Pac-12's decision to postpone falls sports will impact basketball season

When the Pac-12 decided to announce that it was postponing the fall sports season with the hope of playing in the spring it not only impacted sports such as football, women's volleyball and women's soccer. The winter sports begin late in the fall and with the conference's decision to push all games back until at least Jan. 1, 2021 it means Arizona's basketball program no longer will play out its nonconference schedule as expected.

The Wildcats' home schedule was supposed to be a bit light in the first half of the season, but it had road games against Illinois and Gonzaga scheduled as well. Those games will now have to be rescheduled or canceled. UA had also been scheduled to take part in the NIT Season Tip-Off event in New York with teams such as Texas Tech, Cincinnati and St. John's also participating in the Thanksgiving Weekend event.

This was also the first year the Pac-12 was supposed to expand its league schedule to 20 games with Arizona set to host Colorado in early December before traveling to Stanford for a road game against the Cardinal later in the month.

The league is still working to figure out how it can play football in the spring, but basketball will also now have to be part of the group of sports that will have to reach some clarity with its schedule this year.

"We've got to go back and work with our working group," Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said Tuesday during a media webinar shortly after the league's announcement about fall sports. "We've got a basketball planning working group working on different scenarios, and some of it will also depend on what the NCAA decides in terms of March Madness and the envelope for the season.

"We'll obviously stay in close contact with the NCAA in terms of their plans for postseason, and it's just one of the many things we now have to get to work on."

While the decision to postpone fall sports and have it cut into the winter sports season caught some people by surprise Tuesday, it was something Arizona has had a good feeling could happen going back to the spring. The Wildcats played just one game, a win over Washington, in Las Vegas at the Pac-12 Tournament before it was canceled.

The NCAA Tournament was also subsequently canceled leaving programs a bit unfulfilled. Knowing drastic changes to the schedule were possible at the early onset of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States made it more realistic that it could happen again as the fall arrived.

“The announcement made yesterday regarding the delay to the start of our season did not come as a surprise to our Pac-12 coaching group," UA head coach Sean Miller said in a statement released by the program Wednesday. "Since the early part of April, we have been communicating regularly on several topics, including the 2020-21 season. The new start date gives our conference the best opportunity to have a successful season in the safest environment possible for everyone involved, especially the student-athletes.

"We appreciate the leadership President Robbins has provided our campus during these uncertain times, and we are eager to welcome our players safely back to campus. Our staff is looking forward to utilizing the coming months to develop our team and build for the beginning of an exciting New Year.”

The extra time could be beneficial to the Wildcats as Miller will again have a retooled roster that features plenty of new faces. More than half of Arizona's team this year did not suit up for the Wildcats last season, so having some extra time to come together this fall could end up being key to success for UA to begin 2021.

As of now it is unclear when the basketball season will begin, but the Pac-12 hopes to be able to begin having games once again in early January.

"There's a lot more work that needs to be done from our working group, I'd acknowledge that, but we're going to exhaust every possibility to leave open that opportunity for our student-athletes and our programs," Scott said. "We know how important it is for our student-athletes to be able to play, to do so as safely as possible if it's possible."

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