Of all the cancellations and postponements Arizona has endured already this season, none appeared as jarring as the one that came down Wednesday.
The Wildcats’ game against California Baptist was called off less than three hours before tipoff because of what UA said was a positive test within the Lancers’ program.
It was frustrating enough for Arizona, which had already had five previous postponements. For the Lancers, it was even worse: They made the trip from Riverside, California, on Tuesday only to have somebody in their traveling party test positive Wednesday morning via Arizona’s COVID-19 testing technology.
The Pac-12 requires all nonconference opponents to test four times weekly before a game against one of its teams, including tests the day before and the day of a game.
In a statement, UA said Wednesday’s game was called off in consultation with the Pac-12, CBU and WAC, due to a positive case the CBU program and “ensuing contact tracing and mitigation protocols.”
Arizona said its next game will be against Stanford on Saturday at Santa Cruz, California, signaling that a last-minute substitution won’t be plugged in before then. The Wildcats could attempt to squeeze in another game before Christmas.
Arizona has played five of its seven allowed nonconference games so far. There is only one left on the schedule: Tuesday’s game against Montana in McKale Center.
Ryan Reynolds, who organizes schedules as UA’s director of operations, said it’s possible the Wildcats will find an opponent to play on either Dec. 21 or 23, and therefore potentially go back-to-back shortly after returning home from California late Saturday night.
“I would say everything’s on the table,” Reynolds said. “We’re probably gonna try to fill it before Christmas if we can. Obviously, it’s not going to happen before Stanford and there’s no guarantee it will get filled but there’s enough people out there looking for games. We’re hopeful we can find somebody.”
Like teams throughout college basketball, the Wildcats’ schedule has been under constant reconstruction.
Their Nov. 25 opener against NAU was moved to Dec. 9, while their Nov. 29 opponent switched from Sam Houston State to UTEP — and then the game was canceled when the Miners ran into COVID-19 trouble. UA then swapped that spot with a game against New Mexico State for Dec. 5 , but when the Aggies had to back out of that one, Eastern Washington filled in as a replacement.
Meanwhile, UA’s scheduled Pac-12 opener against Colorado on Dec. 2 was postponed to Dec. 28 when the Buffaloes ran into COVID-19 issues — and UTEP came back after it was cleared to play the Wildcats on Dec. 12.
If the Wildcats can’t fix their latest problem by adding another nonconference game before Christmas, they could try to cram a game in before the Dec. 28 Colorado game or keep the nonconference slot open to potentially fill in at some point during January or February.
Reynolds said he had spoken with five or six possible opponents already by late Wednesday afternoon, but still had more checking to do.
“At this point, you’re just trying to find a team to play and ideally one that doesn’t have to travel that far a distance,” Reynolds said.
“But it’s not like we haven’t had bad luck with that, either.”
NCAA: transfers can play immediately
After deciding in May to put off a proposal to allow all transfers a one-time exception to play immediately at their new schools, the NCAA announced Wednesday that all transfers would now be eligible for this season.
The decision doesn’t have an impact on either of Arizona’s basketball teams, however.
The men’s program already received a waiver for guard James Akinjo to play the entire season after transferring from Georgetown last December.
The women’s program received a waiver in October for Indiana transfer Bendu Yeaney to play right away.
The rule change also doesn’t allow Kerr Kriisa to play, because the freshman guard is stuck in the NCAA clearinghouse after playing for a club in Lithuania last season.
Stanford-Arizona tipoff moved up
The UA’s game against Stanford was moved up an hour to 5 p.m. and will still be carried by Pac-12 Arizona.
The Cardinal (3-2), which is the only Pac-12 team to never have beaten the Wildcats under Sean Miller, has been forced to host the game 45 miles from campus because of a Santa Clara County health order prohibiting games or practices until at least Dec. 21.
Brielmaier named Nets’ G League coach
Former Wildcat forward Bret Brielmaier has been officially moved from Nets assistant to the head coach of their G League team on Long Island, his next step up the NBA coaching ladder.
Brielmaier, who played at Arizona from 2005-08, has served as an assistant coach for both Cleveland and Brooklyn.
“He has lots of NBA coaching experience, he has inside information and knowledge about this organization so it will be a seamless fit,” Nets coach Steve Nash said, according to Forbes.
“He’s going to grow as head coach in that position which is important for his development and allow him to continue to refine his talents, but for us to be able to have that two-way relationship with Long Island and have Bret who has NBA experience, and experience with the Nets, is a great fit.”
The Nets, who also recently hired former UA walk-on guard Kory Jones as a basketball operations assistant, are expected to opt-in to a G League bubble being formed in Atlanta.
