The additions rob the Mountain West of four of its more prominent schools and successful football programs, most notably Boise State, and still leave the Pac-12 two schools short of the eight it needs to have in place in two years to be recognized as a conference by NCAA rule.

The Pac-12 and the departing schools will likely be on the hook for about $110 million in exit fees and penalties to the Mountain West.

Still, it is a remarkable comeback for a conference left for dead a year ago when 10 members scattered to competitors across the country after it was unable to secure a media rights deal that schools believed would not keep them competitive with other leagues.

“For over a century, the Pac-12 Conference has been recognized as a leading brand in intercollegiate athletics,” Commissioner Teresa Gould stated. “We will continue to pursue bold cutting-edge opportunities for growth and progress, to best serve our member institutions and student-athletes.

“An exciting new era for the Pac-12 Conference begins today.”

The Pac-12 said it evaluated potential new members using five criteria: academics and athletics performance; media and brand evaluation; commitment to athletics success; geography and logistics; culture and student-athlete welfare.

Pac-12’s remaining Pac-2 welcome incoming members from Mountain West

Oregon State President Jayathi Murthy and Washington State President Kirk Schulz welcomed their new conference mates in a joint statement.

“We eagerly anticipate their uniquely insightful contributions during this transformative era for the conference and collegiate athletics,” they said.

The Pac-12 is currently operating as a two-school conference, with Oregon State and Washington State the only remaining members, taking advantage of NCAA rules that allow for a two-year grace period.

Oregon State and Washington State have a football scheduling agreement in place this season with the Mountain West, giving them six opponents from the league. The Sept. 1 first deadline for renewal of the agreement passed without a deal getting done.

Part of that deal included millions of dollars in additional fees for the Pac-12 if it poached Mountain West schools.

Oregon State and Washington State should be able to afford it. While the schools have publicly downplayed having a warchest of funds, they do have tens of millions of dollars at their disposal to work with from the two remaining years of the current College Football Playoff agreement and a contract with the Rose Bowl that will expire after the 2025 football season. Plus, they have revenue accrued by Pac-12 teams in recent years from NCAA men’s basketball tournament units and Pac-12 Network assets.

Oregon State and Washington State also have an affiliate membership in place for this school year and next with the West Coast Conference for men’s and women’s basketball and other Olympic sports.

Best of the rest

Leaders at Oregon State and Washington State have insisted since the Pac-12 collapsed that unless an invitation came from a power conference their priority was to rebuild and now that has begun.

Whether the Pac-12 will be considered a power conference again, on par with the Big Ten, Southeastern Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference and Big 12, seems unlikely, but the league is trying to position itself as the best of the rest — especially in football.

Boise State is the most notable addition as the strongest and most consistent football program outside of the power conferences for more than two decades. The Broncos have 16 double-digit victory seasons since 2002, when they were members of the Western Athletic Conference.

“What a great day to be a Bronco!” Boise State athletic director Jeramiah Dickey said.

Boise State is finally moving up, but the Pac-12 it enters hardly resembles the Conference of Champions it was for more than 100 years following the departures of 10 members last year — including Southern California, UCLA, Oregon and Washington to the Big Ten.

The collapse of the Pac-12 was the culmination of three tumultuous years of conference realignment in college sports, all of which went into affect this year and ushered in the superconference era.

The Big Ten now has 18 schools, spanning from coast-to-coast. The ACC has 17 football-playing members, including former Pac-12 schools Stanford and California. The SEC and Big 12 each have 16 schools.

The Pac-12 appears to be taking a different approach, trying to build a slimmed-down conference instead of just merging with the full, 12-member Mountain West.

Left behind
The Mountain West will be left with Air Force, UNLV, Nevada, Utah State, New Mexico, Wyoming, San Jose State and Hawaii and an uncertain future.

Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said in a statement late Wednesday night after the news of the Pac-12’s move leaked that the MW’s board of directors was meeting to discuss the next steps.

“All members will be held to conference bylaws and policies should they elect to depart,” she said. ”The requirements of the scheduling agreement will apply to the Pac-12 should they admit Mountain West members.”

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“As commissioner, it is my responsibility to explore a variety of value-creating opportunities on behalf of the Big 12,” he wrote. “Following detailed discussions with my conference colleague alongside UConn leadership, we have jointly decided to pause our conversations at this time. We will instead focus our attention and resources to ushering in this new era of college athletics.”

UConn, Big 12 were in talks of expansion

UConn athletic director David Benedict recently traveled to Dallas to pitch the Big East school to Big 12 administrators. Conference ADs and presidents heard from the league’s media consultants and discussed Yormark’s latest vision, according to The Associated Press.

The people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the conference and school were not making their discussions public.

UConn officials made an in-person pitch to the league that included a hefty investment in the Huskies’ struggling football program, two people familiar with the discussions told The Associated Press.

The people said a plan to add UConn, which has won the last two men’s college basketball national championships, would include the school’s football team staying independent before being added to the Big 12 in 2031 and not require current members to take a cut in their current expected conference revenue share.

To add a new member, 12 of the 16 Big 12 schools would need to be in favor of expansion.

According to several people familiar with the situation who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the discussions are private, Yormark still had convincing to do among his members that adding UConn is a sound move and the Big 12 needed to act fast.

CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd polled eight Big 12 members — half of the 16-team league — and only six were in favor of adding the Huskies. A formal vote on such an addition is “not imminent,” Dodd reports.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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The 17-year-old was seen during pregame festivities and throughout the game with his family and basketball coach Bobby Hurley, as well as several assistants from Hurley’s staff.

