Gonzaga and UTEP are the latest schools to join the conference realignment frenzy

The GIST: The Pac-12 announced another key win in its fight for survival yesterday, adding basketball powerhouse Gonzaga starting in the 2026–27 school year. The Pac is almost back, baby.

• Elsewhere, to replenish its roster post–Pac poaching, the Mountain West Conference (MWC) lured the University of Texas–El Paso (UTEP) away from Conference USA. And you thought the Kardashians were hard to keep up with…

The context: Since last year’s implosion, the Pac-12 has been operating as a two-team conference while plotting its comeback: Within two years, it needs to rebuild to the NCAA–mandated minimum of eight full members. Over the last three weeks, the conference has made significant progress toward that goal by raiding the MWC, but those five additions left the Pac one school short of full rebound.

• Former West Coast Conference standout Gonzaga comes with one major caveat, though: The Bulldogs don’t sponsor football, so they don’t count toward that magic number eight.

• That said, Gonzaga’s elite women’s and men’s hoops programs bring much-needed clout to the under-construction conference, which could sweeten the deal for the Pac-12’s next target, whomever that may be.

Zooming out: While the pace of realignment feels frenetic, it’s actually a long game — remember, Gonzaga and the other new Pac-12 schools won’t officially join for nearly two years. And when that new-look Pac-12 finally emerges, it'll face a wildly different landscape, with power consolidation in the Big Ten and SEC continuing to shake up college sports.