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It looks like the basketball season could start Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving.

Reports from several national outlets have said the NCAA men's and women's basketball oversight committees have proposed starting then, which is the day before Thanksgiving. The NCAA Division I Council reportedly will vote on the idea this Tuesday, Sept. 16. Here’s cbssports.com story.

The Thanksgiving start is about three weeks later than previous (non-COVID-10) seasons. The delay allows teams to begin games after most universities have emptied campuses for the fall. As at many other schools, Kent State classes and exams will be completely online in the last three weeks of the semester.

With almost no other students in town, athletes would be less likely to interact with others who might be infected.

That leaves about a month for non-conference games. Teams and promoters are talking about "bubble" preseason tournaments, in which as many as 20 teams could play at a single site and be tested heavily.

Teams are expected to announce non-conference schedules after the Division I Council decision.

MAC teams could play up to eight non-conference games. The league has gone to a 20-team conference schedule this season.

The league has announced its conference schedule. Here's a link to the MAC full men's schedule and full women's schedule.

Men's play starts on Saturday, Jan. 2. Kent State opens at Eastern Michigan, then plays Toledo at home on Tuesday, Jan. 5. The Flashes play home-and-home games with every team except for Ball State on the road and Northern Illinois in Kent. The men finish with games at Buffalo and against Akron at the M.A.C.C.

The women open at Toledo on Wednesday, Dec. 30, and play their first home game Wednesday, Jan. 6, against NIU. Their single games are at Central Michigan and vs. Ball State in Kent.

No team has a bye week in conference play. The men play every Tuesday and Saturday, the women every Wednesday and Saturday (barring changes for television).

There will be no divisions. The top eight teams will advance to the conference tournament in Cleveland in March. There will be no first-round tournament games on conferences sites.

The new conference schedule is designed to cut down on travel costs and virus exposure in commercial travel.

Here's link to the Kent State women's schedule.

KSU hasn't posted the men's schedule. Here's the order of games, starting Tuesday, Jan. 2, and alternating Saturdays and Tuesdays, taken from the MAC site:

At EMU
Toledo
WMU
At CMU
At Ohio
Buffalo
At Toledo
At Ball State
CMU
Miami
At Akron
At BG
NIU
At WMU
EMU
BG
At Miami
Ohio
At Buffalo
Akron

There's a slightly more detailed story, emphasizing the KSU women, on the blog at http://wbbFlashes.com.

(09-12-2020 06:34 PM)cschierh Wrote:  It looks like the basketball season could start Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving.

Reports from several national outlets have said the NCAA men's and women's basketball oversight committees have proposed starting then, which is the day before Thanksgiving. The NCAA Division I Council reportedly will vote on the idea this Tuesday, Sept. 16. Here’s cbssports.com story.

The Thanksgiving start is about three weeks later than previous (non-COVID-10) seasons. The delay allows teams to begin games after most universities have emptied campuses for the fall. As at many other schools, Kent State classes and exams will be completely online in the last three weeks of the semester.

With almost no other students in town, athletes would be less likely to interact with others who might be infected.

That leaves about a month for non-conference games. Teams and promoters are talking about "bubble" preseason tournaments, in which as many as 20 teams could play at a single site and be tested heavily.

Teams are expected to announce non-conference schedules after the Division I Council decision.

MAC teams could play up to eight non-conference games. The league has gone to a 20-team conference schedule this season.

The league has announced its conference schedule. Here's a link to the MAC full men's schedule and full women's schedule.

Men's play starts on Saturday, Jan. 2. Kent State opens at Eastern Michigan, then plays Toledo at home on Tuesday, Jan. 5. The Flashes play home-and-home games with every team except for Ball State on the road and Northern Illinois in Kent. The men finish with games at Buffalo and against Akron at the M.A.C.C.

The women open at Toledo on Wednesday, Dec. 30, and play their first home game Wednesday, Jan. 6, against NIU. Their single games are at Central Michigan and vs. Ball State in Kent.

No team has a bye week in conference play. The men play every Tuesday and Saturday, the women every Wednesday and Saturday (barring changes for television).

There will be no divisions. The top eight teams will advance to the conference tournament in Cleveland in March. There will be no first-round tournament games on conferences sites.

The new conference schedule is designed to cut down on travel costs and virus exposure in commercial travel.

Here's link to the Kent State women's schedule.

KSU hasn't posted the men's schedule. Here's the order of games, starting Tuesday, Jan. 2, and alternating Saturdays and Tuesdays, taken from the MAC site:

At EMU
Toledo
WMU
At CMU
At Ohio
Buffalo
At Toledo
At Ball State
CMU
Miami
At Akron
At BG
NIU
At WMU
EMU
BG
At Miami
Ohio
At Buffalo
Akron

There's a slightly more detailed story, emphasizing the KSU women, on the blog at http://wbbFlashes.com.

Hey ... it wasn't that long ago when Thanksgiving week was the unofficial start of the college basketball season, so this is really a bigger deal for all those 'destination' nonconference tournaments in PR, Hawaii, Alaska and a few others. In the big scheme of things, can see teams losing more than 3-4 games.

The bigger issue from what I understand is those two 'secret scrimmages' have been eliminated where coaches got a chance to do some experimenting before the real deal starts. In the past Kent has scrimmaged St. Bonaventure, Robt. Morris and/or Duquesne usually for five/six 10-15 minute sessions. That's a lot of product on tape that coaches use to evaluate.

The NCAA is now looking at Nov. 21, the Saturday before Thanksgiving, as an opening date.

Officials think the earlier date could allow more multi-team events in an NBA-like “bubble” format, CBS sports reported Monday. In those, multiple teams — perhaps as many as 20 — could play at a single site with a controlled environment and heavy COVID testing. I think we can expect a bunch of such events in the five weeks before conference play starts.

An updated story is on the blog at http://wbbFlashes.com.

The season will start Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving.

The NCAA Division I Council overrode a Nov. 21 recommendation from its basketball committees to set the date, deciding it was best to wait until on-campus classes ended for most universities. After Thanksgiving, all Kent State classes and final exams will be entirely online.

Men's teams are restricted to 28 regular-season games if they participate in a multi-team event in which they play three games.

Women's teams can play 27 if they play four games in a multi-team event.

There will be no exhibition games or preseason scrimmages.

Teams don't have to start on Nov. 25; it's just the earliest a game can be played.

Practices start Oct. 14. Until then, teams can have 12 hours a week of strength and conditioning activities, team meetings and on-court drills. The drills are limited to eight hours.

Full story at on the blog at http://wbbFlashes.com.