexico, or UNLV from the MWC would be lunacy. More likely, as Brendan pointed out, you’ll see a push to bring NMSU into the conference.
David K.
I don’t think it would be lunacy, not from a BCS auto-bid standpoint, but its also not likely for the resasons listed.
Brendan Loy
Thinking it over, Wyoming is really the only team that it would make sense to kick out, if you could kick a team out. New Mexico, UNLV and Colorado State all bring too much TV market power to the table. I remember reading during the whole Pac-16 thing that Albuquerque is actually one of the bigger markets in the west, which surprised me. Vegas is obvious. And CSU is an important foothold here in Denver. (Yeah, Air Force is sorta kinda in the same market as CSU, but being from here, not really. Denver is crawling with CSU grads who watch CSU games. Air Force, not so much, I assume because Air Force grads don’t necessarily stay in Colorado. Also, Air Force may go indy at some point.)
Furthermore, New Mexico, UNLV and, to a lesser extent, CSU all bring a reasonable amount to the table in terms of athletic prowess, in basketball if not in football. But Wyoming? What the heck does Wyoming bring? An upset over Gonzaga as a #11 seed one time? (Not that I’m bitter.) They have no TV market to speak of, no basketball or football prowess to speak of. They’re just kind of taking up space.
But again, I don’t see anyone getting “kicked out.” I’m just saying, if it COULD be done, it seems like Wyoming would be first on the chopping block.
The problem with booting Wyoming is, they’re not Washington State either. Sure they are a mediocre program, but that’s just it — they are mediocre, not bad. They rarely challenge for the conference championship, but they’re not normally the bottom-feeder either.
And the New Mexico TV market shouldn’t surprise you. Much like Arizona with Phoenix, Flagstaff, and Tuscon, it’s a desert state with a major city (Albuquerque) as a major hub between two smaller cities that almost-but-not-quite hold their own: Santa Fe, and Las Cruces. And just like Utah (if you carry Salt Lake CIty, you carry the whole state), if you carry Albuquerque, you carry the whole state.
RT @VandalNation: So uh, congrats Boise State, you traded the WAC for the WAC 2.0.
Thompson has shown he’s agressive, Hawaii may not be his last stop, there are some strong teams in the western edge of Conference USA, plus UTEP who could make good additions. Might even help out the WAC by kicking out New Mexico, Wyoming.
Kicking out Wyoming and New Mexico? That’s a little harsh. On what basis? For not being flashy superstar programs? Both of those teams have been competitive in both football and basketball in recent years. Why would you boot them but keep SDSU and UNLV when the latter schools’ performance has been arguably more futile in recent years — just because the latter are the only major programs in very big cities?
Primarily to build up the conferences membership if you are adding teams like Houston or SMU. You are right they haven’t always been terrible, I’m not saying it will happen, i’m just saying it COULD be a route to take.
The reason I suspect UNLV stays is because of Nevada-Reno joining. There was actually some legislative push to get the two schools in the same conference, which helped sell them on the conference move, removing UNLV would be a step back for them and might necessitate losing both Nevada schools. SDSU you keep because they are solid in basketball, its a great recruiting area, a great city from a media standpoint and they are doing better in football.
I think Wyoming and New Mexico make the most sense. My impression from reading the WAC/MWC related blogs and reader comments is that Wyoming is not a real draw of a trip and financially not very beneficial to any of the other schools. New Mexico because they have been awful recently and if you are going to get rid of schools they make some sense?
New Mexico is really good in basketball, though. But more importantly, as Karl Benson told me personally last week, those schools aren’t on the WAC’s radar because they’d have no reason to voluntarily leave the MWC for the WAC, and the MWC has no mechanism to involuntarily kick them out, at least so far as Benson was aware.
Seems to me, the next schools to watch are Louisiana Tech and Utah State. Presumably, LaTech has already ascertained that C-USA isn’t interested; I don’t know that, but it’d be malpractice for them not to have looked into it. However, at this point, the Sun Belt is starting to look superior to the WAC. (Hi Denver!) As for USU, the Blue Aggies are like “mini-Kansas” of this situation (think back to when the Pac-16 was on, and KU was scrambling), in terms of being a great basketball program in a threatened conference without a strong football tradition, and therefore without much attractiveness to the conferences that are picking apart its current home. What does USU do now? Do they stick with the WAC as it (presumably) goes to the NCAA for a waiver of the 6-core-team rule? Do they call the WCC, and/or the Mountain West (especially if TCU leaves)? WCC in basketball, MWC in football only would be a pretty good fit, and would complete the destruction of the WAC, which would then be left with only New Mexico State, Idaho, Louisiana Tech (but see above) and San Jose State. That might set up a battle where the New Mexico legislature pushes the MWC to let NMSU in (I’m just speculating), and maybe San Jose State ends up in the Big West in everything except football and, I dunno, independent/FCS in football?!? And Idaho drops to FCS and joins the Big Sky?!? #PANIC
Yeah i don’t think the schools would voluntarilly leave either, and I wasn’t sure they coudl even be kicked out, that was just idle speculation. I have very little knowledge of b-ball so its good you are around otherwise I wouldn’t know about NM’s success there.
Seems like Utah State had their opportunity to join the MWC and they aren’t really needed anymore, I could see them ending up in the Big Sky or something though. Same with Idaho. Seems like Louisianna Tech isn’t going anywhere though because C-USA doesn’t seem interested and they don’t want to go back to the Sun Belt.
UNLV ain’t bad in basketball either, and they haven’t just recently been good — they’ve been to Final Fours. Granted, the days of UNLV as a basketball superpower are long gone, but the point still stands that booting Wyoming, New Mexico, or UNLV from the MWC would be lunacy. More likely, as Brendan pointed out, you’ll see a push to bring NMSU into the conference.
I don’t think it would be lunacy, not from a BCS auto-bid standpoint, but its also not likely for the resasons listed.
Thinking it over, Wyoming is really the only team that it would make sense to kick out, if you could kick a team out. New Mexico, UNLV and Colorado State all bring too much TV market power to the table. I remember reading during the whole Pac-16 thing that Albuquerque is actually one of the bigger markets in the west, which surprised me. Vegas is obvious. And CSU is an important foothold here in Denver. (Yeah, Air Force is sorta kinda in the same market as CSU, but being from here, not really. Denver is crawling with CSU grads who watch CSU games. Air Force, not so much, I assume because Air Force grads don’t necessarily stay in Colorado. Also, Air Force may go indy at some point.)
Furthermore, New Mexico, UNLV and, to a lesser extent, CSU all bring a reasonable amount to the table in terms of athletic prowess, in basketball if not in football. But Wyoming? What the heck does Wyoming bring? An upset over Gonzaga as a #11 seed one time? (Not that I’m bitter.) They have no TV market to speak of, no basketball or football prowess to speak of. They’re just kind of taking up space.
But again, I don’t see anyone getting “kicked out.” I’m just saying, if it COULD be done, it seems like Wyoming would be first on the chopping block.
The problem with booting Wyoming is, they’re not Washington State either. Sure they are a mediocre program, but that’s just it — they are mediocre, not bad. They rarely challenge for the conference championship, but they’re not normally the bottom-feeder either.
And the New Mexico TV market shouldn’t surprise you. Much like Arizona with Phoenix, Flagstaff, and Tuscon, it’s a desert state with a major city (Albuquerque) as a major hub between two smaller cities that almost-but-not-quite hold their own: Santa Fe, and Las Cruces. And just like Utah (if you carry Salt Lake CIty, you carry the whole state), if you carry Albuquerque, you carry the whole state.