It looks like we can finally file away the dream of the Gonzaga Bulldogs moving to the Big 12, with commissioner Brett Yormark essentially calling it done.
In all honesty, this should be of little surprise to anyone. After the Pac 12 imploded in spectacular fashion, and the move of the four corner schools to the Big 12, it was pretty clear there was no room for the basketball dream conference and that once again, football rules the roost.
Did Gonzaga get played? I don’t think so. As someone who has never spoken with and will never speak with Brett Yormark, I’d like to think that his idea of basketball as an undervalued asset as well as his desire to make the Big 12 the premier basketball conference, akin to the SEC in football, as valid and sincere.
However, Yormark is just the commissioner. He is powerful, to be sure, but he also answers to a bunch of rich old people who say yes or no on his decision. Rich old people, as we all know, are not individuals who are able to come up with good ideas and follow through on them.
Whenever anyone bandied about Gonzaga to a Power 5 conference, the major problem always was and always will be the lack of a football team. In a world in which college football is the major revenue driver, the Zags, despite the brand name for basketball, have very little leverage.
So what does this all mean for Gonzaga? At the moment, absolutely nothing. Gonzaga has shown that it can succeed and then some “despite” its presence in the WCC. In the near term, that is not going to change whatsoever.
However, the near term is not the long term. As the Power 5 turns into the Power 4, there is nothing to stop it from turning into the Power 3 or the Power 2. The key thing to remember here is that in no way, shape, or form, has any of the conference realignment that has happened in the past year been on the basis of “What is best for our student athletes.” Rich powerful people always demand more, and we are seeing that play out as college sports sort of get destroyed in the name of more media rights money for mediocre football teams.
Gonzaga, for its part, has been pretty transparent about keeping any and all options on the table. That is a good thing. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey wants to expand the NCAA Tournament not to make it better, but so that more of his shitty schools can lose in the first round and make the SEC more money. When monumental decisions are being driven by the dumbest individuals whose single-minded pursuit in life is C.R.E.A.M., Gonzaga, despite its unicorn status in the college basketball world, is directly threatened.
Unfortunately, the world is populated with more Greg Sankeys than it is Brett Yormarks. For the time being, that means we will continue a time honored tradition in college sports: Watching Gonzaga beat up on a bunch of Power 5 teams in the non-conference schedule, be dismissed as overrated when March rolls around, and then enjoy ourselves as Gonzaga trots on in to another Sweet 16 like it is something every school does routinely.