2022 WCC Schedule and COVID Concerns

After several WCC games were either postponed/rescheduled or canceled last season, the increase in COVID cases with the spread of the Omicron Variant this season has teams on edge as play begins on December 30.

As of Christmas Eve, 10 teams had just come off a COVID pause and there were still 48 D1 men’s teams on pause (none the WCC) due to COVID concerns.  With almost all players now away from the controlled environment afforded by campuses, there is obvious concern players will return to school with the virus.

Currently, the NCAA does not require testing of players who are fully vaccinated/boosted, but if a player were to test positive, NCAA protocol is to quarantine that player for 10-days, but there is talk the CDC will drop that to 7 or 5 days and the NCAA will follow suit.

The WCC requires a team to play a scheduled game if there are 8 available players (including walk-ons), and a team may elect to play even if they have less than eight or they may elect to forfeit a game.  During the preseason, there were two WCC games canceled due to the virus…UW vs. GU and Long Beach St. vs. USD.

Stanford, UCLA, and USC are paused due to COVID, and the ACC, Big 12, Big West, and Pac-12 have recently altered their policy so that games not played by their teams will now be “no-contest” instead of a forfeiture, just as in the WCC.  BYU competed in the Diamond Head Classic over Christmas but did not face the two teams who could not finish the tournament on Christmas Day due to COVID concerns, Hawaii and Stanford.

Jan 1 (Sat)     7PM    BYU                                          
Jan 6 (Thu)    7PM   @Loyola Marymount
Jan 8 (Sat)      5PM    Santa Clara
Jan 13 (Thu)  7PM    @San Diego
Jan 15 (Sat)   5PM    @Pepperdine                                      
Jan 20 (Thu)  7PM   San Francisco
Jan 22 (Sat)   6PM    @BYU                                            
Jan 27 (Thu)  7PM    Pacific                                            
Jan 29 (Sat)   6PM    @Gonzaga
Feb 3 (Thu)   8PM    Saint Mary's  (Doubleheader: 5PM WBB vs. BYU)                                        
Feb 5 (Sat)    6PM    @San Francisco                        
Feb 12 (Sat)  7PM    Loyola Marymount
Feb 17 (Thu) 7PM    San Diego    
Feb 19 (Sat)  5PM    Pepperdine                                            
Feb 24 (Thu) 7PM    @Pacific
Feb 26 (Sat)  2PM    @Santa Clara

DoubleDipper wrote:Currently, the NCAA does not require testing of players who are fully vaccinated/boosted, but if a player were to test positive, NCAA protocol is to quarantine that player for 10-days, but there is talk the CDC will drop that to 7 or 5 days and the NCAA will follow suit.

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday said those who test positive for Covid-19 and are asymptomatic need only isolate for five days, not 10, citing growing evidence that people are most infectious in the initial days after developing symptoms."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/cdc-cuts-recommended-quarantine-time-amid-omicron-surge/ar-AASbI48?ocid=msedgntp

San Diego is on pause due to COVID concerns and will not play its weekend games against GU and SCU.

UPDATE: Santa Clara has also paused and will not play their weekend scheduled games against Pacific and San Diego.

Oh boy here we go

Dean Murdoch wrote:Oh boy here we go

Of the 28 D1 basketball games that were scheduled to be played across the country today, 17 have already been canceled due to COVID concerns...

IMO, the Omicron variant will likely spread even more as students return from Christmas break.

Not sure if this belongs in this section or the women's basketball section, but I am posting here since there are usually more eyeballs here.

Some conferences have decided that COVID pauses are forfeits. Is the WCC taking a postponement approach?

FloridaPilot wrote:Some conferences have decided that COVID pauses are forfeits. Is the WCC taking a postponement approach?

See DD's original post in this thread...

No, they are not forfeits.

DoubleDipper wrote:San Diego is on pause due to COVID concerns and will not play its weekend games against GU and SCU.

UPDATE: Santa Clara has also paused and will not play their weekend scheduled games against Pacific and San Diego.

Further UPDATE: Pacific has paused and will not host Pepperdine on Saturday.

Does anyone have any insider info regarding either BYU or the Pilots? Do we think they will play Saturday? No way to know?

