2017-18 WCC Schedule Released

See the entire schedule here: http://www.wccsports.com/news/west-coast-conference-unveils-2017-18-men-s-basketball-slate-08-08-2017

Looks like only two home games without students during Christmas break. And that weekend of 1/25-27 will be pretty dang tough. Sheesh.

Thursday, December 28                    
Portland at BYU

Saturday, December 30                    
San Francisco at Portland                                                                  

Thursday, January 4                          
San Diego at Portland

Saturday, January 6                            
Portland at Santa Clara

Thursday, January 11                        
Portland at Gonzaga

Saturday, January 13                                                                                                              
Pacific at Portland

Thursday, January 18                        
Portland at San Diego

Saturday, January 20                          
Portland at Loyola Marymount

Thursday, January 25                        
Gonzaga at Portland

Saturday, January 27                          
Portland at Saint Mary’s

Thursday, February 1                        
Pepperdine at Portland

Saturday, February 3                          
Loyola Marymount at Portland

Thursday, February 8                        
Portland at San Francisco

Saturday, February 10                        
Portland at Pacific

Thursday, February 15                      
Santa Clara at Portland

Saturday, February 17                        
Saint Mary’s at Portland

Thursday, February 22                      
BYU at Portland

Saturday, February 24                        
Portland at Pepperdine

This schedule is rough. 5/9 WCC weeks involve a home and road game instead of having both at home or both away. That's really inefficient.

SouthCarolinaPilot wrote:This schedule is rough. 5/9 WCC weeks involve a home and road game instead of having both at home or both away. That's really inefficient.

For sure. These imbalanced schedules are a lot easier on the California teams.

This is year two of the experiment... I wonder if it will continue on or if they will re-assess. I know they did it to prevent pre-Christmas conference games, which were not popular when we had those a few years ago. (I seem to remember a year where I think students were gone for four or five of UP's nine WCC home games.)

Not sure what the solution would be other than having a "rivalry" (loaded word, I know) weekend where teams play their travel partner back-to-back.

So, we'd play Portland State? ...Sorry, I couldn't resist

The 2017-18 West Coast Conference men’s basketball season tips off December 28, 2017 and every team is in action with each squad playing two games per week throughout the course of the season. Due to the compressed nine-week schedule, no team will have a bye during the WCC regular season. In order to accommodate the compressed schedule, this is the second year of a two-year cycle where the conference schedule will not feature travel partners.

Hopefully in 2019 the calendar will allow a return to the travel partners... this is rough, but better than last season. The re-scheduled GU game aside, we had 2 weekends last season where we were home both games, and none of the road weekends included 2 games against schools in the same region (SoCal or NorCal). This year we have 2 home weekends were we have both dates here (Feb 1 & 3 and 15 & 17) and 2 road weekends where the 2 games are relatively close (Jan 18 @USD & 20 @LMU and Feb 8 @USF and 10 @PAC).

Heck, might as well play GU and SMC the same weekend, and focus on sweeping some other weekends.

Stonehouse wrote:Looks like only two home games without students during Christmas break.

Our last finals are on 12/14 and we don't begin classes again until 1/15, but we can start moving back into the dorms on Saturday 1/13.  

We'll miss Hartford on 12/19, USF on 12/30, USD on 1/4, and UOP on 1/13 for the majority of students who do not return to school until 1/14.

StudentPilot wrote:

Stonehouse wrote:Looks like only two home games without students during Christmas break.

Our last finals are on 12/14 and we don't begin classes again until 1/15, but we can start moving back into the dorms on Saturday 1/13.  

We'll miss Hartford on 12/19, USF on 12/30, USD on 1/4, and UOP on 1/13 for the majority of students who do not return to school until 1/14.

Oh dang. Figured school would be back up on the 8th. I can't remember finals ever being that late, though it's been a shockingly long time since I graduated.

And is that Hartford game on a schedule somewhere? I believe you... just can't find it anywhere. [EDIT: Nevermind - it's on Hartford's website! http://www.hartfordhawks.com/schedule.aspx?schedule=181&path=mbball ]

PilotNut wrote:Hopefully in 2019 the calendar will allow a return to the travel partners... this is rough, but better than last season.

Yes, the schedule will return to "normal" with travel partners next year as the NCAA D1 Men's Basketball Tournament will be played slightly later in the year.....

2018: First Four -- March 13/14
2019: First Four -- March 19/20
2020: First Four -- March 17/18
2021: First Four -- March 16/17
2022: First Four -- March 15/16

Only guessing, but it could be the WCC will have to return to the 9 week schedule in 2021-2022 when the tournament begins earlier in March again.

Yes, the schedule is better this season than last after what was apparently a great deal of discussion that included the thought of playing before Christmas to return to a 10 week schedule with travel partners.

From the WCC:

Because the Conference has five pairs, it is impossible to maintain the “travel pairs” model over a nine-week schedule.  Removal of travel pairs opens up the likelihood for weeks in which a team is home on Thursday but away on Saturday, or vice versa.  

The WCC broadcast schedule is out.....beyond the GU game, don't expect to see much of the Pilots on the road except for streaming on TheW.tv.
http://portlandpilots.com/news/2017/9/28/mens-basketball-wcc-announces-2017-18-broadcast-schedule.aspx

Also announced are the game times for the entire season:
http://portlandpilots.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbball

There are a few home games with "different" starting times to be aware of:

10/21 Purple-White Scrimmage @ 5
11/4 Lewis & Clark @ 5
11/14 Walla Walla @ 7:30
11/19 Oregon Tech @ 5
12/30 USF @ 6
1/25 GU @ 8
2/3 LMU @ 1
2/22 BYU @ 8

I will never understand the 5:00 tip off! How do they expect people to actually make it to those games, yet alone enjoy the benefits of the pregame functions? Since I no longer live under the St. John's Bridge (I'm now closer to the Sellwood Bridge), I doubt I will make it to those games.

blacksheep wrote:I will never understand the 5:00 tip off!  How do they expect people to actually make it to those games, yet alone enjoy the benefits of the pregame functions?  Since I no longer live under the St. John's Bridge (I'm now closer to the Sellwood Bridge), I doubt I will make it to those games.  

I share and understand your frustration and find the 1 o'clock game against LMU to be especially inconvenient.

Fortunately, all the early games are on the weekend, so work and commute traffic are not a big issue for most people, but it's still pretty darned inconvenient to be knocking back pregame whiskeys and/or beers just after noon prior to the LMU game....

DoubleDipper wrote:

blacksheep wrote:I will never understand the 5:00 tip off!  How do they expect people to actually make it to those games, yet alone enjoy the benefits of the pregame functions?  Since I no longer live under the St. John's Bridge (I'm now closer to the Sellwood Bridge), I doubt I will make it to those games.  

I share and understand your frustration and find the 1 o'clock game against LMU to be especially inconvenient.

Fortunately, all the early games are on the weekend, so work and commute traffic are not a big issue for most people, but it's still pretty darned inconvenient to be knocking back pregame whiskeys and/or beers just after noon prior to the LMU game....

I guess I didn't look close enough at the calendar. I assumed they were weekday games.

I have no problem drinking at noon. You can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning!