Nevada athletics placed the final major beam on its indoor Fieldhouse this afternoon, with athletic director Stephanie Rempe calling it “a beacon of hope” as the $28 million facility reached its halfway point. I’m not sure there are any beacons of hope included in this week’s Monday Mailbag, but I offer the weekly column nonetheless (and I’d probably prefer “bacon of hope” anyway). Thanks, as always, for the questions.

The Pac-12 must expand while the Mountain West would like to expand at some point to some strength in numbers, but neither has a smooth pathway toward expansion because there aren’t obvious candidates who are additive to a media-rights deal. If you set the eastern border of Texas as your delineation point, there are 45 FBS schools. Of those 45, the only schools not in the Pac-12, the Mountain West or a Power 4 conference are Sacramento State (MAC, football only), New Mexico State (Conference USA), UTSA (American Conference), Tulsa (American), Rice (American), North Texas (American) and Sam Houston (C-USA). The Pac-12 already took a run at the American schools and was denied, so we can rule out UTSA, Rice, Tulsa and North Texas for expansion consideration in the short term. That leaves Sacramento State, New Mexico State and Sam Houston. Sac State has already been turned down by the Pac-12 and MW. New Mexico State was one of two schools left in the cold when the old WAC disbanded, the other being Idaho, which is now an FCS school.

That leaves Sam Houston, which was an FCS school in 2022. So, there are no good FBS expansion candidates in the Western 60 percent of the United States. That’s why the Pac-12 was stuck adding Texas State, which it didn’t envision taking on when it first poached the MW of San Diego State, Boise State, Colorado State and Fresno State. The Pac-12 needs a ninth football member, which, at this point, has a best option of Sam Houston. Ideally, the Pac-12 would like to see Cal and Stanford back out of the Atlantic Coast Conference and return to the Pac-12. That’s not happening. Its next-best option is having UNLV, Air Force or New Mexico back out of MW. But the MW grant of media rights/exit fees makes that unlikely. That means there aren’t any slam-dunk expansion candidates available, as MW commissioner Gloria Nevarez noted last week.

“North Dakota State was a very strategic add in football because they fit with us, look a lot like us and make us immediately stronger in football,” Nevarez told Big Business on Campus. “We’re at 10 in football now. Twelve still seems to be a target, although we’re not actively on the market right now. Kind of keeping our eyes on the horizon. The Western region has far fewer FBS institutions compared to the East Coast. There just aren’t a lot of places to go out here, and we’re an airport league. We do have Hawaii on the one side and Northern Illinois in football on the other. As long as the other conferences stay where they are, I think somewhere between 10 to 12 could be a sweet spot.”

The MW is in better shape than the Pac-12 for expansion because it can add an FCS school like North Dakota State and not feel like it is watering down its “brand.” The Pac-12 has more of a brand to protect at this point, which has kept it from getting to nine football schools. I would not be shocked to see the MW add the Montana schools down the line, or perhaps a Sam Houston or New Mexico State. The Pac-12, I imagine, believes it is above adding those schools. But there aren’t any other options past the destabilization of the ACC or MW. That has forced the Pac-12 to add a bunch of affiliate members, which could be its path forward, which would mean adding a football-only school to round out the conference. As is, the Pac-12 is adding 11 affiliate members in 2026 in sports that range from baseball to soccer to wrestling to gymnastics. The Pac-12 will have a total of 14 affiliates next year; the MW will have four. I hate these affiliates, by the way. They create Frankenstein conferences.

The Pac-12 starts on better footing than the MW in 2026 because it has the more successful schools right now. But the MW, if it can collect $100 million-plus in exit fees/poaching penalties from the Pac-12 and its member schools, could play catch up on the Pac-12. Ultimately, a reverse merger with Oregon State and Washington State — or picking nine schools and dissolving the MW — made more sense than what we’ve seen. But the way things played out adds a nice West Coast rivalry between the conferences. We’ll see how much the MW can close the gap between itself and the Pac-12 over the next five years, which is the length of the Pac-12’s media-rights deal.

