The pandemic cancelled the 2020 March Madness, and now it’s affecting the 2020-21 regular season. The 2020-21 college basketball season start is here, but like with other sports in this country and around the world for most of this year, who knows how much of it will actually be played.
Regardless, though, the campaign is tipping off, and here is some of what you need to know for the season’s beginning.
When Does College Basketball Start?
The college basketball start is set for November 25, with a long list of games scheduled to take place on the men’s and women’s sides.
It is later than usual because of the pandemic, chopping off about three weeks from when the college basketball start would normally take place.
Already, there have been some game cancellations, which can probably be expected to continue as the season goes on. For example, we were supposed to be treated to No. 2 Baylor versus No. 18 Arizona State in men’s hoops on the campaign’s opening day, but that matchup joined a bevy of others on the cancelled list.
But who is playing (as of now) that we can look forward to watching?
What To Watch on Opening Day
On the women’s side, there are not a ton of intriguing showdowns on the first day of action. Perhaps the most interesting situation to me is No. 5 Louisville traveling to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to play at Southeast Missouri State (3 p.m. EST, ESPN+). The Cardinals have been one of the premier programs in the country for years and come into this season ranked in the top five. You would never expect a team like that to grace the court in Cape Girardeau barring a surprise NCAA Tournament host nod, but here we are. Enjoy it, SEMO.
In the men’s game, there are a few possibly exciting matchups: Memphis-Saint Mary’s (2 p.m. EST, ESPN2) and Western Kentucky-Northern Iowa (4:30 p.m. EST, ESPNU) will both take place in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, No. 18 Arizona State replaced the Baylor game with Rhode Island (7 p.m. EST, ESPN) in Uncasville, Connecticut, with No. 3 Villanova and Boston College following on the same floor (9:30 p.m. EST, ESPN), and No. 22 UCLA is heading to San Diego State to challenge the Aztecs (10:30 p.m. EST, CBSSN) in one of the final games of the day.
How will this college basketball season go? Who knows anything anymore. It might not even finish. There will probably be a lot of cancelled and postponed contests. But it’s clearly happening no matter what Rick Pitino thinks.