Head Sun Devils football coach Kenny Dillingham also introduced himself to the Peat family, which includes offensive linemen brothers and basketball-playing sisters.

Koa’s older brother, Keona, is a walk-on offensive lineman with the Sun Devils and had a one-yard carry on ASU’s final drive.

A consensus five-star prospect, the 6-foot-8 senior has won Arizona state championships in each of his three seasons playing for the Pumas and has three gold medals playing for Team USA junior national teams.

Peat played alongside Arizona State freshman Jayden Quaintance on the 2023 U16 USA squad, Quaintance still needing to play at least two years of college before he’s eligible to be drafted. If Peat commits and Quaintance doesn’t transfer, the two could be headed for a reunion.

Peat later won USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year for his performance in that tournament, averaging 17.2 points (58.7% shooting), 8.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.5 steals per game.

This past July, Peat (26 points, eight rebounds) spearheaded a 129-88 win over Italy to lift Team USA to gold in the 2024 U17 World Cup. He averaged 17.9 points (62.5% from the field), 5.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.9 steals over seven games in Turkey.

The senior has not given a timetable for his decision, and has scheduled upcoming visits to Arkansas (Sept. 14), Baylor (Sept. 27) and Arizona (Oct. 4).

“There has never been a better time than right now to be part of the Big 12,” Yormark said in July at Big 12 football media days.

But with college sports entering a period of unprecedented transformation — superconferences, an expanded College Football Playoff and a new plan to compensate athletes — what’s the rush to add a school that has conceded it needs six years to get its football program Big 12-ready?

UConn athletic director David Benedict recently traveled to Dallas to pitch the Big East school to Big 12 administrators. Conference ADs and presidents heard from the league’s media consultants on Monday and plan to further discuss Yormark’s latest vision.

To add a new member, 12 of the 16 Big 12 schools would need to be in favor. According to several people familiar with the situation who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the discussions are private, Yormark still has convincing to do among his members that adding UConn is a sound move and the Big 12 needs to act fast.

CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd polled eight Big 12 members — half of the 16-team league — and only six were in favor of adding the Huskies. A formal vote on such an addition is “not imminent,” Dodd reports.

Fox, which holds Big East rights that would be devalued if UConn moved, is also against a move, according to Dodd.

The apprehension is understandable.

UConn joining the Big 12 would boost up basketball

Still, Yormark is convinced college basketball is undervalued. Supercharging already excellent Big 12 basketball while UConn is part of a strategy to unlock that value in the next round of media rights deals.

Maybe he’s right, but the current deal doesn’t expire until 2031.

There is no doubt Yormark’s wheeler-dealer instincts have been good for the Big 12 since he took over in 2022. Being proactive under Yormark is one of the reasons why the Big 12 has 16 teams and the Pac-12 currently has two.

Yormark is convinced UConn is a good long-term investment for the Big 12 while swiping a potential lifeline from the ACC. Both are looking up at the Big Ten and SEC on and off the field.

“Two years later, I guess you could say we’re still open for business,” Yormark said in July.

Yormark was rebuked by his membership when he was interested in adding Gonzaga. UConn makes more sense but is no slam dunk. And there might be more important business to attend to.

Revenue sharing would hit other schools

The No. 1 priority among everyone in college sports right now is grasping the ramifications of the House v. NCAA settlement. The $2.8 billion deal to settle three federal antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA and power conferences also includes a groundbreaking plan to allow schools to share up to $21 million per year with their athletes as soon as 2025-26.

A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 5, when the judge overseeing the case could grant preliminary approval. Final approval is still months away.

There are scores of thorny questions about how revenue-sharing will be implemented and what impact it will have on every aspect of college sports. This is taking up a lot of time for administrators, including those in the Big 12 who haven’t even watched the four newest Big 12 schools — Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah — kick off their first football seasons.

The paint has not even dried on Yormark’s last renovation project and he is calling for the contractors again.

CFP positioning

The Big 12 is all but guaranteed a spot for its champion in the new 12-team playoff, but with the Southeastern Conference swiping Texas and Oklahoma, the conference’s case for landing multiple bids is built on quality depth making up for a lack of blue-blood contenders.

The plan being presented to the Big 12 on UConn calls for the Huskies’ powerhouse basketball programs (17 national championships combined, including the last two men’s titles) and other sports to join as soon as possible. UConn’s struggling football program, currently operating as a major college independent, would not join until 2031 after significant investment by the school.

The Huskies had five winning football seasons as a member of the old Big East, but since 2011 they have reached a bowl twice and never finished better than 6-7.

The Big 12 is trying to bill itself as the conference with no clunkers, a claim not even the top-heavy Big Ten can make. Even if you believe UConn can become a competent football program the way Kansas did after years of ineptitude, why bet on it sight unseen?

It also should be noted that woeful Colorado was the Pac-12’s Kansas for the last 15 years. For all the excitement about Deion Sanders at CU, there are still questions about whether the Buffaloes make Big 12 football better.

Also, there is no line of suitors for the Huskies. The Atlantic Coast Conference probably would have interest if lawsuits by Florida State and Clemson trigger a mass exodus, but those cases are barely off the ground, with no resolution in sight.

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The people said a plan to add UConn, which has won the last two men’s college basketball national championships, would include the school’s football team staying independent before being added to the Big 12 in 2031 and not require current members to take a cut in their current expected conference revenue share.

The people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the conference and school were not making their discussions public.

