WCC Announces 2011-12 Men's Basketball Conference Schedule

SAN BRUNO, Calif. – Perhaps the most widely-anticipated conference season in the history of the West Coast Conference will get an early start, as the 2011-12 WCC slate was announced Friday. As a result of the WCC’s expansion to nine schools, the conference basketball season will begin prior to New Year’s Day for the first time and feature 16 conference games for each school. 

Six of the nine WCC teams won 20 or more games and earned postseason berths in 2010-11, and the WCC boasts three of the eight Division I teams that have won at least 25 games in each of the last four seasons. 

The 2011-12 West Coast Conference men’s basketball schedule gets underway on December 28, 2011, when WCC champion Gonzaga visits northwest rival Portland. The Bulldogs made their 13th straight NCAA appearance in 2011, and will visit a Portland team that has earned three straight postseason berths of its own. 

One day later, West Coast Conference newcomer BYU will make its WCC debut with a challenging opener at Saint Mary’s. BYU was a Sweet 16 team in 2011, and in its first-ever West Coast Conference test, the Cougars will meet a Gaels team that won 25 games last season. That same night, San Francisco visits Pepperdine. The Dons are coming off their best conference season in almost 20 years, while the Waves will play their first conference game under new head coach Marty Wilson. San Diego and Loyola Marymount will each open their WCC schedules on the final day of the year. The Toreros will visit BYU and LMU travels to San Francisco among the match-ups on December 31. 

Santa Clara becomes the final West Coast Conference team to open WCC play, when the Broncos visit Portland on January 5. Santa Clara looks to build upon a successful 2011 postseason in which the Broncos won the Collegeinsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). One week later, Gonzaga will visit Saint Mary’s (Jan. 12) in a highly-anticipated match-up between the 2011 WCC regular season co-champions 

BYU and Gonzaga will meet twice in the month of February, with two important showdowns. The teams will square off in Provo on February 2, and then meet in Spokane on February 23. Also that month, Santa Clara will travel to Bay Area rival Saint Mary’s for a critical contest on February 11 in Moraga.

The 2012 Zappos.com West Coast Conference Basketball Championships will take place from February 29-March 5 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.

In June, the West Coast Conference announced an eight-year extension of its partnership with ESPN. The WCC-ESPN television schedule will be announced on Monday. The complete 2011-12 West Coast Conference men’s basketball schedule follows, but is subject to change.  For the most up-to-date schedule, visit WCCsports.com.