(04-03-2018 02:50 PM)SoCalBobcat78 Wrote:  

(04-03-2018 11:08 AM)billybobby777 Wrote:  

(04-03-2018 10:24 AM)SoCalBobcat78 Wrote:  

(04-03-2018 09:27 AM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  

(04-03-2018 08:32 AM)AuzGrams Wrote:  There's nothing wrong with being a top 2 team in the WCC every year and only having to win 1 game to get to the conference title game, along with the fact they're good for at least 25+ wins every year. I don't see the MWC being that far and away better especially with these new concessions.

Yup, win 25+ and be rewarded with...nothing better than a 4 or 5-seed. And many years, that's even generous.

They've had years where they cruise through their schedule and rank near the top of the polls. RPI and KenPom still don't, and the SOS brings it all into question. They're never treated like a heavyweight, and that's because the conference where they play.

It has to get old. And this season is a good reason why Gonzaga really should have left regardless of the WCC concessions...when a season hinges on two or three games, and that's all you have, whereas you can play in a better conference, like the AAC or Big East, lose to a crap team, and it not sink you. That WAS St. Mary's this year. That could have been Gonzaga, too. They were extremely lucky Ohio State and Texas were tournament-caliber wins...it's not like there was much to hang your hat on this season out there in Spokane...

Gonzaga has a choice to make. A mediocre season in a good conference can still come with benefits. That doesn't happen in the WCC. And maybe that's the lesson Gonzaga has to learn to understand this situation to its fullest.

So what does a mediocre season get you in the MWC? In 2016, Fresno State was the only school to make the NCAA tournament from the MWC. They were a #14 seed. In 2017, Nevada was the lone school to make the NCAA tournament from the MWC with a #12 seed. So what was the benefit of mediocrity in these two recent seasons in the MWC?

I see the MWC as a step over the WCC for them but I can tell you either don’t like the MWC, or you are a WCC tee shirt fan (if that exists)...would you be in favor of Texas St going to the MWC if invited?...or do you see it the same way as you do this situation?... That the Sun Belt is as good or better than MWC? Also, how would you feel about Gonzaga moving to the AAC? Texas St to the AAC? Trying to figure out where you are coming from....

LOL! I would love to see Texas State in the MWC or the AAC, but we are in no way deserving of a conference upgrade. The MWC and the AAC are both better conferences than the Sun Belt, but Texas State has done nothing to help the Sun Belt improve.

The Gonzaga to the MWC move never made sense to me at this point in time. Financially, I just didn't see how the MWC could beat what Gonzaga had in the WCC. The 2017 revenues from the tournament alone made the WCC more attractive:

2017 NCAA Tournament Money Earned by School
SCHOOL UNITS TOTAL PAYOUT CONFERENCE
Gonzaga 5 $8,558,920.00 WCC
St. Mary's 2 $3,423,568.00 WCC
Nevada 1 $1,711,784.00 MWC


That is $12 million to the WCC versus $1.7 million to the MWC. Now that they are getting a bigger share of that money, it is an easy financial decision. Gonzaga reported $12 million in revenue for its men's basketball program in 2016, and turned a $4.8 million profit. The revenue and profit will be going up in the future.

Then you ask, is the WCC holding Gonzaga back? Over the past twenty seasons they have been a #1 seed twice, a #2 seed twice, a #3 seed twice and a #4 seed twice. No one in the MWC is close to that in the past twenty seasons. The MWC needed Gonzaga to improve the conference. Gonzaga is doing fine without the MWC.

Then there is ESPN. Gonzaga had 18 games this season on the ESPN family of channels (ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU). The exposure on ESPN has been great for Gonzaga. The MWC has more of their games on the CBS Sports Network. Not as appealing to Gonzaga. The TV revenue is unknown in the WCC, but the MWC was going to need to give a decent chunk of their football revenue to Gonzaga to make the move financially appealing. I just didn't see that happening.

The one thing the Gonzaga AD and Mark Few kept talking about was the changing landscape and protecting the brand. I think that is why they were evaluating the MWC. If there are changes coming in D1 basketball among the better schools, it is somewhere down the road. In the meantime, the improved deal with the WCC should take care of them for the immediate future.

The reason I asked is you kept bringing up the 2 worst years in MWC basketball history compared to the best run in WCC history. I’m looking at the overall conferences from top to bottom. I think the MWC is better top to bottom even despite having these incredibly bad 2, 1 bid years. They were still 9th toughest and 5 years ago were 1 in conference RPI!
I do agree with you that the tv media deal that the MWC signed up with on cbs SN has been utterly disastrous for them. It started all the way back in 2006!!!! And ends in 2020. What an awful decision by BYU and Utah to make that cbs-SN/MTN decision. (TCU said it was made right before they joined)