NCAA Votes to Start College Basketball November 25th
The college basketball season is set to begin on November 25th after a vote on Wednesday by the NCAA’s Division I council.
NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt told CBS Sports that the Nov. 25 date was “decided upon in no small part because an estimated 76% of college campuses will have students off campus by then, versus an estimated 43% on Nov. 20.”
The new date also means that practice can begin on October 14th, which is 42 days before the season begins.
The decision also throws nonconference scheduling for a loop, as several big tournaments, including the Maui Invitational, were scheduled to begin Nov. 23. Now those events need to work around the new start date, and teams will further have to reconfigure their schedules. Also, the season maximum has been reduced from 31 games to 27.
There will be no scrimmages or exhibitions allowed in the preseason, either.
However, the NCAA has not announced its plans for COVID-19 testing as the season gets underway. That is still to be determined.
The NCAA council will meet again in October, when if COVID-19 flares up in any way, the start date could be in flux.
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