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PROVO — In terms of the actual 2020 schedule, Wednesday’s announcement from the NCAA may have done little to directly benefit head coach Mark Pope and the BYU basketball program.
A day later, the school was still looking to replace several previously schedule nonconference games — most notably from cancellations caused by the Pac-12 postponing all athletics until at least Jan. 1 — and the team’s previous entry into the Junkanoo Jam in the Bahamas has been cast into questionable waters, as well.
At the very least, the Junkanoo Jam will be held in the United States this year, Pope seemed to confirm — though where or even if BYU will participate are among the many questions surrounding the event.
The Nov. 25 start date across college basketball isn’t even guaranteed (more on that in a moment). But what it did offer Pope and the Cougars was a little structure, a lot of stability and, — perhaps most importantly — hope for the chance of a 2020-21 season after last year's postseason was canceled before the NCAA Tournament in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
"Probably more important for us is that we have some guidance for practices the next couple of weeks," Pope told a roundtable of reports Thursday. "That was actually really important, in terms of pressing concerns.
"Trying for Nov. 25, where we only lose 15 days of the season, is really encouraging for all of us."
The NCAA’s senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt told CBS Sports that the association picked Nov. 25 to start the men’s and women’s basketball season because 76% of Division I schools will have completed the first semester, allowing for a controlled environment with limited students on campus to begin playing games.
BYU won’t have completed the semester, but it is allowing students to return home for Thanksgiving break and then not return to campus for the final weeks of the semester, including administering final exams in an online format. But as with everything during the pandemic, the season’s start date is "somewhat aspirational," Gavitt stressed.
"We're going to continue to check in on that and other things to make sure we're proceeding to a successful start on Nov. 25. But I wouldn't go as far as guaranteeing that we're going to start on Nov. 25 because we're going to be driven by healthy, and safe, protocols," Gavitt said. "This will require a significant amount of rescheduling potentially, and the oversight committees understood that, but this is a plan to give college basketball the best opportunity to start the season successfully."
In other words, there’s still plenty to work out, including the need for rapid and regular testing for COVID-19 in all programs, deciding how to fix schedule irregularities if certain regions of the country can’t play while others can, and even whether Nov. 25 remains a viable start date moving forward.
But by setting the date, the NCAA has also established parameters. Teams can begin full practice sessions Oct. 14, or the usual 42 days prior to their first competition. Beyond that, there will also be a three-week transition period from Sept. 21-Oct. 13 that will allow teams to meet together for up to 12 hours per week for strength and conditioning and sport-related meetings, with a cap of eight hours per week dedicated to skill instruction.
Players must have at least two days off each week during the transition period, and practices cannot surpass 30 in the 42 days of preseason training, either.
That’s still a significant step, added BYU women’s basketball coach Jeff Judkins, whose team could still have to replace at least three Pac-12 schools — including the annual rivalry game with Utah — on the schedule. After months of rumors and whisperings, his immediate response to Nov. 25 was one likely echoed by much of the country: it’s about time.
"We’ve been hearing about this all summer, and it’s been really difficult, more for the players than for us (the coaches)," said Judkins, whose team returns starters Paisley Johnson and Sara Hamson and re-inserts top scorer Shaylee Gonzales after a year-long ACL injury. "We talked to Utah today, and they still don’t know what they will be doing.
"But I think it gives us a good start of what we need to do and where we need to be."
BYU has been allowed to hold limited, voluntary workouts over the last few weeks, thanks in large part to the security of the school’s Marriott Center Annex, which limits who can enter the building via computerized scans. That provides a bit of an advantage over, say, rivals from the West Coast Conference in California — many of whom haven’t had any full-team, on-court meetings since March.
Pope admits his team is lucky like that. But he also recognizes how quickly it can all be taken away, much like it was at the end of his first season in charge in Provo, when his top-20 squad’s stellar 24-8 season ended unceremoniously following a loss to Saint Mary’s in the WCC Tournament semifinals.
Likewise, returning players like Alex Barcello, Kolby Lee, Connor Harding and Trevin Knell know that nothing is guaranteed this season — and much of their success may be guided by what they do off the court, rather than on it.
Beyond practice and school, they’ve been told to be mindful of their surroundings in how they spend their free time, both socially, individually and collectively.
"Our guys have tried to be careful, although this pandemic is really complicated," Pope said. "Sometimes it gets you despite your most honest and diligent efforts."
Beyond workouts, the Cougar coaching staff has plenty to do. BYU is still recruiting, having recently picked up a top in-state prospect in Timpview’s Jake Wahlin for the class of 2021.
They’re also trying to reconfigure a schedule on the fly without knowing just how nonconference play will work. Prior to the shutdown, the Cougars had games scheduled Dec. 1 against San Diego State, Dec. 5 against Utah State, Dec. 12 against Utah, Dec. 19 against Arizona State, and reported multi-team, neutral-site event with Oregon.
The school also has traditional regional rivalries with Utah Valley, Weber State and Boise State before a WCC schedule that was originally set to tip off Dec. 31.
Pope said both he and Utes coach Larry Krystkowiak "really want" to play the rivalry game, and a source told KSL.com that BYU and UVU are actively working to maintain the Crosstown Clash during the season.
But how the pieces of the scheduling puzzle fit together are still just that: a puzzle, more likely to resemble a mass of cardboard than a complete picture, at the moment.
"There’s some kind of feeling of safety of not having to get on a plane; that’s a big deal," Pope said. "We love these in-state rivalry games because they’re so emotional.
"The biggest pressure we’re feeling right now is we want to play the best schedule we can possibly play. We believe that we have a good team. We have a lot of things we need to figure out … but I don’t want the season to go by without us having the opportunity to play the best competition in the country we possibly can."
