Logically it doesn't make a ton of sense, but the goodwill tied to the PAC brand is valuable. It was similar to the Big East after the football schools left. There was enough juice left in that brand in conjunction with keeping the tournament at the Garden to get the remaining schools a media deal that allowed them to remain as a Power basketball league. It won't be quite the same in the PAC because of the number of departures, but the MWC schools would be dumb not to join if WSU & OSU decide to rebuild the league, simply because the branding alone has value that doesn't exist in the MWC.