Michigan Basketball: Wolverines opt out of 2020 Empire Classic
By Max S.
Michigan basketball has opted out of the 2020 Empire Classic in late November. The start of the season for the Wolverines is now unknown.
Last week we reported that Michigan basketball was set to start their season on November 25th against top-five ranked Villanova in the opening matchup of the 2020 Empire Classic. The small tournament also featured top ranked Baylor and Boston College.
That is no longer the case as Michigan basketball has decided to opt out of the tournament.
Michigan has opted out of playing in the Connecticut-based 2020 Empire Classic, according to sources, meaning the school won’t be traveling to Mohegan Sun. This MTE still has Baylor, Villanova and Boston College, which replaced NC State in the event. Scheduled for Nov. 25 and 26.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) October 5, 2020
The reason for the opt out is unclear and Michigan’s start to the 2020-21 season is now unknown. As a Michigan basketball fan, this was a bummer to hear.
Michigan had the chance to play some extremely high level games against Baylor and Villanova to start the season. Losses would not have hurt them at all and those games would have been a great indicator on where this team was at to start the season.
This was not the only high level game that was canceled for the Wolverines. They were also scheduled to play in London against the Kentucky Wildcats on December 5th. That game was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
As it sits right now, Michigan’s schedule is back to a blank sheet and they will have work to do to get a few good opponents scheduled before Big Ten play starts.
It appears that the non-conference schedule for college hoops will be slightly shortened but conference play still should be 20 games for the Big Ten.
Big Ten coaches as a group favor a 20-game league schedule, per source. There was a little momentum for a 22-league slate, but told its likely going to be 20.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) September 29, 2020
Conference play in the Big Ten could start as early as late December. That would give the conference a bit more time to space out games and deal with any Covid-19 related issues.
If that does happen, Michigan basketball would only have about a four week window for non-conference games to prepare for the start of Big Ten play.
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We expect schedules to start to be finalized in the coming weeks and will report on Michigan’s schedule as we know more.