Which Perennial Top 10 Team Right Now Is Left Out of "The Top Four Conferences"

"We're not getting the piece of the pie we used to be getting, so we're taking our ball and playing our own game."

That's what the SEC, Big 12, Big 10 and Pac-12 have decided.  Tired of being beaten by Boise State, Utah, TCU, Fresno State and others, those four conferences are trying to form their own division at the exclusion of the other D-1 conferences.

With all the upheaval, here is the pertinent question.  Understand that, and you understand everything.

Which perennial Top 10 team is left out?  

Well, they already snapped up Utah and TCU, the other legitimate contenders for postseason play that weren't in the major conferences.  But there's one left, that in fact has been more successful than either of those two.  Yep, it's Boise State.  The Broncos have made a home in the Top 10, or at least the Top 15, for the last decade.  There's no other successful team that the big boys have to deal with.  


So will the top four conferences include Boise State or leave them as "the glaring example" of a highly successful team that was kicked from the table?

But this isn't over.  This kind of thing ultimately may come down to the courts and/or Congress.  Then again, they too might look the other way.

NCAA West Regional Track & Field Championships

Boise State may have 17 qualifiers for next week's NCAA Outdoor Track & Field West Regional Championship, but unlike in years past, there are no Broncos expected to finish in the Top 5 in their respective events.  


Mele Vaisima perhaps has the best chance to advance to the National Championships.  Mele is ranked 12th in the West in the hammer.  Teammate Alyssa Osai also qualified for the hammer and is ranked 26th.  Emma Bates is running well and hopes to advance in the 5,000 after winning the Mountain West Championship.  Bates is ranked #22 in the West in that event and #28 in the 10,000.  On the men's side, Chase Sexton will be making his third trip to the Regional and is seeded 28th in the discus.


Other men competing next weekend are Allan Schroeder and Sawyer Bosch (20th and 23rd, respectively, in the steeplechase), Rolando Trammel (#25 in the West in the 400-meter hurdles and #30 in the 110-meter hurdles), Justin Malnes (33rd in the 110 hurdles), Drew O'donoghue-McDonald (#36 in the 1,500 meters), senior Trevor Kraychir (#39 in the hammer), Charlie Petrie (#44 in the 1,500), Eetu Viitala (#42 in the West in the long jump), Scott Foley (44th in the 10,000), Will Lohman (#47 in the shot put and #48 in the hammer)


Deb Johnson is ranked 33rd in the triple jump, Racquel Jones makes her second trip to Regionals in the long jump, where she is seeded 43rd, while Sasa Kampic is seeded 48th in the javelin.


The West Regional begins Thursday, May 24 in Austin, Texas.  The top 12 qualify for the National Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, June 6-9.  Kurt Felix has already punched his ticket to the NCAA's in the decathlon, where he is ranked #4 in the country.  The decathlon is not contested at Regionals.

Boise State's Greg Patton Named Mountain Region Men's Tennis Coach of the Year

Legendary Boise State tennis coach was named the Mountain Region Men's Tennis Coach of the Year after rebuilding the Broncos into a national power again.  Patton also won Regional Coach of the Year in 1994, 1997 and 2004.

Patton, in his 16th year leading the Bronco program, led Boise State to the 2012 Mountain West regular season and tournament championships and a berth in the NCAA Championships, their 15th overall.  After a razor-thin defeat to favored Florida State in the tournament, the Broncos ended the season 26-7, but with high hopes for next season.