NCAA Promises Decision On Season Start For Men’s and Women’s Basketball

With college basketball practice technically still scheduled to start in approximately a month and a half from now, the NCAA has made clear they are (finally) working on contingency plans for how to deal with possible disruptions to the start of the season. Tongue in cheek humor aside, the NCAA has supposedly already studied and developed contingency plans for alternatives to the original November 10 start date for the season.

However, the Men’s and Women’s Basketball Oversight Committees at the Division I level are still finalizing their recommendations to put forward to the NCAA Division I Council. They announced today that they intend to have a final decision in place by mid-September for whether to start practice as originally scheduled or whether a short-term delay is required due to COVID-19.

Unlike football, the NCAA does have say in what leagues can do regarding starts to the season. However, leagues such as the Ivy and PAC-12 do have the ability to delay their season and have done so already, announcing they will not start until January 1, 2021 at the earliest. A NCAA decision to delay the start of the season would be binding for all Division I basketball leagues and programs.

You can find the full statement here.