SAN DIEGO — Rumors about San Diego State getting an invitation to join the Pac-12 conference started well before the 2023 NCAA Tournament. The program's desirable location in a big media market in San Diego, success in both football and basketball, and up to par facilities made them an obvious fit to help replace UCLA and USC as they transition to the Big Ten in 2024.
However, the Aztecs only strengthened their case for a Power-5 invitation by storming through the NCAA Tournament, knocking off top seed Alabama followed by a dangerous Creighton team, and then beating FAU to advance to the first national championship in program history.
San Diego State ultimately fell by 16 to the Huskies of UConn, but their excellent March may have won them more than just a few games in the big dance: it may lead to a bidding war.
Locked on College Basketball host Andy Patton discussed why the Aztecs make sense for the Big-12, especially as long as the Pac-12 is still trying to negotiate a new media rights deal.
"Brett Yormark the commissioner (of the Big-12) has made two things clear," Patton said. "Thing one, he thinks basketball is an underutilized resource in the college landscape, and he wants a team in the pacific time zone. That's why they are so connected to Gonzaga but guess what? San Diego State qualifies for both those things [and] they also have a football program."
San Diego State fulfills every box on Yormark's wishlist, and there's no debate the media market is more desirable in San Diego than in Spokane where the Zags are located.
Of course, this doesn't have to be an either/or situation, and as long as the Pac-12 continues to shuffle their feet the Big-12 could attempt to package these two basketball powerhouses together and bolster what is already an impossibly elite basketball conference.
The Pac-12 is still the favorite to make this work, especially as two of their most successful basketball schools move on in a year, but this run from Brian Dutcher's Aztecs absolutely strengthens their case as an appealing option for more than just the conference of champions - and Yormark is not shy about striking a deal if he thinks it will help him build a more expansive, and more basketball dominant, conference.