Why the WCCs Las Vegas bubble didnt materialize, and whats the outlook for the leagues crown jewel – Deseret News

As the start of college basketball season approached last fall, the West Coast Conference, like other leagues around the country, exhaustively examined how games could be played safely amid a pandemic in enclosed spaces.

The WCC doesnt sponsor football, so ensuring that basketball games could be played was critical, even while knowing there could be spikes in COVID-19 cases during the winter months.

Honestly, we considered every scenario. If someone had a crazy idea, we tried to chase it down, said WCC commissioner Gloria Nevarez. No matter how crazy the idea sounded, we tried to see if it could be a reality.

One of those scenarios considered, widely reported in late October, was playing in a bubble in Las Vegas. That made sense in many ways, since the WCC plays its annual WCC Tournament at Orleans Arena every March.

The NBA managed to pull off a bubble in Orlando, Florida, in order to finish its interrupted season last summer. Could the WCC replicate that?

Well, thats easier said than done.

The WCC considered many options, including pods, back-to-backs, travel partners, a bubble, and a single site, in order to safely create a basketball season.

When you say bubble, the NBA had a true bubble. It was a hermetically sealed bubble. What we were looking at was a single site, Nevarez said. Of course, wed have really tight restrictions, probably higher than the local regulations. But we knew we couldnt pull off a true, NBA-style bubble. Thats just a massive undertaking. What we were looking at was a single site that would solve a lot of issues. There are multiple jurisdictions you have across the states and counties. Thats a challenge.

Among the many challenges in pulling off the WCC season included handling the officiating of games, with referees, not connected with the schools in any way, traveling in and out of different regions. There are television production trucks and staff that travel as well.

If you were at a single site, you could solve those issues, Nevarez said.

On the other hand, NBA findings and surveys have revealed that having student-athletes and coaches locked up in hotels for two or three weeks at a time can be detrimental.

NBA players struggled with the mental health aspect of it, Nevarez said. These adult men are somewhat further along in the maturity spectrum than the college players are in a lot of cases. So it was a whole, comprehensive look at a lot of moving pieces.

BYU deputy athletic director Brian Santiago, who oversees mens basketball, was involved in the many discussions.

For sure, (the bubble) was something that was on the table, he said. There were multiple conferences around the country looking at those bubble scenarios.

Santiago said pulling off a bubble would have been extremely difficult and complex.

When you look at those scenarios, you have to look at whats in the best interests of the student-athletes. We try to make all of our decisions on whats best for them, he said. When it came down to it, it wasnt really feasible. It wasnt financially feasible for the conference or the schools in the conference. I also dont think it was logistically feasible.

Is it really the best thing to quarantine? Can you have a true bubble if you go to Las Vegas? Can you have a true bubble in the hotel? The NBA was able to do it because they were able to spend unlimited resources down in Florida to make sure it happened.

The lengths that they were able to go, resource-wise, is not a feasible situation for college basketball, he continued. Not only for the student-athletes, but you have coaches that youre asking them to leave their families for a month at a time. You start looking at taking these student-athletes away for a month, it was too complicated.

Ultimately, as the start of conference play got closer, it became clear that teams were settling into the routine of frequent testing, playing nonconference games, flying to different locations, and the protocols.

Student-athletes were at least in their own beds and had the social interaction of their teams and the familiarity of their campuses, Nevarez said. At the time, we were feeling good about how were traveling and the institutional protocols to stick with the status quo, knowing that wed have interruptions.

We had also seen how football was making it work. You just had to be ready to go every weekend. Take a look at the schedule whos idle, whos on pause? Ready, go. Thats where we ended up.

The WCCs basketball liaison, Aaron Woliczko, the senior associate commissioner of mens basketball and sport administration, has been busy since the pandemic started.

Hes a gym rat, Nevarez said of the former Pacific player, assistant coach and head coach at Montana State. In a normal year, he creates the conference schedule and oversees creating schedules for all of our sports. He creates a schedule and oversees the officiating.

In this year, if that guy had a dollar for every mock schedule and concept he drafted up and then lit on fire, he could be retired. He has been amazing. Hes active every week as teams go on pause, working to match up idle teams and assist in rescheduling postponed games. His life is 24-7 since we left the tournament last March.

Other conferences have come up with their own scheduling formats. The Mountain West Conference, for example, has its teams playing back-to-backs, two games against the same opponent during the week, cutting down on travel, travel expenses and travel-related logistics.

