Pac-12 Conference: Left Out in the Cold

With the ACC-Big Ten and Big 12-SEC Challenges all set, one of the Power Five conferences is left with no one to partake in the exciting non-conference festivities.

Four days of basketball heaven in the dead of winter. From November 30 to December 2, the Atlantic Coast Conference will be battling the tough guys of the Big Ten Conference with a couple of tasty matches that should sustain those respective fan bases until conference play begins.

Among those matchups are the Zoolander-hot Maryland team, who has suddenly become a national darling, testing their resolve against the equally hyped North Carolina Tar Heels team, and a defending national champion Duke hosting an Indiana team with a lot to prove. But wait; there’s more, Bob!

Two months later, The Big 12 Conference and the Southeastern Conference will take a break from their respective conference schedules to clash with one another for one day on January 30. The headlining skirmish in that event will be the Kentucky Wildcats heading to the Allen Fieldhouse to play against the Kansas Jayhawks.

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With these four conferences battling for superiority in the playground that is NCAA Division I Basketball, fans have a lot to look forward to and be excited about. So why is the Pac-12 Conference, one of the so-called Power Five conferences, in the mud all himself eating dirt instead of playing with the other kids?

Sure, the Pac-12 Conference gets the benefit of still being able to schedule good non-conference games to test their teams and expand their national profile, but nothing to the level of an inter-conference confrontation like the rest of the Power Five is taking part in. Unfortunately for them, their lack of national profile and absence of zealousness from their fan bases has left them as the NCAA’s fifth wheel in college basketball.

Not since 2008-09 has the Pac-12 Conference cracked the top two conferences in terms of overall Simple Rating System points. They did get to No. 3 in 2013-14 when they sent Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Oregon, Stanford and UCLA to the NCAA Tournament, but then promptly fell back down to No. 6 in SRS this past year.

Despite being a hotbed of talented players, the Pac-12 Conference (formerly the Pac-10 Conference) has only sent 10 teams to the Final Four since 1979, which at the bottom of the Power Five Conferences. That kind of futility in the national stage has affected their attendance numbers, which makes them a less desirable destination for media outlets to cover.

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Not since 1981 has the Pac-12 Conference (or any other iteration of the conference) cracked the top 5 conferences in terms of total attendance. Average attendance per game is an even more embarrassing measure, where the last time they were in the top five conferences was in 1976. Sure, that does not measure the number of people watching at home, but that does take away from the intrigue and the drama that has become a signature of NCAA basketball.

The Pac-12 Conference needs these highly advertised inter-conference challenges in order to improve their national Q rating, but no one is available to play. Even if agreements weren’t in place, the SEC, ACC, and even the Big East have no reason to travel out to the west coast because better competition is much closer. The Big Ten, and Big 12 Conferences don’t need to be bothered by helping the Pac-12 out because they have more to lose if the Pac-12 somehow beats them.

It’s like when Michael Jordan refused to participate in a one-on-one game against Magic Johnson because he was already known as the best one-on-one player in the world – if Jordan wins, he was supposed to; if Magic wins, his reputation takes a huge hit. There isn’t enough of a reward of the other conferences to play with the lowly Pac-12 Conference.

UCLA Bruins /

UCLA Bruins

Obviously, due to the distance, a challenge against the Atlantic 10 or American Athletic Conference would be hard logistically, but if they were smart about scheduling they could make it work. More Midwest teams like Utah and Colorado could be pitted against East dwelling teams like Connecticut, Temple, VCU, and Saint Joseph’s.

Both the A-10 and American Athletic Conference would benefit from going against a traditional conference while flexing their muscle and trying to build a national presence, while the Pac-12 gets to go against some strong competition. However, the best option might be closer to home.

The best bet for the Pac-12 would be to come to an agreement with the Mountain West. The travel is not too grueling for both and they can help each other out by scheduling some nationally interesting games. We already saw an intense defensive struggle between Arizona and San Diego State last year, and historically great programs like UCLA and UNLV duking it out should move the meter.

The Pac-12 Conference may never have the same intense following that the other conferences have, but they do have tradition that needs to be included in this latest NCAA concoction of advertised inter-conference competition. Teams like UCLA, Arizona, and Stanford provide an untapped market of the population if it is included in the festivities, so please, NCAA: let the Pac-12 come out and play with the rest of the kids.

Next: NCAA: Cost of Attendance Stipends Being Implemented

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