To avoid glare of football, NCAA proposes earlier start to basketball season

While the Big Blue Nation never shelves its interest in Kentucky basketball, the NCAA may reduce the official offseason by three days.

Basketball games could be played three days earlier on the calendar if a proposal by the NCAA’s Division I Council is adopted.

The proposal, which could go into effect as soon as the 2018-19 season, allows games to be played as early as the Tuesday before the second Friday in November. That would be three days earlier than the current allowable scheduling of a game.

To offset the earlier start, the Council also proposed that the Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific 12 and Southeastern conferences adopt a mandatory three-day break from athletic activities for basketball players during a school’s winter break.

The council could vote on these changes as early as January.

UCLA Athletics Director Dan Guerrero, chair of the Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee, saw a widespread benefit to adopting the changes. In essence, a mid-week start would give basketball a tip-off to its season without directly competing for attention with a college football weekend.

“We hope to strike a balance between creating optimal attention for the start of basketball and providing the best scheduling model for student-athletes,” he said in a news release. “And I think these proposals do that.”

The three days away from athletics activities during a school’s winter break is supported by a majority of players who responded to a 2016 NCAA survey asking about time demands.

The Council also proposed several changes to the women’s basketball calendar. One change would move the first practice date to 42 days prior to the game first (allowing 42 days to stage 30 practices). The current calendar calls for 30 preseason practices to come within a 40-day period.

This story was originally published June 28, 2017 at 4:42 PM with the headline "To avoid glare of football, NCAA proposes earlier start to basketball season."