A Grip on Sports: The more we watch, the more we worry conference realignment and power concentration is going to be the ruin of West Coast college hoops

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Is men’s college basketball on the West Coast dead? Or is it just hanging on, waiting until the changes buffeting the sport claim the region’s hoop programs as their next victim?

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• Funny we didn’t think of this before. The Pac-12 is actually gone for a couple seasons. Its members scattered from the Atlantic Coast to the West Coast and two Big conferences in-between. With it could be any hope of college basketball dominance the best coast has exhibited off and on since the 1960s.

Too hyperbolic? OK, I’ll concede it might be too early to make such a pronouncement, but early returns aren’t good. If the ballot counting stopped today, there would be no winners in the usual race for national relevance from the Pacific (or Mountain) time zones.

In the first 25 years of this century, the Pac-12, with an assist from Gonzaga and San Diego State, kept the region somewhat relevant despite not winning a national title. The Zags got to the NCAA’s final game twice in a four-season stretch. UCLA and Arizona once each before 2007 – when the Pac-12 was the best conference in the nation. Heck, the Bruins appeared in three consecutive Final Fours between 2006-08.

Both years Gonzaga made the finals, a Pac-12 team – Oregon in 2017, UCLA in 2021 – joined them in the semifinals. San Diego State added an unexpected Final Four run in 2023.

Looking back, though, the lack of a national title west of the Rockies this century seems like a canary in a coal mine. And conference realignment will only exacerbate the situation.

The Big Ten schedule is a mess for the four former Pac-12 members. The Big 12 is a gantlet. California and Stanford in the ACC? It holds the potential of turning them into feeder schools.

It seemed as if Gonzaga would thrive in the new world, what with Mark Few and his staff adding veteran transfers to their experienced roster this season. But that hasn’t worked out as well as the Bulldog faithful hoped. The rebuilt Pac-12 that Washington State and Oregon State is putting together holds potential, but will be bucking the headwinds of ESPN-driven focus on the Power Four – and the recruiting benefits that will come with that.

The future of West Coast college hoops doesn’t look as bright as it did a few months ago.

The present? It’s even worse.

Peruse the top 25. Wander down the list. Keep going. Keep going. There it is. At 15 sits Oregon. The first (and only) West Coast school in the men’s top 25. And the Ducks will not be at 15 next week after yesterday’s 77-69 loss at Minnesota, just 11-9 overall and 3-6 in the Big Ten.

Not good.

Wait, won’t NIL and paying players allow all schools the chance to entice one or two exceptional players to campus, leveling the future playing court? Maybe. Ask Rutgers how that is working out this season. The Scarlet Knights landed Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper this season, two of the top three incoming high schoolers. And have a 10-10 record, 3-6 in the Big Ten.

Money talks, sure. But basketball success always has followed the same formula. Getting the five guys on the court to perform together. Everyone knowing their role, performing it at a high level and putting team success first.

Schools who can combine money with tradition, add complimentary pieces to a core group and have enough players that if they miss on one or two, still can thrive, those are the ones who will dominant in the future. Just like in the past.

That has been a hard ask on the West Coast since ESPN ascendancy and its corresponding desire to have better teams in the areas of the country with the most eyeballs. The Big East was built to do just that. Realignment threatens to make the SEC and Big Ten into modern-day versions of Dave Gavitt’s creation – on steroids.

Being able to build a national title contender on this coast has been hard for 40 years. It may be darn near-impossible for the next couple decades.