Nevada men’s basketball signed four prep recruits in November, including SJ Madison, John Mattingly, Kade Snyder and Hudson Lucas. I don’t know how up-to-date 247Sports is on all of the high school signees. I’d guess it’s missing some players at other Mountain West schools. That said, I don’t think MW schools will sign a large wave of prep kids post-portal. Prep players are finding it harder than ever to go straight to the Division I level out of high school, with the recruiting emphasis heavy on transfers and international players. That’s the new normal. As for Nevada, here are the Wolf Pack’s freshmen signees during the Steve Alford era:

2019-20: Two (Kane Milling, Zane Meeks)

2020-21: Five (DeAndre Henry, Alem Huseinovic, Daniel Foster, Tre Coleman, Je’Lani Clark)

2021-22: Two (Jalen Weaver, Nick Davidson)

2022-23: Two (Trey Pettigrew, Darrion Williams)

2023-24: Three (Amire Robinson, Jazz Gardner, Tyler Rolison)

2024-25: One (Caelum Harris)

2025-26: Three (Ethan Croley, Myles Walker, Peyton White)

2026-27: Four (SJ Madison, John Mattingly, Kade Snyder, Hudson Lucas)

That’s 22 high school players over eight recruiting classes, or 2.75 per class. I still think it’s important to recruit high school kids because (a) you could spike a good player for a year or two like Darrion Williams; (b) they cost far less than transfers, at least the kind of players Nevada is recruiting; and (c) you build relationships with players so if they signed elsewhere and then hit the transfer portal you have the inside track on signing them.

Nevada lost four players to the transfer portal in Tyler Rolison, Amire Robinson, Chuck Bailey III and Ethan Croley. Thus far, only Robinson has found a new home, signing with Oral Roberts, which is led by former Nevada assistant Kory Barnett. In terms of additions, Nevada has added Memphis big man Simon Majok and has four more roster spots available if it is going to sit at 13 scholarships, its norm the last several years.

Before the portal opened, I wrote that Nevada’s over/under in terms of transfer-portal entries was 3.5 and said I’d take the over with four. So, that’s how it played out. I figured Tyler Rolison, Chuck Bailey III and Ethan Croley would enter the portal. I was surprised Nevada was able to keep both Elijah Price and Vaughn Weems. I figured it’d be one but not both. That was huge in terms of retention. Nevada retained four of its five most-important players, the lone loss in that group being Rolison, who the Wolf Pack should have the NIL money to replace. So, it’s been a good start to the offseason for Nevada.

Nevada landing a 7-foot-1 center like Simon Majok so early was a bit of a surprise. Big men are the most expensive players in the transfer portal because they are limited in numbers. Majok didn’t put up huge numbers last season (2.9 points and 2.4 rebounds per game on 46.7 percent shooting), but he has athletic size. That was a good early addition, although more work is required to get this roster to the championship level.

As for Nevada women’s basketball, the Wolf Pack has lost Skylar Durley, Ahrray Young, Makayla Carter, Tahj-Monet Bloom and Cheyenne McEvans to the transfer portal. That’s arguably the three-most important retention pieces (Durley, Young, Carter) hitting the portal, which, I guess, could have been expected given the team’s coaching change. But that’s a decent amount of talent lost if you include McEvans, who has twice scored double-figures at the Division I level. Thus far, Nevada has only added one transfer in UNLV’s Alexis Swillis, who has played 32 college minutes. The team has clearly lost more talent than it has added, so there’s catchup to be played.

Yes. Nevada’s biggest remaining need is a starting-level point guard. The Wolf Pack should also add wing depth plus a big man to challenge Simon Majok for the starting center job. But point guard is the biggest need. I don’t have any insight on specific players high on Nevada’s list, although UC Riverside’s Marqui Worthy has said the Wolf Pack has shown interest. Worthy averaged 16.4 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game last season, shooting 43.5/33.1/75.9. He spent two seasons at UMass before transferring to UC Riverside last season. Nevada also has reportedly reached out of UC San Diego’s Bol Dengdit, UCSB’s Colin Smith, Gardner-Webb’s Jacob Hogarth and DePaul’s Khaman Maker, although none of those guys are point guards.

