NoDak is right that DU did explore the Big Sky back in 2012 as one of a number of potential landing spots when the Pios were left holding the WAC bag after the WAC basically imploded on them that year, leaving the WAC as mixed bag of misfit programs. DU also inquired with the MVC, the Big West, WCC and the Summit about its (few) options. At the end of the day, the only conference that would take DU without forcing the Pios to add more sports was the Summit, and that's where Denver chose to go. At first, Denver fans were not very enthused about the Summit, given that there are really no schools in the conference within a day's drive of Denver.

But given DU's hockey history with North Dakota and Omaha and the ability to begin to grow that hockey rivalry into Summit sports, I think the Summit league has proving to be a pretty solid place to be for the Pioneers. Maybe not ideal, but quite serviceable.

The WCC had long been a conference that Denver has wanted to be in, given the fellow small privates that make up that league. But I've noticed that DU brass is not as motivated to pursue the WCC as they once were. Getting rejected multiple times by the WCC has certainly fed that cooling feeling, but I also think that most of the WCC teams (save for BYU and Gonzaga) won't draw here anymore than the Summit teams do. Furthermore, the faculty here does not seem to really care that much about conference affiliation, as most of them don't really follow college sports. If the WCC came calling, DU might change their tune, but I don't see much more effort being made here in Denver anymore.

Also, DU is not driving toward a western hockey league. As one of the founding drivers behind the NCHC, Denver, as a top 5 NCAA hockey program, loves being in the best league it can play in, and the NCHC is the best league in the country. Hockey drives a million dollar annual profit to DU even with the jet travel to most all league opponents.

The same holds true for lacrosse - Denver is thrilled to be in the Big East as an affiliate member for men's lax and women's lax, and is content to fly two time zones for it's away opponents, because it needs good competition in what is basically an eastern-based sport. If Denver were to ever receive an all-sports invite to the Big East, it would jump at the chance to go. But DU would probably need a top 50-75 RPI in men's hoops to ever be taken seriously by the Big East, and that is the big battle DU is trying to fight right now. As a $3+ million hoops budget is tops in the Summit, but not yet at a Big East level. DU will need to probably prove it can win the Summit before they pump up the budget....