Is this the year Gonzaga leaves the West Coast Conference

[willandi]

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/...ity-candidates

Nice article. Thanks for sharing.

I agree with the poster that pointed out that Roth needs to be keeping open eyes and ears to every possibility.

I also think that planning for the future when we don't know what the future will be is an exercise in futility.

I also believe that I, personally, have far too many realities to worry about, just the day to day survival in a decaying economy, a wife that is immune suppressed and my own health conditions to want to even be distracted by considering anything when there is not any information to support a solution. Will the P 5 schools leave the NCAA? They definitely will...or they won't. When they act, Gonzaga will have to respond. Can they respond before? What if they do and the response is wrong?

Enough of my rambles. I follow in the hopes that someone has something that is of value and I try to refrain from responding.

[Pallet]

The P5 breaking away from the NCAA is an interesting idea. With the major headwinds facing higher ed due to demographics and the pandemic, there are going to be changes coming. There seem to be a few scenarios about how this could play out for college basketball.

1. The P5 seek to bring the football model to basketball. Similar to football, the P5 would play the regular season and then get seeded into a national championship bracket. To bring the total number of participants to 64 or 68, the P5 convene a committee to invite 20ish teams from outside the P5, e.g. Big East teams, Memphis, etc. This is fairly similar to how the selection committee works now, but since all power schools are already in, the committee doesn't have to pretend that all schools are equal. Gonzaga would be invited for the tournament most years, barring some massive downturn.

2. The Pac-12 decides to expand to shore up non-football sports and invites 4 schools, including Gonzaga and probably San Diego State or similar. This could be done with or without the rest of the P5 expanding to 16 also. In return, Gonzaga would promise to continue increasing their academic profile. Gonzaga's recruiting could improve with the conference affiliation argument removed.

3.The P5 conferences spend their time arguing and get nothing decided and everything stays pretty much the same. This is probably the most likely outcome.

[zagfan24]

This article from Rodger Sherman at The Ringer is about college football, but many of the themes he discusses apply at least somewhat to college basketball as well:

https://www.theringer.com/2020/8/3/21349611/season-schedule-power-five-conferences-college-football-playoff

The COVID pandemic is really just the straw that broke the camel's back. The structure of college sports has so many inherent flaws that it's hard to imagine a long term survival of anything resembling the system that has been in place. As it applies to Gonzaga, the powers that be may have to be a bit "selfish" and put the athletic program in whatever position it needs to be in for long-term survival.

I have never believed that leaving the WCC was going to be a huge boon for the Zags. Given how much success they have had, and the fact that both recruiting and competitive success continue to improve, I felt like the negatives of leaving likely outweighed the positives. Now I admit to feeling differently. It may take a move, and a relatively quick one, to avoid being left out in the cold.

[ZagsObserver]

This article from Rodger Sherman at The Ringer is about college football, but many of the themes he discusses apply at least somewhat to college basketball as well:

https://www.theringer.com/2020/8/3/21349611/season-schedule-power-five-conferences-college-football-playoff

The COVID pandemic is really just the straw that broke the camel's back. The structure of college sports has so many inherent flaws that it's hard to imagine a long term survival of anything resembling the system that has been in place. As it applies to Gonzaga, the powers that be may have to be a bit "selfish" and put the athletic program in whatever position it needs to be in for long-term survival.

I have never believed that leaving the WCC was going to be a huge boon for the Zags. Given how much success they have had, and the fact that both recruiting and competitive success continue to improve, I felt like the negatives of leaving likely outweighed the positives. Now I admit to feeling differently. It may take a move, and a relatively quick one, to avoid being left out in the cold.

I echo your thoughts.

[Martin Centre Mad Man]

This article from Rodger Sherman at The Ringer is about college football, but many of the themes he discusses apply at least somewhat to college basketball as well:

https://www.theringer.com/2020/8/3/21349611/season-schedule-power-five-conferences-college-football-playoff

The COVID pandemic is really just the straw that broke the camel's back. The structure of college sports has so many inherent flaws that it's hard to imagine a long term survival of anything resembling the system that has been in place. As it applies to Gonzaga, the powers that be may have to be a bit "selfish" and put the athletic program in whatever position it needs to be in for long-term survival.

I have never believed that leaving the WCC was going to be a huge boon for the Zags. Given how much success they have had, and the fact that both recruiting and competitive success continue to improve, I felt like the negatives of leaving likely outweighed the positives. Now I admit to feeling differently. It may take a move, and a relatively quick one, to avoid being left out in the cold.

I just hope there is a viable destination for the move...

I doubt that the PAC-12 or BIG XII would ever take a school as small as Gonzaga. Joining the Mountain West or the AAC might not be any better than the WCC, if the Power Five conferences break off and leave the other BCS football leagues behind.

