Basketball no factor in realignment
The landscape of college athletics seems to change every day.
Boise State has made the latest move, deciding its football team will leave the Big East, a conference in which it has yet to play a game, in order for all sports to remain in the Mountain West.
The move is likely to trigger other shifts. San Diego State could make the same decision if the Big East can't cobble together something to make it worthwhile for SDSU to proceed with plans to join the league as a football-only member.
One of the biggest things to stand out about all the changes over the past two years is how little basketball matters.
College hoops stirs excitement for three weeks in March, but in the end, conference realignment has made clear that football drives college athletics.
Which brings us to Gonzaga.
Despite the school's success in basketball, building itself into a national power from the West Coast Conference, no major conferences are seeking to add Gonzaga because it hasn't had a football program since 1941.
If a bigger conference were to extend an invitation to Gonzaga, it likely won't be the Big 12.
Gonzaga has been storming its way through the Great Plains this season, leaving a trail of victims in its path.
With Monday's 69-68 win over No. 22 Oklahoma State in Stillwater, the 10th-ranked Bulldogs are 5-0 against Big 12 teams this season.
Gonzaga also has wins over Baylor, Kansas State, Oklahoma and West Virginia.
That might be more Big 12 wins than Texas Christian gets in its first two seasons in the league.
■ ONE MAN'S TRASH ... - The Arizona Cardinals were a disaster this season.
Sure, much of that had to do with the quarterback injuries. But after a great start, the team showed few signs of life.
Ken Whisenhunt and his staff were fired Monday along with what seemed like most of the league's coaching staffs that failed to make the playoffs.
Not everyone was unimpressed with what was going on with that coaching staff, however.
Apparently, Buffalo's front office was blown away with the product the Cardinals put on the field when the Bills went into Arizona and came away with an overtime victory this season.
Two of the first candidates the Bills will interview in their quest to replace fired coach Chan Gailey will be Whisenhunt and Cardinals defensive coordinator Ray Horton.
The Bills also reportedly will talk to fired Arizona assistant head coach Russ Grimm.
Yep, three guys from an organization not much above the Bills likely will get interviews in Buffalo.
The Bills also announced a slogan for the new year: "Commitment to mediocrity."
■ FEED ME THE ROCK - Moments after Southern California became the first preseason No. 1 football team to lose six games in a season, the program suffered another loss.
Star wideout Robert Woods announced he would leave school early to declare for the NFL Draft.
"If the coaches wanted to keep me another year, they would've probably got me the ball," he reportedly told Pedro Moura of ESPN Los Angeles.
NFL teams will love that team-first attitude.
COMPILED BY ADAM HILL
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