The Athletic first reported the Big 12’s renewed interest in UConn.

UConn officials were in Dallas last week to present to the Big 12 a plan for major investments to the athletic programs, the vast majority of which would be focused on football, one of the people said.

Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark, a former executive with the Brooklyn Nets, has long been intrigued with getting a foothold in the New York area market, where the Big East school has a huge following.

Spokespeople for UConn, the Big 12 and the Big East all declined a request for comment.

Big 12 membership has been cool on the idea of adding the Huskies to their already powerful basketball conference because UConn’s football program has been flailing for years and they feared the school would not add value to the league’s media rights deal.

But adding the school in a cost neutral move could be appealing.

The Big 12’s new six-year agreements with ESPN and Fox kick in next year and will pay members about $31.7 million per school annually.

The people who spoke to the AP said a definitive decision for either side is not imminent and Yormark must still build consensus among his members. The Big 12 is about to begin its first year as a 16-team conference after adding Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah from the Pac-12 last year.

After landing those schools, interest in UConn receded in the Big 12 but not necessarily for Yormark.

UConn rejoined the Big East in 2020 for most of its sports after leaving the American Athletic Conference. The Huskies have been a football independent since, going 10-27 with one bowl appearance.

With Army joining the AAC this year and UMass scheduled to join the Mid-American Conference in 2025, UConn and Notre Dame will be the only remaining major college football independents.

While football has lagged at UConn, the men’s basketball program has returned to prominence in the Big East under coach Dan Hurley. And the women’s basketball program remains one of the best in the country.

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Bobby Hurley’s squad also faces Grand Canyon at Footprint Center on Nov. 14 as part of the Hall of Fame Series. ASU has not faced Bryce Drew’s Antelopes since the 2021-22 season.

The Sun Devils will open play with an exhibition game for charity against Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Oct. 27 to benefit Duke Children’s Hospital.

Arizona State’s regular-season opener is set for Nov. 5 against Idaho State at Desert Financial Arena. After a neutral site matchup with Santa Clara in Las Vegas, the Sun Devils head to Spokane to face Mark Few’s Gonzaga Bulldogs, who finished last season ranked No. 15 in the country. ASU will begin a home-and-home series against the Bulldogs on Nov. 10.

The Acrisure Classic in Palm Springs will put the Sun Devils up against New Mexico on Nov. 28, Thanksgiving night. USC will face Saint Mary’s on the other side of the four-team bracket, setting up a potential Pac-12 reunion with the now-Big Ten Trojans.

ASU will host San Diego on Dec. 3 before rounding out the non-conference slate on the east coast. The Sun Devils will take on Florida in Atlanta on Dec. 14 followed by a road game at UMass on Dec. 21.

Gonzaga, GCU, New Mexico, Saint Mary’s and Florida were all NCAA Tournament teams this past March.

Guard Adam Miller and center Shawn Phillips Jr. return, but there will be a lot of new faces for the Sun Devils this year. Experienced transfers Austin Nunez (Ole Miss), Basheer Jihad (Ball State), Alston Mason (Missouri State), Brandon Gardner (USC) and BJ Freeman (UW Milwaukee) joined the program this offseason.

The freshman class is headlined by 5-star forward Jayden Quaintance plus four-star wings Joson Sanon and Amier Eli.

Arizona State basketball non-conference schedule

Oct. 27 – at Duke (Exhibition)
Nov. 5 – vs. Idaho State
Nov. 8 – vs. Santa Clara (Lee’s Family Forum, Las Vegas)
Nov. 10 – at Gonzaga
Nov. 14 – vs. GCU (Footprint Center, Phoenix)
Nov. 17 – vs. St. Thomas
Nov. 20 – vs. Cal Poly
Nov. 28 – vs. New Mexico (Acrisure Classic, Palm Springs, California)
Nov. 29 – vs. St. Mary’s/USC (Acrisure Classic, Palm Springs, California)
Dec. 3 – vs. San Diego
Dec. 14 – vs. Florida (Holiday Hoopsgiving, Atlanta)
Dec. 21 – vs. UMass (Hall of Fame Classic, Springfield, Massachusetts)

🔱⬆️‼️ pic.twitter.com/QXaQ7YMCyX

— Bobby Hurley (@BobbyHurley11) August 23, 2024

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The “Brotherhood Run” game will pit Hurley against another former Duke player, Blue Devils head coach Jon Scheyer. It take place at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 27, at 3:30 p.m. MST.

Proceeds will benefit Duke Children’s Hospital.

“I’m grateful to Jon Scheyer and Duke Basketball for working with Arizona State basketball to make this exhibition game a reality,” Hurley said in a release. “It will be special for me to return to Cameron Indoor.

“Our team is excited for the opportunity to compete against a storied basketball program prior to embarking on our regular season schedule. The collaboration between Duke and Arizona State to put together this charity exhibition game supporting Duke Children’s Hospital is very meaningful to both programs.”

Hurley broke the NCAA men’s basketball assist record for his career after leading Duke to a 119-26 (.821) mark while playing there. The Blue Devils went to three Finals Fours and won titles in 1991 and 1992.

The former Blue Devil has led the Sun Devils for 10 seasons now and has a 155-131 record at Arizona State.

The exhibition will feature Duke’s top-rated recruiting class facing Hurley’s No. 9-rated group of incoming freshmen, by 247Sports.com’s team rankings.

