(03-26-2018 09:55 AM)YNot Wrote:  

(03-25-2018 10:13 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  ...

As for location of school: actually from a travel partner standpoint, GCU is the easiest on travel. Partner GCU with San Diego and the others pair out naturally; Pepperdine and LMU, Santa Clara and San Francisco, St. Mary's and Pacific, Portland and BYU. Right now it's kind of a mess, as Portland and San Diego lack natural travel partners with BYU and Gonzaga being paired.
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WCC doesn't currently use travel partners. When it did, everything worked well - travel partners were Portland/Gonzaga and San Diego/BYU.

It's a 5-hour drive and 1-hour flight from Portland to Spokane. Not much further than Seattle to Pullman. San Diego and BYU were paired as the 2 outliers.

Note - it's 11 hours from Spokane to Provo and 12 hours from Portland to Provo. 10 hours from San Diego to Provo.

Nobody drives that, except the football equipment truck. And the WCC doesn't sponsor football. (well maybe Baseball equipment Van)

The two LA schools, the two Peninsula and the two East Bay (Stockton I'm putting in the East Bay as it's barely over an hour from Oakland Airport) schools make natural pairs. Portland would require a commuter hop to anywhere, including Seattle, same for BYU, and Gonzaga. San Diego is within driving distance of the LA schools, but is the 3rd wheel.

Travel partner is basically a Basketball and Women's Volleyball thing, it really doesn't apply in any other sport. So given BYU, Portland and San Diego are commuter hops, there really isn't much difference from a travel standpoint to add a school in Phoenix, Denver, or Seattle. They are all a couple hours flight for the California schools and BYU.

I really don't think a decision will come down to the driving requirements of the Baseball/Softball equipment driver (Denver doesn't sponsor either sport). All three schools are pretty much the same travel issue. Seattle is perhaps the most expensive flight tickets. Both Denver and Phoenix are pretty cheap.

In the end it will come down to a value judgement between the need for even numbers for scheduling against the SoS hit for another worse than 150 RPI school. I can't see the two serious programs that want to play post season tournaments (BYU and SMC) accepting any of the schools at the moment. All they need is one more school to have doubts to derail any expansion.

This changes if one of those schools has a strong run next year. So were I the AD at any of them, I'd be telling my Basketball coach, I need the next two years to be good. I'd be maximizing attendance, especially by students, and I'd make sure I was on friendly terms with BYU, SMC and a couple other WCC ADs. (Seattle might have the best squad this coming year, they need to make it perform, and they need to get more than close friends and relatives in the stands)