WCC getting future plans in order

The WCC will grow to nine teams next year with the addition of BYU. A nine-team configuration will obviously impact scheduling and the conference tournament format.

Those topics, and several others were addressed when a handful of reporters sat down with WCC commissioner Jamie Zaninovich prior to the Saint Mary’s-Santa Clara men’s semifinal.

Highlights below.

—The 2012 WCC Tournament dates are set for the Orleans : Feb. 29-March 5. The format will remain the same in terms of a single bye for the 3/4 seeds and a double bye for the 1/2 seeds. All nine teams will qualify. On Feb. 29, it’ll be 9 vs. 8 (men and women). That winner will take on the No. 5 the following night, along with the 6-vs-7 matchup.

The semifinals will be played Saturday. There will be no games on Sunday (BYU doesn’t play on Sundays) with the title game on ESPN on Monday night.

—Zaninovich said the WCC is close to a long-term deal with ESPN. The current contract expires in June. He said he can’t discuss the details yet, but it’ll be longer than those of peer conferences (read non football conference) and be more lucrative than the current agreement.

—The conference will play a nine-week WCC schedule next season, beginning on Dec. 29 ^th . The calendar is such that the Final Four is earlier next season, meaning everything else will begin earlier.

Teams will play a 16-game double round-robin schedule (men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball) with games primarily on Thursdays and Saturdays, with an occasional Monday contest. There are guidelines in place so teams won’t have to play more than three road games in a row. If a team plays Monday, it’ll be Monday-Thursday or Saturday-Monday.

There will be split weeks (one home game, one away in the same week). In those cases, every effort will be made to keep plane/bus trips as short as possible.

“We will look different,” Zaninovich said. “Teams won’t always play LMU and Pepperdine back-to-back or Gonzaga-Portland, but that will stay for the most part because of financial considerations there.”

The actual schedule won’t be released until ESPN finalizes its game plan.