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Hot Take: The Pac-12 Fears the Mountain West

By Chris Godfrey

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Last week, my co-editor and West Coast college basketball aficionado Daniel Tran, shared his thoughts on how the Pac-12 was being left out of the equation of big time scheduling agreements between conferences. It was a timely piece of writing. The well established ACC/Big Ten Challenge may be introducing its best slate of games yet next season, and even the fledgling Big 12/SEC Challenge features a blue-blooded meeting between Kentucky and Kansas at Phog Allen Fieldhouse.

The conference challenge format has become a proven commodity in college basketball. Conferences schedule a series of inter-league games, and then dole out points for each win by a member institution. At the end, fans are shown a shiny trophy on TV…and that’s just sort of the end of it. No one really knows where the winning side even keeps the trophy. It’s still one of ESPN’s most brilliant made-for-TV ideas.

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Not only does the event print money for programs by adding a marquee gate receipt and/or national television coverage, but teams contending for the NCAA Tournament are normally able to compete for a win that could mean something in March. I’m sure the Iowa Hawkeyes appreciated having a win against North Carolina in their back pocket as they reeled towards Selection Sunday. The Hawkeyes have the ACC/Big Ten Challenge to thank for that early season opportunity to knock off a developing Tar Heel team.

According to my colleague, the Pac-12 is left out in the cold when it comes to this unique and convenient format of non-conference scheduling. Yes, the NCAA considers itself to only have five power conferences now that the Big East has cut ties with its football-playing brethren, but the Pac-12 is far from lonely when it comes to options for creative scheduling. The most enticing option is actually staring right in front of them, but the Pac-12 is simply scared to pick up the phone.

The Pac-12/Mountain West Challenge should be more than an idea that Dan Tran mentions for a single sentence (he mentioned the Mountain West as an option AFTER he ludicrously suggested that the Pac-12 reach out to the American or the Atlantic-10…go home Danny, you’re drunk). This event should be an actual, tangible thing. However, there’s a very clear reason why it will never happened.

The Pac-12 is scared of the Mountain West.

Now before you laugh this off and click on the next article, allow me to explain. I’m not saying that the Pac-12 isn’t a better basketball conference than the Mountain West. That’s not the case. Based on the resources and facilities afforded to the conference, the Pac-12 will always have the overall edge. However, I’ll say this. If a Pac-12/Mountain West challenge were to happen annually, the Mountain West would likely beat the Pac-12 just as much as the Big Ten manages to beat the ACC. That’s not that crazy of a statement.

The ACC/Big Ten Challenge has chugged along since 1999, despite it taking 11 seasons for the Big Ten to finally win. Even with the ACC’s dominance, the event’s one-sided nature never hurt the existence of the spectacle. That’s because no one truly loses these events in the long run.

Despite over a decade of playing little brother to the ACC, the Big Ten has notched their share of important victories in the competition. Michigan State started the challenge by beating North Carolina in consecutive years. The Tar Heels were a top ten team on both occasions. Illinois has also claimed marquee victories in the event (blowing the doors off of North Carolina in 2002 and blowing out top-ranked Wake Forest in 2004). Minnesota curiously holds the distinction of being the only Big Ten program to have a winning record in the event (8-6).

Each year, at least one team from the losing conference wins a game that makes the entire experience worth the trouble, regardless of the final tally in the series. So now that we’ve established that there aren’t any losers in this equation, why isn’t the Pac-12 willing to reach out to their neighbors in the nearby mountains?

Once again — the Pac-12 is afraid of the Mountain West.

In fact, they probably have good reason to be. The Mountain West may not have garnered its proper due from the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee this past season, but insomniacs who have managed to locate the CBS Sports Network on their televisions are well aware of the depth that lies in the MWC. Take a look at the two conferences paired next to each other based on conference standings, and play out a series in your head.

Yes, the teams in green are projected winners. Yes, I have the Mountain West winning this series 6-5. No, the Pac-12 will never allow this scenario to happen. The truth that the Pac-12 Conference has been attempting to hide for the last few years is that there isn’t much of a gap between the two basketball conferences. Outside of the juggernaut that is Arizona and blue-blooded UCLA, the most consistent teams in the west reside in the Mountains.

Recently, San Diego State has been far more consistent on the court than any team in the Pac-12 excluding Arizona, and UNLV has out-recruited the entire Pac-12 excluding Arizona (and possibly excluding UCLA depending on how you feel about some of their recent classes). In case you haven’t noticed the theme, there isn’t much power in the Pac-12 once you exclude Arizona (and the prestige, not necessarily the talent, of UCLA).

Instead, power conference apologists would like you to believe that a Pac-12/Mountain West Challenge wouldn’t be viable for both parties. They’ll tell you that the Mountain West isn’t stiff competition, even though San Diego State, Boise State, Colorado State, and Wyoming could beat anyone in the Pac-12 conference without it even be remotely considered an upset (once again, EXCLUDING ARIZONA) .

Here’s a bit more truth. Not only is the Pac-12 scared of the Mountain West, but they’re doubly scared of the conference’s venues. Arizona barely beat San Diego State on a neutral floor last season (at the Maui Invitational). I wouldn’t like their chances playing the Aztecs at the Viejas Center. UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center and The Pit at New Mexico also come to mind as frightful road games that the Pac-12 would face in such a challenge. Even playing at altitude on the road against Wyoming is a tough task.

There’s too many factors that lead to the Mountain West proving to be equally competent as their power conference counterparts. The only thing that seems to tilt in the Pac-12’s favor is NCAA Tournament bids, a metric that has a very distinct human element called a selection committee.

If the Pac-12 was truly interested in a lucrative, marketable, and beneficial challenge series — the key could be the inclusion of a third conference. The admitted drawback to a Pac-12/Mountain West Challenge is the lack of talent at the bottom of the Mountain West (the world is looking at you and your 2-28 record, San Jose State). However, that problem could be solved by inviting the top three teams in the West Coast Conference to replace the bottom three teams in the Mountain West. This would effectively add Gonzaga, BYU, and St. Mary’s to the challenge while ridding us of Nevada, San Jose State, and Air Force. Under those circumstances, we’d be left with this very intriguing lineup.

This definitely isn’t going to happen, but yes, the Pac-12 lost this mythical projection as well. Replacing the bottom of the Mountain West with the best from another formidable mid-major conference shrinks the gap between the haves and have nots even more significantly. The first seven games of this series blow the Big 12/SEC Challenge out of the water. This is the reality of the situation, the Pac-12 has some pretty cool options available to them, they’re just too stodgy to explore them.

I’d love to see Arizona play Gonzaga in an NBA arena in Phoenix or Seattle, or Stanford meeting St. Mary’s in Oakland at the Oracle Arena. Would anyone lose if BYU and Utah played an annual neutral site game in Salt Lake City? Or why not Vegas? Those are opportunities that are unique to the Pac-12, but no one seems interested in making these games happen.

Don’t be fooled into feeling sorry for the Pac-12. There is plenty of competition in the west, but the Pac-12 wants no part of it. The talent gap in college basketball isn’t what it used to be, but instead of embracing that fact, the Pac-12 is hoping that they can preserve their superiority through avoidance of their peers. It’s a strategy that has worked wondrously so far. How else do you think UCLA got into the NCAA Tournament over Colorado State?

Next: Pac-12 Conference: Left Out in the Cold

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