Sports
How the Pac-12’s raid of the Mountain West shifts the basketball balance of power out west
The Mountain West has established itself as college basketball’s preeminent mid-major conference in the last few years. San Diego State made the national title game in 2023. The league put six teams in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. While conference realignment wreaked havoc around it, the Mountain West’s stability put it on a tier by itself, surpassing the American and the Atlantic 10 as the best mid-major league in college basketball. It was also the best late-night hoops to consume, even topping the Pac-12 in watchability.
And now, it’s just like all the others, thrown into chaos by football and greed.
The only good news from a basketball perspective is that at least the new Six Pac makes sense (for now) when it comes to geography, with San Diego State, Colorado State, Boise State and Fresno State joining Oregon State and Washington State as the two Pac-12 holdovers make moves to resurrect their brand.
To steal a term from hoops, this league is mid-major-ish in football, but its four new arrivals from the Mountain West could justify this move on the basketball court and offer the new Pac-12 an opportunity to brand itself as more than a College Football Playoff striver.
San Diego State, Colorado State and Boise State were all top-tier Mountain West basketball programs, and their ability to consistently make the NCAA Tournament could improve if the Pac-12 chooses to make additional moves with hoops in mind. Luring Gonzaga from the West Coast Conference in particular would cement the league as a top-six basketball conference. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark has flirted with Gonzaga over the past two years and hasn’t yet been able to convince enough of his members that it’s beneficial to add a basketball-only member. But the Pac-12 needs numbers and brand recognition.
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As conference realignment rolls on, is ACC vulnerable or just fine (for now)?
The Pac-12 must get to at least eight football-playing schools by 2026 to be recognized as an NCAA and Football Bowl Subdivision conference and to be eligible for its champion to earn one of the five automatic bids into the 12-team College Football Playoff. To build an eight-game conference schedule that matches its FBS counterparts, it would need to get to at least nine members. In basketball, 10 teams is the ideal number for round-robin scheduling, especially if you can avoid a bad bottom tier — that’s why the Big 12 performed so well in computer-based metrics for so many years. Ridding themselves of the teams from the Mountain West’s basement could help the future resumes of the Aztecs, Rams and Broncos. Two games against Gonzaga every year also certainly wouldn’t hurt.
The Pac-12 should be as picky as possible in which G5 schools it goes after. (Our Chris Vannini broke down the potential options.) Let’s say the league’s best-case scenario is adding two G5 schools with recent football success — for example, prying Memphis and Tulane from the American. From there, it would make sense to chase one other basketball-only member and further lean into its basketball branding. It could be easier to attract those schools than it will be to find a host of football schools who will jump. Among those possible options:
- Saint Mary’s: The Gaels, Gonzaga’s primary WCC rival, have made 10 of the last 19 NCAA Tournaments.
- Grand Canyon: The Antelopes are set to join the WCC in 2025, have strong financial backing in hoops, play in one of the best environments in the country and have made three of the last four NCAA Tournaments under Bryce Drew. And if Gonzaga leaves, the WCC is not as enticing of a landing spot for Grand Canyon. Adding the Antelopes would also return a foothold in the Phoenix market to the Pac-12 after the loss of Arizona and Arizona State.
- Wichita State: The departure of Memphis would be another hit to an AAC basketball brand already on the decline after losing Houston and Cincinnati. Wichita State would likely jump at the chance to be in the same league as Gonzaga; the Shockers fancied themselves as the Gonzaga of the Midwest not long ago.
A Pac-12 with Gonzaga plus some combination of those other adds would earn multiple NCAA Tournament bids every year. The current Mountain West has been the seventh-best league in college basketball the last two years, putting four teams in the field in 2023 before last year’s surge to six.
