Could College Basketball Season Start Two-Weeks Earlier?
Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde published a report on Monday saying that the NCAA's highest-ranking basketball executive has presented to conferences, the idea of moving the start of the college basketball season up by two weeks to help prevent another midseason shutdown in 2021 hopefully.
According to Forde's report, NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt shared that he "has proposed moving season-opening games from November 10 to October 27, with perhaps a corresponding acceleration of practice from the currently scheduled start date of September 29. The goal is for schools to play something closer to a full slate of regular-season games amid what could be an uncertain collegiate school year both academically and athletically, as campuses search for ways to deal with COVID-19 fallout."
"“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.”
Some schools have already altered their academic schedules for the year, and some could move forward without in-person, on-campus classes, choosing instead to use the safer distance learning through the internet as was employed late last year.
Schools altering the schedule would then be forced to have student-athletes; in this case, basketball remaining on campus for up to six-weeks while other students would be away from college could create additional issues.
What would that mean for the Vanderbilt men's basketball schedule and the potential NCAA Tournament?
While the coming season's full schedule has not been released, using last season's date where the Commodores opened the season with their first exhibition game on Nov.1, jumping that forward into 2020-21 would have them opening on, or near October 18.
While the results can't possibly be known at this time, last season's stoppage occurred on March 7, meaning that the NCAA Tournament would be into the round of 16 as of March 2021.
Should the nation experience another episode in March, as some predict, the NCAA might be able to justify moving forward with 16 teams to complete their tournament as opposed to a full stoppage.
Ultimately it is the job of the colleges and universities to educate students first and foremost, so any plans will be lead by that priority. However, because of the time, dedication, and effort put into athletics by students, colleges must struggle to work out the best way possible to allow these players to compete and finish their season.
It's going to be a delicate balance and one that will continue to be looked at between now and the beginning of the season, whatever that date may be.
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