Confidence High in Having 2020-21 Season

[ellitor 33,093]

 

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NCAA's confidence in college basketball is at a 'high level'

By Riley Gates 18 minutes ago

The 2020 NCAA Tournament was among the first sporting events canceled or postponed by the coronavirus pandemic. The tournament was called off in March and since then, college basketball fans have been craved for action on the hardwood.

But the future of the 2020-21 season is somewhat in question. The pandemic has already altered the schedules for the Power Five conferences in college football, as most conferences are moving to a conference-only schedule and delaying the start of the season. That is a move that has many questioning the fate of the college basketball season this November.

As of now, though, there is no reason to be concerned about the season’s future. In an interview with NCAA digital reporter Andy Katz, NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt said the season is still scheduled to be started and played on time.

“In college basketball, we are still planning on starting the season, right now, on schedule on November 10,” Gavitt said. “We have plans across the country through our schools and conferences to bring students back to campus safely, just this month in August and in early September. Many players have been on campus for weeks now, training on campus in a very safe way and have been very happy to back playing the game they love with their coaches. So, we’ve got a high level of confidence.”

“...I think at this point we’re probably looking at some time in September, having to make decisions about whether we stick with the plan to start on Nov. 10 or consider other alternatives.”

November is still a while away, though, and many things could change on the schedule. One of the potential moves, according to ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi, would be college basketball adopting the conference-only schedule like football has. This would eliminate teams being able to, “pad their overall win-loss totals with cushy guarantee games,” according to Lunardi. But a smaller schedule wouldn’t allow for many slipups.

With a conference-only schedule, Lunardi said that it would increase pressure on some teams, likely those that aren’t near locks for the NCAA Tournament every year, to not record bad losses. Those bad losses could help keep a team out of the tournament in March.

While there are possibilities of changes out there, though, nothing has been altered yet. And there is currently no plan in place to do so.

“As I’ve said before, as long as basketball is being placed safely anywhere in the world this season, we’ll be playing NCAA college basketball as well, both regular season and certainly the tournament 2021,” Gavitt said. “We’ve got all sorts of plans and alternatives that we’re looking at, in order to be able to do that in a safe and responsible way. But a high level of confidence that it’s going to be, while different, a great experience playing college basketball again for those guys that want to come back to school, finish their education and have the great college basketball experience.”

 

 

[auburn4ever 1,266]

Why not pickup where we left off?

[gravejd 3,270]

11 minutes ago, auburn4ever said:

Why not pickup where we left off?

Most of the players from last season have moved on to other things. Most of our guys from last season are either playing over seas or getting ready to try and make an NBA team. It would be cool if the players who did not get a professional opportunity had a chance to come back and finish out the season