Duke lost its top four scorers from a year ago, including NBA Draft picks Kyle Filipowski and guard Jared McCain. But they return guard Tyrese Proctor and add power forward Cooper Flagg, who is widely regarded as the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2025 draft. He is the the most highly regarded college prospect since Zion Williamson came out of Duke in 2019.

The 6-foot-9 Flagg and five-star center Khaman Maluach will be a strong test for Arizona State’s five-star big man Jayden Quaintance, who is the highest-rated recruit to ever land at ASU.

Arizona State’s recruiting class is also highlighted by guard Joson Sanon, who reclassified to enter college a year early and flipped his commitment from the rival Arizona Wildcats.

Duke and ASU have played one another once in their histories, at Madison Square Garden in 2009. Scheyer scored 16 points to lead Duke to a 64-53 win.

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The study also found that the Final Four earned $256.9 million for Arizona’s gross domestic product.

“I commend the Phoenix Local Organizing Committee and its stakeholders for delivering this windfall to Arizona,” Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs said in a press release. “Mega sporting events are crucial for driving our state’s tourism sector. Basketball is the world’s game, and during the 2024 Men’s Final Four, the world’s eyes were proudly on Arizona. It not only generated revenue, it also served as a powerful advertisement for our great state.”

The Final Four saw the UConn Huskies win their second consecutive national championship over Purdue.

Attendance and viewership of Phoenix’s 2024 Final Four

The Final Four games received a total of 40.3 million viewers, according to the study.

The three games drew a combined 149,143 fans to State Farm Stadium while the national championship game between UConn and Purdue drew 74,423 fans, the third-highest attendance in the game’s history.

The festivities during the weekend, such as the three-day NCAA March Madness Music Festival at Hance Park in Phoenix, saw 67,451 people attend the event while the Final Four Fan Fest at the Phoenix Convention Center had 52,283 people attend it, according to the study.

“Hosting the Men’s Final Four was a tremendous slam dunk for Phoenix, as we proudly welcomed the third-highest-attended event in its history,” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said in the release.

“The influx of visitors significantly boosted our local economy, benefiting businesses, cultural institutions and hotels across the city. I am extremely grateful to our dedicated Local Organizing Committee and the city of Phoenix staff for their outstanding efforts in showcasing our growing, glowing city and ensuring the event’s success from start to finish.”

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“They get no extra benefit being from Arizona to come here,” Phil Beckner, head trainer at the camp and personal trainer for Lillard, said of the three in-state prospects in attendance. “We have a very tough selection process.

“There’s no favors in this thing. We’re not just trying to pick the most talented guys. We’re trying to pick the right one, the ones where we could impact and influence not only their life but their career at the next level.”

At the camp, the 6-foot-5 Sanon showed his high upside as a perimeter option who can get downhill with tenacity, finishing through contact and drawing fouls. His jumper has soft touch that helps him connect from distance, something he did efficiently in AAU play.

He arrives as one of the Sun Devils’ highest-rated recruits of all time, ranked by 247 Sports as the class’ 24th-best prospect. He is behind only 2024 classmate Jayden Quaintance (No. 9 in his class) and 2020’s Josh Christopher (No. 8).

some more joson sanon (@joson_sanon) film i was able to get friday at @frmlazro.

he shows real persistence getting to the rim through contact, also picking up two trips to the line that aren't included here. pic.twitter.com/s8k3q5fchU

— Damon Allred (@iamdamonallred) August 17, 2024

It’s what surrounds the scoring that will see some growing pains, especially considering Sanon reclassified to the 2024 class and would otherwise be a high school senior this year. The speed at which he processes the game looked to lag behind some of the older college players at Formula Zero while he was a cut above the high schoolers.

Beginning his college career in a conference as tough as the Big 12 will be no easy task for the especially young freshman, even as Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley expects “instant” production.

“Joson Sanon is an obvious (breakout candidate), he’s on NBA draft radars right now because of what he’s done through the summertime,” Hurley told CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein on a July podcast appearance. “What I watched him do on the circuit I think translates to the college game instantly just because he’s a guy who can go get his own shot … from all three levels.”

Sanon took hard coaching from a camp staffer after messing up a drill focused on help defense, a type of drill which Lillard said helps grow the player’s understanding of defense to later be able to manipulate those same coverages.

“We’re showing them how to use your eyes, how to shift defenders, how to set up guys to come off the screen clean, how to play in the pick-and-roll with a big and the opposite corner being filled so you can read the weakside of the defense,” Lillard said, imploring decision-makers to watch whether a defense tags the roller. “You got to teach the layers of the game so kids have a better understanding of why we’re even doing some of these drills.”

The Milwaukee Bucks superstar has hosted the event for three years with the last two in Phoenix, and this year’s edition included over 50 players from across the professional, college and high school ranks, including Phoenix Suns two-way wing Jalen Bridges.

damian lillard on what he hopes is the no. 1 thing players take from his @frmlazro camp experience: pic.twitter.com/zRYq7xjDJA

— Damon Allred (@iamdamonallred) August 16, 2024

Other ASU targets at Damian Lillard camp in Phoenix

Darryn Peterson headlined the high schoolers in attendance as the consensus top guard in the senior class, according to all major recruiting sites.

The off-ball guard has ASU in his top eight finalists for his college choice. His versatile shot-making makes him a tough cover, and his approach in drills made him stand out above the rest at the camp.

darryn peterson getting shots up at @frmlazro. he’s the top guard in the senior class and has asu in his top 8. pic.twitter.com/x2Povckkdr

— Damon Allred (@iamdamonallred) August 16, 2024

Also in attendance was wing Tounde Yessoufou, who is a top-20 senior by 247 Sports’ composite ranking with the Sun Devils in his top 10 and a visit to Arizona already under his belt.

