WCC Leaving Big Monday? - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

The West Coast Conference could be saying good bye to ESPN's Big Monday lineup, according to the SpokesmanReview.com. The league is anxious to get back to a traditional Thursday/Saturday schedule, while leaving a troublesome late Monday night start behind.

The rational seems simple enough. The 9 p.m. start means that most East Coast viewers (who complain about the start times of their own games) have long gone to bed. Plus, Tuesday is kind of a lost day for the players, who likely will have trouble getting to bed following a high-energy game. Not to mention teams that have to travel.

So I can see the conference's point of view there. The WCC is made up of small private schools that actually value education. Besides, ESPN is still on the hook to show WCC games on Thursday. But as a fan, having a Big Monday game is a huge deal. Ask any Big West fan and they likely tell you that they miss playing games on Big Monday. No Big West fan ever complained about having to stay up late on a Monday to watch Larry Johnson and crew beat our teams. But heck, we were just state schools.

And that leads to an interesting question, who is going to fill that spot left open by the WCC? The Big West and WAC would likely be happy take that soon vacant spot. Hopefully the commissioners of those conferences are already wooing ESPN right now.