Zags joining the weakened Pac 12
- Thread starter Smashcat
- Start date
Feel like they’re going from one mid major to another tbh. Once Mark Few leaves I see Gonzaga as a program that will quickly fade away.
Wow. PAC-12 not enough of a draw to land Memphis or Tulane? That’s got to hurt.
“Weakened” is quite the understatement. It’s an entirely different conference except for the two leftovers that nobody wanted.
Who in their right mind would want Memphis ?
Maybe, maybe not. If they bring up another assistant like Lloyd and give him keys to the program and they'll probably be fine. It'll all hinge on the next coach though.
Ya I mean I thought the same thing would happen with Villanova post Wright and UCONN post Calhoun so don’t listen to my dumbass
Good. I hope their program dies. They've been the fair-haired child of the media for 15 years now, and they only have two Final Fours to show for all the favoritism they've received.
How hilariously obvious. Gonzaga refused to leave to join a tougher conference for all those years, but then suddenly decides to join a new conference, only after it was purged of any real Div I competition.
Nova has sucked since Wright left.
Pac and Mountain West need to work together and just form a single conference. Would benefit everyone it seems.
Pretty desperate move. Gonzaga doesn't have football and basketball could really drop off when Few retires.
Nova definitely isn't the same as they were with Wright but they're still ok. UConn has been the luckiest team in basketball by far with the way every break has gone their way (a last second shot in their own conference tourney they if they lost they would've had a chance of not dancing to a title).
Zaga is a tiny Jesuit school that doesn't have much clout outside of their basketball team. Heck, Few is the face of that university. Now if Lloyd came there or something they might stand a chance of staying stable, especially with NIL.
But there's a decent chance they'll fade away. However, like with Duke, if Few kinda stays around, his influence might help keep the program going for a bit. Duke will be an interesting case study once K is not around as much. Imagine if Cal had just retired and Pope took over. Cal would maintain the ambassador role/be a recruiting advisor.GM, and Pope would take care of the on court stuff. That's kinda what Duke has right now. You know K is helping Schyer with some of the off court stuff and recruiting.
That aside, It will be interesting to see what happens to Zaga once Few hangs it up.
no idea what will happen when Few retires, but the last several years, they have out performed UK in the tournament & spanked UK in back to back years head to head. They have a good head coach that gets the most out of his team, that isn't full of 5*'s. He has a system that works, again something that UK has lacked for the last 5 years or so
Refused? Who was offering? They don't have football so they aren't getting a big offer. There was talk of Big East but travel makes that impossible and schools in that conference like Georgetown shut it down quickly.
Gonzaga would've left for a bigger conference in a split second with the opportunity.
This is really more of a sign of the PAC being desperate given that Gonzaga's contribution will almost entirely be from men's basketball, which is a fraction of what is made from football. If Gonzaga basketball is moving the needle, it says something.
I don't know what would justify considering PAC a BCS level conference other than its name. C-USA or Sunbelt should be furious if the PAC is grandfathered into the bowl playoffs based on name only. Really, all major conferences should be insulted by it. The centerpiece of the conference is Boise State. Should be a decent basketball conference with SDSU, USU and Gonzaga though.
This is really more of a sign of the PAC being desperate given that Gonzaga's contribution will almost entirely be from men's basketball, which is a fraction of what is made from football. If Gonzaga basketball is moving the needle, it says something.
I don't know what would justify considering PAC a BCS level conference other than its name. C-USA or Sunbelt should be furious if the PAC is grandfathered into the bowl playoffs based on name only. Really, all major conferences should be insulted by it. The centerpiece of the conference is Boise State. Should be a decent basketball conference with SDSU, USU and Gonzaga though.
This is a laughably clueless sentence. Gonzaga never ever “refused” to join a tougher conference. They always would’ve loved to join a better (and bigger money) conference, but couldn’t get any offers because they don’t have a revenue generating football program.
It took the Pac 12 completely imploding to finally get a chance to join whatever this new thing will be.
I believe the objective of the PAC is to have eight football teams, thus making them eligible for the CFP auto bid, and ten basketball teams, thus making them eligible for an NCAA tourney auto bid. I think it makes sense from a competitive and business standpoint, but they are having a lot of trouble getting to eight football teams.
You call me clueless, but I don't see you proving where Gonzaga was actively seeking going to a different conference.
You're statement is no less clueless and fact-free than mine. Everything I recall around Gonzaga moving to another conference was mostly fan and some talking head pressure to prove they were real. 15 years of NCAA appearances and only two FFs (and one of those was a lucky gift based on who lost ahead of them).
And even if you can prove they were actively seeking to join a major conference, that doesn't mean they would have done it. The appearance of "wanting" could very well just been a ploy with no real intention of ever doing it. I mean, why would they? The media still loves them even in their cupcake conference.
I think Few is on record saying that Brian Michaelson will replace him when he retires.When Few retires, I can see Tommy Lloyd returning ...
Tommy Lloyd - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
I know he was an long time assistant there, but why leave Zona for Zaga?When Few retires, I can see Tommy Lloyd returning ...
Tommy Lloyd - Wikipedia
It’s really bad for the PAC to whiff on UNLV. They should have been in that initial group of offers. Now they are sitting at seven football programs and the pickings are slim. With UNLV they could have easily been the fifth best football conference. An eight team conference that is only 25% riff raff could be more lucrative than a 12 team conference that is 60% riff raff. And with a 7 game conference schedule they would have had plenty of room for compelling non-conference schedules.
As someone who has long admired the underdog Wash St and Oregon St, I hope they can land on their feet.
As someone who has long admired the underdog Wash St and Oregon St, I hope they can land on their feet.
Lot of people here seem to think Gonzaga will go the way of UNLV once Few leaves. Seems like after Tarkanian left, he took UNLV's tradition with him.
Have to give the Pac-10’s new leadership credit for finding a way to keep the conference alive - albeit in a vastly different form. The Gonzaga Plan might become the way of the future for conferences - build membership by specific sport rather than across-the-board membership. While college football is king and rakes in untold millions, I’m among those who still struggle to see the fiscal responsibility with the UCLA’s and USC’s of the world flying their baseball, softball and track teams back and forth to Rutgers, Maryland, Penn State, etc. Time will eventually tell.
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