UNLV reacts positively to Boise State joining MWC

By Ryan Greene

Friday, June 11, 2010 | 11 p.m.

UNLV men's basketball coach Lon Kruger was at McCarran Airport on his way out of town.

School president Neal Smatresk was in Singapore.

Athletic director Jim Livengood was in the middle of sealing a deal to bring Tim Chambers in as the university's new baseball coach.

But no matter where the school's athletic power brokers were on Friday, it was hard not to smile over the Mountain West Conference's big news.

Late in the morning hours, news broke that Boise State accepted an invitation to become the conference's 10th member, beginning competition as a Mountain West school in 2011.

"It's one of those things that I think is an absolute win-win," Livengood said in between meetings. "It's a great move going to 10 teams, and they are absolutely the right team. I congratulate our presidents and chancellors for this great move.

"I would think that it really strengthens our ability to get closer to that BCS status, but we'll have to wait and see. I know this: It certainly doesn't hurt."

It's clear that the move by the league was not only to take a proactive approach as conference re-allignment goes on across the nation but to help boost the Mountain West's football profile and ultimately earn an automatic berth in the Bowl Championship Series.

With the addition of Boise State, the league can now boast three programs that have played in BCS games since its inception in 1998.

"I think the board (of directors in the MWC) is really happy," Smatresk said. "We feel that the Boise State move puts us in a strong position for whatever happens next."

Whatever happens next could happen as early as next week.

On a Friday teleconference, the MWC commissioner did not say the league was necessarily done expanding, but rather it's keeping its eyes and ears open and staying in touch with other schools that could be looking for new homes.

Two that have been heavily talked about of late are Kansas and Kansas State.

Colorado has already bolted for the Pac-10, while Nebraska on Friday made its intentions to join the Big Ten official. It's expected that Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will all end up elsewhere early next week, potentially leaving KU and K-State behind.

Obviously, one program at UNLV that the possible addition of two schools from the Sunflower State would appeal to is men's basketball.

Not only does KU possess one of the truly elite hoops programs in the country, but K-State is also on the rise and advanced to the NCAA tournament's Elite Eight this spring for the first time since 1988.

The last coach to take the Wildcats there? Current UNLV coach Lon Kruger.

"Expansion's the trend, so the fact that the Mountain West is throwing our hat in there is great," he said of the Boise State addition. "It's moving in the direction of a few mega-conferences, and hopefully in the end, we can position ourselves as one of those. That's the direction it's going for sure. I don't see any huge negatives with it. It's all about TV markets and exposure and TV contracts, so the bigger the market, the bigger the opportunity, it appears.

"It'll be interesting to see what happens in the Big 12 with those that remain. They're going to need to align with someone or someone will have to align with them. I don't know what will come of that, but you'd have to think (adding KU or K-State) would be a very attractive position for a lot of conferences."

If by some chance those two did hop on board, they'd be joining at a time where men's basketball has emerged as a true strength for the league, with four programs — UNLV, San Diego State, New Mexico and BYU — coming off of NCAA tournament appearances and now established as legitimate threats on the national scene.

"Great crowds, great arenas, obviously a high level of competition," Kruger said. "The West Coast market is going to be a little bit different than what they're used to in the Midwest in terms of areas of exposure and recruiting and all of that, but the Mountain West is a very good league, and if you add people like those who are available, it only enhances it further."