NCAAF

Oregon and Washington leave Pac-12 and join Big Ten

While at least somewhat expected, this is a seismic move that leaves the Pac-12 near peril and makes the Big Ten the NCAA’s first super conference. In addition to losing Oregon and Washington, the Pac-12 is also being abandoned by Arizona, leaving it with just six members. Obviously, the conference will now need to lower its ambitions and go after some group of five programs, with the Mountain West being a solid starting point. With this move, the Pac-12 becomes pretty irrelevant, especially in football. The pressure is on for George Kliavkoff.

The Big Ten now will have eighteen members, and it might not be finished! You never know with conference realignment, but the league is probably done expanding out west. If the conference does choose to eclipse 20 members, it’ll probably turn its attention to the ACC, where Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia and Clemson would all be sensible additions. The SEC has had the edge over the Big Ten on the gridiron this century, but this move closes the gap in that respect. In terms of overall prestige, though, the Big Ten probably becomes the nation’s top conference with this move.

Arizona State and Utah leave Pac-12 and join Big 12

Losing Oregon and Washington is a bigger blow than losing Arizona State and Utah, but with both member schools leaving for the Big 12, the Pac-12 will be down to just four programs. Obviously, this makes the league just about dead from a power conference perspective, but also in terms of membership amount. It’s anyone’s guess as to what happens next for the league.

The Big 12 will probably never be able to create the strong 10-team league it had for years with Oklahoma and Texas, but the conference has made the best of a bad situation, adding BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, UCF, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah to replace the Sooners and Longhorns. The conference has certainly elevated itself in comparison to the ACC and Pac-12, and now stands as the third best power conference.

NBA

Lakers sign PF Anthony Davis to three-year, $186 million contract extension

Davis, when healthy, is one of the sport’s best players — a two-way force capable of taking over a game. Healthy is the key word, though, as the big man hasn’t appeared in 63 or more games in a season since 2018, when he was a New Orleans Pelican. Durability doesn’t typically improve for players as they age, making this a risky deal for the Lakers, which marries the franchise to Davis through 2028. The risk is probably worth it, though, as 30 out of 30 clubs would sign Davis to this deal if given the opportunity, so it would be unfair to fault Los Angeles for shelling out this amount of cash for one of the league’s 10 best players.

Grade: B