Just like football, college basketball season could have conference-only feel to it
Signs are pointing toward the college basketball regular season becoming a conference-only affair amid the coronavirus pandemic, TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati acknowledged on Tuesday night.
“At this point, it’s not looking great for a nonconference season just because you’ve got limited competition,” Donati said. “You’ve got other leagues that have basically folded the tent for fall sports.”
Despite being labeled a “winter sport,” basketball starts during the fall. A conference such as the Pac-12 has already announced it has postponed sports competitions until Jan. 1. The same can be said for the Ivy League.
Those decisions, for instance, have already taken two games off TCU’s nonconference schedule. The Horned Frogs were scheduled to host an Ivy League school, and face Colorado of the Pac-12 in a preseason tournament in Las Vegas.
Other notable nonconference games for TCU that would be eliminated if the Big 12 opts for a conference-only setup is a Texas A&M matchup at Dickies Arena and hosting Providence in the Big 12/Big East Challenge.
“As of now, the prospects don’t look strong for a nonconference season and it may make more sense with our testing protocols to only play conference-only,” Donati said. “That’s something that we have yet to determine as a conference, but it’s something that we’re all thinking about and something we’ll have to make a decision on some time in the near future.”
As disappointing as it would be to see the nonconference portion of the schedule eliminated, Donati and TCU basketball coach Jamie Dixon remain confident that there will at least be a basketball season in some fashion. And March Madness — preferably in March.
The NCAA’s biggest moneymaker is March Madness. In fact, it’s essentially the organization’s only moneymaker.
And the tournament has its maximum TV value in March when it’s the biggest sporting event going on (in other words, it would seem the NCAA would shorten the regular season to keep the tournament in March rather than delay the tournament to, say, April or May).
“Having only one source of revenue from the NCAA Tournament is not a good business model,” Dixon said. “That’s not a good growth strategy. But we’re going to figure it out, just like MLB and the NBA and football are doing.”
Dixon stressed that it’s too early to make a determination on what the season will look like. The NCAA plans to make an announcement on the basketball season in mid-September. As everyone has seen amid the pandemic, things can look drastically better or worse in one month’s time.
But a conference-only schedule feels the most realistic for now.
“I think we’ll play basketball this year,” Donati said. “I think, like with football and other fall sports, that it’s not going to look like a traditional season. What that looks like remains to be seen.”
