There is still a tremendous amount uncertainty as it pertains to college athletics, and it seems like just about everyday a new radical idea is being introduced.
I think most all fans would agree that figuring out a solution to play a limited amount of games is still far better than no games at all. With collegiate and pro football kicking off across the nation and the Big Ten rethinking their previous stance, you will now start to see the eyes shift towards college basketball and their decision making timeline.
On Sunday, Jon Rothstein tweeted that several conferences were weighing the options of possibly increasing league games to the 2020-2021 schedule.
Kentucky Sports Radio’s Matt Jones followed up by adding that he’s hearing rumblings that the ACC may announce a conference only schedule for basketball, possibly as soon as within the next two weeks. That obviously means there would be no Kentucky Wildcats vs. Louisville Cardinals regular-season matchup on the hardwood.
Lots of whispers that ACC may announce in next two weeks that they are playing conference-only in Basketball
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) September 13, 2020
We shall see but could obviously effect UK-UL https://t.co/VWLDqkYRwd
This news isn’t exactly on par with the insane proposal of every team in Division-I making the NCAA tournament that we heard earlier this week but it does seem to be a bit premature in my opinion.
With basketball being played indoors it will clearly create additional challenges when planning as opposed to football and other fall sports. Maintaining a conference only schedule, in theory, could provide more control for each venue to monitor safety protocols and limit the spread of COVID-19.
To point out the obvious, if the ACC, or even the SEC, was to move forward with a league-only schedule, then Kentucky wouldn’t get to play their biggest rival. The game is slated to be played in Louisville this year and it would be a shame if it didn’t happen. The University of Louisville is closer to Lexington than any school in their own conference. But considering that the SEC is already doing this for football, you can say that there is a legitimate chance that they, or other conferences, could do the same thing.
Hopefully, things improve and a somewhat normal college basketball schedule can be played.