College basketball season set for late November start

The NCAA Division I council said on Wednesday that both the men’s and women’s college basketball season can begin on November 25th, just a few weeks later than the typical start to the season.

The original start date was slated for November 10th. Tennessee’s first game was scheduled for November 11th against Wisconsin. The other game affected would be a November 14th date with Presbyterian. Every other game currently scheduled happens after November 25th.

The new date, just one day before Thanksgiving, will allow for the traditional early season tournaments, although they may look at little different. Orlando will reportedly be the new host for several of these tournaments, utilizing the same bubble system that the NBA has been so successful with.

Fans are not expected to be in attendance.

Tennessee is a part of the Charleston Classic field, which includes Florida State, Houston, Oklahoma State, Penn State, VCU, Seton Hall and Charleston.

Additionally, a date of October 14th was set for teams to begin practicing.

Other non-conference games of interest include Cincinnati on December 12th and Memphis on December 19th. Those games likely remain up in the air for now as the college basketball world takes a wait-and-see approach through the fall. For now, we at least have a date and a firm plan to get these early season tournaments going. What happens after that is a mystery.

With the success of the NBA and college football season seemingly moving forward full steam ahead, hopefully we can get a somewhat normal college basketball season.