San Diego St has been discussed both in articles and on message boards to be a candidate for PAC expansion. The trigger, to my knowledge, hasn’t been pulled on the Aztecs. Would winning this basketball title help in any way? Or do championships not matter?

My guess is “No.” A championship would have zero impact on realignment for SDSU.

——————
Since 1939 (first NCAA tournament), every top tier football, men’s basketball, and baseball champion has found their way into today’s major status (P5 plus Big East) except:

Football: Army (1944, 1945)

Basketball: Wyoming (1943), Holy Cross (1947), CCNY (1950), La Salle (1954), San Francisco (1955, 1956), Loyola - Chicago (1963), UTEP (1966), UNLV (1990)

Baseball: Holy Cross (1952), Cal St Fullerton (1979, 1984, 1995, 2004), Wichita St (1989), Rice (2003), Fresno St (2008), Coastal Carolina (2016)

(03-27-2023 01:15 AM)BePcr07 Wrote:  San Diego St has been discussed both in articles and on message boards to be a candidate for PAC expansion. The trigger, to my knowledge, hasn’t been pulled on the Aztecs. Would winning this basketball title help in any way? Or do championships not matter?

My guess is “No.” A championship would have zero impact on realignment for SDSU.

——————
Since 1939 (first NCAA tournament), every top tier football, men’s basketball, and baseball champion has found their way into today’s major status (P5 plus Big East) except:

Football: Army (1944, 1945)

Basketball: Wyoming (1943), Holy Cross (1947), CCNY (1950), La Salle (1954), San Francisco (1955, 1956), Loyola - Chicago (1963), UTEP (1966), UNLV (1990)

Baseball: Holy Cross (1952), Cal St Fullerton (1979, 1984, 1995, 2004), Wichita St (1989), Rice (2003), Fresno St (2008), Coastal Carolina (2016)

The money matters (realignment) because the games matter (championships). Not the other way around. For most people in sports, anyway.

What helps San Diego State is establishing that winning matters at San Diego State. That's not a one-game thing but every game helps.

(03-27-2023 01:15 AM)BePcr07 Wrote:  San Diego St has been discussed both in articles and on message boards to be a candidate for PAC expansion. The trigger, to my knowledge, hasn’t been pulled on the Aztecs. Would winning this basketball title help in any way? Or do championships not matter?

My guess is “No.” A championship would have zero impact on realignment for SDSU.

——————
Since 1939 (first NCAA tournament), every top tier football, men’s basketball, and baseball champion has found their way into today’s major status (P5 plus Big East) except:

Football: Army (1944, 1945)

Basketball: Wyoming (1943), Holy Cross (1947), CCNY (1950), La Salle (1954), San Francisco (1955, 1956), Loyola - Chicago (1963), UTEP (1966), UNLV (1990)

Baseball: Holy Cross (1952), Cal St Fullerton (1979, 1984, 1995, 2004), Wichita St (1989), Rice (2003), Fresno St (2008), Coastal Carolina (2016)

Holy Cross found their way into a P5, they weren't smart enough to accept the invite.

I doubt baseball will move the needle enough, none of the power conferences are going to admit Coastal Carolina or Fresno State because of a CWS.

We can debate as to when "modern era" is in football and men's basketball. Men's basketball is usually a lot easier to define, the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, they first allowed at large teams in 1975, and UTEP was the first all African American team to win the national championship. CCNY isn't even in Division 1, I doubt any major conference would seriously consider admitting Wyoming, LaSalle, or San Francisco because they won a national championship before most of us were born. Loyola did make the Final Four in 2018 but they would be a hard sell, especially after last season in the Atlantic 10. As for football, Army is the only "old school" champion not in a Power conference but most people would feel they aren't power level.

UNLV is certainly the only "non power" team to win in a men's basketball championship in the modern era and they did get an upgrade from the Big West to the WAC as a result and the WAC was at the time close to a major (they had Utah and BYU and some of the SWC leftovers).

I think San Diego State is rumored to be heading to the Pac 12, national championship or no national championship. The better test is probably Florida Atlantic. I'm pretty sure no Power conference will all of a sudden invite them if they win this championship. The AAC is certainly a step up from C-USA (although it's practically the new C-USA after Houston, Cincinnati, and UCF leave).

We will likely never have to ask this question in football because the P5's will do whatever it takes to make sure it never happens. UCF can go 12-0 twice and not even get a chance to play for the national championship. TCU can blow their conference championship game to a three loss Kansas State team that lost at home to a G5 team and still make the Playoff. In men's basketball, they can stick San Diego State with a #5 seed and Florida Atlantic with a #9 and they can still make the Final Four. In football, they don't even get to play.

(03-27-2023 05:01 AM)Buckeye22 Wrote:  

(03-27-2023 01:15 AM)BePcr07 Wrote:  San Diego St has been discussed both in articles and on message boards to be a candidate for PAC expansion. The trigger, to my knowledge, hasn’t been pulled on the Aztecs. Would winning this basketball title help in any way? Or do championships not matter?

My guess is “No.” A championship would have zero impact on realignment for SDSU.

——————
Since 1939 (first NCAA tournament), every top tier football, men’s basketball, and baseball champion has found their way into today’s major status (P5 plus Big East) except:

Football: Army (1944, 1945)

Basketball: Wyoming (1943), Holy Cross (1947), CCNY (1950), La Salle (1954), San Francisco (1955, 1956), Loyola - Chicago (1963), UTEP (1966), UNLV (1990)

Baseball: Holy Cross (1952), Cal St Fullerton (1979, 1984, 1995, 2004), Wichita St (1989), Rice (2003), Fresno St (2008), Coastal Carolina (2016)

Holy Cross found their way into a P5, they weren't smart enough to accept the invite.

That actually never happened. They turned down the A10 though.

