The incredible Dana O'Neil published a Q&A with NCAA Vice President of men's basketball Dan Gavitt today on The Athletic. Here we'll highlight the key takeaways as we search for clues as to whether or not we'll get a 2020-21 basketball season.
In terms of timeline, we should be paying attention to mid-September. That's the period Gavitt highlighted as when any possible alterations to the season schedule would need to be made by with official practices set to start Sept. 29.
In addition, the NCAA is fully committed to playing an NCAA Tournament in March. Gavitt cited the success of the NBA and WNBA bubbles as a source of optimism for being able to hold a traditional tournament, and the current plan is to do so with normal sites and dates. Gavitt also said the NCAA will have "a Plan B, C, and D" and that "it is far along in developing all of them." In Gavitt's mind, it is imperative that the tournament is played: "We absolutely have to play the tournament," he said.
The NCAA is already dealing with complications due to postponements in the Pac-12 and Ivy League such as how programs in those leagues will be allotted practice time and how the selection committee would evaluate teams from those conferences come tournament time, but the tone of the article seemed to indicate those are backburner issues right now. It wasn't said outright, but the feeling I got from the article is that the NCAA is focused on ensuring as many programs as possible can have as normal a season as possible.
There were some other basketball season scenario articles published on The Athletic today, and I'm going to dig through them and see if there is any worthwhile additional info. If so, I will post it in this thread, but I wanted to get this update posted first. For now, it appears the NCAA is committed to both a basketball season and an NCAA Tournament.
Also, here is a link to O'Neil's article if any of you subscribe to The Athletic and are interested.
https://theathletic.com/1993724/202...sions-have-to-be-made-for-college-basketball/
In terms of timeline, we should be paying attention to mid-September. That's the period Gavitt highlighted as when any possible alterations to the season schedule would need to be made by with official practices set to start Sept. 29.
In addition, the NCAA is fully committed to playing an NCAA Tournament in March. Gavitt cited the success of the NBA and WNBA bubbles as a source of optimism for being able to hold a traditional tournament, and the current plan is to do so with normal sites and dates. Gavitt also said the NCAA will have "a Plan B, C, and D" and that "it is far along in developing all of them." In Gavitt's mind, it is imperative that the tournament is played: "We absolutely have to play the tournament," he said.
The NCAA is already dealing with complications due to postponements in the Pac-12 and Ivy League such as how programs in those leagues will be allotted practice time and how the selection committee would evaluate teams from those conferences come tournament time, but the tone of the article seemed to indicate those are backburner issues right now. It wasn't said outright, but the feeling I got from the article is that the NCAA is focused on ensuring as many programs as possible can have as normal a season as possible.
There were some other basketball season scenario articles published on The Athletic today, and I'm going to dig through them and see if there is any worthwhile additional info. If so, I will post it in this thread, but I wanted to get this update posted first. For now, it appears the NCAA is committed to both a basketball season and an NCAA Tournament.
Also, here is a link to O'Neil's article if any of you subscribe to The Athletic and are interested.
https://theathletic.com/1993724/202...sions-have-to-be-made-for-college-basketball/
