The Pac-12 has rescheduled two extra males’s basketball video games, each involving Arizona or UCLA. When the same scenario arose a number of weeks in the past, Wildcats followers weren't glad. This time, low-level grumbling might floor in Westwood in addition to Tucson.
Our purpose is to clarify the rescheduling course of that applies throughout the convention. In the end, selections made in San Francisco might depart different colleges lower than happy.
Let’s begin with the information:
The convention workplace introduced Arizona’s make-up sport at ASU might be performed on Monday, Feb. 7. That follows an enormous dwelling weekend in opposition to the Los Angeles colleges and comes simply earlier than a street journey to Washington.
The Wildcats and Solar Devils have the identical schedule; the one aggressive drawback for Arizona for the make-up sport is having to make the 80-mile drive to Tempe.
In the meantime, the convention rescheduled UCLA’s sport at Stanford for Tuesday, Feb. 8. That follows the weekend in Arizona and comes upfront of a go to to USC.
That’s proper: The Bruins should play 4 consecutive street video games within the first half of February.
Suboptimal conditions? Certain. However throughout COVID, suboptimal is the brand new excellent.
From our vantage level, it seems the convention is working out of obtainable weeks for make-up video games. If extra groups are compelled to pause for COVID protocols, there may not be sufficient home windows late within the season to replay all of the postponed video games.
In any case, make-up dates can't be tossed onto the calendar randomly. The convention workplace makes an attempt to observe a set of ideas when figuring out home windows to reschedule video games:
— Groups ought to play not more than three video games in a calendar week (outlined as Monday to Sunday)
— Restrict the situations wherein groups play three video games in per week (and never in back-to-back weeks)
— Every workforce ought to play each different workforce at the least as soon as
— Place make-up video games on the published community that owned the rights to the unique sport
— Be aware of geography
— Stability the variety of dwelling and away video games for every workforce
These ideas are included within the projected schedule, which is up to date every day by the convention workplace and takes into consideration when groups on COVID pause ought to be out there to return to the court docket. The purpose is to announce make-up video games two weeks upfront of the brand new dates.
The backdrop to each determination is the Pac-12’s strategic purpose: Ship as many groups to the NCAA Match as potential with the very best seeds potential.
(In some instances, that would outcome within the convention prioritizing one matchup over one other for rescheduling functions.)
Each Arizona and UCLA are locks for the NCAAs — the problem is whether or not both claims a No. 1 seed on choice weekend.
4 consecutive street video games isn’t excellent for the Bruins, however stood as a definite risk provided that they'd misplaced extra street video games to COVID than dwelling video games. At the least three are brief flights and the opposite is a number of miles away. (It might have been worse.)
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Arizona followers had been annoyed a number of weeks in the past when the convention delayed the unique showdown at UCLA, which might have been performed instantly following a month-long COVID pause for the Bruins.
Now comes information that the Wildcats should play their rival on the street simply two days after the massive weekend in opposition to UCLA and USC.
Additionally lower than excellent for a workforce that’s focusing on a No. 1 seed and is among the few within the convention that hasn’t been compelled to pause for 2 or three weeks.
However COVID is everybody’s burden. The convention workplace can’t give credit score with scheduling selections to groups which have averted the winter surge, simply as it may’t assign fault with scheduling selections to groups which were hit by COVID up to now six weeks.
The whole lot should be tossed into the Pac-12’s mannequin for rescheduling — the mannequin that makes an attempt to restrict the bodily burden on the gamers, create aggressive stability for the groups and permit the convention to maximise its NCAA alternatives.
Suboptimal doesn’t imply unfair.
The make-up dates simply introduced for the Bruins and Wildcats may be the previous, however they definitely aren’t the latter.
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