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Sac State to Big West in 2026

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Realignment Never Sleeps: Big West, West Coast … And Why Denver Keeps Coming Up

Explore the latest developments in college realignment, including UC San Diego's surprising move to the West Coast Conference.
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Reading for the realignment junkie. Questions why UCSD would make a move to WCC with rumors that St. Mary's is halfway out the door. Also, profiles Denver University, which has far more in common with WCC members and may have more suitors than the Big West.
 
Super Hornet 2.0 said:
The Big West accepting teams outside the accepted footprint doesn't look good, but it's nothing new. Back in the '90s, they had UT State, NM State, LA Tech, and SW LA in football, not to mention Hawai'i. That's a big financial outlay on travel alone.
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Before the UC’s and Hawaii left, I thought going regional was a great strategy. It looks reactionary now afterwards, but still not terrible.

CBU is more committed than UCR.
Utah Valley is a growing area,huge uni. It’s not SLC but is committed athletically.
Grand Canyon would have been great, but Mountain West was smart and needed metro members.
UT Arlington sits in a huge metro and uni, better than Bake’s.

But the challenge remains to get the other schools, still left in the big west to invest in facilities and survive in the NIL era
 
Super Hornet 2.0 said:
The Big West accepting teams outside the accepted footprint doesn't look good, but it's nothing new. Back in the '90s, they had UT State, NM State, LA Tech, and SW LA in football, not to mention Hawai'i. That's a big financial outlay on travel alone.
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Arkansas State also. But Utah State and NMSU were full members and Hawaii was a member in women's sports.

The Big West was better in the 90s than what it is now. From having several states represented back then to.... this?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1930326683862872403

I'm disgusted the once FBS Big West has been reduced to a California bubble paralyzed by in-state politics. I believe that to survive it needs at least two members outside California. Utah Valley isn't enough.
 
jdgaucho said:
I'm disgusted the once FBS Big West has been reduced to a California bubble paralyzed by in-state politics. I believe that to survive it needs at least two members outside California. Utah Valley isn't enough.
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With the paradigm shift to the big boy conferences gobbling up all the at-large bids, all that matters is retaining enough members to retain D1 recognition as a conference. Unless there is some mass exodus from the BW to other conferences, I don't see the BW having an issue of survival.
 
WCC commish actively going after Big West members.

Conf USA getting desperate could be football lifeline for moving up.

WCC after UCI and UCSB, mention of LB but I don’t see WCC going after state school.

Big West with CBU and UVU is healthy enough and will have 11 members after 2027. WCC has more NCAA tourney credits stacked up, which they keep. With bringing UCSD and Denver in, all bets seem off, especially if SM leaves to MW or Pac.
 
Well, now that the last regular season game in the Big Sky Conference has been played I thought I'd put my 2 cents in to next years possibilities....1. We need to hang on to at least a few off this seasons roster.....the obvious choices are Lavrenov (I think we have a chance to hang on to him for one more season), Madi (the way he finished this season, it's very iffy about being able to retain him....He, IMO, was by far the most improved player over the season), Summers (I think he has a lot more in him, decent chance to retain), Glover (decent chance), Robinson (good chance unless he really want to go back closer to home), Mikey (not too likely to stay) and I would love to have Cherry for a whole season (I really think if he played the whole schedule this year, this team would have been one of the top 3 or 4 teams in BSC). Bibby got better as the season moved on too. The Big West is going to be a MUCH easier league for travel and NO MORE GAMES AT ELEVATION.....It's definitely a crap shoot as to who will stay and who will be picked up by someone else in these NIL days....Hope they raise some hell in their last BSC tournament...Wouldn't it be cool if Cherry and Williams came back for the tourney and the Hornets won a couple of games?
 
JD, what's your take on the Henderson location? I assume you go every year since you are a major BW fanboi. With most of the BW in the LA Basin, seems like having the BWT somewhere in that region would draw better crowd and have a better environment.

As much as I hate the garbage BSC, they did get one thing right and that was moving the BSCT to Boise. I went when the women won the tournament a few years ago and it's quite the environment. Very well supported by the local business community and there are a lot of BSC member alums in the region that turns out well, especially the later rounds.
 
SDHornet said:
JD, what's your take on the Henderson location? I assume you go every year since you are a major BW fanboi. With most of the BW in the LA Basin, seems like having the BWT somewhere in that region would draw better crowd and have a better environment.

As much as I hate the garbage BSC, they did get one thing right and that was moving the BSCT to Boise. I went when the women won the tournament a few years ago and it's quite the environment. Very well supported by the local business community and there are a lot of BSC member alums in the region that turns out well, especially the later rounds.
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I've gone to a couple BWTs when they were in Anaheim (once as a student). But I have never been to one in Henderson. From what I've read on our message boards, the venue itself is fine. The capacity is perfect. Good area. Problem is nobody attends the games.

Due to covid the BWT was moved out of SoCal to Michelob Ultra Arena on the Strip in 2021 (formerly Mandalay Bay). I'm fine with it being in Nevada as a true neutral site.
 
Big West was always hopefully a short term solution. Is a lesser conference without UCSB and to extent UCSD, but is plenty viable for now. The additions of CBU and UVU do well to mitigate this loss.
 
jdgaucho said:
I'll start with hoops. I can see the coaches taking the easy route with a full round robin, especially if the NCAA enacts a 32 game schedule. OTOH, given that UCI and especially UCSD were both knocking on the door of an at-large bid until Selection Sunday - both were 30+ win teams and UCSD had a NET in the 30s - it's possible the BW might want fewer league games. I'm hoping for fewer.

Baseball is also going to be a tough choice. I don't expect a 33 game league schedule happening now that the conference tournament is back. It would take away precious ooc opportunities to build at-large resumes and baseball is one of the few sports where the BW can expect to earn multiple bids every year (2 bids this year, last season and in 2021). There were four top-75 RPI teams in 2025.

With respect to softball, UCI doesn't sponsor it and it's largely a one bid league so expect the BW will have 11 teams and 30 league games. Besides, there was only one at-large bid awarded to somebody not in a power conference. Those extra opportunities are gone.

Men's soccer, there's 11 teams so I'm expecting the BW stays with 10 league games and a full round robin. Women's soccer has 12 teams so unless the league is cool with 11 games someone is getting skipped.
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22 conference basketball games was confirmed during the Big West baseball finals. So a full round robin in '26-'27

https://twitter.com/x/status/2058639119673364562
 
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