:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67216066/1206514259.jpg.0.jpg)
Dan Gavitt, the NCAA’s senior vice president of basketball, revealed on Monday that he is planning to announce a decision regarding the start date of the men’s and women’s college basketball seasons “by mid-September.” Right now it looks like the seasons will either start on time on Nov. 10 or face short delays.
However, not every conference in Division I has to go along with the NCAA’s proposed start date and it is likely that different conferences will start at different times.
Here’s where things stand in the major conferences:
Pac-12
There will be no sports for the rest of the 2020 calendar year. That includes basketball, which would start in early November. So the earliest basketball could start for the Pac-12 is January.
Big Ten and Big East
All fall sports have been postponed, which means it is still up in the air whether basketball and other winter sports will begin in early November as scheduled.
ACC, Big 12 and SEC
Winter sports are set to take place on time, for now, while many fall sports have slight delays but are expected to take place. However, most fall sports will not award championships at the usual times because national participation in those sports has fallen below 50 percent.
Collegiate bubbles?
As far as location, a bubble environment like what the NBA and WNBA have created has been proposed for non-conference play in basketball. Another proposal involves the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments being played in a bubble. New York Liberty guard Layshia Clarendon has expressed concerns about collegiate athletes potentially competing in a bubble.
Many people don’t understand the mental health toll of playing in a bubble. It’s isolating, lacks boundaries, and has no outlet! Thinking about college athletes in a bubble makes me cringe because there are already high rates of mental health issues in college athletics.
— Layshia Clarendon (@Layshiac) August 11, 2020
NCAA president Mark Emmert, however, appears to be on-board with the idea.
ESPN reported on Aug. 10 that UConn head coach Geno Auriemma was expecting a delay to the start of the women’s basketball season. His team is back in the Big East this year after a seven-year stint in the American Athletic Conference. The Big East has yet to announce a delay to its women’s basketball season, but the situation could change at any time.