Nevada announced its final transfer-portal additions (Corey Camper Jr. and Joel Armotrading) on April 28 last season, although the transfer-portal window was moved back three weeks this year, so that will delay things. I could see Nevada’s roster rounded out by mid-May if it is going to stick at 13 scholarships. The interesting thing is the NCAA allowed men’s basketball teams to go from 13 to 15 scholarships prior to last season, but many teams like Nevada stuck at 13 and saved scholarship money to fund other program needs. The Wolf Pack probably sticks with that formula this offseason, meaning it has four more scholarships to fill to get to 13. I’d go with a starting point guard, center who can compete for the starting job and two wings, one of whom is a high-level shooter.

Nevada baseball (21-15, RPI of 111) is out of the NCAA Tournament at-large mix even if its runs the table before losing in the Mountain West Tournament title game. Nevada softball (33-14, RPI 51) is probably out of the at-large mix as well. If the Wolf Pack won its final seven regular-season games and went 2-2 in the MW Tournament, it would be 42-16 with an RPI around 44. That’s probably not enough for an at-large bid, but you can’t completely eliminate at-large contention for Nevada softball even though the odds are really small.

Nevada baseball wins the Mountain West regular-season title but loses in the conference tournament title game while Nevada softball finishes second behind Grand Canyon but wins the conference tournament to reach an NCAA Regional.

As for Nevada men’s basketball, the Wolf Pack had the best retention results of any Mountain West school, with Wyoming second, Grand Canyon third and New Mexico fourth. But Grand Canyon has had the most success in the transfer portal thus far with New Mexico second. As of today, I’d take Grand Canyon’s roster first, New Mexico’s second, Nevada’s third, Wyoming’s fourth and UNLV’s fifth. But we still have a lot of offseason left to play out. Once we get more roster certainty, I’ll do a post-transfer portal conference power rankings. Nevada still needs to add two starting-level players and two more rotation pieces.

Yes. San Diego State, which is tied for seventh in the 10-team Mountain West, beat Grand Canyon softball, 9-1, in a five-inning run rule Sunday. In sports, almost anything can happen in a one-game sample size. Grand Canyon is a heavy favorite to win the Mountain West Tournament, but the Antelopes are not invincible.

Yes. If you’re referring to the spring game where Nevada scored just two touchdowns, the Wolf Pack did split up its players, so it wasn’t the No. 1 offense against the No. 2 defense like most spring games where the offense will look better playing against the second string. Nevada also was without starting quarterback Carter Jones and down some offensive linemen (starters Jack Foster and Snoop Leota-Amaama didn’t play). Generally speaking, I don’t put much stock into spring games. I go back to the 2017 spring game when Alabama transfer David Cornwell went 22-of-33 for 302 yards with two touchdowns while Ty Gangi threw two pick-sixs. Flash forward to the start of the season and Gangi won the starting job over Cornwell, who played just two games and threw only 25 passes in his Wolf Pack career. Would it have been nice for Nevada’s offense to look better in the spring game? Yes. Does that mean Nevada’s offense will for sure struggle in 2026? No.

Stone Combs entered the transfer portal with one season of eligibility remaining and has not signed with a new team to my knowledge. He had 74 tackles, including five for loss, last season, so that’s a surprise he hasn’t landed anywhere. I don’t think a return to Nevada is in the cards given how head coach Jeff Choate has spoken about that position after losing Combs, Nakian Jackson (James Madison) and Austin Harnetiaux (Rice) and replacing them with Jeremy Naborne-Owens (Colorado State), Poasa Utu (Oklahoma State) and Alosio Maluia (City College of San Francisco). Add returning starter EJ Smith and youngster Jake Silverman and Nevada likes its top six at that position.

“Linebacker has been a position that I feel like even though we lost some production on paper, I feel it was addition by subtraction,” Choate said. “We’re much more athletic at that position. And that’s gonna be a really, really strong battle between Jeremy Naborne and Utu and Alosio. Guys like Jake Silverman, Colson Kermode and E.J. was probably our best off-the-ball player a year ago and unfortunately missed the last four games of the season. I think there’s a number of guys there that stand out that have some potential.”

