Return of College Basketball

As many of us are still reeling about the 2019-2020 college basketball season that ultimately ended the miraculous Dayton Flyers basketball season, I can’t help but look forward to next season,.  Dayton will ultimately look very different this year, without the Player of the Year, but they should still be right in the running of the Atlantic 10 championship race. Dayton wasn’t the only team that was devastated by the Covid-19 cancelled 2019-2020 March Madness event.  Teams like Michigan State, Kansas, Duke, Gonzaga and Maryland also had plans at a run in the tournament with goals in playing for that coveted National Championship trophy.

The 2020-2021 college basketball season will likely be unlike any previous season but as of now it will be played. Because of the coronavirus, the college basketball season (like virtually all other events) needed to make several adjustments to ensure the health and safety of the players and fans. One of the biggest changes is the limitation of the number of fans allowed into the stadium. However, another big story line is the changes made to the early-season college basketball tournaments, such as the Maui Invitational, Battle 4 Atlantis and the Legends Classic.

I’m a big fan of the change in stadium venues in order to have these early season tournaments that are so important to the teams, leagues and fans. The Crossover Classic was moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota in order to complement limited fans. I think this was a great move for all teams involved and I hope that as the college basketball season progresses, the NCAA can look at the success in Orlando and South Dakota to make the necessary adjustments to ensure that they don’t have a repeat of the 2019-2020 season.

The 2020-2021 College Basketball season will have lots of new twists. One of which is that teams were not allowed to start practice until Oct. 14th, much later than the usual  start in August or September. Also, no exhibitions or scrimmages against other teams are allowed in 2020. Teams will usually schedule games against division 2 or 3 teams to start the year or scrimmage against other teams nearby in order to ease into the more difficult games but that won’t be allowed this season. Another restriction is teams are only allowed to play 27 regular season games, meaning a lot of games against easier competition in the beginning of the season will be cancelled.

This college basketball season will be weird and unusual in so many ways but all that matters is college basketball is BACK…

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