The fall semester is set to begin next week, and that means the transition to the basketball season will soon be arriving. Arizona's coaching staff will soon begin to turn up the intensity with the start of official practices not far away now, while recruiting remains a focus for the Wildcats as well.

There has been plenty of news to take place this week surrounding the basketball program in one way or another, so here is the latest news as the transition to fall begins.

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Weekly Pac-12 pairings announced

The Pac-12 announced its weekly pairings for conference play Thursday morning. The league will announce the exact days and game times at a later date, but now the framework of Arizona's entire season has been set. The Wildcats will open the full 18-game portion of the Pac-12 schedule on the road with a trip to Los Angeles. USC and UCLA will host the Wildcats to begin the second half of the season on the weekend of Dec. 29.

That will be followed by a trip to Tempe the following week for a matchup against in-state rival Arizona State. UA will then host the mountain schools, Utah and Colorado, the following week before hitting the road once again to face Cal and Stanford in the Bay Area the week of Jan. 19.

Arizona will host its rival, ASU, in the return matchup some time between Jan. 26-30 before the Los Angeles schools make their return trip to McKale Center the following week.

A road trip to Washington and Washington State awaits Tommy Lloyd's team the week of Feb. 9 before the Wildcats return home to host Oregon and Oregon State the following week. Those will be the lone matchups against two of those teams for Arizona this season as UA will not make the trip to Oregon and the Washington State will not visit Arizona this year.

A trip to the mountain schools awaits Arizona the week of Feb. 23, which will be the final time the team leaves Tucson before the postseason. The regular season will wrap up with home games against Cal and Stanford the week of March 9.

Arizona will play its first two Pac-12 games in early December with a home matchup against Washington already previously set for Dec. 2. UA will make the trip to Corvallis where it will face Oregon State a few days later on Dec. 5.

The newly-released weekly pairings revealed that Arizona will have over three weeks between home games during December and early January. After UA hosts California Baptist at McKale Center on Dec. 18 the Wildcats will hit the road for a trip to Tennessee on Dec. 22. UA will not host another game until its matchup against either Utah or Colorado on the week of Jan. 12.

Adama Bal arrives on campus

It took a while until Azuolas and Tautvilas Tubelis arrived on campus last summer. Another international player, French guard Adama Bal, pushed his arrival close to the start of school but will give himself a few days to get acclimated before beginning classes. Bal arrived to Tucson earlier this week giving Lloyd and his staff another piece to the roster on campus.

The versatile guard from Paris was one of the late additions to the team earlier in the year as Lloyd drew on his connections overseas to bring Bal to the United States. Bal will fit in with a deep group on the perimeter for the Wildcats this season, but his size and length give him some versatility among that group. He could play either on or off the ball at Arizona.

Bal picked Arizona over offers from Georgia, Marquette, Colorado, St. Mary's and others in addition to opting for college instead of staying overseas in France.

Lloyd and his staff were able to hold summer workouts in smaller groups, but once school begins the work can hit a new level ahead of preseason practices in the fall.