Shortly after Oregon State and Washington State secured commitments from four Mountain West members last week to reinvent the Pac-12, OSU athletic director Scott Barnes said he envisioned the conference adding at least two more institutions "as quickly as possible.

The Pac-12’s continued expansion was put on pause Wednesday morning, as Memphis and Tulane are not a part of the conference. After programs like San Diego State committed to the Pac-12, others have been more difficult to convince.

American Athletic Conference commissioner Tim Pernetti made it clear he values Univ. of Memphis as a key member of the conference amid yet another round of conference realignment

It makes sense. The Tigers are one of the top Group of Five schools in the country, and any Group of Five (soon to be Group of Six) conference would likely target Memphis. The Pac-12 would have to go after at least one more school, and could look to the AAC — Tulane, UTSA and South Florida are all attractive candidates.

New Tulane athletic director Davis Harris, whose degree of interest in changing conferences is not clear, declined comment as per his policy on all realignment issues.