ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi said Wednesday that Boise State’s move from the Mountain West to the WAC will hurt the men’s basketball team’s chances at earning future at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament.

The flip side, though, is the move could increase Boise State’s odds of earning the WAC’s automatic bid.

Lunardi described the move as a “short-term hit,” but said it wasn’t “catastrophic” for a program that has been to the NCAA Tournament only five times, most recently in 2008, and never won in the Big Dance.

“Boise State’s commitment to make the NCAA Tournament has been sporadic,” Lunardi said. “They want to make it, but it’s not the be-all, end-all of the athletic department or the university. What Boise should worry about is getting players more than if they are in the right conference.”

That’s the approach coach Leon Rice is taking.

“It’s about our team and our program getting better,” the former Gonzaga assistant said. “Look where I came from — the league doesn’t matter. It’s building the program and doing things at a high level.

“The top 5 football team in the country came from the WAC. The WAC didn’t hold them back. There are some good basketball teams in that league. We know that.”

Boise State President Bob Kustra made it clear that the decision to leave the Mountain West was made for the football program.

“These Olympic sports do not face the hurdles that our football program does in gaining access to postseason play,” he said. “There is less pressure in these sports based on conference membership because they already have the opportunity, one that college football should have, to participate in a playoff system without regard to the conference to which you belong.”

The difference between Mountain West and WAC basketball has widened in recent seasons. Last season, the MW was the fourth-ranked conference in the country and is ranked fifth this season. The WAC, which is 21st this season, was 13th last season.

Fans at Taco Bell Arena, including student Brett Halliwell, said they support the move to the Big East for football but hate to see the basketball program hurt.

“I guess the rest of the sports will just have to go back to dominating the WAC,” Halliwell said.

Fans courtside Wednesday yelled at officials “to go back to the WAC” as a way of their displeasure with the officials. But that sentiment also sums up what many fans think — the WAC is a giant step down from the Mountain West.

That may be the case, but with San Diego State leaving the conference along with the Broncos, the step might not be as big.

“Conference USA took a hit. The Mountain West took a hit,” WAC Commissioner Karl Benson said. “The WAC has benefited from this latest change.”

Benson also said he’s reached out to Fresno State, Nevada and Hawaii — all scheduled to leave the WAC after this season — about staying in the league. Benson said he spoke with San Diego State about putting its non-football programs in the WAC.

“The (WAC and Mountain West) might get closer together because the dominos haven’t stopped falling,” Lunardi said.

The fear many Boise State fans have is that the Mountain West will poach Utah State and/or New Mexico State and San Jose State. One described what would be left of the WAC if that happened as a “dead conference walking” on Twitter.

Boise State beefed up its basketball budgets after the 2009-10 season when coach Greg Graham was fired after an eighth-place finish in the nine-team WAC. Rice was hired and given more money for assistant coaches. The school even added a provision to Rice’s contract, giving him an extra year if the Broncos joined the MW.

Western Athletic Conference membership for 2013 is expected to include Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State and Utah State, plus newcomers Denver, Seattle, Texas State, UT-Arlington and UT-San Antonio.

Boise State freshman guard Derrick Marks made it clear that Wednesday’s news didn’t change his thoughts about being in Boise.

“I just came here to win,” said Marks, who said one reason he chose BSU was because of the chance to play in the MW. “But the conferene that we’re in, it really doesn’t matter to me.”