Six months ago, the Mountain West was riding high, set to send more than half of its men’s basketball teams to the NCAA tournament and outpacing the Big East, ACC and dying Pac-12 in the process.
Now, before the ball is even tipped again in a new season, the Mountain West is the latest basketball casualty in the football-driven realignment machine. Four of its schools (San Diego State, Boise State, Colorado State and Fresno State) are set to join Oregon State and Washington State in attempting to reconstitute the Pac-12. The moves would take place for the 2026–27 academic year, a necessary timeline for the current “Pac-2” as it works to get back to the eight-team threshold required to be considered an FBS conference by ’26.
