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St. John’s basketball: NCAA announces start date of 2020-21 season

By Michael Szabo

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 12: The Creighton Bluejays and the St. John's Red Storm prepare to tip off in front of a small crowd in the first half during the quarterfinals of the Big East Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 12, 2020 in New York City. Games will be played without fans amid growing concern over the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus). (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 12: The Creighton Bluejays and the St. John's Red Storm prepare to tip off in front of a small crowd in the first half during the quarterfinals of the Big East Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 12, 2020 in New York City. Games will be played without fans amid growing concern over the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus). (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /
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The St. John’s basketball team official knows when it will start the 2020-21 season as the NCAA has made its ruling.

Mark your calendars Red Storm fans, we are having a college basketball season!

On Wednesday afternoon, the NCAA Division I Council announced that they have approved a November 25 start date for the 2020-21 college basketball season.

The NCAA made the announcement official in a release.

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This decision pushes back the beginning of the season from the original starting date of November 10.

There had been reports that November 21 or November 25 would be the new start to the year, but now the speculation is over and there is finally official confirmation of a season after throughout this offseason the prospects of playing looked very uncertain.

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The NCAA statement also stated that there will be no closed scrimmages or exhibition games this season but there will be a transition period from September 21 until October 13 where players can engage in workouts, strength and conditioning activities, and team meetings.

Programs can officially begin preseason practice on October 14.

Teams across the country will look to set its schedules now that more clarity has been given for the season, but the coronavirus pandemic is still causing issues for programs in terms of travel restrictions and state quarantine guidelines.

St. John’s had confirmed earlier in the summer that they would be hosting Sacred Heart and La Salle, along with playing Texas Tech in the Big East vs. Big 12 Challenge, and taking part in the Preseason NIT as part of its non-conference schedule.

However, the Preseason NIT Tournament, which has now been moved from Brooklyn to Orlando, features Cincinnati, Texas Tech, and presumably a replacement for Arizona unless the Pac-12 reverses their previous ruling of not having any sporting events until January 1st.

ALSO READ: St. John’s continues pursuit of Class of ’22 star Roddy Gayle Jr.

Still, even though a start date has been announced there are still questions about the structure of the schedule that have to be answered because while some non-conference matchups had been previously confirmed, the question is whether they will go on as originally planned or be in a bubble environment.

While many things can possibly change between now and November 25, it is without a doubt exciting to hear that we now have a start date and St. John’s fans can countdown the days until the Red Storm take the court again. (69 days, to be exact)

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