Stanford women's basketball coach Tara VanDerveer said the school might opt for a bubble-like environment on campus if student-athletes return this fall to try to get ready for 2021. Tuesday, the Pac-12 announced the postponement of all sports until at least Jan. 1 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It's my understanding ... I think Stanford has a brilliant idea, if it works," VanDerveer said. "They're gonna try to do what we call an Olympic village. They know that kids are going to socialize. So any teams that maybe want to be back and train, they would house them in the same area. Our team would get housed in the same area, and would get single rooms. Stanford has 97% of students living on campus so, it's a very dorm-heavy population."
VanDerveer said the earliest she had been expecting to possibly get her players on campus was September. She said that ultimately will be determined by what Santa Clara County and the university allow.
"We're gonna try to maximize whatever we can do," she said. "Conditioning and weight training, and you'll hope [to] get on a court. Right now, we're not allowed to go inside a gym. Maybe we have to get some outdoor courts to figure out a way to get people to do some skill work. California is very strict.
"We just have to do what we're allowed to do, and I totally respect the decision that the presidents made. The No. 1 thing is the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches, staff. We've gotta beat this thing."
Pac-12 women's basketball coaches are scheduled to meet virtually on Wednesday to discuss what a season in 2021 might look like.
"I have felt since May or June that this was not going to be a regular kind of season," VanDerveer said. "Maybe we'll do a double round robin in our conference. Maybe do a bubble NCAA tournament. We're gonna have to think out of the box a little bit.
"I feel very badly for our players, and all the athletes. What's really tough is that over 160,000 Americans have died. Sports is great; I love basketball and I love coaching. But what is really disappointing is just the way we as a country have not taken this on and defeated it the way we could and should have. We need to figure this out."