He had a leg brace on and was limited in on-court work at Formula Zero but still spent valuable time with the trainers on handling and other drills.

Goodyear Millennium star Cam Holmes, a five-star wing in the 2026 class, was among the most fiery competitors at the camp despite belonging to the youngest age group in attendance.

Holmes, the younger brother of Denver Nuggets’ first-round pick DaRon Holmes II, has visited with Hurley unofficially earlier in his career but recently said Arizona is the school recruiting him hardest.

Yessoufou and Holmes were seen poking fun at each other during a shooting competition, calling back to a matchup between the two earlier this summer at State Farm Stadium as part of Section 7, an annual event where college coaches can get up close and personal with a number of prospects.

one of the more fun moments of yesterday, cam holmes and tounde yessoufou’s shooting competition pic.twitter.com/kciLUT3mF4

— Damon Allred (@iamdamonallred) August 17, 2024

Ikenna Alozie, a native Nigerian now playing for Glendale Dream City Christian, was also at the camp. The five-star guard in the 2026 class received early interest from Arizona State, and he self-reported an offer from Arizona on Aug. 1 in a post that included Emmanuel Stephen, a freshman center at Arizona who played with Alozie during his senior season at Dream City Christian.

Tempe and ASU will host the second game of the series in 2025-26.

“We are thrilled to announce a home-and-home series with Gonzaga,” ASU head coach Bobby Hurley said in a release from Wednesday. “McCarthey Athletic Center and ‘The Kennel’ provide one of the premier atmospheres in college basketball.

“It will present a fantastic road environment for our team early in the season. It was also important for us to secure a home game with a marquee opponent in 2025 for our amazing fan base.”

Hurley’s reshuffled roster will hope to gel in a nonconference schedule that also includes facing cross-Valley rival Grand Canyon on Nov. 14 in the Hall of Fame Series in Phoenix and the Florida Gators in the Holiday Hoopsgiving event in Atlanta on Dec. 14.

The Gonzaga matchup be a tough road test, with Gonzaga guard Ryan Nembhard leading a group of returning players. The Bulldogs also notably added Pepperdine wing Michael Ajayi after he tested the NBA Draft waters. Gonzaga was the No. 5 team in ESPN’s way-to-early top 25 rankings.

Florida made the NCAA Tournament last season and returns a trio of starters, including Walter Clayton Jr., who averaged 17.6 points per game last year. Florida is ranked No. 21 in ESPN’s early top 25 rankings.

The Sun Devils, on the other hand, have undergone a roster overhaul this offseason.

The freshman class of 5-star forward Jayden Quaintance, plus four-star wings Joson Sanon and Amier Eli, could fight for immediate playing time.

Guard Adam Miller and center Shawn Phillips Jr. return, but a class of experienced and productive transfers includes Austin Nunez (Ole Miss), Basheer Jihad (Ball State), Alston Mason (Missouri State), Brandon Gardner (USC) and BJ Freeman (UW Milwaukee).

Announced Arizona State men’s basketball nonconference schedule

Nov. 10 – at Gonzaga
Nov. 14 – vs. GCU (Footprint Center, Phoenix)
Nov. 28 – vs. New Mexico (Acrisure Classic, Palm Springs, California)
Nov. 29 – vs. St. Mary’s/USC (Acrisure Classic, Palm Springs, California)
Dec. 14 – vs. Florida (Holiday Hoopsgiving, Atlanta)
Dec. 21 – vs. UMass (Hall of Fame Classic, Springfield, Massachusetts)

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The Arizona State-trained swimmer was sixth-fastest in the preliminaries of the men’s 200 butterfly at 1:55.26 and returned about two hours later to post the third-best time in the 200 breaststroke at 2:09.55, setting another grueling double in the evening semifinals.

Marchand was spurred on again by a raucous crowd of some 15,000 at La Defense Arena.

“I’m very grateful for the French people just to show up and cheer like that. I think it’s amazing,” he said. “I don’t think anyone has seen that before, so it’s been great for me. I’m using all the energy from the stadium and trying to swim as fast as possible in every race. Tonight will be very exciting for me.”

The finals of both races are Wednesday night, also just two hours apart.

Kristóf Milák of Hungary, the defending gold medalist in the 200 fly, led the way in the heats for that event in 1:53.92. South Korea’s Cho Sung-jae set the pace in the 200 breast at 2:09.45.

Luguentz Dort and Canada eek by Australia

RJ Barrett had 24 points and seven rebounds and Canada stayed unbeaten in group play at the Paris Olympics with a 93-83 victory over Australia on Tuesday.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 16 points as Canada improved to 2-0 and remained on track to advance when the tournament field is trimmed from 12 to eight teams and shifts to Paris next week for the knockout stage.

Arizona State product Luguentz Dort scored 11 points to go with two assistant and three steals.

LU DORT IS STEALING YOUR SOUL#PARIS2024 pic.twitter.com/M09CAyPvgx

— Alex Adams (@AlexAdamsBTP) July 30, 2024

Canada coach Jordi Fernandez said he likes the position his team is in because it’s able to control its own destiny.

“We’ve got to keep growing because we’re a team that’s never played together,” Fernandez said. “I think in five or 10 years from now we want to be all the way to the top of the rankings. But we have to start at some point, and I like the direction that we’re taking it.”

