Why might Pac-12 basketball take significant forward strides this season? There are many valid reasons and legitimate answers.
Jon Wilner of the Wilner Hotline pointed to one answer in particular:
“In our view, COVID severely impacted the Pac-12’s collective performance last season, even though the pandemic was largely contained,” Wilner wrote.
“How? The policies and protocols lingering throughout the spring and summer of 2021 undermined preparation and impacted performance when competition ramped up in November.
“The non-conference results were awful, and that affected success on Selection Sunday. But the past six months have allowed business to proceed as usual, and the Pac-12’s non-conference showing should be far stronger.
“We saw that exact scenario play out with football: The COVID hangover affected the Pac-12 at the start of the season — remember all the bad losses in September ’21? — but a full offseason in 2022 set the conference up for the current success with ranked teams and playoff contenders.”
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