It certainly doesn't hurt them.

I doubt that SDSU winning the NCAAT will impact the PAC’s expansion decision.

But if the the PAC is expanding, then SDSU is still their #1 candidate. In addition, the PAC will proudly communicate that they are expanding with whatever achievement SDSU athletics brings to the conference.

I think SDSU was going to be announced as P12 member after the NCAA Tournament either way - even if they lost in Round 1. But 20 years from now, people will write articles and rewrite history about how the Final Four propelled them into the PAC-12.

Basketball championships don't matter. UConn for example, didn't help them get a P5 invite.

Football championships definitely matter though. If a G5 program rose up and beat the Alabamas and Ohio States of the world en route to a national championship I have a hard time seeing them left out of a P5 conference.

(03-27-2023 02:02 PM)UCbball21 Wrote:  Basketball championships don't matter. UConn for example, didn't help them get a P5 invite.

Football championships definitely matter though. If a G5 program rose up and beat the Alabamas and Ohio States of the world en route to a national championship I have a hard time seeing them left out of a P5 conference.

I can agree with this somewhat. UConn's basketball dominance of late gets destroyed by not having a great location, no football pedigree, and the fact that the conferences in the area had other options.

SDSU's basketball is a plus, but it's a plus into the pile that already includes, location, football with acceptable history, and possibly most importantly: no other options in the area.

It's not going to be make or break based on winning a championship this year, but it'll be an easier sell to bring them along as "reigning national champions" to every day fans.

(03-27-2023 07:20 AM)esayem Wrote:  

(03-27-2023 05:01 AM)Buckeye22 Wrote:  

(03-27-2023 01:15 AM)BePcr07 Wrote:  San Diego St has been discussed both in articles and on message boards to be a candidate for PAC expansion. The trigger, to my knowledge, hasn’t been pulled on the Aztecs. Would winning this basketball title help in any way? Or do championships not matter?

My guess is “No.” A championship would have zero impact on realignment for SDSU.

——————
Since 1939 (first NCAA tournament), every top tier football, men’s basketball, and baseball champion has found their way into today’s major status (P5 plus Big East) except:

Football: Army (1944, 1945)

Basketball: Wyoming (1943), Holy Cross (1947), CCNY (1950), La Salle (1954), San Francisco (1955, 1956), Loyola - Chicago (1963), UTEP (1966), UNLV (1990)

Baseball: Holy Cross (1952), Cal St Fullerton (1979, 1984, 1995, 2004), Wichita St (1989), Rice (2003), Fresno St (2008), Coastal Carolina (2016)

Holy Cross found their way into a P5, they weren't smart enough to accept the invite.

That actually never happened. They turned down the A10 though.

Holy Cross and Rutgers both turned down opportunities to be founding members of the original Big East. Holy Cross did it because they were on. the way to de-emphasizing sports. Rutgers did it because we were waiting for Joe Paterno's fabled all sports conference to materialize.

(03-27-2023 07:20 AM)esayem Wrote:  

(03-27-2023 05:01 AM)Buckeye22 Wrote:  Holy Cross found their way into a P5, they weren't smart enough to accept the invite.

That actually never happened. They turned down the A10 though.

Holy Cross turned down a Big East invite that was extended alongside Boston College.

Rutgers turned down an invite that was then offered to Seton Hall.

I'm not sure how much an NCAA Title would help SDSU, but I'm pretty sure that would help at least a little bit. If the Pac was already going to invite, maybe they get a bit more money. If they Pac was on the fence about inviting them, perhaps it pushes them over the edge. And it definitely brings some much-needed sports clout to a Conference that hasn't had much good news of late.

Baseball doesn't move the needle at all in realignment.

Every school that won a championship in FB and BB on that list won over 50 years ago with the exception of UNLV and if UNLV wasn't absolute trash at FB they would probably be a PAC expansion option right now.

(03-28-2023 09:09 PM)mikeinsec127 Wrote:  

(03-27-2023 07:20 AM)esayem Wrote:  

(03-27-2023 05:01 AM)Buckeye22 Wrote:  

(03-27-2023 01:15 AM)BePcr07 Wrote:  San Diego St has been discussed both in articles and on message boards to be a candidate for PAC expansion. The trigger, to my knowledge, hasn’t been pulled on the Aztecs. Would winning this basketball title help in any way? Or do championships not matter?

My guess is “No.” A championship would have zero impact on realignment for SDSU.

——————
Since 1939 (first NCAA tournament), every top tier football, men’s basketball, and baseball champion has found their way into today’s major status (P5 plus Big East) except:

Football: Army (1944, 1945)

Basketball: Wyoming (1943), Holy Cross (1947), CCNY (1950), La Salle (1954), San Francisco (1955, 1956), Loyola - Chicago (1963), UTEP (1966), UNLV (1990)

Baseball: Holy Cross (1952), Cal St Fullerton (1979, 1984, 1995, 2004), Wichita St (1989), Rice (2003), Fresno St (2008), Coastal Carolina (2016)

Holy Cross found their way into a P5, they weren't smart enough to accept the invite.

That actually never happened. They turned down the A10 though.

Holy Cross and Rutgers both turned down opportunities to be founding members of the original Big East. Holy Cross did it because they were on. the way to de-emphasizing sports. Rutgers did it because we were waiting for Joe Paterno's fabled all sports conference to materialize.

Rutgers AD Fred Gruninger may have been ahead of his time on the "football drives the bus" mindset, although back then, it sure didn't.

This stuck with me, even though I've only heard it once since following Rutgers and don't know how true it is - but was it the case that Gruninger and Rutgers were founders of the Eastern 8/Atlantic 10, and as such, didn't think they could simply leave (other than for an all-sports conference including football) without him and the program losing a lot of face in the sports world?