Is "May Madness" a possibility for Utah and college basketball?

For years, March Madness has been the highlight of the sports world come spring time.

But last year, the COVID-19 pandemic ruined those plans as the tournament was canceled. Now five months later and the pandemic is still wreaking havoc on the collegiate sports world.

The NCAA has canceled fall championships at all three levels, while the Pac-12 and Big Ten have postponed all athletic-related events until January 1, 2021 at the earliest.

While that means that Utah may have to wait until spring for college football, the postponing of athletic events until the start of the new year has thrown a wrench in the plans for college basketball.

Typically with a November start date, it means that the entire nonconference season has been wiped out if the schedule doesn't adapt to the changes — Pac-12 play usually begins right after the New Year.

During an interview on ESPN 700 Friday afternoon, Utah head Larry Krystkowiak talked extensively about how the Utes are handling the pandemic, the uncertainty of the upcoming season, and more importantly, a potential "May Madness" taking over for "March Madness."

“Maybe we’ll start in January and finish in May and all conference play gets moved back," Krystkowiak said. "We’re one of the first ones to make a decision of this magnitude as a league and we’ll see what happens with the rest of the country. That’s our hope that maybe we can get whole season in and just back it up a couple of months.”

A January start would allow conference to play to begin in early March, thus allowing for the postseason to take place in May. The possibility of a "May Madness" isn't without merit as NCAA president Mark Emmert spoke about the possibility of playing a 32-team NCAA basketball tournament in a “bubble."

Krystkowiak knows what he's talking about when regarding the potential for an upcoming season. He is one of two Pac-12 coaches on a 35-person committee, made up of mostly medical professionals, who have been meeting to discuss multiple possibilities for playing college basketball in early 2021.

“Our medical team in the Pac-12 has been unbelievable — they would win any championship you could create,” he said. “Their projections are that these numbers are supposed to diminish by November. So instead of making a mistake (by starting the season in November), we’re going to have six to eight weeks of practice to really get dialed in and be ready to tee it up when hopefully the worst of this is behind us on Jan. 1.”

According to Krystkowiak, most of the Utes are back on campus for workouts. After spending some time with the team on Friday, he likes what he's seeing from the team and can tell they put in work during the offseason.

Star Timmy Allen is looking smoother with a jumpshot, point guard Rylan Jones is growing into his body after adding 15 pounds and “looks like a different person.”

The Utes are adding great size for this year and backup center Lahat Thioune “is close to 240 pounds” and looks like “what a five-man should look like." Brendan Wenzel clearly spent time in the weight room during the offseason and has come back looking 'like a tight end.”

The entire team isn't intact as sophomore Mikael Jantunen and freshman Pelle Larsson are still missing, with both of them coming to Utah from being abroad.

Jantunen is set to return to campus on Sunday, while Larsson won't be arriving until early September due to a visa issue.

“It’s been a crazy five or six months for all of us,” he said. “This is going to end at some point and there is going to be a percentage of the population that’s going to come out the other end wounded and not able to recover, and I feel for those people. But whatever we’re able to be in control of, let’s not let that be our demise. There’s going to be a percentage of the population that’s going to come back, and we want to be in that category and that’s where our focus is.”

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