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Which schools could the new Pac-12 target? UNLV, Wyoming, Tulane, Memphis among many
As for what remains of the Mountain West, the conference needs to retain eight members to keep its FBS status intact, and it’s possible some of the remaining schools will still bolt. (UNLV seems like an ideal target for the Pac-12, although separating itself from university system partner Nevada could be tricky.) Adding New Mexico State would make sense for the Mountain West because the Aggies are already rivals of New Mexico and in the region. Of course, logic and convenience have rarely mattered in the realignment circus, and even the most practical solutions to rebuild college basketball’s product around historical rivalries and geography feel like fantasy for hoops fans.
The sport does still have at least a little pull when it comes to television negotiations. The Big 12 and Big East have done well for themselves by building stronger basketball leagues — Yormark has publicly touted the potential of selling his league’s football and basketball rights as separate television deals when the Big 12’s current rights agreement runs out at the end of the decade. The Big East signed a new deal this summer with Fox, NBC and TNT that will run from 2025-26 through 2030-31.
And while the ACC and Big 12 reside on a financial tier below the Big Ten and SEC in football, they still enjoy somewhat equal standing in hoops. The Big East is right there, too. This new Pac-12 won’t be able to run with the four big leagues in football, but add a top-10 basketball program in Gonzaga and you might earn that coveted high-major tag or at least get closer than the old Mountain West did.
Gonzaga has done just fine for itself dominating the WCC, but it likes money, too. The temptation to add a few extra million every year in NCAA Tournament units has made Gonzaga’s eventual exit from the WCC feel inevitable. After raiding one of the country’s most interesting basketball conferences and setting off another round of realignment dominoes, the Pac-12 has a chance to boost its own reputation on the hardwood along the way. Meanwhile in the Mountain West, it is now a question of survival.
(Photo: James Snook / USA Today)
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The PGA Tour has announced that it will not be hosting an event in Hawaii during the 2027 season, ending a 56-year run of holding a tournament in The Aloha State. The change comes as the Tour and CEO Brian Rolapp have consistently teased a revamped schedule beginning next year.
The Tour was forced to cancel The Sentry at the start of the 2026 campaign due to the dying grass on the Plantation Course at Kapalua amid a local dispute with the company responsible for delivering water to the area.
An aerial view of the golf course from over the ocean prior to The Sentry at The Plantation Course at Kapalua on December 31, 2023 in Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii. (Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR) (Ben Jared/PGA TOUR)
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With The Sentry being canceled, the Sony Open at Waialae Country on Oahu served as the Tour’s season opener in ‘26, which was won by Chris Gotterup. The event was in the final year of its sponsorship, although the Tour has shared that it is working toward making the event the opening event on the PGA Tour Champions circuit.
Chris Gotterup of the United States celebrates with the trophy on the 18th green after his winning round of the Sony Open in Hawaii 2026 at Waialae Country Club on January 18, 2026 in Honolulu, Hawaii. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images) (Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
The Tour’s removal of The Sentry and the Sony Open wipes out what has now turned into a traditional two-week stretch on the island to begin a new season.
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The PGA Tour did not share further details about the 2027 schedule upon its announcement about leaving Hawaii, but with Sentry reportedly being an event title-sponsor through 2035, it will need to find a new landing spot on the calendar. The logical stop would be Torrey Pines in San Diego, which checks the West Coast and great weather boxes, but the venue is also looking for a new sponsor, as its deal with Farmers Insurance ended in 2026.
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View of the 18th hole is seen during the final round of The Sentry at The Plantation Course at Kapalua on January 5, 2025 in Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii. (Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images) (Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)
The Tour’s decision not to begin next season in Hawaii makes sense, as there are plenty of venues in the lower 48 states that are much easier to operate from, but the departure will have a tremendous financial impact on the state.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports that The Sentry is estimated to have a $50 million annual impact on the community, while the Sony Open directly generates an estimated $100 million in revenue per year, plus another $1 million per year to Friends of Hawaii charities.
Martin Dugard is a prolific author and writer. He’s also an assistant cross-country coach at Santa Margarita after being head coach at JSerra for 15 years.
