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As always, news first:
Division I Council set to vote Wednesday on moving the start of the college hoops season to Nov. 21. Source also said there will be recommendation of playing a minimum of 4 non-conference games and potential to start 8 hours/week to work with players - target date is Sept. 21.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) September 14, 2020
Obviously, pushing the date back means some non-conference games are going to get dropped. That would be clear even without reading the recommendation that teams play "at least four" non-con games, which is a bar way lower than what every team in the NCAA usually clears in that regard. The powers that be are clearly leaving teams free to decide their own approaches to basketball under a pandemic.
There's also the potential to start full practice as soon as next week, which would give two months to the day to get things settled before games could kick off. Obviously, if your favorite team is bringing in like six new players, you'd love to see as much time as possible to get new guys blooded in.
This is going to be a weird season in a lot of ways, not least of which is going to be the start date. Hopefully by this March, we're in something like a normal position and our biggest worry is seeding. Wear those masks, everybody.