Sunday Quickies: High Confidence for College Hoops Edition

There is some optimism that there will be a college basketball season this year.

By Zac Oakes@ZacOakes Aug 2, 2020, 6:40am EDT

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An NCAA official said there is a “high level of confidence” that the NCAA Basketball season will be played this year, and is expected to start on time in November.

“We have plans across the country through our schools and conferences to bring students back to campus safely this month, in August, and then in early September,” said Dan Gavitt, NCAA Senior VP of Basketball, during an interview with Andy Katz. “Many players have been on campus for weeks now, training on campus in a very safe way. They’ve been very happy to be back playing the game they love with their coaches. We’ve got a high level of confidence.”

That statement should inspire some confidence in college basketball fans. Of course, anything could happen between now and then as we’ve already seen, but Gavitt said the NCAA feels really good about being able to play a college basketball season at this time.

“As long as basketball is being played safely anywhere in the world this season, we’ll be playing NCAA college basketball as well, both regular season and certainly the tournament in 2021,” said Gavitt. “We’ve got all sorts of plans and alternatives that we’re looking at in order to be able to do that in a safe and responsible way. But a high level of confidence that there’s going to be, while different, a great experience playing college basketball again for those guys that want to come back to school, finish their education, and have a great college basketball experience.

Gavitt said there will be meetings and plans made in September to prepare and confirm the plans, but encouraged the general public to take measures now to ensure that a season can be played.

“We need to be patient, we need to learn, we need to see how the fall sports – football, in particular – start, how the NBA finishes their season, Major League Soccer, Major League Baseball, the NHL. And we’re doing that... We know so much more today than we did a month ago. Of course, we need the help of everyone who loves sports across the country to wear masks and socially distance, have good hygiene, and help stop the spread of this terrible disease.”