Pac-12 teams have serious opponent: COVID-19
LOS ANGELES — Historic Pauley Pavilion will be punchless. Old barns like Oregon State’s Gill Coliseum will sit silent. Fancy new venues like Oregon’s Matthew Knight Arena will feel extra sterile.
College basketball in 2020 has carried a cursed vibe since its famed postseason event was canceled in March, but schools are going to give it a go before the calendar turns, with the first games scheduled for Nov. 25. A start does not guarantee a finish, of course, and whatever contests are staged will happen without fans — the sport’s essential workers when it comes to creating the trademark frenzied atmospheres.
“It will be different, there’s no doubt,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said during a virtual Pac-12 media day Thursday. “College basketball is a home-court sport. The percentages bear that out. You realize the energy that you have to have as the road team to compete. I wish I had Dillon Brooks back, because he provided his own energy, and I think the team’s going to have to gener
ate that. The energy has to come from within.”
How tough is it to win on the road in the Pac-12? The Utah Utes beat Kentucky on a neutral floor last season but then proceeded to go winless away from home against their league peers. Will Utah have a better shot to steal wins on the road this year? Absolutely. But even then, there’s a loss for the players.
“I’m sympathetic toward our guys,” Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak said. “Having fans is a huge part of college basketball, so if you take a page out of the NBA, if you watched the bubble, you know the Lakers created a lot of magic and energy on their bench, as did the Miami Heat. It’s going to separate the contenders from the pretenders when you step into a gym where there’s not a lot of fanfare and see who’s ready to lace them up and compete.”
The Pac-12 plans to begin
a 20-game conference slate Dec. 2 with each team playing twice in December before the season ramps up on its normal bi-weekly schedule around the new year. Nonconference matchups have been hard to schedule due to the pandemic, with many schools still scrambling to find opponents that can help them prepare for league play while padding their NCAA Tournament resumes.
With coronavirus case numbers growing fast during flu season, every game that’s played this season will feel like an accomplishment.