Seattle University is Catholic, urban and an historical program. This would be the only logical fit if they can better meet WCC standards of play. Currently they are an inadequate replacement for BYU - closer in quality to USD and Santa Clara than San Francisco and LMU. Too much downside risk. Grand Canyon is also a minor candidate if expansion is needed due to their respectable facilities but is also a longshot
I don't understand your categories of "San Diego and Santa Clara" and "San Francisco and Loyola Marymount", since San Diego was the worst team of that group this year and Santa Clara was the best. Is this based on something other than men's basketball performance?
No, I am clearly wrong. Santa Clara, LMU and San Diego belong in the "good team 20 percent of the time" category with San Diego having the highest variance in outcomes in a very bad way. I guess I want to think of Loyola Marymount as a sleeper program with the resources/history/location that can put them on par with San Francisco, but they are clearly not there yet.
Two good seasons under Herb Sendek does not elevate Santa Clara clearly above as a program after extended mediocrity, but maybe you know better about their ability to retain him.
No, I agree that Santa Clara is basically in the same category as a program; I just mean that Santa Clara was the best of the bunch this year. If Brandin Podziemski can get serious pro attention after Jalen Williams was a lottery pick, that could move the needle for Santa Clara, but that's all hypothetical.
When I visited Saint Mary's for the Gonzaga game last month, I was thinking about Big East expansion, since rumors of Gonzaga joining the Big East usually involve a western travel partner coming along with them. Saint Mary's is the obvious choice from the standpoint of basketball success, but it would have to move at least some of its home games to the Oakland Arena, and it's just a really small school. Its enrollment and endowment would both be the smallest in the Big East, although Providence is relatively close.
San Francisco is a big-city school that would fit right into the Big East and has a lot of historic success, but ever since the school shut down the men's basketball program for two years in the early '80s it hasn't been seriously competitive. I think that Santa Clara would actually make a lot of sense; in terms of location and size and academic reputation, it really closely resembles Villanova. Of course the difference is that Santa Clara hasn't been seriously invested in sports other than soccer in more than half a century.
