While discussing the conference's new rapid COVID-19 testing plan Thursday, Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott confirmed that the league might join the rest of the NCAA for basketball even if games start before January.
Scott announced on Aug. 11 that the Pac-12 would pause all sports competition until at least January, surprising the conference's basketball coaches and positioning the Pac-12 and the Ivy League as the only conferences who were not willing to play basketball in November or December.
The NCAA has been considering start dates between Nov. 10 and Dec. 4, and is expected to announce a plan on Sept. 16. While Scott initially said Thursday he was hoping NCAA would agree on "a later start date (for basketball) that will allow us to participate," when later asked for clarity, he indicated that the conference would be open to walking back its no-games-until January declaration.
"Having this testing capability eight weeks earlier than we originally anticipated... does allow us to revisit some of that some of our decisions," Scott said. "When we made our decision, it was November (10) at the start for basketball.
"We knew we could not be ready for that based on government approvals we don't (have) and we didn't have access to this kind of testing. Basketball, obviously, is, is the closest of close contact sports, with very limited rosters of men and women on a team."
However, Scott said the Pac-12 remained against the sort of "bubble" that the NBA and WNBA have created, playing games for weeks on end at a neutral site that features tight controls and testing.Â
So it's unclear, for example, if Arizona would be able to participate in a modified NIT Season Tip-Off if it were combined with other multi-team events and moved someplace else. One industry source told the Star that the same Disney site the NBA is using is also a likely site for ESPN Events to lump several of its MTEs together.
However, the Pac-12 does appear to be OK with the idea of mini-bubbles, or pods in which multiple teams would meet at one site for two to four games over a long weekend in order to cut down on travel and exposure.
"The idea of student-athletes being in a bubble doesn't resonate well with our university leaders and really everyone throughout the conference," Scott said. "We don't think it would be appropriate to take student athletes completely out of the population, put them in a bubble and have them operate separately, and still feel that way.
"Having said that, there are scenario planning committees that are looking at all types of smart scheduling options typically in the sport of basketball but also others where you minimize travel minimize airplane travel, play multiple games in one place, rather than you know, traveling for every game. I think there are intelligent scheduling solutions that take into account a public health crisis that we have."