I can envision a scenario where the MAC, Mountain West, Conference USA, and the AAC are forced into a whole new subdivision between the FCS and the current power conferences. It could happen within the next couple of years.

[basketballzag]

The reality of the situation is that the P5 are absolutely positively going to break away. The vast majority of schools in the MAC, MWC, CUSA, AAC simply won't survive as they live and die off the P5 football scheduling income--that's going to go away and the house of cards for these programs is going implode. Gonzaga is in a different position than 99% of the schools across the country in that it is a national powerhouse in Basketball and that is a very enviable position to be in not to mention it is a huge TV ratings draw. One thing though is absolutely certain and that is we are going to see a monumental shift in schools shedding non-revenue producing sports even the P5 schools are shutting down swimming, lacrosse, track & field, soccer, baseball, etc. Gonzaga doesn't have the top heavy financial burdens that most mid-majors athletic departments have which has made Gonzaga an extremely attractive acquisition target.

As for the non-revenue sports we are going to see the demise of most Olympic sports at universities across the US so forget what you were used with the NCAA because those days are just about over and sadly thousands of scholarships and jobs will be tossed away too but that is a minor inconvenience that can and will be easily overlooked for programs in the P5 conferences.

[basketballzag]

I just hope there is a viable destination for the move...

I doubt that the PAC-12 or BIG XII would ever take a school as small as Gonzaga. Joining the Mountain West or the AAC might not be any better than the WCC, if the Power Five conferences break off and leave the other BCS football leagues behind.

I can envision a scenario where the MAC, Mountain West, Conference USA, and the AAC are forced into a whole new subdivision between the FCS and the current power conferences. It could happen within the next couple of years.

As I said previously the PAC-12 is looking to bolster their conference up in basketball which is SDSU and Gonzaga would both be huge additions to the conference. Let's face it Colorado, Washington State, Oregon State, Arizona State, Utah, Stanford, Cal, and Washington haven't exactly lit up the conference coffers with their NCAA track record the last decade.

[ZagsObserver]

The reality of the situation is that the P5 are absolutely positively going to break away. The vast majority of schools in the MAC, MWC, CUSA, AAC simply won't survive as they live and die off the P5 football scheduling income--that's going to go away and the house of cards for these programs is going implode. Gonzaga is in a different position than 99% of the schools across the country in that it is a national powerhouse in Basketball and that is a very enviable position to be in not to mention it is a huge TV ratings draw. One thing though is absolutely certain and that is we are going to see a monumental shift in schools shedding non-revenue producing sports even the P5 schools are shutting down swimming, lacrosse, track & field, soccer, baseball, etc. Gonzaga doesn't have the top heavy financial burdens that most mid-majors athletic departments have which has made Gonzaga an extremely attractive acquisition target.

As for the non-revenue sports we are going to see the demise of most Olympic sports at universities across the US so forget what you were used with the NCAA because those days are just about over and sadly thousands of scholarships and jobs will be tossed away too but that is a minor inconvenience that can and will be easily overlooked for programs in the P5 conferences.

I‘m afraid you are correct. Stanford just shed some championship (and highly regarded) programs with rich history. This is the same Stanford with a near 28 Billion dollar endowment.

[Zagceo]

I‘m afraid you are correct. Stanford just shed some championship (and highly regarded) programs with rich history. This is the same Stanford with a near 28 Billion dollar endowment.

I'll make a crazy prediction.....Stanford drops all sports in less than 5 years

They'll site apathy from Alum/students.

[willandi]

The reality of the situation is that the P5 are absolutely positively going to break away. The vast majority of schools in the MAC, MWC, CUSA, AAC simply won't survive as they live and die off the P5 football scheduling income--that's going to go away and the house of cards for these programs is going implode. Gonzaga is in a different position than 99% of the schools across the country in that it is a national powerhouse in Basketball and that is a very enviable position to be in not to mention it is a huge TV ratings draw. One thing though is absolutely certain and that is we are going to see a monumental shift in schools shedding non-revenue producing sports even the P5 schools are shutting down swimming, lacrosse, track & field, soccer, baseball, etc. Gonzaga doesn't have the top heavy financial burdens that most mid-majors athletic departments have which has made Gonzaga an extremely attractive acquisition target.

As for the non-revenue sports we are going to see the demise of most Olympic sports at universities across the US so forget what you were used with the NCAA because those days are just about over and sadly thousands of scholarships and jobs will be tossed away too but that is a minor inconvenience that can and will be easily overlooked for programs in the P5 conferences.

Do you have actual and factual knowledge of this or is this speculation on your part, no matter how likely it might be?

[TexasZagFan]

I'll make a crazy prediction.....Stanford drops all sports in less than 5 years

They'll site apathy from Alum/students.

I’m going to miss the antics of their marching band.