The 2020-21 college basketball season will undoubtedly look a little different than years past. With Covid-19 on the rise special precautions will be taken to ensure the safety of the players, coaches, and referees. NCAA president Mark Emmert issued a statement about the guidelines, via Myerberg:

“This basketball resocialization guidance is based on the best information available in a rapidly changing COVID-19 environment. It is predicated on the assumption that rapid testing capabilities will be readily available later this year. We will constantly assess emerging information as we prepare for the start of the basketball season at the end of November.”

One big aspect of the guidelines is encouraging schools to put student-athletes and “essential basketball personnel” into a different tier that will allow them to “best monitor tracing and potential quarantine procedures in case of one or more positive tests for the coronavirus.” The three tests will occur on non-consecutive days. The NCAA said  “schools should consider placing the entire group under quarantine for 14 days” if a person or persons in tier one test positive for covid. The ivy league has already cancelled the girls and boys season. For the rest of the NCAA teams it’s looking as normal as you can at this point with covid. The top 25 was released with the number 1 team being Gonzaga. Other notable teams in the top 10 are Iowa who’s returning one of the best players in the Big Ten, Illinois who is returning two top 5 players in the big ten and had a top 15 recruiting class. Other notable teams in the top ten are Virginia, Baylor, Duke and Kentucky who are usually pretty good. November 25 was the set date for both men’s and women’s college basketball season to tip off. March 16 2021 is the set date for the men’s basketball tournament to start with the womens starting March 19th. The NCAA plans to hold the entire tournament in Indianapolis. After last season ended the way it did with getting to watch the tournament the players are ready to get back to playing and the fans are getting ready to start cheering.