SEC Network releases coverage plans for non-conference basketball games
Basketball season begins this week across the SEC for both men’s and women’s basketball, and the SEC Network has released which games will be televised.
The season tips off with a double header with Morehead State at Kentucky in men’s basketball at 6 p.m. ET on Wednesday, followed by Jacksonville State at Alabama at 8 p.m. ET.
At 7 p.m. ET on Friday, Valparaiso will play at Vanderbilt.
For the men, Tennessee was voted the overall preseason pick for the first time since the 2008-09 season. SEC play is set to begin Tuesday, Dec. 29 and SEC Network’s conference TV slate will be announced at a later date.
On the women’s side, non-conference action begins on Sunday, Nov. 29 at 4 p.m., with Kentucky hosting Belmont.
Defending SEC champion South Carolina was picked to defend its title and will start the season as the top-ranked team in the AP Preseason poll for the first time in program history. Conference play starts up before the ball drops on New Year’s Eve, as Ole Miss and the Gamecocks battle in Columbia at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 31, with Arkansas at Kentucky immediately following at 8:30 p.m. on SECN.
SEC Network will provide wall-to-wall studio coverage surrounding the 2021 SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament in Greenville, S.C. and the 2021 SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament in Nashville, Tenn., with the early rounds of both on SEC Network for complete Champ Week coverage.
Let’s just hope the basketball season can be played with maybe a few games cancelled. Players want to play & Coaches want to coach.
Ole Miss already cancelled their first four games, and Kermit Davis is Covid-positive. Every year, the regular influenza disrupts basketball, as the cold weather sends people indoors.
I heard something incredible yesterday from a friend. In Tennessee, the number of Covid deaths in the state per thousand residents is the same ratio as the number of deaths per thousand residents in 1918-19 from the Spanish Flu.
I see a scenario that could erase the regular basketball season and replace it with informal games and no real championship. Some SEC teams might play 18 conference games, but some might play 10-14. Besides the players and coaches, there are other people involved in playing basketball, like the officials, the scorekeepers, the stats crew, the people that keep the gyms open, etc. All of these people have to remain healthy. Even with no fans, the logistics are an issue.