Everybody was trying to figure out what was the best way and the safest way to get these games in, Santiago said. Everybodys gone to their own scenario to try to get their games in. The WCC has decided they were going to do the status quo and do the schedule as is and schedule make-up games as necessary.

Certainly in the first two weeks, there were a number of games postponed that have had to be rescheduled. Thats been very interesting.

At one point, half of the leagues teams were on pause due to COVID-19 issues. BYU, for example, had its first three conference games postponed. But games are being rescheduled.

I think its going as best as we can expect, Nevarez said. Obviously, there are so many unknowns. Youre always going to have that random case where an official didnt get their test back on time. Or someone on a team had a false positive. But our folks are really working through it. I couldnt be more pleased with the collaboration and the cooperation and the flexibility that weve had between the leadership at our institutions, specifically our athletic directors.

Theyve been amazing. BYU agreeing to play the No. 1 team, Gonzaga, in the nation on a day-and-a-halfs notice? Wow. Thats everybody rolling in the same direction. Our schools have been phenomenally flexible, always with the best interest of our student-athletes first and foremost, but ready to do what theyve got to do.

There is less than two months until the WCC Tournament is scheduled to tip off in Las Vegas (March 4-9 at Orleans Arena), featuring 20 teams 10 on the mens side and 10 on the womens. During a normal year, theres also thousands of fans, officials, conference and school administrators, media and television production staff to worry about.

What is Nevarezs outlook for this years tournament?

In this environment, we have contingency plans behind everything because thats just the prudent thing to do. Right now, were optimistic, she said. We have four other leagues that are tipping off in Vegas. We began meeting regularly with them, in order that were coordinated and all sharing the same information.

The city of Las Vegas will begin reviewing this week the large gathering protocols and permissions. Were still tracking in a positive direction. In a normal year, I would be saying, Oh my gosh, its Jan. 15, the tournament is just around the corner. In COVID, thats a lot of time. Weve shown that we can pivot if we have to move it to a campus or do whatever. But right now, were full steam ahead working on Vegas.

Were planning on it without fans, she said. If we can have fans, great.

Its extremely important that the tournament is played, in terms of revenue generated, exposure, and helping catapult teams into the Big Dance as long as it can be done safely.

The tournament is definitely the crown jewel of our conference operations and events. It is a sold-out event every year. Last year, it was amazing, Nevarez said. Its been sold-out every year since we began in Vegas (in 2009). Its been amazing. Thats the biggest feel-good about the student-athlete experience.

Secondly, our ESPN exposure during that event is amazing on both the mens and womens side. Were very fortunate. Leagues our size dont have that kind of tournament exposure. Typically, we send multiple teams to the NCAA Tournament. Our WCC event has definitely been a platform to doing that in a lot of years.

How difficult will it be to pull off a conference tournament during a pandemic? Theres still a lot of uncertainty.

I think theres a lot still up in the air. Theyre planning for a bunch of scenarios, with or without fans. Theyre looking at every option and trying to figure out which is the safest. Its got to be (resolved) over the next month or so, Santiago said. Theyre looking forward to a tournament but everybodys waiting to see how its going to play and what the protocols are in Vegas, whether or not theyre going to try to create a mini-bubble for the tournament.

To do that, then you have to have everybody at the same hotels, he continued. There are a lot of logistical things that need to be worked out. Theyve got to see where things are at with COVID. Were all in a holding pattern. I dont think anybody has answers as to how its going to play out for sure.

And there are other intriguing issues to consider, such as what if teams play an unequal number of regular-season league games due to COVID-issues? Seeding could be determined by win percentage and tie-breakers could be determined by the NCAAs NET rankings.

Those are issues that could make seeding in the NCAA Tournament troublesome as well.

But after the 2020 NCAA Tournament was canceled, everybody just wants it back in March. The NCAA has announced that the Big Dance will be held entirely in the state of Indiana, with the Final Four scheduled to be played in Indianapolis.

BYU coach Mark Pope is on board with that plan. Last years tournament was canceled due to the virus and the Cougars were set to return to the tournament as a single-digit seed.

Im just grateful that people are trying every way possible to make the NCAA Tournament a safe reality, Pope said.

I like it because theyre trying to figure out how to have a tournament, Santiago said. I hope for the student-athletes sake that they get to play in it.

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Why the WCCs Las Vegas bubble didnt materialize, and whats the outlook for the leagues crown jewel - Deseret News