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Why Gonzaga Should Not Join The Mountain West
The Bulldogs have acheived everything but winning a national title.
Contact/Follow @JeremyMauss & @MWCwire
What is the point of the Bulldogs moving leagues?
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The report from the San Diego Union-Tribune which stated the Mountain West has talked to Gonzaga and also five other unnamed teams about potentially joining the league.
Mountain West folks, us included, like the prospect of boosting up the conference in basketball with a perennial national power like Gonzaga. This would instantly boost the leagues’ profile and make up for not pursuing Wichita State harder when they had the chance.
The Zags joining the Mountain West would provide a better league for them to join, but do the Bulldogs need it?
Mark Few has led this team to a national title game, an Elite 8 appearance and five other Sweet 16 runs. This was done before BYU joined the WCC which gave the league a boost with another top-100 RPI level team.
So, adding a better team to that league did little or nothing to help Gonzaga’s own goals of making a deep tourney run.
Going to the Mountain West would provide more competition but also a few more chances to lose. The Bulldogs have struggled against BYU in the WCC with a few loses, including the Cougars upending an undefeated regular season.
However, the Mountain West has multiple teams as good or better than BYU with Nevada, Boise State; then consider once UNLV, San Diego State, and New Mexico get back to its normal strength. This would lead to a lot more difficult games on the schedule.
Basically, Gonzaga is big enough to not worry about what league it is in to be successful.
Will Maupin who covers the West Coast Conference over at Mid-Major Madness provides a great thread on why Gonzaga should just stay put.
https://twitter.com/WillsWCCblog/status/969247275150032897
https://twitter.com/WillsWCCblog/status/969248301135544321
https://twitter.com/WillsWCCblog/status/969249562752827392
https://twitter.com/WillsWCCblog/status/969250051695366145
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