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Provo • It might have gone unnoticed locally because an exception had to be made for BYU, which was playing at the Diamond Head Classic in Oahu, Hawaii. But for the first time in its history, the West Coast Conference played basketball games before Christmas last December.
Eight of the WCC's 10 teams played league games on Dec. 21 and Dec. 23. San Diego and BYU had no conference games that week and will meet instead in a double-header of sorts this month. BYU is at San Diego on Feb. 18 and San Diego is at BYU two nights later. And you thought BYU playing Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine twice within seven days was odd.
Well, WCC associate commissioner Jeff Tourial has good news for you. It won't happen next year or the following year, Tourial says.
The WCC's Basketball Cabinet has recommended, and the league's Executive Council approved, the adjustment of the start date to come after Christmas again in 2016-17 and 2017-18. The conference tournament in Las Vegas won't be pushed back a week those two years, so in order to still play a nine-week schedule, there will be no byes.
Tourial said that to accommodate that timeline next year, the league will need to relax its travel pairs.
"It means that every time you go to Saint Mary's, you won't necessarily play Pacific," is how BYU coach Dave Rose explained it.
The WCC went to travel partners three years ago when Pacific returned to the conference and gave it 10 members. That system is a small break for BYU, San Diego, Portland and Gonzaga because on Saturdays those schools are facing a team that had to catch a flight on Friday. The other six teams' travel partner is in the same general area.
Tourial said the league will return to a 10-week schedule in 2018-19 because of the way the calendar falls that season.
Rose said every coach was in favor of scrapping the pre-Christmas games, but acknowledged that there will always be issues with the schedule, because ESPN sets the WCC's title game for the Tuesday before most conferences begin their tournaments.
The Spokesman-Review of Spokane reported that Gonzaga coach Mark Few wants a 16-game league schedule to allow for more non-conference scheduling in January and February, but the idea hasn't gained much traction.
Gaels crack rankings
Having won four straight games and 12 of its past 13, Saint Mary's (18-3) cracked the USA Today Coaches Poll on Monday, landing at No. 25. The Gaels received votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.
Saint Mary's game at BYU on Thursday will be playing its sixth road game of the season, and first game outside the state of California since the conference tournament last March in Las Vegas.
Saint Mary's is 3-2 on the road this season, with wins over Santa Clara, Loyola Marymount and Pacific and losses to California and Pepperdine.
Briefly
Gonzaga's Kyle Wiltjer is the league's Player of the Week for the second this season. He averaged 25.0 points and 5.0 rebounds last week in wins over San Francisco and Santa Clara. BYU's Kyle Collinsworth, who shared the honor with Wiltjer on Nov. 30, and Gonzaga's Domantas Sabonis are the only other players with two weekly honors this season. … Collinsworth on Monday was named one of 10 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, which goes to the nation's top point guard.
Twitter: @drewjay