Louisville basketball: How new start date impacts Cards 2020-21 season

Louisville basketball’s season officially has a start date (from the NCAA).

After a lot of uncertainty about when exactly Louisville basketball and the rest of country would begin a season amidst safety concerns stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA has finally come out and solidified November 25th, 2020 as the official start date for the 2020-21 college basketball season.

In addition to an official start date, Jeff Goodman, Stadium Basketball Insider, reported on details about practice hours for programs and game reductions.

The NCAA also came out and set standards for NCAA Tournament qualifications stemming from maximum and minimum participation from programs.

Teams are now allowed to play a maximum of 24-27 games in the regular season and a minimum of 13 games if they want to qualify to be considered for NCAA Tournament selection.

Jeff Borzello, ESPN College Basketball Insider, was a part of a webinar hosted by the NCAA Division I Council Tuesday afternoon and reported on what Dan Gavitt, the NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball, had to say about the November 25 start date:

"“The new season start date near the Thanksgiving holiday provides the optimal opportunity to successfully launch the basketball season. It is a grand compromise of sorts and a unified approach that focuses on the health and safety of student-athletes competing towards the 2021 Division I basketball championships.”"

In addition to changes to the amounts of games teams will play, the NCAA also came out and said that there will be no scrimmages or exhibitions all season long and that there will be no recruiting visits for basketball programs until January 1, 2021 at the earliest.

It is unknown yet whether or not it will be on a conference-by-conference basis on whether or not teams are allowed to participate in non-conference games, but it seems likely that programs around the country, regardless of conference, will only face other “in-area” programs.

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How could Louisville basketball be impacted by new season date?

As for Louisville basketball, there is no official word yet about if the Cards will be playing immediately on November 25 as Louisville Athletics will likely wait to release any set schedule until the ACC does so about the conference schedule. This also does not mean that Louisville basketball does not already have potential opponents lined up.

However, there are two dates on the calendar that we for sure know will be impacted.

First, will be the November 13th matchup with Cincinnati that was announced a few months ago in a fun social back-and-forth between head  coaches and good friends, Chris Mack and John Brannen. This was the first time the two programs were set to meet since their last go-round together in the AAC back in 2013-14, and while we don’t know if this means the game is cancelled we do know it at least won’t fall on November 13th.

Louisville was also one of four teams set to participate in the 2020 MGM Resorts Main Event in Las Vegas, originally scheduled for Nov 20-Nov 22. It is uncertain whether or not this event will still be held, but the Cards were a part of a four team field including Arkansas, Colorado State and San Francisco as well.

One big issue, possibly not for Louisville but many college basketball programs around the country, is the frequency of COVID-19 testing these athletes will have to go through. Many smaller market basketball programs may not be able to afford the longevity of the testing, which could become a storyline within itself.

As the November 25 start date begins to slowly get closer, it should be interesting to not only monitor “bubble-like” scenarios for early-season tournaments, but how each conference plans to handle their schedules. Updates for Louisville Basketball’s 2020-21 schedule should be coming within the next few weeks.