After a longer than usual offseason, the NCAA finally provided some clarity about the 2020-2021 season. There will be a college basketball season played this year.

In a press release last Thursday, the NCAA Division I Council approved for a start date of Nov. 25. This is 15 days later than the original start date, but starting on Nov. 25 means three-quarters of Division I schools competing will have finished their fall semester of classes.

“The new season start date near the Thanksgiving holiday provides the optimal opportunity to successfully launch the basketball season,” said NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt. “It is a grand compromise of sorts and a unified approach that focuses on the health and safety of student-athletes competing towards the 2021 Division I basketball championships.”

The 2020-2021 season won’t be completely normal. Instead of a typical 31-32 game regular season, teams have three scheduling options: 24 regular-season games and up to three games in one multi-team event, 25 regular-season games and up to two games in one multi-team event or 25 regular-season games without playing in a multi-team event. 

For Illinois, it’s still very unclear what its schedule may look like. The Illini are slated to play in the Emerald Coast Classic from Nov. 27-29 in Destin, Florida, though several Thanksgiving tournaments have already switched locations, including the Maui Invitational, which will now be played in Asheville, North Carolina and the Battle 4 Atlantis, which has been moved to South Dakota. Illinois’ first-round matchup is Florida, with Iowa State and Oregon on the other side of the bracket.

It does appear that the ACC-Big Ten Challenge will happen this year, though. According to Jeff Goodman, stadium basketball insider, the challenge has “strong momentum to be moved to December 8-9.”

As far as conference play goes, that schedule is still murky. The Big Ten has made no announcement on when those games will be played. Given the fact that teams can only play 24 to 25 games this season, a 20-game Big Ten schedule would appear unlikely.

Another potential change to this upcoming season is the possibility of no fans at games. The Big Ten announced there will be no fans at any football games this season, so it seems unlikely there would be any at basketball games.

“That’s challenging because you’re so used to feeding off your crowds’ energy, the momentum and everything,” said senior guard Trent Frazier. “I think the biggest thing for us is having each other’s back. We’re going to have to feed off each other’s energy. Guys talking on the bench, everyone talking on the court, that is going to be our fans.”

The upcoming hoops season will certainly look far from normal. An adjusted schedule, potential bubble situations and empty arenas will give the sport known for its raucous home courts a different vibe. But for an Illinois team that lost the opportunity to make their first NCAA Tournament since 2013, it’s hard to imagine they won’t embrace any opportunity given to them.

@BrandonSimberg

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