Report: NCAA Committee Pushing For College Basketball To Start November 25

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The NCAA women’s and men’s basketball oversight committee is reportedly pushing for the college basketball season to start on November 25.

The season usually starts around the first two weeks of November but would be pushed back towards Thanksgiving.

CBS Sports college basketball insider Matt Norlander reported the news on Wednesday. The women’s and men’s oversight committees jointly agreed to start the season the the 25th of November. The next step is putting together a proposal that would be presented to the Division I Council, which is scheduled to meet on September 16. The council will need to vote to approve the proposal.

Sources told Norlander that flexibility in the next 6-8 weeks will be critical and monitoring the environment in the United States and college athletics.

There were some people lobbying to keep the start date Nov. 10, but that fizzled. The Pac-12’s preference is Dec. 4, but one source added that obviously the other leagues weren’t going to bend to appease a Pac-12 decision that’s yet to be reversed.

— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) September 2, 2020

It’s unknown if the NCAA Tournament will be pushed back because of the delayed start. The 2020 NCAA Tournament was canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Pac-12 Stance

According to Norlander, the Pac-12 is willing to start the season earlier than January 1, but not until December 4. The conference announced in August that all sports competitions including football and basketball until at least January 1, 2021.

It sounds like the other conferences in college basketball are not to delay the start in order to “appease” the Pac-12, forcing the conference to agree to start when the others want to begin the 2020-21 season.

Other Obstacles

It still hasn’t been discussed much according to Norlander of what the schedule structure will look like if the season starts on November 25. Will the non-conference slate still be played or will it be conference-only.

When the Pac-12 postponed all competitions until January 1, it was assumed that the conference would not play a non-conference schedule this upcoming season. That could change depending on what the proposal from the oversight committee looks like.

A most important facet to the season start yet to be discussed in any real detail, according to sources, is whether or not the hypothetical Nov. 25 start date would mean conference-only or all noncon games to begin the season. It’s a huge knot to untie, so more time is needed.

— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) September 2, 2020

The next month will be interesting and crucial to the future of college basketball.

Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for KSLSports.com and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports. You can download and listen to the podcast, here.