On September 23, a false report came out through Action Network journalist Brett McMurphy’s Twitter stating that longtime college basketball powerhouse Gonzaga would be joining the PAC-12 conference in 2026, with a full conference revenue share. The Zags’ athletic director Chris Sandiford would not “mince words” that McMurphy’s report was inaccurate. The Gonzaga PAC-12 move seems not to be confirmed yet due to underlying financial issues, as well as the dying conference’s revival relying on its member schools’ football programs, which the Zags do not have.
Surely, Gonzaga’s move to a Power 5 conference would end the criticism of the school for its notably “easy” basketball schedule each year in the West Coast Conference. As of right now, many question the PAC-12 and their desire to stay alive, as the NCAA requires a minimum of eight colleges with a football program. The PAC-12, currently the PAC-7 after former Mountain West school Utah State joined the conference on September 24, has already began rebuilding itself after ten of its schools left to other powerhouse conferences like the Big 12, Big Ten, and ACC for the 2024 season. It began poaching the Mountain West conference, taking the aforementioned Utah State, as well as Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Colorado State, for the 2026 season. Gonzaga would add well-needed basketball stardom to the conference, as they rank fifth on ESPN’s Way-Too-Early Top 25 for the 2024-25 season, but they have not had a football program since 1941.
Gonzaga’s move to the Power 5 has been a highly-discussed topic in the college basketball world for years. The Bulldogs have made the NCAA tournament through the entire 21st century so far, under one of college basketball’s greatest coaches of all time Mark Few, who has fielded a 716-143 record since his first season as head coach in the 1999-00 season. They have found this success in the West Coast Conference, a mid-major that is not considered in the Group of 5 category of elite mid-major conferences. Many fans question if being in this “weaker” conference allows Gonzaga their elite success, as they are typically higher seeds in the tournament and at an incredibly high level nationally for their mid-major competition.
Take into account Will Maupin’s 2021 review of the “unbalanced WCC schedule”. He accounts the fear of the WCC that the Bulldogs would leave the conference for the Mountain West in 2018, and he believes the WCC gave Gonzaga “serious concessions” so they would not lose one of their biggest-revenued programs. Maupin writes that the Zags’ schedule would be essentially shrinked, and the “league is trying to take the worst possible games off Gonzaga’s schedule.” This would be to give the Zags a better seeding the tournament, bringing them to further stardom.
Gonzaga has won the WCC 22 times since Few became the coach by record, and 19 times through winning the conference tournament. The Bulldogs are extremely dominant in the West Coast, shaping the discussion of them needing to move to a Power 5 conference. Now, this does not exactly explain why Gonzaga has still made it to the Elite Eight five times in the Few era, but it does explain that they might be cherry-picked in their seeding placement. Gonzaga’s easier schedule against mid-major rivals usually will lead to wins and keep them ranked, and in that high percentile of college basketball programs. However, they still always consistently have a top-ranked roster in the country.
Gonzaga has fared well against Power 6 schools in recent years, so speculation that the program might decline against “real competition” might be false. In the 2023-24 season, Gonzaga went 3-3 against Power 6 competition in the regular season, and in the season before, the Bulldogs recorded a 5-3 record. While the Zags find themselves with three losses each season, they surely can hold their own against the presumably best series of opponents in the college basketball world. A fully consistent Power 6 schedule is another beast, but it is safe to say Gonzaga would still be among the best and remain a higher-ranked team.
None of this talk about the Power 6 being higher competition is to discredit the WCC itself. Along with Gonzaga’s more recent powerhouse success, Saint Mary’s has always been a comparable rival in the Few era, especially in the 2010s onward. They have won the WCC tournament four times in 2010, 2012, 2019, and 2024. The Gaels have featured NBA talent themselves, like Matthew Dellavedova, Patty Mills, and Jock Landale. Saint Mary’s has found themselves being formidable to the Zags in the past few years, stealing a surefire 2024 WCC tournament title from them with a 69-60 win.
Gonzaga to the “big leagues” is an imminent move, and one that will truly test the basketball program’s future success. Whether the PAC-12 will find their eighth member for football and bring in Gonzaga afterward, or pass on the Zags altogether in the end, is the biggest question yet to be answered. The jump-the-gun reporting of Brett McMurphy brought the college sports world back to the conversation of Gonzaga’s validity in its success.
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