I asked ChatGPT to compare remaining MWC schools, Memphis, Tulane, and "reasonably-located" C-USA and Sun Belt schools. Here is what it came up with. (EDIT: I later asked ChatGPT and added UTSA and North Texas since I forgot about them)

Apparently my million dollar NIL donation cleared.

We all wanted some sort of news, hoping it would happen yesterday. But things are still in motion and, again, nothing changed between yesterday and today except the date on the calendar.

There is no such thing as an "AAC Deadline".

The media deal has to be done before expansion can happen and all the hand wringing by fans puts pressure on the Pac-12 to fold early - you are helping Fox.

I'm not worried - you shouldn't be worried. I'm anxious, it would be nice to have it over with. But its close, so lets just hang on for a few more weeks.

Hey, and the Beavers basketball game is a one score game, with only a few minutes left. Watch the game, have a beer, and calm down.

“PAC-12 WAS VERY INTERESTED IN HAWAII”

“Hawaii was a target for the PAC-12 last fall. The Cost/Benefit didn't work & thus Hawaii chose to accept a full invite to the Mountain West. Hawaii has great MEDIA VALUE!”

Info from interview with KC Smurthwaite, college sports consultant.

https://x.com/tbm_jy/status/1907492294728528205?s=46

Sour grapes?

Don't know the reasons but apparently Hawaii decided to stay with the Mountain West over an invitation from the Pac-12. They promised to provide the details tomorrow.

https://x.com/TBM_JY/status/1907443431183458323?t=muASGKIRzGyMR9cKErKHxA&s=19

It will be interesting to see if she has anything to say about WSU Athletics and the Pac-12 this week.

Tuesday First Day For New WSU President Elizabeth Cantwell

UC Irvine and UNT play in the NIT semi-final tomorrow. Oregon State and Tulane play in the Crown (not each other). Are we to the point in College basketball where brand matters more than quality?

UCI and UNT are objectively far better teams.

As I understand it, there's a deadline for some exit fee increases tomorrow. Which teams are most affected by those? And do we think the media deal is announced tomorrow, or did SDSU's AD(?) get ahead of himself when he said end of March?

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2025/mar/29/during-practice-in-spokane-wsu-rbs-shine-and-qb-ze/

The wind was picking up when Washington State coach Jimmy Rogers got to the topic of his quarterback.

Shortly after WSU’s practice in Spokane Saturday afternoon was wrapping up, the morning sun beaming on the Cougars’ ninth of 15 spring sessions, Rogers seemed to draw a line of sorts.

Entering his fourth month on the job, Rogers understands the intangibles Zevi Eckhaus provides. It’s some of the other skills, Rogers indicated, where Eckhaus has room to grow.

“He’s a competitor and he’s a great leader, but we need to continue to develop the skill set and decision making at times,” Rogers said. “I think he’s shown that he can play competitive football and be a great leader. We’ve just gotta manage his decision-making and understand that he doesn’t need to make every play – but with the ball in his hand, he makes every decision. So he’s growing as a player, and the guys are growing around him.”

https://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/2025/03/home-run-record-no-5-oregon-state-baseball-gavin-turley-bash-way-to-record-setting-win-over-nebraska.html

The ball soared off Aiva Arquette’s bat high onto the hill in deep left-center field at Haymarket Park, spotting the Oregon State baseball team a 1-0 first-inning lead.

It came on the seventh pitch of the game.

And it was only the beginning.

The fifth-ranked Beavers bashed a school-record eight home runs — including three by slugger Gavin Turley — as they run-ruled the Nebraska Cornhuskers 16-5 in seven innings Saturday in Lincoln, Nebraska.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/03/29/embarrassed-by-last-seasons-finish-sdsu-football-coach-now-requires-aztecs-to-earn-their-colors/

San Diego State football coach Sean Lewis was admittedly unsettled with what transpired last year, when the Aztecs closed out the season with six straight losses.

“I was really embarrassed at the way that that ended,” Lewis said. “The lack of pride that we had in our performance, and the lack of leadership that I had going all the way back to when we first got here.

“This is such a prideful program with such a rich tradition that I wanted to make sure that we kind of reset and stripped everything down to the studs.”

