High school basketball season will start a week early in 2020

The high school boys’ and girls’ basketball season will begin a week earlier in the 2020-21 school year.

The KHSAA Board of Control unanimously approved a proposal to move the start of basketball season to the week of Thanksgiving for only the 2020-21 season.

An adjustment to the schedule for that season was necessary due to Rupp Arena hosting NCAA Tournament first-round games in 2021. Previously the KHSAA had raised the possibility of permanently changing the start and/or end dates of the season, but the organization decided to only address scheduling for the 2020-21 season following feedback from administrators and coaches.

“We enjoy being (Rupp Arena’s) second-biggest client, but their first-biggest client is the NCAA Tournament,” KHSAA Commissioner Julian Tackett said. “It’s one year only. There was talk about, ‘Do we need to shift the whole thing permanently?’ ... but let’s put a Band-Aid on the open wound.”

This story was originally published November 15, 2017 at 2:14 PM with the headline "High school basketball season will start a week early in 2020."