Could the NCAA Basketball Season Start Two Weeks Early This Year?
With many expecting disruptions to the season from the novel coronavirus, at least one executive is asking conferences to consider changing the start of the year from Nov. 10 to Oct. 27.
Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde talked with NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt. Gavitt's plan could potentially allow teams to get in more games.
“At this point it’s just a concept,” Gavitt said. “But we have presented it to the conference commissioners and the oversight committees. The ball is in their court. It has some utility, adds some flexibility and options with the (academic) calendar changing, which could affect the break period.”
Many schools, including Texas, are already planning on shutting down campus after Thanksgiving break and moving all final exams online. Students wouldn't return to campus until mid-January. This lengthy hiatus could result in schools sending home winter sports athletes during this time as well, according to Forde's column.
“A little more time, rather than less time, makes sense to me,” Gavitt said. “It would be permissive; no one is saying you have to do it. It would be up to the individual institutions or conferences to figure out how to do it.”
Right now the only thing that seems certain is nobody knows exactly how the fall semester will go starting with football and moving into basketball season. We've already seen the Big 12 move the date for its football championship game back one week to give teams a little more flexibility. It would make sense to see basketball build in as many contingencies as possible as well.
To get the latest Texas Longhorns Posts posts as they happen, join the Texas Longhorns Community by clicking “Follow” at the top right corner of the page (mobile users can click the notifications bell icon), and follow Texas Longhorns SI on Twitter @LonghornsSI