Josh Giddey led Australia with 19 points. Dante Exum finished with 15.

Canada plays Spain in its final group-stage matchup. Australia faces Greece next.

“They’re hungry for a win and hungry to stay in the tournament,” Exum said of facing 0-2 Greece. “So we need to be ready and do as much.”

The game was tight throughout the first half. But Barrett kept finding seams in Australia’s defense, helping his team take its first double-digit lead on a 3-pointer with 5:13 remaining. Canada then pushed it up to 83-72 with about 4 1/2 minutes to play.

Fernandez said his team’s physicality was lacking in a first half in which it surrendered 30 points in the paint. The pressure was ratcheted up in the second half, though, with Canada deflecting 22 passes and limiting Australia to only 16 points in the paint.

“That ignited our offense,” Fernandez said.

Jon Rahm gets another big stage at the Paris Olympics

Jon Rahm loves the big stage, the big crowd, the big moment. The Olympics provide one extra opportunity in a year marked by his departure to Saudi-funded LIV Golf, and the Spaniard arrived at the Paris Games with a shot of much-needed confidence.

Rahm held on to win the LIV Golf event in England on Sunday, extending his streak to eight consecutive years of winning somewhere around the world since his first full year as a pro.

“It was important for many reasons,” he said Tuesday. “But having done it, when you put yourself in position the next time … I’ve been there, done it recently. So you have that nice memory of it being done, so it’s always a bit of an extra bonus.”

Trouble is, not many noticed.

LIV Golf United Kingdom was said to be a sellout and had one of its larger galleries of the year. But the breakaway league still doesn’t have a network television deal and coverage has been minimal compared with the PGA Tour. Rahm was one of the bigger stories because it had been since April 2023 since his last win at the Masters.

Now it’s a matter of extending those winning feelings to another short field — 60 players at the Olympics compared with 54 players at LIV — with a far stronger cast of characters.

He tied for seventh in the British Open two weeks ago, a bright moment in what otherwise was a dark year in the majors for Rahm. He narrowly made the cut at the Masters. He missed the cut in the PGA Championship. He had a foot infection knock him out of the U.S. Open.

And then he showed some life at Royal Troon before ending 15 months without a win.

The Olympics would get his attention because a positive COVID-19 test the day before he was set to leave for Japan knocked him out of the Tokyo Games in 2021.

There’s also that small matter of the big stage.

After this week, Rahm will have to wait 249 days until he tees it up against all the best players in April at Augusta National. For those who didn’t qualify for the Olympics, like Bryson DeChambeau, the wait was even longer.

Only the four majors bring together the world’s best. The Olympics is a bonus with a field that includes Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland.

“I don’t know if that makes it more meaningful,” Rahm said. “Since I haven’t played the Olympics before, it means a lot to be there. It’s something special. You could say it’s a little bit more because we only get so many chances to play against each other.

“We all know it’s a pretty big stage,” he said. “As a competitor, you want to win the biggest tournaments. It’s nice that this year we get an extra week to enjoy that.”

Rahm is among seven players from LIV Golf in the Olympics, although he is the only one assured of being in any of the majors next year.

Rahm has nothing but the warmest memories from Le Golf National — the site of his Ryder Cup debut in 2018, which ended with him taking down Tiger Woods in singles.

He mostly remembers the first day, warming up next to a horseshoe-shaped grandstand that had 88 rows to the very top.

“You can hear the crowd singing early in the morning, in the dark, and just the atmosphere. All the 10,000 to 20,000 people around the hole, that was quite special,” Rahm said.

It’s different now, of course. There is only one grandstand on the course, plenty big, stationed behind the 18th green. International Golf Federation officials say golf sold all its tickets, and they expect some 20,000 spectators.

That remains to be seen until the opening round begins Thursday. But it’s the Olympics, and it’s a strong field, and it’s a big stage, just how Rahm likes it. And it will his last one of the year.

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The 22-year-old set an Olympic record with a time of 4:02.95. He took an early lead and was all alone for the rest of the race, as Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita finished second with a 4:08.62 time. American Carson Foster rounded out the podium with a 4:08.66 finish.

Leon Marchand wins 400m IM gold in front of an electric crowd in Paris! 🇫🇷🥇#ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/ailjAYfzPY

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 28, 2024

La Defense Arena was packed with more than 15,000 fans, and supporters chanted as Marchand came up to take each breath. Chants of “Léon! Léon! Léon!” and an impromptu rendition of “La Marseillaise” broke out in the rugby stadium a full 15 minutes before Marchand walked on deck.

Marchand bested a Michael Phelps Olympic record of 4:03.84 from 2008 in Beijing. Phelps was in the building to witness it, analyzing the race for NBC.

“I started very, very fast,” he said. “I didn’t look at the other lanes. I was focused on myself.”

Marchand was under world-record pace on the final turn but did not quite beat his own mark. With a time of 4:02.50, he captured the world record at last year’s world championships in Japan.

That was another Phelps mark he bested. The all-time Olympic gold medal holder has been a mentor to Marchand, who trained with longtime American swim coach Bob Bowman at Arizona State. Marchand was the Pac-12 Men’s Swimmer of the Year three times at ASU and a 10-time NCAA champion.

CLAIMING OLYMPIC GOLD FOR THE HOST NATION!! 🥇

Léon Marchand wins his first Olympic Gold medal with an astounding time of 4:02.95 in the 400 IM!#ForksUp /// #ParisOlympics /// #O2V pic.twitter.com/Z5uKdbwXMp

— Sun Devil Swim/Dive (@ASUSwimDive) July 28, 2024

Marchand is not done. He will jump back in the pool for the men’s 200m breaststroke, men’s 200m butterfly and men’s 200m individual medley.

