Think about it. How often does a conference get to add the best program (BYU) from another conference (Mountain West)? It's hard to find another recent example of a league doing such a thing in its most important sport. Nebraska certainly adds major value in football to the Big Ten, but that league already has perennial national title contender Ohio State as well as nationally recognized programs in Penn State, Michigan, Iowa and Wisconsin.

BYU will dwarf the arenas in the WCC with its 22,000-plus-seat Marriott Center. The fan base comparison isn't even close as the Cougars can sell out games in San Diego; Spokane, Wash.; San Francisco; and Malibu, Calif. The only other team in the league that can do that is Gonzaga, and that's not because of the Zags' fan base but rather because the Zags have consistently been the team to beat, a top-25 regular and a barometer for the home program for the past decade.

"It's tremendous for our league,'' Portland coach Eric Reveno said of the BYU addition. "We're trying to create an NCAA tournament-caliber team every year and going against BYU won't hurt us. It won't make it harder; it will help us.''

Reveno said that trying to be good enough to beat Gonzaga has been the bar in the WCC. The high level set for the rest of the league -- something that Saint Mary's reached last season with a Sweet 16 appearance -- won't change a bit with the addition of BYU. It will only be even more intense. Adding the BYUtv network, which will likely be allowed to televise all of the games that the ESPN family of networks does not in 2011-12 (a point of contention for BYU and the MWC as MTN/Comcast/CBS CollegeSports did not allow such a thing), puts WCC teams in even more homes around the globe. BYUtv isn't a sports network, but is available globally and can potentially be something for other WCC schools to capitalize on when their team is featured.

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Ronald Martinez/Getty ImagesLosing BYU is a blow to Mountain West basketball.

Opening up the Salt Lake City-Provo market to the WCC is a major coup for the league -- which makes it hard to ignore what a significant blow this is to the MWC. No one would debate that the WAC was the biggest loser in all this nationwide shuffling as its current top basketball program, Utah State, lost a chance to be in the same league as BYU and also will lose its rival, Nevada. Once Nevada and Fresno State leave, presumably in 2012 after playing two lame-duck seasons, the WAC will have only six teams (although you can expect the addition of a few programs such as Texas-San Antonio and Texas State).

But the Mountain West lost the heart of its league in seeing Utah go off to the soon-to-be-named Pac-12 in 2011-12 and BYU to the WCC (football will be an independent). Losing the entire Utah market is a major hit. But more than that, the schools no longer have the game that fans circle every season. It's no secret that BYU is the team MWC fans -- and before that, WAC fans -- love to hate.

"They had a huge following wherever they went,'' said San Diego State coach Steve Fisher of the Cougars. "There was a huge Mormon [presence] in San Diego. There was always a lot of BYU fans when we would play them. I think they will be missed. We've had great rivalries with the Utah schools. I'll miss them both.''

Fisher cited the tradition of BYU and the overall success of the program -- including 25 NCAA tournament appearances -- and didn't try to spin that replacing BYU and Utah with Fresno State, Nevada and Boise State was an even trade.

"What we have to do, as we have in the past, is continue to schedule and beat some of these teams in the nonconference and have some success when we get in the league,'' said Fisher. "We've been recognized as a good basketball league.''

Getting multiple bids hasn't been an issue for the MWC, as the league received four bids a season ago with the Aztecs, UNLV and New Mexico joining BYU in the NCAA tournament.

BYU games at the Pit in Albuquerque have always been the event of the conference season. Utah at New Mexico was clearly a must-see game during Rick Majerus' tenure. Most of the time the Utes have been a popular game for the Lobos fans. But there have been cycles when the importance of games against the Utes has varied. Not so with BYU. The game against the Cougars has always been No. 1.

"There's no question there will be a bit of a vacuum, certainly initially,'' said New Mexico athletic director Paul Krebs. "They are a big rival and they add real value to the league. I'm disappointed they are leaving. I wish they would have stayed because it would have made our league better.''

Krebs did say Fresno State, Nevada and Boise State make the MWC deeper in football and in basketball. The MWC, though, may not be a 10-team league until 2012-13 if Fresno State and Nevada can't leave the WAC earlier. Neither met the July 1 deadline to leave for the 2011-12 season.

"You still have to do it on the field and we had two top-10 teams in Boise State [as a WAC member] and TCU, while BYU and Utah aren't in the top 10 but are still strong programs,'' Krebs said. "An ideal situation would have been to keep them all.''

Krebs did acknowledge that losing the Salt Lake City-Provo market hurts, but said adding the California Central Valley market helps strengthen the MWC. And while Reno, Nev., isn't exactly Salt Lake, he said that it can combine with the Boise market to provide a pop.

"Now we have to continue to look to see if we want to stay at 10 or if it makes sense to go to 12,'' Krebs said.

UNLV coach Lon Kruger is hoping that playing a home-and-home against in-state rival Nevada will help offset the loss of Utah and BYU.

"It is true that over the years, as with any rivalry, there is great respect for Utah and for BYU and the ability of those teams to make opposing fans look forward to them coming,'' said Kruger. "You have to fill that and hopefully Fresno can since our fans know them in part because of Tark [former Rebels coach Jerry Tarkanian]. Boise State is an unknown as it relates to basketball and that will take time to develop.''

San Diego State and BYU, led by the two best players in the league in Aztecs forward Kawhi Leonard and Cougars guard Jimmer Fredette, are the favorites this season in the MWC. UNLV should be in the mix as well if Tre'Von Willis is available. That's currently an unknown while he deals with felony assault charges of domestic battery. Willis, the Rebels' leading returning scorer, has entered a not guilty plea. He's currently not doing anything basketball-related anyway as he recovers from a knee scope.

New Mexico, which took a hit with the departures of Darington Hobson early to the NBA draft and senior Roman Martinez, still has plenty returning to challenge the others with Dairese Gary, Phillip McDonald and A.J. Hardeman.

As for the West Coast Conference, conference officials and members can't wait to add the Cougars. The WCC will move to a 16-game schedule in a true nine-team round-robin, up from 14 games.

The conference tournament, which is played at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, will continue to be held at that venue but instead of it being a Friday-Monday format, the league tournament is expected to start on Thursday, go through Saturday with the semifinals, and then take Sunday off since BYU doesn't play on Sundays. The championship game would still be a Monday night affair on the ESPN family of networks during Championship Week. Having BYU around will also help other WCC schools with scheduling and power ratings. Only Gonzaga hasn't had issues getting significant games the past decade.

"I really like going to 16 games since for us nonconference scheduling is a challenge,'' Reveno said. "Adding BYU home-and-home has really improved our schedule. It will improve everyone's home WCC schedule."

And it will certainly hurt the MWC schools that have come to value a home gate against the Cougars.