When Boise State president Robert Kustra proclaimed a desire for Mountain West Conference membership two years ago, folks around the Western Athletic Conference took note.

But when coach Greg Graham's men's basketball team won the WAC 10 months ago there was actual concern.

For all Kustra's wishing out loud — some would say hat-in-hand begging — Graham's success last season speaks louder.

The Broncos open defense of their first WAC title tonight against Hawai'i at the Stan Sheriff Center and if you want to gauge their chances of catching the MWC's eye, then follow their hoops fortunes from here on out.

For all the fame it has earned with a dominating football team, Boise goes nowhere without a successful men's basketball team.

Money talks and nowhere does it speak louder than in decisions of membership and expansion. Want to jump conferences? The first thing a prospective partner wants to know is how can you fatten the conference piggy bank?

It makes no sense to take on an additional member if you're just cutting another slice out of the same revenue pie. But if the pie is significantly expanded, well, then, there is room to talk.

Broncos football, which has won or shared six of the last seven WAC titles, would be a good addition to any conference. The money — not to mention the cachet — it brought with the 2007 Fiesta Bowl triumph was huge.

But the WAC, MWC and other non-Bowl Championship Series signatory conferences aren't going to be getting multiple BCS berths for a while. Until they do, Boise would just be knocking somebody else out of one.

But the so-called mid-majors can place multiple teams in the NCAA basketball tournament. That is where they get the biggest share of money on an annual basis other than TV rights. Consider that each team a conference places in the tourney earns one income unit and up to four (excluding the play-in game) for additional victories. Each unit this year is immediately worth roughly $200,000 and, because they accumulate and pay off over a six-year rolling period, $1.2 million each over the long haul.

That's money leagues divide up enriching one and all. Get a handful of teams in that each win some games and you're rolling in the millions.

What the MWC needs is a 10th team to simplify its basketball scheduling and raise its hoops profile and revenue. Texas-El Paso of Conference USA and Nevada of the WAC would currently both do that better. And while Kustra pushes the "intermountain" tie, the MWC, with six members located in the Mountain Time Zone, already has a healthy footprint there for TV purposes.

Boise State makes its move when — and if — its basketball team becomes as much of a postseason fixture as its football team.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.