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College Basketball Season Set to Begin Nov. 25
The NCAA announced Wednesday that its Division I Council has set the start date for the 2020–21 college basketball season for Nov. 25.
🚨 SEASON UPDATE 🚨
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) September 16, 2020
The 2020-21 college basketball season will start Wednesday, November 25.
👉 https://t.co/xwqbNxcmlH pic.twitter.com/d5nwag5rIR
The news was originally reported by Stadium's Jeff Goodman.
The announcement comes two weeks after the Men's and Women's Basketball Oversight Committee proposed Nov. 25 as the start date for the season. The group also proposed that no scrimmages or exhibitions be held for health and safety reasons. The original start date for the season was Nov. 10.
College basketball scheduling for the upcoming campaign has already undergone adjustments, particularly for preseason tournaments. Orlando will reportedly host eight different tournaments during the beginning of the season, beginning with the Champions Classic. No fans are expected to be allowed in attendance. The setup will be similar to the NBA's bubble plan, which has been successful in the same city.
In addition, the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament—normally held in the Bahamas—will now take place in South Dakota.
Amid the season's uncertainty with regards to scheduling, the ACC offered a proposal to expand the 2021 NCAA tournament to include all teams. That proposal has been dismissed by the NCAA, which released a statement saying there are no plans to expand the tournament field.
"Every college basketball team's goal is to play in the NCAA tournament because everyone loves March Madness. Certainly, we missed it this year and can't wait for 2021," NCAA senior vice president of men's basketball Dan Gavitt said. "While all who care about the game are entitled to their opinion, and we'll always listen respectfully, at this time we are not working on any contingency plan that involves expanding the tournament."
Nick Selbe is a programming editor at Sports Illustrated who frequently writes about baseball and college sports. Before joining SI in March 2020 as a breaking/trending news writer, he worked for MLB Advanced Media, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. Selbe received a bachelor's in communication from the University of Southern California.