Everything seemed to be going as planned on Friday.
Around noon, the Wildcats held a shootaround inside Alaska Airlines Arena. They then got their smoothies and prepared for that night's game against Washington.
It takes a lot of extra effort — and hustle — for the Wildcats just to get to the arena on gamedays.
UA director of basketball operations Jessika Carrington handles the logistics that go off without a hitch, day in and day out, in the midst of a global pandemic.
“Last year we just didn’t know what was going on,” Carrington said. “This year, we know what's going on, but you're just also kind of waiting for the ball to drop. … It’s just non-stop. I feel like I’ve been non-stop since the Final Four.”
There are a lot of pulls on Carrington’s time these days, whether it's navigating the uptick of official and unofficial visits or finalizing travel plans that often aren't made until the last minute.
Consider this final road trip of the regular season.
Carrington didn’t get confirmation of Saturday's charter flight from Seattle to Pullman until the Wildcats were taking part in their shootaround on Friday. She admits that she was fortunate to find a flight back to Tucson by late Friday afternoon.
It's a big weekend for the No. 8 Wildcats (19-4, 9-4 Pac-12), who beat Washington in Seattle on Friday and will take on Washington State (17-8, 9-5 Pac-12) on Sunday afternoon. With a win, Arizona can hang on to third place in the league with a chance to move up into second if Oregon (18-10, 10-4 Pac-12) loses to Stanford. Lose, and WSU takes over the third spot.
Arizona isn’t the only team facing travel challenges this season. A few weeks ago, Oregon’s charter flight to Tucson was canceled at the last minute, forcing the Ducks to fly south on game day. They arrived in Tucson too late for their shootaround.
Carrington's job has been made trickier by companies' staffing issues. She typically seeks 10-12 bids for each trip, instead of the university-required three, because some companies aren't responding.
“You think charter is easier in theory, but my experience so far has been a little bit more hectic because you very much are at the whim of these bids,” Carrington said. “We just don't even get responses anymore. I think last year people were wanting work, they were wanting to business. This year, they don't even have the availability or the people to work, so they're declining or (not) responding. It's very weird.
"It’s the same with hotels and food. Last year, you could get a hotel anywhere and you could check in at any time. This year, they might have the rooms, but they don't have the staff to accommodate that many rooms or the cleaning crew or they don't have enough people to cover the meeting space or the chefs to cook the food and that happens at restaurants, too. They won't take our orders, because they don't have the staffing, or their staff had COVID — they can't accommodate that large of an order.
“It’s interesting. Last year, there were a lot more people that were willing to do more. This year, it's just like, ‘Oh, we don't have the workers.’”
Carrington rolls with it, always with a smile and a laugh. She takes pride in knowing that the Wildcats are comfortable on the road, and does her best to make sure the players don't know what goes on behind the scenes.
But it can be tough to smile sometimes. Last month's trip to Oregon was a logistical mess.
The Wildcats received their flight information on a Wednesday afternoon. An hour later, Carrington received a dreaded call: two of the flight's three crew members contracted COVID-19, and the flight would be canceled.
Carrington was left with two options — either fly out of Tucson at 11 a.m. or 7:30 p.m. the day before the game. Arizona coach Adia Barnes chose the 11 a.m. flight because she didn’t want to arrive in Corvallis too late.
The earlier arrival time set into motion more logistical issues.
"It changes everything, because people aren't thinking about, ‘Oh, the bus, the hotel. How do I feed 30 people when I was only planning on feeding them dinner that night?’ Now I have to account for lunch dinner, possibly snack," Carrington said.
Arizona's "DOBO" (director of basketball operations) used the relationships she has built over the years to her advantage. She booked practice time at OSU through Olivia Murphy, the Beavers' director of operations.
Carrington has used the same Boise-based bus company for the Oregon trip for years. She requested that the driver break up the eight-hour drive from Boise to Corvallis in order to meet the Wildcats at the airport four hours earlier than originally planned.
Everything was all set. Except for Friday morning's breakfast.
The Wildcats typically eat a substantial breakfast, with eggs, potatoes, fruit, pancakes, waffles, French toast, cereal, juice and coffee on game days. The night before, the hotel's caterers told Carrington that there would only be eggs and potatoes available.
“I couldn’t sleep, so I got up at 6:30 a.m. and panic-ordered Door Dash pancakes from McDonald’s — 25 orders of (three) flapcakes or whatever they are called, because there is no other breakfast joint in Corvallis,” Carrington said.
Carrington asked the person working the front desk for a silver platter, grabbed the 75 pancakes as they arrived and snuck into a kitchen adjacent to the Wildcats' meeting space.
"(UA trainer) Jessie (Joseph) and I are in the kitchen — but probably not supposed to be there — and we're flipping pancakes onto this silver platter to make it look like they came from the hotel. That was funny, and Jessie and I are dying. (UA assistant) Ashley (Davis) eats McDonald’s breakfast every few weeks and I was like, ‘If Ashley says anything about these pancakes tasting like McDonald’s’ ... They ate maybe 20 of them."
"I’m not sure if this is a DOBO win or a DOBO fail; I’m just not sure."
Rim shots
• Even Arizona's bus trips can be tricky. Barnes prefers to stay in the Phoenix area the night before Arizona's games against ASU. Finding a hotel can be tricky — especially when, last week, the Wildcats had to compete with the WM Phoenix Open.
Carrington found rooms at an airport hotel, but wasn’t guaranteed the meeting space until four days before.
The Wildcats' pregame meal is still the subject of great debate.
“All the girls are like, ‘This is from Panda Express’; they loved it,” Carrington said. “Out of all the meals, they loved this one. Adia is like, ‘This is from Panda Express?’ I’m like, ‘This is not from Panda Express.’ So, we’ve been arguing all week. (UA video coordinator) Ryan (Lee) said, ‘This is not Panda Express. The orange chicken at Panda is a lot sweeter than this.’ I don’t eat Panda Express, so I have no idea. … We eat in the hotel like we always have and get the meal from the hotel like we always have. I don't have control over the food in that regard. I have no idea where they get it. I don't know.”
• Friday's game in Seattle brought back memories for Barnes, who played for the WNBA's Storm and coached at Washington.
“Some of my biggest, most precious memories are here. I love this place,” Barnes said. “I was in Seattle for 14 years. This was like home to me. …That's where everything kind of happened. That’s where (UA assistant and husband) Salvo (Coppa) life started together. We got engaged here. We got married on Lake Union. Actually, we got married — our first little, small, intimate wedding — was on a boat in front of Gasworks Park on the Fourth of July … I have so many amazing memories here.”
