Hoping to catch a national championship game rematch in McKale Center? You’re out of luck.
The Pac-12 announced Monday that it’s reverting to an 18-game conference schedule for the 2021-22 season after it went to a 22-game schedule for 2020-21 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
That means each program skips one homestand and one road trip. In Arizona’s case, it will not travel to Colorado or Utah—not the worst thing because of the travel required with that trip—but it will not get to host Cal or the defending national champion Stanford Cardinal.
Here is who Arizona will get to play. The dates and broadcast info will be announced at a later date.
- Home: ASU, Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington, Washington State
- Road: ASU, Cal, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington, Washington State
Moving forward, Pac-12 women’s basketball will adopt a 20-game conference schedule—10 games at home and 10 on the road—to avoid some of those skips. That will begin in 2022-23.
“We are constantly evaluating ways to elevate Pac-12 women’s basketball and strengthen the league’s stature,” said Pac-12 Senior Associate Commissioner Teresa Gould. “With the depth of talent in the Conference, adding two quality games to the league schedule will help Pac-12 programs prepare for the rigors of postseason play and support the sustained success of the Conference in the NCAA Tournament. A 20-game Conference schedule will also provide fans of Pac-12 women’s basketball additional opportunities to enjoy meaningful matchups both in person and on television.”
The Pac-12 also announced that, effective immediately, the conference tournament will have an off day on Saturday to allow for additional rest between the semifinals and championship game. To accomodate it, the final weekend of the regular season will be a Thursday-Saturday instead of a typical Friday-Sunday.
“After utilizing this schedule for the 2021 Pac-12 Tournament, the feedback from our women’s basketball student-athletes was overwhelmingly positive,” Gould said. “Because of their input, the open date on Saturday was made permanent to prioritize rest and recovery of those competing in the championship game.”