SALT LAKE CITY — The Christmas gift that undoubtedly topped Dave Rose’s wish list never had a chance to happen, no matter how many times he asked Santa Claus.

Wise men could give the BYU men's basketball coach all the gold and frankincense he wanted, but no way could they ever deliver Jabari Parker.

First, it was Chris Burgess some 16 years ago. Then it was Parker some six days ago.

The common denominator is two big-time high school basketball players choosing to play at Duke, bypassing the opportunity to play for BYU, their church-sponsored university. No surprise in either case.

Cougar Tracks:

Cougars come close, but Parker picks Duke

High school hoops phenom Jabari Parker kept BYU in the running until Decision Day, but has announced that he will play his college basketball for Duke University.

Unless the nation’s top five recruits attend Lone Peak High, they aren’t going to play basketball at BYU any time soon. This is true now more than ever.

Blame it on football.

There’s simply no way any of the nation’s most elite players would pick BYU over the likes of Duke or any other of the most recognized programs. And nobody should ever blame them, even if every member of their families went to college in Provo.

This isn’t so much a condemnation on the school or Rose as it is on BYU’s conference. Compared to any power league, the West Coast Conference is drastically inferior.

Back in September 2010, faced with a changing landscape that could have pushed the football program into relative obscurity, the BYU administration made the correct decision to bolt the Mountain West Conference to become an independent. Needing a landing spot, BYU found a willing partner for most of its sports in the WCC.

At the time, administrators went to great lengths to put a positive spin on it, praising the chance to align with the other fine faith-based institutions that made up the decidedly mid-major conference. The missions of each school were matched perfectly, they reasoned, almost sounding convincing.

“We’re grateful and honored to accept this invitation from the West Coast Conference,” BYU Pres. Cecil O. Samuelson said then. “We are pleased to be associating with a group of fellow private, faith-based institutions with whom we also share strong academics. We admire the collegiality and stability this conference enjoys and look forward to competing with them.”

If we didn’t know better, we’d darned near believe that BYU would rather be associated with Pepperdine, the University of San Diego and Santa Clara than any of the heathen Pac-12 schools. At least publicly, Rose was forced to put a happy face on his program’s demotion.

At its best, the WCC is not the Mountain West.

“What impresses me about the WCC is their commitment to men’s basketball,” Rose said on the day of the announcement. “It’s a men’s basketball league. The incentives they have to increase the level of their basketball, I was extremely impressed.”

Two years later, reality shows that Rose is wrong. Outside of BYU, Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s, nobody cares about WCC men’s basketball.

Want proof?

#poll

Santa Clara, which at 11-2 as has the WCC’s second-best record behind Gonzaga, struggles to draw a crowd of 1,500 for home games. Attendance was 1,442 for an overtime loss to Utah State.

Saint Mary’s, which has a recent Sweet 16 appearance and beat USU in Logan last month, isn’t exactly a hot ticket. Crowds of 2,500 are common for most games in the high school-sized gymnasium.

Religion is the only thing separating the WCC from the Big Sky Conference. And religion wasn’t enough to lure Parker, listed as the nation’s No. 2 prospect.

It’s not all a lost cause, though. Every 30 years a Danny Ainge or a Jimmer Fredette comes around.

Rose deserves better. In a conference with a fan base and facilities that actually does show a commitment to men’s basketball, Rose would win. Maybe then BYU would have a legitimate chance for a player the caliber of Parker.

As BYU basketball fans begin to formulate their 2013 Christmas list, here’s what they should ask for: The Big 12 comes calling and all these Lone Peak studs turn out to be BYU studs.

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