NCAA to decide by “mid-September” if college basketball season will start on time or delayed

As anxiety and uncertainty builds for college sports, the conversation regarding the basketball season is starting up.

There isn’t an exact date for when we can expect a decision, but the NCAA has given a timeframe.

According to a statement from NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt, the NCAA will provide guidance and direction “in mid-September” for whether the season and practice will start on time, or if a delay should be put in place due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Here is the full statement from Gavitt:

“As we prepare for the 2020-21 college basketball season, we have exercised patience and discipline in monitoring the effects of COVID-19 and making decisions regarding the season. We have learned a great deal over the course of the summer, and with health and safety being our priority, we have developed and studied contingency plans for alternatives to the scheduled Nov. 10 start date.

In the coming weeks, the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball Oversight Committees will take the lead with me in a collaborative process of finalizing any recommendations for consideration by the NCAA Division I Council for the start of the college basketball season. By mid-September, we will provide direction about whether the season and practice start on time or a short-term delay is necessitated by the ongoing pandemic.

We recognize that we are living and operating in an uncertain time, and it is likely that mid-September will be just the first milestone for many important decisions pertaining to the regular season and the NCAA basketball championships. While circumstances may warrant flexibility resulting in a different and perhaps imperfect season, the ultimate goal is to safely provide student-athletes and teams with a great college basketball experience.”

The debate surrounding fall sports has picked up in recent weeks, with some conferences like the Big East and Pac-12, suspending fall sports entirely, while some others try to continue.

It’s only natural that the conversation regarding the college basketball season comes next.

According to a VU Hoops poll in an article where we dissected a number of hypothetical return-to-play scenarios for the 2020-21 season, 10 percent of voters felt that the season would return normally.

Most expected some sort of delay, with 44 percent believing the season wouldn’t realistically begin until January and be a shortened, conference-only campaign.