LMU to host Fullerton Wednesday

As expected, the Lions were left out of the NIT today, but did accept an invitation to play in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament for the second time in three years. LMU's first game of the tournament will be Wednesday, when they host Cal State Fullerton. The tournament matches up teams by region, not seeding.

Fullerton finished its season 21-9, with a 12-4 mark in the Big West. The Titans will travel to Gersten Pavilion for a 7 p.m. game Wednesday, which can be seen live here. Fullerton is led by D.J. Seeley and Kwame Vaughn, who is very familiar to the WCC. Vaughn played two season with USF, after originally committing to LMU and then-Head Coach Rodney Tention out of high school.

For a full list of the 32 teams in the CIT and the matchups, click here. The only other team of note for Lions fans is UCSB, who is led by former Lion Orlando Johnson, who also left LMU after the Rodney Tention coaching change. Johnson, despite playing just three years at UCSB, is the Gauchos all-time leading scorer. I'm sure an LMU/UCSB matchup would be a lot of fun to watch, but clearly LMU has to take this thing one game at a time.

In other WCC news, the conference got three teams into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008, as Saint Mary's, Gonzaga and BYU are all in. BYU plays first, with a game against Iona on Wednesday.

WCC newcomer set to visit Gersten on Thursday

LMU will have its hands full with BYU's Brandon Davies

After a roller coaster victory over the University of San Francisco to kick of WCC Play, the Lions will now return home briefly to host BYU on Thursday. The Cougars are 1-1 in WCC play thus far, opening their conference season with a double-digit loss to Saint Mary's before thumping San Diego on Saturday.

Cougars forward Brandon Davies enters Gersten Pavilion Thursday as the reigning WCC Player of the Week, after posting an astonishing 22 rebounds to go along with his 21 points in his team's game against San Diego. He also had a game-high 28 points against Saint Mary's.

The Lions will have a tough task ahead of them, but will be coming off of a dramatic victory at San Francisco. It looks like Drew Viney is now back in the lineup after playing only three non-conference games, and the forward contributed 15 points at San Francisco before fouling out midway through the second period. The status of Ashley Hamilton is still unknown, but the Lions' big man should be back within the next week or so, after being cleared to practice a few days ago. The status of LaRon Armstead, who suffered a concussion in San Francisco, is unclear.

The game is set to tip-off in Gersten Pavilion at 6 p.m. PT, and can also be seen on BYUtv. Click here for more information.

2012 WCC Tournament format announced

With the addition of BYU to the West Coast Conference next season, the conference is forced to change the format of its basketball championship with a unconventional nine teams set to play in the conference. WCC Commissioner Jamie Zaninovich announced next year's bracket format this afternoon.

The 2012 Zappos.com WCC Tournament will begin on Wednesday, February 29 with the eighth and ninth seeds facing off against each other. The winner will then face the fifth seed on Thursday (and basically be on track to play the same bracket track that the eighth seed has played in the past). The sixth and seventh seeds will also face off Thursday.

Games will continue Friday and the semifinals will be held Saturday. Sunday will be a dark day, and no basketball will be played. This allows BYU to not have to play on a Sunday (which is against their school's rules) and keeps the eighth or ninth seed from having to play five games in five days to win the championship.

The championship game will be held Monday, March 5.