NCAA 'leaning toward' delaying basketball season 2 weeks
Auburn fans may not see their 2020-21 Tigers on the hardwood for the first time until Thanksgiving week.
The NCAA Men's Basketball Oversight Committee is currently "leaning toward" pushing the season back to Nov. 25 from its original start date of Nov. 10, NCAA.com's Andy Katz said Friday.
The oversight committee recently recommended two revised start dates for the season — Nov. 25 and Dec. 6. The NCAA prefers the former to take advantage of college campuses mostly vacated of students. Many schools across the country have abbreviated their 2020 fall semesters and will end in-person instruction prior to Thanksgiving break.
Auburn, for example, ends in-person classes Nov. 24 and is not scheduled to begin again until Jan. 6.
"Presidents would be much more likely to endorse a plan that starts Thanksgiving week or the week after, rather than Nov. 10, once this fall semester or first quarter is done with in-person learning," Katz said.
Katz explained that there are two "schools of thought" when it comes to scheduling for the upcoming hoops season — keep some nonconference games on the docket if they can be played safely, or nix them altogether and go with an expanded conference schedule.
Nonconference event organizers — such as the Orlando Invitational that Auburn is set to play in Thanksgiving week — are discussing the prospects of creating NBA Bubble-like environments by condensing multiple tournament fields to one location, like Orlando, Las Vegas or Indianapolis.
"Teams could arrive and play three (nonconference) games, four games, five games, six games ... all under one roof, with the same testing protocols," Katz said.
Uniform COVID-19 testing regulations were a big reason why conference-only football schedules were almost universally adopted among major programs. If college basketball can get on the same page for large nonconference events, some of those games could be salvaged.
"It would allow these programs to get quality nonconference games in a safe manner," Katz said.
Katz said there is "no appetite" among college basketball leaders for a bubble during conference games, as programs will likely have to navigate that portion of the season with students on campus, as football teams are doing.
The 2021 NCAA tournament, however, can be easily played in controlled environments, Katz said, as March Madness always places a handful of teams at a single location, even during normal seasons.
"It's all about the regular season and how conferences can get their teams ready for an NCAA tournament," Katz said. "... If you can get at least 20 regular-season games, then you can have a legitimate regular season."
According to Katz, the NCAA will make a final decision in mid-September when the 2020-21 college basketball season will tip off, and whether teams will play nonconference opponents or just a conference-only campaign.
Auburn is slated to open the season Nov. 10 against North Alabama inside Auburn Arena.
The only other nonconference game on the team's schedule that is to be played prior to Thanksgiving break is a road tilt at Washington on Nov. 19, but that game is currently off the table after the Pac-12 opted to cancel all sports until 2021.
After the Orlando Invitational, Auburn is set to face South Alabama at home on Nov. 4, Memphis in the Holiday Hoopsgiving invitational in Atlanta on Dec. 12, and Murray State at home Dec. 22.
SEC teams usually learn their upcoming conference opponents, as well as home and away designations for conference games, during the summer. The SEC has yet to announce any sort of schedule or team assignments for the 2020-21 season.
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