NCAA meetings scheduled to determine when basketball season can start |
College basketball was among the first NCAA sports to feel the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic back in March.
A number of conferences canceled tournaments and then the NCAA canceled its big moneymaker of March Madness. Now, the NCAA has a council set to decide when athletes can return to the court as the pandemic's effect lingers. "We have learned a great deal over the course of the summer, and with health and safety being our priority, we have developed and studied contingency plans for alternatives to the scheduled Nov. 10 start date," the NCAA announced Monday. "In the coming weeks, the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball Oversight Committees will take the lead with me in a collaborative process of finalizing any recommendations for consideration by the NCAA Division I Council for the start of the college basketball season. By mid-September, we will provide direction about whether the season and practice start on time or a short-term delay is necessitated by the ongoing pandemic." The PAC-12 has already announced it won't conduct any sports until at least Jan. 1, 2021. The ACC hasn't released a full basketball schedule, but the men's team has dates on a calendar for a basketball tournament in Florida that starts with a home game versus Bucknell on Nov. 20 and continues in Melbourne, Florida versus Miss. State (Nov. 24) and then against either Purdue or Illinois State the next day. A neutral-site game in Atlanta (State Farm Arena) against Alabama is also on the slate. NCAA officials have promised some sort of NCAA Tournament happening in 2021 with the idea of bubbles like pro circuits NBA, NHL and MLS used as a possibility. Key first hurdle to a decision on start date for college basketball should come around Sept. 16. Number of options: 1. Start on time Nov. 10; 2. Move to the weekend prior to Thanksgiving Nov. 20 or 3. Sometime after Thanksgiving Nov. 29 to Dec. 1. Still too early to push to 2021. https://t.co/3EEKzaXrYj
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