Fresno State and Nevada are leaving the Western Athletic Conference for the Mountain West.
The schools ended a wild day by announcing they are accepting invitations to join the Mountain West, which has added three prominent members of the WAC in the last 2 months.
Boise State already is bound for the MWC next year and now the Bulldogs and Wolf Pack are following as well, leaving the WAC's future in question and the Mountain West preparing for life after Utah and possibly Brigham Young.
The Cougars are mulling going independent in football and reportedly joining the WAC in all other sports, but have not confirmed anything and may need another look before making anything official. At this rate, there might not be much of a WAC left to join.
The Mountain West is covered either way after inviting Fresno State and Nevada to join the league yesterday morning and both schools accepting.
In other college news:
* Southern California running back Dillon Baxter is unlikely to travel with the team to Hawaii for the season opener on Sept. 2 after being suspended.
* Prosecutors have filed a broad criminal murder charge against a 25-year-old, one-time mixed martial arts fighter in the slaying of a former UNLV football player in a scuffle at a Las Vegas party. A filed complaint accuses Jason Sindelar of open murder in the June 19 death of 26-year-old DeMario Reynolds Sr. The charge gives a jury several options at trial, including manslaughter.
* Miami forward Adrian Thomas has been given a sixth year of eligibility from the NCAA. Thomas had season-ending injuries early in the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons, playing a total of eight games during those years. He's made 107 three-pointers in the past two seasons, becoming one of the most accurate shooters in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
* Former welterweight champion Antonio Margarito was denied a license to fight in California, leaving a significant hurdle in the way of a proposed bout against Manny Pacquiao. Margarito was suspended for at least a year after an illegal, plaster-like substance was found in his hand wraps before a January 2009 bout against Shane Mosley in Los Angeles. Margarito's hands were rewrapped and he lost the WBA title fight.
* Vitali Klitschko will defend his WBC heavyweight title against Shannon Briggs, of the United States, Oct. 16 in Hamburg, Germany.
* Justine Henin will miss the rest of the 2010 season as she recovers from an elbow injury.
* The daughter of former New York Yankees pitcher Bill Gullickson and the niece of former New Jersey Nets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe are among the women receiving wild-card invitations to the U.S. Open. Chelsey Gullickson, of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. - who won the NCAA singles title for Georgia - and Coco Vandeweghe, of Rancho Mirage, Calif., are two of the seven wild cards announced by the U.S. Tennis Association. The U.S. Open starts Aug. 30.
* Michael Phelps led all the way in winning the 200-meter butterfly at the Pan Pacific championships in Irvine, Calif. Phelps touched in 1 minute, 54.11 seconds, fastest in the world this year. It was his 31st consecutive victory in a 200 fly final.
* Matthew "Moo" Johnson, former star for Strawberry Mansion High ('06) and Gwynedd-Mercy, is Mansion's new varsity basketball coach.
