'Holy War' of basketball will have to wait until 2021

When the Pac-12 announced that there would be no more athletic competitions for the remainder of the 2020 calendar year — the future of the Utah-BYU basketball game became unknown

Back on Dec. 4, Utah found itself trailing 41-33 at the half to hated-rival BYU at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. But thanks to a dynamic performance by then-sophomore Timmy Allen and then-freshman Rylan Jones, the duo led the Utes all the way back for the 102-95 overtime victory.

"I don't know if it was so much of a half thing, we cut it to four or five in the first half and then they made some big plays and ended up taking that eight point lead back in. More than anything, I think it was just staying in it," Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak said. "I mean Yolei to start the game, we made a decision that the first three three's were on me and you need to live with something. They are a terrific team with a lot of shooters and they are bringing one of their better bigs into the equation. We wanted to limit some of the three's and for them to have eight at half time was rough. We just stayed in the moment and it was a heck of a fight all the way through."

It was one of the most exciting games of the 2019 season for the Utes, one that represented how bright Utah's future was — and had fans salivating for what could be entering the 2020 season.

Unfortunately the COVID-19 pandemic happened, and the Pac-12 announced on Aug. 11 that it was canceling/postponing ALL sports with no athletic competition set to take place the rest of the calendar year.

“The health, safety and well-being of our student-athletes and all those connected to Pac-12 sports has been our number one priority since the start of this current crisis,” Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said in a statement. “Our student-athletes, fans, staff and all those who love college sports would like to have seen the season played this calendar year as originally planned, and we know how disappointing this is.”

“All of the Pac-12 presidents and chancellors understand the importance of this decision, and the disappointment it will create for our student-athletes, the coaches, support staff and all of our fans,” added Michael H. Schill, president of the University of Oregon. “Ultimately, our decision was guided by science and a deep commitment to the health and welfare of student-athletes. We certainly hope that the Pac-12 will be able to return to competition in the New Year.”

While the big concern has been about Utah getting its college football season canceled/postponed, very little has been made of what's happening for the Utah men's and women's basketball seasons.

Typically with a November start date, it means that the entire nonconference season has been wiped out if the schedule doesn't adapt to the changes — Pac-12 play usually begins right after the New Year.

With that cancellation comes the expected loss of the annual Utah-BYU game rivalry game. The teams were expected to meet on Dec. 12 this season down in Provo, but are now hoping to make up the game in following the New Year in 2021.

“The whole basketball season, how it’s constructed, what it will look like, will there be nonconference games ... that hasn’t been decided,” Utah athletic director Mark Harlan said. “If the basketball season doesn’t slide past March, if we’re even able to go, it may have to be a very truncated season.”

According to Harlan, Utah deputy athletic director Kyle Brennan has already been in contact with his counterpart at BYU — with the main topic being how they can makeup the game this season if allowed. 

“Obviously it’s a game (we’d like to) reschedule,” Harlan said, “Maybe it will be league-only. If we get more space, then maybe we’ll have an opportunity (to play BYU). We’ll continue to work with them along with other universities both in fall sports and winter sports to put back together what we can.”

During a conference call with media, Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott alluded to the fact that the teams could play more than the 20-game league schedule. If that's the case, one would hope that resuming the Utah-BYU rivalry would be at the top of the list.

“We’ve got a basketball planning group that’s been working on different scenarios and some of it will depend on what the NCAA decides in terms of March Madness and the envelope for the season,” Scott said. “So we’ll obviously keep in close contact with the NCAA in terms of their plans for postseason.”

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