College Basketball Scheduled to Begin Thanksgiving Weekend
“The new season start date near the Thanksgiving holiday provides the optimal opportunity to successfully launch the basketball season,” said NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt in a release by the NCAA. “It is a grand compromise of sorts and a unified approach that focuses on the health and safety of student-athletes competing towards the 2021 Division I basketball championships.”
The new official start date cuts the season short by four games. Unfortunately for West Virginia, one of those games is the renewal of one of the great college rivalry in sports, West Virginia versus Pitt, better known as the Backyard Brawl.
The Mountaineers were slated to open their season at the WVU Coliseum on November 10th against Farleigh Dickenson before Pitt rolled into town for a Friday night on the 13th.
The remaining two games were both home games for West Virginia against Stony Brook and Bowling Green.
No official word has been released by the West Virginia athletic department on the upcoming season schedule but the NCAA set the rules for the number of games. In men’s basketball, teams can schedule 24 regular-season games and participate in one multiple-team event that includes up to three games; 25 regular-season games and participate in one multiple-team event that includes up to two games, or 25 regular-season games if a team does not participate in a multiple-team event.
Programs can begin preseason practice on Oct. 14 and will have 42 days to conduct a maximum of 30 practices. During this time, players can work out up to 20 hours per week, four hours per day, and must have one day off per week. This model is generally consistent with the normal preseason practice period but permits additional flexibility for all teams to begin full practice on Oct. 14, regardless of when their first scheduled game occurs.
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