While the Big Ten is still trying to figure out what planet to play college football on, it appears as though all the stars are going to align for NCAA men’s and women’s basketball to start around November 25.
According to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, the men’s and women’s oversight committee will recommend a start date just after Thanksgiving to the Division I Council. Additionally, a report surfaced by The Athletic’s Dana O’Neil that the vote to approve the recommendation will take place on September 16.
While this appears to be some optimistic news towards the restart of college basketball, the usual disclaimers apply here. It’s only a recommendation and the vote still has to go through. And while most of these things tend to be a rubber stamp approval, it won’t be as easy during a global pandemic, especially at a time when many experts believe we could see another spike in COVID-19 cases as the winter months begin to hit.
But the news didn’t go unnoticed by Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann. He took to Twitter to express excitement for the positive development, saying his guys were ecstatic about the prospects of just a mild delay in the season. As it stands, the Buckeyes were set to tip off the season on November 11, hosting Oakland.
A “potential” late Nov start in College Basketball sounds great. Mentioned it to our guys and they were ecstatic.
Hope and purpose are powerful forces.
Can’t wait for the soon and safe return of college sports for Football and all fall/winter athletes.
— Chris Holtmann (@ChrisHoltmann) September 2, 2020
On a positive note, the more we learn about the novel coronavirus, and with the tools and testing that are either on the horizon or already in place to monitor, the more sports and life appear ready to resume some more normalcy.
Let’s hope it all continues to move in that direction.
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