His newest book is “The Long Run,” which discusses the 1970s running boom and is a narrative history of four who sparked the marathon boom: Steve Prefontaine, Frank Shorter, Joan Benoit Samuelson and Grete Waitz.
He’s going to have a book signing on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Barnes & Noble, 26751 Aliso Creek Rd., Aliso Viejo.
Don’t be surprised if he tries to run from Rancho Santa Margarita to his book signing.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
For years, Stephen A. Smith’s many football blunders have been easy enough to explain away.
He’s not an NFL guy (remember when he said the three key players for a game were three guys who weren’t playing in the game?)
Stephen A. Smith falsely claimed the Warriors haven’t made the playoffs since 2022, but Golden State reached the second round in both 2023 and 2025. (Jerome Miron/Imagn Images)
He’s definitely not a college football guy (remember when he called Jalen Milroe Jalen “Milroy” multiple times and then read the wrong stat line after a College Football Playoff game?).
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ESPN forces him into those conversations because First Take has to talk football, and Smith knows that football is the most popular sport in the country and he needs to be seen as an authority (even though he isn’t).
But Monday’s latest mistake is a lot tougher to excuse, because this time Smith wasn’t talking about the NFL or college football. He was talking about the Golden State Warriors, one of the defining NBA dynasties of the last decade.
In other words, he was talking about the sport and the league that’s supposed to be his bread and butter.
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While discussing whether Steve Kerr has coached his last game with Golden State, Smith confidently stated the Warriors “haven’t been back to the playoffs since that championship in 2022.”
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr looks on during a game against the Sacramento Kings. (Robert Edwards/Imagn Images)
That’s not even close to true. Not only did Golden State make the playoffs last season, but they also reached the postseason in 2023. Last year, the Warriors made the playoffs, beat the Rockets in seven games and advanced to the second round before losing to the Timberwolves. In 2023, they beat the Sacramento Kings in the first round and before losing to the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals.
So, Smith wouldn’t even have been right if he said they haven’t won a playoff series since 2022. But he didn’t say that. He said they didn’t make the playoffs in any of the past four years, except they did it twice.
Yikes.
This is not an obscure piece of NBA trivia that Smith could be easily forgiven for not knowing. Perhaps he was too busy playing solitaire on his phone and just missed two of the past three NBA postseasons. That’s a tough look for the guy who fancies himself as the No. 1 NBA analyst in the country.
And it’s a terrible look for ESPN, as they keep selling Smith as one of the faces of their NBA coverage.
Stephen A. Smith made a brutal gaffe while talking Warriors playoff history
If Smith made this kind of mistake while talking about the NFL, nobody would be shocked. At this point, sports fans practically expect him to butcher football analysis. It’s almost endearing that a guy with the ego of Smith can be so consistently wrong while also delivering every “fact” with the utmost confidence. It’s part of the Stephen A. experience.
But this one hits differently because the NBA is where he’s supposed to at least know the basics. This is where Smith prides himself as being an authority figure.
Stephen A. Smith incorrectly stated the Golden State Warriors haven’t made the playoffs since their 2022 championship, despite the team reaching the postseason twice since then. (Candice Ward/Imagn Images)
And yet he couldn’t keep the recent playoff history of the Warriors straight. The team whose head coach is in the news every other week. The team that has won four championships since 2014. Arguably one of the most important franchises in the NBA over the past 15 years.
Yes, Golden State missed the playoffs in 2024 after getting bounced in the Play-In Tournament (although they won 46 games that season). And yes, it fell short again this season. But that’s a lot different from acting like Steve Kerr has spent four years wandering the basketball wilderness since winning that 2022 title.
He hasn’t. In fact, the team is 175-153 in the past four regular seasons.
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The Warriors made the second round in 2023. They made the second round again in 2025.
Before burying Steve Kerr on national television, maybe Stephen A. Smith could take 10 seconds to confirm whether the Warriors were actually, you know, in the playoffs.
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