Gone are the days of UCLA, USC, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Arizona State…
The Pac-12’s loss is our gain.
We asked last week whether you thought the new Pac-12, which officially takes shape on July 1, would be considered a mid-major conference, and 67% of fans believe it will be.
The Conference of Champions was whittled down to two football teams and no basketball teams the last two years as Washington State and Oregon State were left by themselves. They joined the WCC for hoops and now have left along with Gonzaga to the new Pac-12. Joining that trio is a quintet from the Mountain West (Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State) and Texas State from the Sun Belt.
Seems pretty simple to consider this new-look conference as a mid-major. All but WSU and OSU have been in mid-major conferences for their entire time in Division I. Those two fell right into the middle of the pack (no pun intended) in their two seasons in the WCC.
Don’t worry, Gonzaga still won’t be a mid-major. The Zags are one reason to argue that the Pac-12 should be considered a power conference.
Add to that the fact that the Mountain West was one of the top mid-major conferences the last couple of years, in large part because of the success of the Aggies, Aztecs, Rams and Broncos. Unfortunately, these teams were fairly outclassed in the NCAA Tournament, save for SDSU’s National Runner-Up run in 2023.
This new collection of schools won’t be on the same level as, say, the SEC, which had 14 teams and two Final Four representatives in 2025. Or the ACC with the rich history of Duke and North Carolina, and who could forget Stanford and Cal! Or the Big Ten with reigning national champion Michigan and consistent contender Michigan State. Or the Big 12 with Kansas. Or even the Big East with UConn and St. John’s.
The Pac-12 resembles more of the Mountain West (obviously, since it took half its schools) or the American or the Atlantic 10. It’ll be a top mid-major league that should fight to have multiple teams dancing, but it won’t be an automatic multi-bid league.
And that’s OK. We’ll gladly take the Pac-12 into our domain.