His next race is Tuesday in Heat 4 of the men’s 200m butterfly.

“I was really proud of what I did tonight,” Marchand said. “I’m going to enjoy it tonight, but then I’m going to relax because I have seven or eight days left.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Video: Felisa Cárdenas and Jeremy Schnell/Arizona Sports

Over seven games in the event, Peat averaged 17.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 6.9 assists.

THROW IT DOWN. 😤

🇺🇸 @kpeat10 x #FIBAU17 pic.twitter.com/zR37VKR0As

— USABJNT (@usabjnt) July 7, 2024

Peat was the lone returning member from USA’s 2022 gold-medal winning team, and became the first athlete in U17 World Cup history to win gold twice.

He now owns three golds medals overall, including one at the U16 Americas Championship in 2023.

The future of @usabasketball is so bright. 🥇

🇺🇸 #USABMU17 x #FIBAU17 pic.twitter.com/ta1zvaPcyK

— USABJNT (@usabjnt) July 7, 2024

The 6-foot-8, 235-pound Peat won state championships in each of his three seasons at Perry, including a 6A title as a freshman and Open Division titles as a sophomore and junior.

Peat cut his recruiting down to 10 schools in January, a list that included both Arizona State and Arizona.

His brother, Keona, is currently a walk-on offensive lineman at ASU.

The forward was named Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year each of the last two years, and USA Basketball dubbed him Male Player of the Year in 2023.

He is a top-5 overall prospect in the 2025 class according to 247 Sports, and is accompanied in the top five by two of his USA teammates, A.J. Dybantsa (No. 1) and Cameron Boozer (No. 2).

Dybantsa averaged 14.1 points and 3.9 rebounds in Turkey.

Boozer led USA in points (20.1) and rebounds (9.9) per game on his way to being named the cup’s MVP while his twin brother Cayden averaged 4.9 points and 6.4 assists. The twins are the sons of two-time NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer.

USA cleared the 100-point mark in all seven games across the tournament, while the rest of the field only cleared the mark five times.

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Along with his 19 points, Peat had seven rebounds, an assist and shot nine of fifteen from the field.

Peat was among four players, along with Team USA’s Brandon McCoy Jr. (19 points), Cameron Boozer (18 points) and JJ Mandaquit (18 points), who nearly scored 20 points in the game.

This was the USA’s highest margin of victory in a U17 tournament game ever, shattering its previous high of 49 points in a 120-71 win against Canada in 2018. The USA improved their all-time record at the U17 World Cup to 50-0.

The 6-foot-8, 235-pound Peat has won the Open Division championship in each of his three seasons at Perry. He was also named Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year in both of the last two years. Peat is a top-5 overall prospect in the 2025 class.

Peat will be the first player to play in two U17 gold medal games. Peat was a member of the 2022 team that won gold in Malaga, Spain.

The USA will play for its seventh-straight gold medal Sunday against Italy. The game will be at 10 a.m. Arizona time and can be seen on the FIBA YouTube channel.

In terms of big-time men’s basketball matchups for fans near Tempe, the Sun Devils get Desert Financial Arena home games against Baylor, Houston and Texas Tech.

The Wildcats at McKale Center will host Baylor, Iowa State, Houston and Texas Tech.

Arizona and ASU next season notably do not host the blueblood of the conference, Kansas. That could leave room for criticism toward the schedulemakers regarding the Wildcats.

The Jayhawks are considered a potential No. 1 team to start next season. Houston, Iowa State and Baylor are also viewed as likely top-10 teams on paper.

The Arizona schools are notably more detached from their fellow former Pac-12 schools in Colorado and Utah.

The Sun Devils will play Colorado both home and away, but they will only visit Utah. The Wildcats will only host Colorado and Utah without traveling to those schools.

Location still appears to be important for the men’s side, with both ASU and Arizona playing a home-and-away series this coming season against BYU and Texas Tech, the two closest schools to Arizona right with Utah and Colorado. BYU will be led by former top Phoenix Suns assistant coach Kevin Young, who joined the Cougars for this year after Mark Pope departed to replace John Calipari at Kentucky.

On the women’s side, Arizona and ASU share the same set of scheduled opponents. They notably host projected ranked teams Baylor and Iowa State.

Both Arizona schools have home-and-away sets against each of BYU and Utah.

Arizona State men’s basketball Big 12 opponent matchups for 2024-25

Home and away: Arizona, BYU, Colorado, Kansas State, Texas Tech

Home only: Baylor, UCF, Houston, Iowa State, TCU

Away only: Cincinnati, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Utah, West Virginia

Arizona men’s basketball Big 12 opponent matchups for 2024-25

Home and away: Arizona State, Baylor, BYU, Iowa State, Texas Tech

Home only: UCF, Colorado, Houston, TCU, Utah

Away only: Cincinnati, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, West Virginia

Arizona State/Arizona women’s basketball Big 12 opponent matchups for 2024-25

Home and away: Arizona/ASU, BYU, Utah

Home only: Baylor, Cincinnati, Iowa State, TCU, Texas Tech, West Virginia

Away only: UCF, Colorado, Houston, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State

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The proposals were outlined to the commissioners this week by NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt and NCAA Vice President for Women’s Basketball Lynn Holzman, the person told The Associated Press on Thursday on condition of anonymity because no official announcements have been made. The news was first reported by Yahoo! Sports.

