After their best offseason in recent history, WSU basketball fans are rightfully eager to see Kyle Smith lead his team on to the court this fall.

Unfortunately, earlier this summer, the Pac-12 put a damper on that excitement. Hidden in their announcement that the fall football season would be postponed, was the announcement that all sports would be sidelined until at least January 1, 2021.

Yes, including basketball.

It was disheartening news for sure, but we did get some good news last week. According to a report from the Mercury News, the Pac-12 will consider reversing that decision “if certain conditions are met”. Among the conditions are certain health and safety considerations as well as a change to the tradition schedule.

“If the (start) is moved closer to January, we would re-evaluate,” a source inside the conference told the Mercury News.

Fast forward five days to Tuesday.

The idea behind a two week delay in the schedule would be to take advantage of empty college campuses around the country. Of the schools that decided to return to in-person classes, many of those plan on closing for Thanksgiving break and won’t reopen until the start of the spring semester.

Just because the NCAA Oversight Committee has decided on a start date, doesn’t mean things are official quite yet. The Division 1 Council will make the final call. They’ll have their next scheduled meeting on September 16, where they will likely make a final decision.

As of right now, the Cougs and the rest of the Pac-12 are still sidelined until the new year. But just like Washington State basketball, we finally have a reason to be hopeful for the near future.

Links

NCAA oversight committee to propose November 25 start date - Sports Illustrated
The college basketball season was initially scheduled to start November 10.

Five Minutes With Mia Zahab - Washington State University Athletics
Catch up with sophomore swimmer Mia Zahab.