Oregon State, Washington State make affiliate deal with WCC for non-football sports

Still filling out schedules for the 2024-25 academic year and beyond, the last schools standing in the Pac-12 have made an agreement with another conference.

Oregon State and Washington State signed an affiliate agreement with the West Coast Conference (WCC) for men's and women's basketball and continues discussions for affiliate membership for other sports. 

According to Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger, the two schools can participate in conference play and tournaments as well as compete for the conference's automatic bids in NCAA tournaments.

The ability to qualify for automatic bids is crucial for the northwestern schools, who are being provided some grace by the NCAA for the next two academic years. According to Dellenger:

"Washington State and Oregon State plan to continue to exist as a two-team conference for the next two years, using an NCAA grace period to potentially rebuild the Pac-12. The NCAA will recognize the two as a conference through the 2025-26 academic year before they must return to eight members, the FBS minimum for conference designation.
"However, being recognized as a conference does not grant them the ability to retain the Pac-12’s automatic qualifying spots to NCAA championships. AQs require a sport-specific minimum of six participating members, according to NCAA bylaws. Landing their sports in the WCC — or any other league — paves the way for all athletic teams to still compete for an automatic qualifying spot."

In early December, the two universities came to a scheduling agreement with the Mountain West Conference for football. As a Group of Five conference, the MWC has the necessary football programs to keep what will remain as the Pac-12 somewhat relevant to the College Football Playoff and other bowl games. 

On Dec. 16, Oregon State and Washington State gained full control over Pac-12 assets after a Washington State Supreme Court judge chose not to hear arguments from the conference's departing members about the direction of the group.

The mid-major conference is largely known for basketball, with Gonzaga being its most prominent school over the years thanks to John Stockton, Adam Morrison, Courtney Vandersloot. 

However, there's a deep hoops history with University of San Francisco, Santa Clara, Pepperdine and Saint Mary's.