Report: LSU Basketball Could Be Getting a 2020 Season Start Date
The NCAA men's and women's Oversight Committee will propose a November 25 start date to the 2020-21 college basketball season, according to a report from CBS Sports Jon Rothstein. Rothstein also reports that the NCAA Oversight Committee will advise the Division I Council to not allow preseason scrimmages ahead of the 2020 season.
It's the first real NCAA basketball news to come forward since president Mark Emmert endorsed the idea of a potential bubble for the NCAA Tournament next spring.
"It's obviously expensive to do that," Emmert said in an interview with the NCAA website last month. "But we're not going to hold a championship in a way that puts student-athletes at risk. If we need to do a bubble model and that's the only way we can do it, then we'll figure that out."
A bubble format for the postseason has certainly worked out for the NBA as there have been zero reported COVID-19 cases inside the Orlando bubble since the league relaunched its season on July 31. That carries a ton of merit to potentially see a college basketball bubble if the season were to get to that point.
For now the focus will be on getting the season off the ground in late November, which benefits LSU tremendously. Students will not return to campus after going home for the Thanksgiving holiday so it'd seemingly be the perfect time for LSU to play all of its non-conference opponents with not as many students on campus.
The 2020 LSU team worked out for the first time last week in two groups and Wade said on an appearance of Off the Bench the team is looking really good.
"I think Trendon [Watford] and Javonte [Smart] have taken the next step in terms of leadership along with Darius Days," Wade said. "Bryan Penn-Johnson can really help us, the kid from Washington, he's just massive and knows how to play. The freshmen can help us, Shareef [O'Neal] looked good yesterday. We've got a lot of really good pieces and have a chance to be a great, great team and that's what we're focusing on."