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WSU: Watching Washington State host Saint Mary’s last night while flipping over to No. 1 Auburn’s 53-51 rock-fight win over Tennessee during the breaks, supplied the impetus for the above thoughts. The Gaels are good. Quite possible the West Coast’s best team. The Cougars are solid. And yet there seemed to be a Grand Canyon-sized gap between the teams on the two different channels. Not that, for one game, a Saint Mary’s couldn’t defeat a Tennessee. But win six consecutive NCAA tourney games? There is no one on this side of the country that can do that this season. But that’s a different topic than the outcome of last night’s battle in Pullman. The Cougars held a 10-point second-half lead and saw it all slip away as WCC-leading Saint Mary’s stayed perfect in conference with an 80-75 victory. Greg Woods has the game story, Geoff Crimmins has the photo gallery and we had the germ of a column. … The WSU women also lost yesterday, falling 79-76 at Loyola Marymount. The Cougars dropped into fourth in the WCC standings after two losses over the weekend. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, if ESPN wants to improve its CFP viewership, the network will have to get the NCAA to allow everyone to begin their football season the weekend before Labor Day. That’s part of Jon Wilner’s thesis in the Mercury News, based off viewership numbers this year. … Do the Power Four conferences need more power? Nope. Do they want more? Yep. John Canzano explains the madness. … A graduating Washington linebacker had fun with a social media post recently. … In basketball news, we mentioned the Oregon men’s first loss away from home above. … We are never sure where to put Oregon State’s results these days, but we landed on here recently. The men’s offense exploded in the second half to edge Santa Clara. The women went overtime – again – and lost – again. This time at Pacific. … An Oregon player is in Kansas City. Her husband plays for the Chiefs. … Back to the men, Colorado State’s late 3-pointer allowed the Rams to top host Fresno State. … San Diego State routed Nevada in Reno. … Utah State ground down Air Force.  

Gonzaga: We all knew changes were coming. The magnitude of those alterations surprised us a little. Ike Graham and Khalif Battle dropped out of the starting lineup. Braden Huff and, this is the biggest surprise, Emmanuel Innocenti, moved in. Few made a statement about the importance of defensive improvement in one swift stroke. And in the minutes played, with only Ryan Nembhard playing more than Innocenti’s 24 minutes in the 105-62 rout. Jim Meehan’s game story covers all that and also includes Ben Gregg’s massive game. Jim also teamed with the folks in the office for a quick recap with highlights. … Gregg is the subject of Theo Lawson’s sidebar story as well as part of Theo’s buzzer breakdown notebook. … Tyler Tjomsland was in Portland and has his photo gallery. … Lisa Fortier’s team has won seven consecutive games and leads the WCC by itself at the halfway point. Greg Lee has that and more in his coverage of Saturday’s 81-53 win at Pepperdine. … Former GU star Courtney Vandersloot has been dealing with her mother’s death while playing in the first year of the Unrivaled 3-on-3 league, put on by WNBA players. … Elsewhere in the WCC, Pepperdine’s men topped Pacific to sweep the season series.

EWU: The Eagle men lost for the fourth consecutive time Saturday, dropping a 67-62 decision to Northern Colorado at Reese Court. Dan Thompson was there and has this game story. … The women also lost in Greeley. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, the Montana men and the Montana State women picked up Brawl of the Wild wins Saturday in Missoula. The Griz won 77-70 and the Bobcats took a one-point victory home. … The Idaho State women rebounded with a home win over Portland State. … The Bengal men lost on the road. … Weber State won both games over Sacramento State.

Idaho: After Thursday’s unlikely but exciting last-second win over previously undefeated (in conference) Northern Colorado, the Vandals seemed to have momentum heading into Northern Arizona’s visit Saturday. They didn’t. Or if they did, they squandered it all in an 80-72 loss to the Lumberjacks. Peter Harriman has the coverage.  

Preps: Dave Nichols has two roundups to pass along, one on the games played by GSL teams and one with the smaller schools’ contests.

Seahawks: We blew off the NFL conference title games in the main part of our column. They will probably be the focal point Monday morning, so, without a representative from our neck of the woods, why harp on it two consecutive days? But we do have stories to pass along on the games, which start at noon with Washington at the Eagles (Fox) and continue at 3:30, with Buffalo in Kansas City (CBS). … Trade DK Metcalf? Sure. If the offer is decent. And yes, this story was linked yesterday when it ran in the Times. … If he stays, he will be working with a new offensive coordinator again. A fourth name was added to the possibles list.

Kraken: It’s not often a timeout in a hockey game is a big deal. It was Saturday as Seattle scored a tie-breaking goal out of its and went on to a 4-1 win over the visiting Penguins.

Tennis: Jannik Sinner made it two consecutive Australian Open men’s titles with a straight set victory over Germany’s Alexander Zverev.

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• Got a commitment this morning. But we should be back in time to watch most of both NFL games. My preferred Super Bowl matchup? Washington vs. Kansas City. I can’t imagine how many nickname stories will be written in the two-week runup. Until later …