Syracuse Basketball: With new start date, schedule will have to shift

It looks like the 2020-21 campaign will commence on Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving, for Syracuse basketball and its peers around the country.

A couple of weeks ago, we prognosticated that it would prove unlikely for Syracuse basketball and its associates around the country to kick off the 2020-21 term as originally scheduled on Nov. 10 due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. For once, we got something right!

Multiple media reports, including from CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein and Matt Norlander, indicate that the Division 1 Council, after a meeting on Wednesday, decided to set a start date of Nov. 25 for the 2020-21 stanza.

Rothstein adds in a story, citing a source, that official practices may begin six weeks prior to the initial kick-off date, on Oct. 14.

Mike Waters of Syracuse.com writes in a piece that, per Norlander, “on Sept. 21 coaches will be able to hold on-court drills for eight hours a week, which is up from the current limit of four hours per week.”

Waters also says in his article that, according to NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt, “the maximum number of games that teams can play will be reduced from 31 to 27, while the minimum number of games will be 13.”

This past June, we penned a column detailing that Syracuse basketball would host UMBC from the Carrier Dome on Tuesday, Nov. 10. Obviously, with the new later start date, that contest will have to get rescheduled, or it could get canceled.

Other non-conference foes that the Orange is slated to face include LSU in the Gotham Classic, Green Bay, Jacksonville State and Mercer. There’s also Georgetown and a game in the annual ACC-Big Ten Challenge. How those meetings might possibly get changed is unclear at this juncture.

In a statement from the NCAA, announcing that the Division I Council has approved moving the start date for Division I men’s and women’s basketball to Nov. 25 for the 2020-21 season, the press release also said, “No exhibition games or closed scrimmages will be allowed before that date.”

"More from the NCAA media release. “Moving the start date back from Nov. 10 is intended to have contests begin when at least three-quarters of Division I schools will have concluded their fall terms or moved remaining instruction and exams online, creating a more controlled and less populated campus environment that may reduce the risk of COVID-19 that can occur between student-athletes and the broader student body population. … The maximum number of contests was reduced by four, given that the season will start 15 days later than originally scheduled. In men’s basketball, teams can schedule 24 regular-season games and participate in one multiple-team event that includes up to three games; 25 regular-season games and participate in one multiple-team event that includes up to two games; or 25 regular-season games if a team does not participate in a multiple-team event.”"