Iona basketball coach Rick Pitino doesn’t want the season to start on time.
The legendary basketball coach tweeted Wednesday afternoon that the season should be pushed until January to “buy some more time for a vaccine and to get things under control” during the coronavirus pandemic. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
He also added that only conference games should be played.
Suggestion to the NCAA, push the start of the season back to January and only play league games. Buy some more time for a vaccine and to get things under control. Although I can’t wait to be back on the sidelines, the health of my players and staff is what’s really important.
— Rick Pitino (@RealPitino) July 1, 2020
While I appreciate the position Pitino is coming from, I’m not sure I really like this plan. The season gets underway in early November.
If we’re not rolling by November, then we have much bigger problems on our hands than the college basketball season.
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November is also still a very long ways away. It’s not even close. We have several months to get the situation under control before November gets here.
By that time, the football season should already be rolling and nearing an end of the regular season. If we can play football, then we damn sure can play basketball.
Also, you can’t just shave off half the schedule and only play conference games. While I love B1G conference games for my Badgers, you need the non-conference slate to figure out what kind of team you have.
Let’s not make hasty decisions right now when we can hold off until November. There’s no need to rush or overreact.