Gonzaga to be featured on four Big Mondays

The West Coast Conference, as part of an agreement with ESPN that was formally announced on Wednesday, will be featured in four of the cable network’s Big Monday men’s college basketball telecasts this winter.

And Gonzaga University will be involved in each of those four games – against Santa Clara (Jan. 9), Loyola Marymount (Jan. 16), Saint Mary’s (Feb. 6) and Pepperdine (Feb. 20).

In addition, the Bulldogs will be a part of an ABC regional matchup on Feb. 18, when they play at Loyola Marymount. The Zags will also appear on ESPN’s family of networks eight other times during the regular season, including three at the Maui Invitational (Nov. 21-23).

The other games that will air on either ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU are those against Memphis (Dec. 27), Saint Joseph’s (Dec. 31), Saint Mary’s (Jan. 7), Pepperdine (Jan. 14) and Stanford (Feb. 11).

ESPN will also carry the semifinals of the WCC tournament on ESPN2 and the championship game, which tips off at 6 p.m. instead of 9 p.m. this year, on ESPN.

Under the Big Monday agreement, the WCC and Western Athletic Conference will split the eight late-game slots available following lead-in matchups from the Big East and Big 12 conferences.

As a result, the WCC will change from its traditional Thursday-Saturday league schedule to a Saturday-Monday format, with its Big Monday telecasts starting at 9 p.m.