2020-21 College Basketball Season Reportedly Targeting Nov. 25 Start Date

The oversight committees for men's and women's college basketball have reportedly agreed to propose a Nov. 25 target date for the start of the 2020-21 season.

CBS Sports' Matt Norlander reported Wednesday that the proposal, which represents a two-week delay from the original Nov. 10 start date, will be sent to the Division I Council for a final vote.

While there was some discussion about sticking with the Nov. 10 openers, the short delay received the most support, per Norlander. It also brought the Pac-12 back into the mix for a potential unified start after the conference previously said it wouldn't start basketball until January.

If the date is approved, Norlander noted the next conversations will focus on when formal practices can begin and setting a minimum and maximum number of games for each program.

Both issues are potentially problematic as schools around the country have different stances about in-person classes and athletic activities along with when sporting events should be allowed to restart—a debate mostly centered on football so far.

Conferences have yet to determine how to handle the college basketball schedule. It's possible they could follow the lead of football conferences that decided to eliminate or significantly reduce the nonconference portion of the slate.

NCAA President Mark Emmert said in August the NCAA would explore the potential use of the "bubble" approach used by the NBA, NHL and other leagues to resume play amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"If we have to do a bubble model and that's the only way we can do it, then we'll figure it out," Emmert told reporters.

The NCAA has filed to trademark the phrase "Battle in the Bubble" for potential tournament use and on merchandise, per Darren Rovell of the Action Network.

Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski stressed the importance of making sure the 2021 edition of March Madness happens during an appearance on ESPN Radio's Keyshawn, JWill & Zubin last month.

"We're the thing that the NCAA is most concerned about because men's college basketball and the tournament pays for something like ... it produces 98 percent or more of the money for the NCAA," he said. "We need to have the tournament. We can't have it where two years in a row you don't have the NCAA tournament."

The 2020 NCAA tournament was canceled in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic.