The crazy schedule-making game of the 2020-21 college basketball season appears to be taking another wild turn for the Spartans as reports are now suggesting the originally planned eight-team Orlando Invitational is no more.
A flurry of reports came out on Friday evening — centered around the original participants of the Orlando Invitational — making it quite clear the original eight-team field is no longer intact. CBS College Basketball Insiders Matt Norlander and Jon Rothstein both reported on Friday evening that three of the teams scheduled to participate in the Orlando Invitational (Gonzaga, Auburn and Boise State) have all agreed to play in different Orlando-based tournaments to start the season.
College hoops note: The Wooden Legacy, scheduled up against the start of the season in Orlando, will include Kansas, UCLA, Seton Hall and … Boise State! This according to sources. Would be a two-day/two-game event.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) October 9, 2020
Sources: Gonzaga is expected to play Auburn and Houston is expected to face Texas Tech in the first round of a four-team tournament in Orlando during the first week of the season.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) October 9, 2020
Then, Norlander followed-up his earlier reports later on Friday evening stating he’s hearing all of the multi-team events in Orlando will be four-team setups and no eight-team events will take place.
A college hoops schedule nugget as we settle into Game 5: Unless something unexpected comes together soon, I’m told every single multi-team event in Orlando in the first week-plus of college basketball’s season will be a four-team setup. No eight-team brackets in Florida.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) October 10, 2020
So what does this all mean? Well, if these reports are true then it’s disappointing news as we now know that potential intriguing matchups with Gonzaga and Auburn are off the board for the Spartans. It also means quite frankly that we can’t read all too much into any schedule-related reports and won’t know anything until the schedule is announced by the school because things are constantly shifting behind the scenes.
With Michigan State still expected to play in the Champions Classic in Orlando on Dec. 1, we can assume the Spartans will still play in some type of multi-team event in the Orlando bubble to start the season. However, at this point, it’s up in the air who will be their opponents and how many games they’ll play in Orlando.
Earlier this week, Rothstein reported the Gavitt Tipoff Games won’t take place this season, which at the time left the Spartans with two available non-conference games. I anticipate the Spartans will play at least three or four games in the bubble (two in multi-team event and Champions Classic) so expect Michigan State to still have two or three spots left to fill on the non-conference slate.
