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3 options to consider for start of 2020-21 college basketball season

ByAnthony Brown|
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 12: A general view of the arena before the first half between the St. John's Red Storm and the Creighton Bluejays during the quarterfinals of the Big East Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 12, 2020 in New York City. Games will be played without fans amid growing concern over the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus). (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 12: A general view of the arena before the first half between the St. John's Red Storm and the Creighton Bluejays during the quarterfinals of the Big East Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 12, 2020 in New York City. Games will be played without fans amid growing concern over the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus). (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

By mid-September, college basketball should have a start date. Here are three options to consider.

Sports have seen a rebirth this year after the NBA and WNBA’s successful plans with a bubble structure. Baseball faced its fair share of problems, but things could change moving forward.

It was a crushing blow for many people in the college basketball world when the 2020 NCAA Tournament was canceled. We have good news, ladies and gentlemen.

NCAA senior vice president Dan Gavitt gave the following options for the start of the 2020-21 season: Nov. 10 (on time), the week before Thanksgiving (Nov. 19-20), or the week after Thanksgiving (Nov. 29, 30 or Dec. 1).

Let’s break down these three options, shall we?

College basketball fans, which option would you pick?

Starting on time

Starting the college basketball season on time would be ideal. In order for that to happen, the COVID-19 testing protocols have to be set in place for college basketball players and personnel well in advance. We’ve seen how well the professional leagues have done with bubbles, but that’s not possible here, considering college athletes are amateurs and there is liability and possible lawsuits to consider if anything goes wrong. Teams and universities would also have to consider allowing fans in the arenas. It’s currently not safe as the numbers of positive tests and unfortunate deaths continue to rise in the U.S.

Starting the week before Thanksgiving

Typically during this time in regular circumstances, teams would be 4-5 games into their non-conference schedules. We don’t know for sure if there will even be non-conference games played this season, let alone the non-conference tournaments that teams have to travel to. This could work, but the scheduling would have to be ironed out due to teams that play in states with high COVID-19 cases running into issues.

Starting the week after Thanksgiving

If the season is going to start after Thanksgiving, then teams should go right into conference play. That might as well be the case since conference play usually starts in January anyway. You could give teams 4-5 games of non-conference play for conditioning purposes before they started the main course that is conference play.

These are three good options either way. College basketball is going to be played. We were robbed of what would’ve been a very entertaining NCAA Tournament this year. At least the NCAA is looking ahead with the intention of playing.