I believe practice starts in 10 days. Pretty wild that it's right around the corner. Has the NCAA ever given a rationale as to why they moved the start of practice up by two weeks? The season is now 5 full months not counting post-season. 6 full weeks of practice before any games. That's absurd. 4 is plenty, I think 3 would be fine. I think they let them go 30 practices. If coaches can't get their guys ready in 20, that's on them. Has Loyola even hit mid-terms yet? I feel for these guys that really care about their grades - especially the rooks. Now you're looking at mid-terms, finals and second semester mid-terms all while in season. Anyway, that's my rant for the day.

Since when do the "Big" schools worry about students' grades ?? Well, a lot do--such as Stanford , Vandy et al but-----

Its all about $$$$$$$$$$$$$

Sad but true ! Now then by comparison to other confereces, the Big 28 or 16 or whatever shines by comparison to say SEC-mostly and the Pac 10 and those Texas , Arkansas folks . And specifically, how about Miami and I do not mean the Miami Ohio bunch. You get the picture-

I do feel that the MVC is legit and has been all along.

I hear ya Brot and agree that the NCAA is all about the dollar. But I fail to see how the earlier practice helps drive any more revenue.

If practice starts when you say it does, and I have no reason to doubt you I just haven't looked into it, it does give 4 weeks I think before games can begin. Games counting exhibitions. We only play one exhibition at WSU and we do a scrimmage which takes the place of the 2nd allowed exhibition. I believe games can begin on November 1 and that's when our scheduled closed scrimmage is with TCU. I'm assuming other teams accross the country will start their games that same day. Our scrimmage is the next Saturday which would be 5 weeks of practice.

I have no problem giving teams a month/four weeks prior to games. College basketball has a lot more detail than the HS game and I know here in Wichita it's said that it can take a while for the new guys to grasp the offensive and defensive concepts. So I don't think 4 weeks is too much and I believe that's the more accurate number and not 6. Unless you guys don't start playing until later for some reason or you don't count the exhibition games as the start of games.

Heck, I remember only having about two weeks of practice in HS before we started playing and didn't feel that was enough to really get everything in.

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The Roundhouse

The regular season opens on Friday, 11/14 - 6 weeks after practice starts. Exhibitions are glorified scrimmages with fans in the stands. You do not need a month of practice for an exhibition. One of my years we played an exhibition on Halloween, 2.5 weeks after practice began. Know what? It was great. Gave our coaching staff a chance to see where we were good and where we weren't when the lights were on.

Yes it takes time for freshman to adjust. Remember, though, NCAA changed the way individuals used to be (three 40 minute sessions/wk with max 4 players). Now there isn't a limit on players, so you can have the whole team out there and essentially run a couple of short practices a week to put in systems during the pre-season.

Shoot, NBA training camp starts 9/29. The Bulls open regular season a month later. Does college need more of a preseason than the pros?

I'd say four weeks of practice ought to be plenty for teams to be ready for game time. Shorter lead time also ought to help the teams that recruit, retain and develop 4 year players, which is what schools outside of Kentucky and UNC should be trying to do. That would be a plus for Wichita. Loyola right now? Not so much.

I believe the rule is that you can have your first practice six weeks before your first regular season game. For us, I think that would be October 3.

The rationale given by the NCAA was that you get 30 practices in those 42 days, so there are more off days than under the old system.

How that works in real life, I do not know.

Fall break is October 6-7, so I'm guessing midterms are around that time as well.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

Hunt makes the point exactly re: timing. Is it student-athlete or athlete-student?

They can split the 42 any way they really want so long as you always give one off day a week. But let's be honest here. Do we really think that once the season rolls around, guys aren't in the gym on their 'off' days anyhow? Trying to work on that jumper, the post moves, learning the systems, lifting, impressing the coaches for playing time?

To be clear I have no idea how Porter plans to use the practices - if mid-terms are in fact that week, for all I know he may defer practices. This is just my opinion on the NCAA.