Now that Nov. 25 has been announced as the official start date for the college basketball season, programs are scurrying around chaotically trying to cobble together some semblance of a schedule. Obviously, considerations of health and safety are going to be paramount in 2020-21.
Assuming those important health and safety questions are answered satisfactorily, we can then turn to the matter of trying to schedule entertaining nonconference games that will require minimal travel. Below are suggested matchups that have two key advantages.
First, these teams are all ranked highly in Bart Torvik's 2020-21 preseason projections. Second, these games would be exceedingly easy to play, with every player involved returning safely to campus at the end of the evening.
These are the nonconference games we'd like to see at a time of heightened geographic sensitivities:
Creighton vs. Kansas
You'll remember Creighton as possibly the last team you saw in action last season. The Bluejays were on the floor against St. John's in a Big East tournament game that made it to halftime on March 12 before being halted. That was a CU team that went 13-5 in the Big East and might have been on its way to a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament. Marcus Zegarowski, Mitch Ballock and Damien Jefferson have returned and would stand toe-to-toe with Marcus Garrett and Ochai Agbaji. The two programs are located an easy drive up (or down) US-75 from each other.