Quick college hoops update: The NCAA Division I Council has approved a start for college hoops to be November 25 according to multiple reports.
As a college hoops junkie, I am very excited about this. I've been pretty optimistic that they'll work something out for a season even if it means fans won't be able to attend the games. There are just 13 scholarship players on a college basketball team and typically 3-4 walk-ons (players without a scholarship), so that means 16-17 players in total. That's not that large of a group to manage, which is why I've been optimistic that they'll figure something out.
League play doesn't start for most leagues until January or late December, so all that schools are likely to miss is some non-conference games, which isn't that big of a deal. Conference play is when people start to pay attention.
As for fans, I don't expect to see fans at any point in the season. What I expect is that we'll have environments that closely mirror what the NBA has done in terms of creating a bubble environment. It's worked for the NBA; it's worked for tennis and other sports as well. So, the blueprint and roadmap to making this happen is definitely there.