With BYU, West Coast Conference Becomes Premier Mid-Major Conference

BYU, Notre Dame, Army, Navy.

Those are the four football independents. Does the West Coast Conference care?

Only because it now has another perennial NCAA tournament team in the conference as a result.

Saint Mary's, Gonzaga, BYU.

Before the conference shifts this summer, the Atlantic 10 or Mountain West were considered the best mid-major basketball conferences.

The Atlantic 10 is still solid, to be sure. But the MWC has taken a turn for the worse.

The losses of Utah and BYU has taken away two formidable basketball powers. While the conference did add Nevada, Fresno State, and Boise State, only Nevada helps it in basketball.

The MWC lost access to the state of Utah.

The WCC now has three teams who reached the second round of the NCAA tournament this past season. The Pac-10 didn't even have that many.

There are still some very good basketball schools in the MWC. San Diego State, UNLV, and New Mexico all seem to be headed in the right direction.

Problem?

None of them are Gonzaga.

Gonzaga has been seen as a major team in a mid-major conference for a long time.

The national presence Gonzaga holds means no BCS school is afraid to play them. They are a perennial participant of the NCAA tournament.

Gonzaga is the cream of the mid-major crop sans Butler.

The emergence of Saint Mary's as an NCAA tournament contender each of the past three seasons, along with Loyola Marymount, is bringing the WCC into the national light.

Having two conference schools with RPIs in the 30s or 40s gives BYU a big push and gives them access to larger markets (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Portland).

This also works out well for the WCC.

The other eight schools would have access to the Salt Lake City market.

For a school like Saint Mary's, who has had a difficult time scheduling high RPI teams, adding BYU means there are two fewer games they have to find against a quality opponent.

Along with the A-10, the WCC has become an elite mid-major conference.

Does the bottom of the conference leave much to be desired? Of course.

But the same goes for the bottom of any mid-major conference. Same could be said about the bottom of the Big East.

The first expansion of the WCC in 30 years has lifted the WCC to new heights.

BYU will begin WCC play in 2011-2012.