Still in the portal. I don’t see him coming back. Cornerback Ed Rhambo, who started nine games for Nevada last season with 35 tackles and nine passes defended, also entered the portal after the season but was at almost every Wolf Pack spring camp practice, so the door could be open for his potential return. Rhambo has one year of eligibility remaining, and I assume he is still enrolled in school at Nevada this spring given his presence at spring practices and the fact he didn’t sign with another team this winter.

Nevada already has such a player on its team this season in Indiana State transfer Brandon Amaniampong, who redshirted with the Sycamores as a tight end in 2023 before playing defensive line in 2024 and 2025, recording 22 tackles and a sack. I spoke with Amaniampong this spring and he spoke about the transition from offense to defense.

“My football IQ is definitely pretty up there,” Amaniampong said. “I played offense growing up. I was a tight end. I played receiver as well. I feel that knowing that side of the ball helps me on defense. Going into my freshman year spring ball, my coach was, like, ‘You’re too athletic not to be on the field.’ And we had a few other guys who were coming back playing the tight end position, so I made that move to defensive end. I definitely like hitting someone instead of getting hit. I feel like that’s way different. High school I didn’t play both ways. The first time I played D-end was in college.”

As for current tight ends Nevada could switch to defensive end, I don’t see it happening considering the Wolf Pack hast just four tight ends on its roster in DJ Asiasi, Jayden O’Rourke, Benjamin Wheeler and Carter Eck. Nevada won’t want to thin those numbers. Eck played defensive end at Bishop Manogue before walking on at Nevada, so he’d be the top candidate if a move was made.

Money and accountability, which are two things Nevada athletics hasn’t had during my 25 years covering the Wolf Pack. We can quibble over how much momentum Nevada has right now given the state of the football program and relatively modest overall on-field success (two Mountain West titles since 2022-23, so the last four seasons). But the Wolf Pack is getting more university funding than ever before, has two major facilities coming online (GSR Arena, Fieldhouse) and is entering a much more winnable MW. Nevada is at least improving its infrastructure and paving the way to potentially have more success. Nevada must avoid thinking it can take its foot off the gas as it enters a weaker MW. Now is the time to accelerate. The university has to stay committed to the increased funding and then hold the department accountable for more winning. There is no excuse for Nevada not to win three to five MW titles annually starting in 2026-27. New Mexico will lead the MW in championships next year given its cross country/track and field programs. But there’s no reason Nevada can’t be the second- or third-best department in the new MW, and it has to set that as the standard of acceptable performance and make changes if that kind of winning is not achieved.

Mason Miller, the San Diego Padres closer, is more likely to get hurt before giving up a run given his history and 104 mile-per-hour gas. Miller has run his scoreless streak to 32.2 innings and struck out 71.1 percent of the batters he’s faced this season with a .056 batting average against. Those are incredible numbers. Or as Larry David would say, “Prettaaay, prettaaay, prettaaay good.”

There are more billionaires than ever before, with Forbes estimating 3,428 billionaires globally (86 percent of those are men). Those people have a combined $20.1 trillion in cash (that’s a $2,421 check per person if the money was evenly distributed to the world’s 8.2 billion citizens). The United States leads the world with 989 billionaires, so I’m guessing one of those 989 people gets the NBA’s new Las Vegas franchise with a projected NBA expansion fee of $7 billion to $10 billion. I did a random generator of U.S. billionaires and it landed on Raising Cane’s owner Todd Graves, who is reportedly worth $22 billion, making him the country’s 44th-richest person, one spot ahead of Stan Kroenke, who owns the NFL’s Rams, NBA’s Nuggets and NHL’s Avalanche, not to mention the MLS’ Rapids and EPL’s Arsenal. So, I’ll bet on Graves becoming the owner of Las Vegas’ future NBA franchise.

I’ve done several houseboating trips to Shasta Lake, and it’s awesome. It can be daunting to learn how to navigate those big houseboats, but I highly recommend that trip and would plan for at least five days. It’s amazing as long as the water level is up. As for my dream trip, I’m going with Bora Bora on those little huts that sit above the water. That’s a touch more expensive than Shasta, though.

See y’all next week!

Sports columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. He writes a weekly Monday Mailbag despite it giving him a headache and it taking several hours to write. But people seem to like it, so he does it anyway. Contact him at crmurray@sbgtv.com or follow him on Twitter @ByChrisMurray.