Last Wednesday, the NCAA announced the new start date for the 2020-21 college men’s and women’s basketball season for Nov. 25.
The new announcement comes with other caveats including a reduced regular season to a minimum of 13 games to be NCAA tournament eligible and a maximum of 27 games, full practices beginning Oct. 14, and a continued moratorium on in-person recruiting until Jan.1.
UTRGV Vice-President and Director of Athletics Chasse Conque said he Is glad to have an official announcement on the start of the season but now UTRGV has to take the next steps forward in planning for a safe return.
“We’re excited and support it, you hate seeing any season get cut short but it’s really a minimal impact and I think a really good time for us, it gives us a little bit more of a runway to be prepared,” Conque said.
Teams across the country, as a result of the new start date of Nov. 25 are looking to adjust their schedules including UTRGV women’s basketball.
UTRGV women’s basketball Head Coach Lane Lord said that his staff is continually trying to reschedule games but is holding top priority for high-level Division I opponents.
“We always want to play a challenging non-conference schedule and our first priority is to make sure we keep Texas Tech and University of Kansas on our schedule,” Lord said. “So, right now we are waiting for those two schools to give us some dates and then we’ll fill in our other games we need in the non-conference around those dates.”
According to Conque, plans for the inaugural UTRGV South Padre Island Classic from Dec. 18-19 at the South Padre Island Convention Centre and games at Bert Ogden Arena are still scheduled to take place.
“What we are excited about the 25th is it allows us to continue our plan on South Padre Island and Bert Ogden Arena,” Conque said. “I really feel great about the future of South Padre Island and our basketball program.
Although UTRGV Athletics has not released official information about fan attendance for the upcoming basketball season.
Conque added that UTRGV is actively looking to allow fans at games with priority given to season-ticket holders, corporate sponsors and media.
“We are in constant [communication] in working with local officials, obviously county and state officials, our hope is to open our venues and to allow our fans to come to our games,” Conque said. “Now, we all know it’s going to look different, there is going to be percentages we put on capacity and that is something we are already preparing for. We want to make sure our season ticket holders are taken care of and that our corporate partners and students have the ability to come watch the Vaquero play.
Lastly, the continual in-person recruiting moratorium will be extended until Jan. 1. and presents challenges for Lord and his coaching staff as he highlights that in-person recruiting visits are a major part of the recruitment process at UTRGV.
“Yeah, it’s a really tough situation because we feel like when we get players here to the Valley and their parents on a visit that we can showcase our community, our university, our facilities, get the recruits around our players and coaches and our number one selling-point for UTRGV is the people,” Lord said.
When asked about fall sports, such as volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer and cross country, Conque said the WAC is continually looking at its viability but are encouraged with its possibility due to the NCAA’s announcement regarding basketball.
“Those discussions are happening, had a meeting earlier with colleagues in the WAC we’ve got a lot of work to do in the next couple weeks to figure out the path for those sports but exciting news that there is one and now we have to find what works best for us,” Conque said.
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