Friday Quickies: Hope for College Basketball Edition

If COVID-19 gets worse, the NCAA isn’t going to roll over that easy.

By John Morgan Francis@MonJorgan Jul 10, 2020, 6:40am EDT

It was just four months ago when Kentucky and every other college basketball program saw their season unexpectedly come to an end due to COVID-19. So, four months away from the upcoming season, will we have a college basketball season this fall?

If we do, will it even start on time? Thankfully, someone well-connected to college basketball is “confident” we’ll see the season start on time.

Per Matt Norlander of CBS Sports, NCAA Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt is confident the season will begin without any holdups.

With the first week of games being four months away, the NCAA of course has plenty of time to strategize a COVID-19 battle plan and be ready to change course if the virus presents any road blocks. Even looking into March Madness next spring, the Final Four will be held in Indianapolis where the NCAA is headquartered and Gavitt specifically said he’s confident the NCAA could hold a safe ending to the season there.

“Our confidence about doing that safely for the players, coaches, fans and media is high,” Gavitt said. “The contingencies we’ve talked about so far are really around what everybody’s having to consider. Obviously practicing social distancing, reduce capacity in the venues, even safety considerations around the court, in locker rooms and all the things that we’re going to have to do in a very detailed way — testing for sure. Even with hotels and team travel and all those kinds of things.”