Under the proposal, expansion of the 68-team field included both four- and eight-team models. The NCAA would keep its 64-team bracket but would add play-in games involving the 10 through 12 seeds.

If the men’s tournament were to expand it is expected the women’s tourney would as well.

“It is appropriate to look at expansion, and we need to do that,” Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner James Phillips said Thursday during the Associated Press Sports Editors summer conference. “We’re looking at it.”

He didn’t go into details on the proposal, which he said now “goes in front of the basketball committee, basketball oversight.”

“When do you get to the point when the regular season doesn’t matter?” he added. “Modest expansion is something I would prefer.”

Many in college basketball have said they believe the 68-team fields and three weekends of play are ideal but pressure has grown to add teams and games to one of the most popular sports events on the U.S. calendar. Last year, the NCAA Division I board of directors approved recommendations that included allowing one quarter of teams in larger sports to compete in championship events; in that scenario, March Madness tourneys could expand to nearly 90 teams.

The NCAA is currently in the midst of an eight-year extension of its TV deal for the men’s tournament worth $8.8 billion that runs through 2032. That would not be expected to change if a handful of teams are added.

More games would provide a small boost through ticket sales and merchandise, but the pool of money the NCAA uses to pay out conferences and member schools would essentially stay the same. What could change, however, is how that money would be divided up if the tournament broadens.

Expansion would also mean the men’s tournament would have to find an additional site besides Dayton for its First Four games. The Ohio city already has games on Tuesday and Wednesday and wouldn’t be able to host additional play-in games ahead of the tourney’s traditional first-round opening on Thursday. Women’s play-in games are at the same campus sites as the first two rounds of the tournament.

Expansion is largely backed by larger conferences and smaller leagues do not want to lose the automatic bids that come with a conference tournament championship or face the prospect of always being slotted for the play-in games.

The earliest the NCAA Tournament could expand would be the 2025-26 season, the person told AP. The NCAA basketball oversight committee meets next week and the tournament selection committee has a meeting next month.

The men’s tournament last expanded in 2011 when it went from 64 to 68 teams. The women’s tournament matched that in 2022.

The women’s tournament is coming off its most successful year ever that included a record audience of 18.7 million for the title game win by South Carolina over Iowa, the highest for a basketball broadcast of any kind in five years. It outdrew the men’s championship game — UConn winning its second consecutive title with a win over Purdue — by nearly 3 million viewers. The women’s tournament also had record attendance.

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This will be Peat’s third time suiting up for the junior national team, having won gold medals at the U16 Americas in 2023 and the U17 World Cup in 2022. He was also named USA Basketball’s Male Player of the Year in 2023, after he averaged 17.2 points (58.7% shooting), 8.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.5 steals per game at the Americas.

The 6-foot-8, 235-pound Peat has won Open Division championships in each of his three seasons at Perry playing alongside Cody Williams, a potential lottery pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, for the first two. He was also named Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year in both of the last two years.

He cut his recruiting down to 10 schools in January, including Arizona State and Arizona.

Reuniting with several players from the U16 team Peat played with last summer, he is joined by other players such as Cameron and Cayden Boozer (twin sons of Carlos; 2025 Nos. 2 and 20), AJ Dybantsa (2025 No. 1) and Tyran Stokes (2026 No. 1).

USA has an all-time record of 44-0 at the U17 World Cup.

Click here to view the full roster and staff.

Which big names didn’t make the cut?

Goodyear Millennium wing Cameron Holmes, who played against Peat in the 2023 Open championship, was one of 35 expected participants in training camp for the team but didn’t make the final 12-man cut. The younger brother of DaRon Holmes II, a 2024 potential first-round pick, Cameron is in the top 15 of the 2026 class.

NBA DNA could be found across the initial participants list, including Bryce James, the son of LeBron and younger brother of Bronny. The others were Kiyan Anthony (Carmelo), Alijah Arenas (Gilbert), Tajh Ariza (Trevor) and Elijah Williams (Monty).

The transfer portal activity is a big part of it. Name, image and likeness factors play a role in who enters the portal and who does not.

The NBA Draft process combined with that has made things especially wacky, where the trickle-down effect from a single player’s decision can run deep.

In Arizona, one decision by an individual reached three intrastate universities. Arizona Wildcats guard Caleb Love took in the full NBA Draft water-testing process, playing at the G League Elite Camp and hitting some team-run workouts.

And before the NCAA’s withdrawal deadline at the end of May, Love decided to give it one more go in Tucson with the Wildcats.

The fallout from his choice looked like this:

Love’s return announced on May 29 directly impacted five-star wing Joson Sanon, who has since admitted the decision caused him to flip to rival Arizona State because he hopes to take a lead scoring role and leave college after a single season.

That was assumed when Sanon had his ASU decision ready about an hour after Love’s return, just as the withdrawal deadline hit.

News of Jamari Phillips de-committing from Arizona popped less than an hour prior to Love announcing his return. We’ll assume that decision was directly tied to Love, too.

Arizona’s top-10 class of four players, per 247 Sports’ rankings, tumbled to 28th after it was cut in half with the loss of Sanon and Phillips.

Sanon’s move to join the Sun Devils initially gave them the No. 4-ranked class with four recruits.

But it then had its own domino effect. Hours after Love’s decision, Yeanay reopened his recruitment.

Bo Aldridge followed suit and reopened his commitment on June 5. He remains undecided, while Yeanay signed with Grand Canyon on Thursday.

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