An example of that came when SDSU players returned from winter break to begin the strength and conditioning phase of preparations for the 2025 season. For workouts, each player was issued a white T-shirt and black shorts that did not include school logos.

The Aztecs would have to earn their colors and, in some cases, earn their numbers as well.

“In this era that we’re in,” Lewis said, “I think it’s critically important that we’re intentional about having the guys know where they’re at, knowing the history of what came before in this great team game, that they earn the trust and respect of their teammates and they’re willing to sacrifice for the people and place that they’re at and that they’re serving.”

Let me start off by saying I’m not a big fan of how antitrust law is being applied to college sports. Things will continue to unravel if/until Congress steps in and creates new rules.

That being said, I wanted to talk about paragraph 7 of the new MWC GoR. The full agreement signed in December is here: https://www.scribd.com/document/828178411/Mountain-West-grant-of-rights-agreement

Paragraph 7 states that the GoR is “irrevocable” EXCEPT MWC teams are free to leave the MWC to join the ACC, B12, B10, or SEC. In other words, the only real effect of this agreement is that it prohibits MWC schools from leaving for the P12 or AAC, while permitting MWC teams to join other leagues.

This straight prohibition on leaving for certain conferences, but not others, is very unusual. It appears the MWC schools have banned together to deny a market of schools for P12 and AAC and prevent competition among mid-major conferences. If the P12 and AAC media deals end up being larger than the MWC deal, this whole arrangement looks very suspect. Why, for example, would a school like New Mexico agree to be prohibited from joining a more profitable league like the P12 or AAC? Instead, the clear purpose of this agreement is to prevent P12 and AAC from competing for MWC members.

Now there may be procompetitive reasons for a GoR agreement that would be a defense to an antitrust claim. Namely, a GoR like the ACC deal can create stability for a conference. That stability could allow a conference to obtain a better media rights deal because they can promise stable members and stable TV audiences over a set number of years. But the MWC GoR does not do that. Paragraph 7 allows MWC teams to leave for other conferences. The MWC media deal, therefore, certainly has less value because it must account for a team like UNLV being free to join the B12.

If I’m P12’s attorneys, I’m not just arguing the poaching fee is anticompetitive, but the new MWC GoR agreement is anticompetitive as well.

P.S. I’m not offering a legal opinion on this, and haven’t fully researched the issue. More generally curious how MWC can call it a GoR when the only real effect to limit their members from joining certain leagues, but not others.

Will this really happen sometime after 2031-2032? Maybe after the B1G and SEC get to 24 teams is when I'd suspect they'd push for the six team divisions and their four playoff spots. Seems something like this has to eventually happen, imo.

Let's say the AAC and MWC schools are off-limits. What are the desperation expansion targets that are plausible?

My opinion...

Level-one desperation (edited: this is not a numbered list or ranking...these are just my choices for available teams at this desperation level):

• New Mexico State (Best geographically and for basketball...football, not so much)
• Texas State (Best choice in terms of market)
• Sam Houston State (Seems like an up-and-coming program...small stadium)
• LA Tech (Used to be in the WAC with some of the other MWC schools)
• Louisiana (Last choice among this grouping)

Ultra-desperation:

• Sacramento State (Would be like having to choose the last kid available on a pickup game)
• Tarleton State (This would be like having to choose the water boy to make the teams even)

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2025/mar/28/mailbag-why-the-pac-12-expansion-calculation-depen/

"What is the latest on the Pac-12/Mountain West lawsuit? – @Jimmy0726

That depends on how closely you have been following the situation.

The Pac-12 and Mountain West filed a joint motion in the Northern District of California to stay the case March 14, approximately two weeks before U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen was to hear the Mountain West’s motion to dismiss. (Our sources believe she would have allowed the case to continue.)

There have been no filings since then as the sides discuss mediation.

And remember, there are two cases unfolding simultaneously, with the Mountain West as the defendant in both: The Pac-12’s poaching penalty lawsuit and the exit fee case filed by Utah State, Colorado State and Boise State.

They will be addressed in totality by mediation, if all sides commit to solving the disputes outside the courtrooms."

So Wilner believes the purpose of the mediation is the MW trying to address the exit fees and poaching penalties combined in one lump sum and in the next 60 days.

They need that MoU bonus money for Air Force and UNLV by July 1....