PCAC cancellations piling up quickly

EL CAJON —- The California Community College Athletics Association announced that all of this week’s Pacific Coast Athletic Conference contests in men’s and women’s basketball have been postponed.

However, since the memo was sent, additional changes have been indicated.

Grossmont College men’s basketball coach Doug Weber noted a new memo stating that the CCCAA will adjust postseason dates, but only slightly.

“We received an email from the CCCAA stating that the dates for the state finals will be the same, but the first week of the playoffs will be moved into the second week to give conferences an additional week to complete the regular season.”

Thus, in many cases, some schools may need to play three (or more) contests in a week, meaning re-scheduled ballgames could be played on Sundays or Mondays.

With this week’s postponements, the programs at Grossmont and Cuyamaca colleges will lose a total of four game-dates each — two covering both genders — and will not resume play until next week, at the earliest.

But even that is in question.

“We are supposed to play at Cuyamaca on Monday,” Weber added. “But we talked to them today (Wednesday) and that game has been also postponed. It’s a kind of crazy deal.”

The Griffins currently have three players missing from the roster.

“They’re in isolation after receiving positive test results,” noted Weber. “But none of them displayed any symptoms.”

The Grossmont men (3-9 overall, 1-1 PCAC) will not play at Miramar on Wednesday or home to Palomar on Friday. The Griffins last played on Dec. 17, a conference victory over Imperial Valley.

The Cuyamaca men (3-11, 0-2 PCAC) had a bye on Wednesday, then were slated to play at San Diego Mesa on Friday. And now, the Coyotes next scheduled contest — their PCAC home opener against cross-town rival Grossmont on Monday (Jan. 10) — is also on the back-burner.

The Coyotes have made no public announcement about the situation., However, reviews of Cuyamaca boxscores often display different line-ups, but the missing payers could be due other factors, such as match-ups with opponents or eligibility and not just the coronavirus.

Both East County women’s programs were slated to commence PCAC play this week.

Instead, Grossmont (3-9) next meets Southwestern on Wednesday (Jan. 12) in Chula Vista, then meets Mesa in the Griffins’ PCAC home opener on Friday (Jan. 14) at 6 p.m.

Meanwhile, the re-start of the Cuyamaca (winless in 10 starts) program — which returns to the court for the first time since the 2009-10 campaign — will meet both PCAC North County schools when play resumes: at MiraCosta on Wednesday; home to Palomar on Friday at 6 p.m.

Please note: anyone traveling to Oceanside for the game against the defending (2019-20) PCAC champion Spartans will need advance permission from the MiraCosta athletics department before they will be allowed to enter Crosswoods Gymnasium.

Weber noted that his and Caires’ players are tested twice-a-week, while both GCCCD campuses are shut down via district mandate.

Cuyamaca failed to respond to media inquiries about the situation.