Wildcats 'hopeful' they can host multi-team event as part of a home-only nonconference slate

By planning to stage their own multi-team event, the Arizona Wildcats are aiming to stay at McKale Center for the entire nonconference season.

Since the Pac-12 allowed its teams to match college basketball’s new start date of Nov. 25 last week, the Wildcats have pulled out of the NIT Season Tip-Off while postponing marquee road games at Gonzaga and Illinois until 2021-22.

Now their nonconference schedule could be solely comprised of five single games plus two games in a multi-team event (MTE) to be held at McKale Center, probably at the start of the season around Thanksgiving.

“We’re hopeful to do one (an MTE) in Tucson and cut down on travel,” said Ryan Reynolds, UA’s director of basketball operations. “That’s the goal.”

While such a schedule would minimize cost and risk, it also will likely leave the Wildcats without a single ranked nonconference opponent and no road experience over their seven nonconference games.

But with finances and coronavirus concerns hanging over everything in 2020-21, Reynolds said staying at McKale might be the best possible course. UA is paying its contracted single-game home opponents between $90,000-$95,000 each, but home games save on travel — and this season, the Wildcats can ensure consistent testing by having opponents use its daily rapid-result testing setup before games at McKale.

“It’s a crazy year,” Reynolds said. “It costs money to play home games, but more to play the road games and you start to bring a lot more into question as far as how testing is gonna work when you’re there and you have to stay in a hotel and go on a plane.”

Besides, if the Pac-12 sticks with the current plan for its new 20-game schedule, the Wildcats will still have early-season opportunities against Colorado and Stanford. Both teams are loaded with experience and could be nationally ranked at some point in the season.

As of now, Colorado is scheduled to visit McKale Center on Dec. 2 and the Wildcats are to play at Stanford on Dec. 19 in games that were added back from the rotation that forms the conference’s annual 18-game schedules.

Pac-12 teams are expected to keep their December add-on games, though coaches are now working together to shift those games to other dates if needed to accommodate their nonconference schedules.

Since the NCAA lopped off the first two weeks of the season, preventing play until Nov. 25, many teams are trying to push back some early nonconference games beyond that date, and/or deal with MTEs that may have shifted sites or dates — or have been canceled altogether.

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“Right now, they’re falling apart all over the place,” Reynolds said of MTEs.

The Star attempted to reach out to all teams on UA’s original nonconference schedule. Here’s a look at where the original November and December schedule stands as of now:

• NAU (Nov. 10): The first of a three-year contract that was to have the Lumberjacks become Arizona’s season-opening opponent every season through 2022-23, the game may be pushed back to on or after Nov. 25. NAU issued a statement saying it has been in constant contact with UA and looked forward to “announcing our plans to play as soon as possible.”
• Northern Colorado (Nov. 12): As with the NAU game, the contract for Northern Colorado does not have “COVID-19” language that makes it easier for teams to terminate it if the game is not playable because of NCAA, conference or government ruling. So even though the NCAA mandated a Nov. 25 start, the game is expected to be rescheduled into December.

David Sabolcik, Northern Colorado’s senior associate athletic director overseeing basketball, said the Bears’ schedule “is very fluid at this point and it would not be appropriate to comment on any specific games until they are finalized.”

• Loyola Marymount (Nov. 16): LMU athletic director Craig Pintens said the Lions will not play the Wildcats this season, although they may pursue a new agreement to do so in the future. Reynolds said they might also simply amend their current agreement and play during a future season.
• Wyoming (Nov. 20): The LMU and Wyoming game contracts were completed after the pandemic hit, so they have the COVID-inspired “travel and play restriction” clause that says if a game cannot be played because of a NCAA, conference or government ruling, both sides are to make a good-faith effort to reschedule the game and are not liable if they cannot make it work.

An effort to reach Wyoming officials for comment was unsuccessful as of Friday afternoon.

• NIT Season Tip-Off (Nov. 25-27): The event is moving from Brooklyn to Orlando and UA has pulled out. The Wildcats are likely to hold their own multi-team event instead.
• Colorado (Dec. 2): The game is expected to be played at some point in December.
• Gonzaga (Dec. 5): The game has been moved to 2021-22, with an uncertain date.
• Cal State Bakersfield (Dec. 9): This one’s still on. Bakersfield AD Kenneth “Ziggy” Siegfied said “at this time, we do anticipate playing UA on December 9th.”
• At Illinois (Dec. 12): The game has been moved to 2021-22. Both UA and Illinois confirmed the move Friday.
• Cal Baptist (Dec. 16): The game is expected to be played as scheduled or on a slightly modified date. An effort to reach officials at Cal Baptist was not successful.
• At Stanford (Dec. 19): The Wildcats are now expected to open on the road at Maples Pavilion, on the same or a slightly modified date.
• Montana (Dec. 22): The game likely will be played on the same or a modified date.

“We certainly want to play the game against Arizona, and Coach (Travis) DeCuire is working with their staff to figure out what will work,” Montana AD Kent Haslem said. “We are hoping this game happens this year.”

Haslem also noted that “scheduling is changing every day,” something that pretty much everyone in college basketball is finding these days.

“As soon as you think something is done, it may not be done,” Reynolds said. “As soon as you think as something’s dead, maybe it comes back.”