And here we have it, from an email from Dave Taylor to season ticket holders:

"Portland’s WCC Opener Versus BYU Postponed

PORTLAND, Ore. (PortlandPilots.com) – The Portland Pilots men's basketball West Coast Conference opener against the BYU Cougars scheduled for this Saturday has been postponed due to COVID issues within the Portland program. The game will be rescheduled for a later date."

No games here until at least January 6, 2022, at the earliest...

Wow. People go home for the holidays and this is disappointing but maybe no surprising.
Can teams go into a “bubble?”
Unlikely at college level.

Snus Junction wrote:
Can teams go into a “bubble?”
Unlikely at college level.

They have, but that was with no other students on campus and remote classes.

6 out of 7 WCC games postponed this weekend due to COVID. Not good. Only USF at SMC at 5pm Saturday is still on… for now.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:6 out of 7 WCC games postponed this weekend due to COVID. Not good. Only USF at SMC at 5pm Saturday is still on… for now.

Both teams have a shot at the NCAA Tournament...come on, let's televise this game!

St. Mary's, USF, Pacific, LMU, and BYU are NOT paused...seems like they could make one more game from the three idle teams on New Year's Day...

NoPoNeighbor wrote:6 out of 7 WCC games postponed this weekend due to COVID. Not good. Only USF at SMC at 5pm Saturday is still on… for now.

Not any more...the Gaels are now on pause.

All WCC men's and women's games scheduled for the first week have been wiped out.

League play is now set to begin on Thursday January 6...but standby for multiple changes during the season.

The Pilots are not the only team to postpone its game on New Year's Day...I read that of the 92 games scheduled to be played yesterday, 45 were canceled or postponed.  

@RoccoMiller8 wrote: Cal Poly at UC Santa Barbara scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 6 has been canceled due to Covid-19 protocols.

#BigWest

And the Jan 6 round of cancellations has officially started. This sucks.

Dean Murdoch wrote:And the Jan 6 round of cancellations has officially started. This sucks.

It will get worse.

I am hearing some of the WCC schools in Cali are going on an extended pause...

According to CBS Sports, the WCC is meeting today in an attempt to come up with a new schedule, but in the near-term, this week's schedule is in jeopardy.

@MattNorlander wrote: The WCC’s scheduling quagmire continues: Thursday’s San Francisco-Gonzaga game will be postponed, sources told CBS Sports, due to Gonzaga’s COVID pause. Tough timing. USF is 13-1 and off to its best start in decades; WCC MBB positioned to have its best season in league history.

@MattNorlander wrote: Sources said WCC is meeting today to determine next steps and alterations w/ league schedule. WCC lost all its games over the weekend b/c of COVID. With GU/BYU/SMC/USF as the top four teams, the emphasis needs to be making sure those four all play each other twice in reg. season.

Thanks DD, didn’t see there was WCC schedule news today. I repeat, this sucks.

Hearing there is a possibility some WCC schools will play next Monday (1/10) at the same time Alabama and Georgia fight for SEC bragging rights, again...

If it is basketball live or on TV vs. the football championship...I am always going for basketball, no matter who is playing.

I guess Calipari and Few want to get their teams together if their opponents cancel on them.

DoubleDipper wrote:Hearing there is a possibility some WCC schools will play next Monday (1/10) at the same time Alabama and Georgia fight for SEC bragging rights, again...

Seems like you're on to something here as I see the SCU/USF WBB game has been scheduled for Monday the 17th at 5:00. Don't think there'd be any reason for that early of a start on a Monday unless it was the first part of a WBB/MBB doubleheader.

Pilots/LMU this Thursday is off. Rescheduled for Monday, Jan 17 at 4:00.

DoubleDipper wrote:I guess Calipari and Few want to get their teams together if their opponents cancel on them.

I don't know if Kentucky and Gonzaga will play, but apparently USF and Sister Jean's team, Loyola-Chicago, will meet on Thursday.



They will meet at Salt Lake City Community College, where Chase and Quincy play...

Questions this raises that I don't have time to Google at the moment.

How many games had San Francisco already scheduled?
What's the limit allowed by the NCAA this season?
If a team is at the limit and has a WCC have cancelled his the conference feel about a team scheduling a non conference game to get back to the limit meaning they won't be able to reschedule the WCC game at a later date?

Will the WCC consider moving the tournament back a week to allow rescheduled games since it's typically a week earlier than other tournaments and what locations might be available if they did?