UPDATE ON UCONN MATCH UPSept 18, 2020As NCAA announces a framework for seasonbig nonconference play question remains for UConn"The NCAA took a meaningful step Wednesday in announcing a framework for the 2020-21 college basketball season, including a Nov. 25 start date and stipulating how many games each school must play. But there's over nine weeks until Nov. 25. A lot can change between now and then, and so many important features of this season remain to be determined. The next step, though, is for conferences to decide how to proceed, a decision that will have significant implications for the UConn women, who more than most programs heavily rely on playing a strong nonconference schedule.
Per a Courant source, Big East coaches and athletic directors met virtually Thursday to flesh out ideas, which include moving up the start date of conference play to mid-December so that teams can play all 20 league games. The conference is also considering having all 11 teams play at a single site for as long as two weeks.
In addition to playing in the Hall of Fame Women's Challenge at Mohegan Sun Arena, the UConn women were set to host Maryland, Arkansas-Little Rock, Dayton and South Carolina.
The Huskies were scheduled to travel to Notre Dame, Virginia, Tennessee and
Baylor.
Given the conference's apparent preference to play the full 20-game league schedule,
UConn may only have room to play 5 nonconference games, including the two in the Hall of Fame Challenge (women's basketball teams can play 23 regular season games plus a multiteam event or 25 without one). For reference, the NCAA recommended schools schedule at least four nonconference games, and the minimum amount of games total they can play is 13.
For now, it appears that the Hall of Fame Challenge is still on and will be played in a bubble environment at Mohegan Sun. But what about their other nonconference games? It goes without saying that nonconference matchups are huge for the UConn women. It's where they boost their strength of schedule and players get experience facing off against better teams than they face in the Big East, preparing them for the NCAA Tournament.
The Huskies thus have a large incentive to, if feasible and safe,
keep as many big matchups i.e. against Maryland, Notre Dame, South Carolina, Tennessee and
Baylor on their schedule as possible.
But UConn can't proceed until conferences primarily the Big East but also those of its opponents
decide how many conference games to play. Reports last week said that some ACC coaches didn't want to hold nonconference competition this season, which is why the conference proposed an all-inclusive NCAA Tournament that's unlikely to happen. Still, if the ACC were to go through with that, it would take away UConn's matchups against Notre Dame and Virginia.
And for UConn and other Connecticut schools,
how will the state's travel restrictions impact who and where they can play? Gov. Ned Lamont was asked Thursday whether the UConn women's team would have to quarantine after playing away games in states on Connecticut's travel advisory list. But for now all eyes are on what the Big East decides as well as the Big Ten, ACC and
Big 12."
Link for entire 18 Sept 2020 articlehttps://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-womens-basketball/hc-sp-uconn-women-ncaa-news-20200918-20200918-ji2war55hngblca6edxyfdrusy-story.html