Ivy League cancels basketball season for 2020-21

The Ivy League presidents have made their decision, meaning one of college basketball’s 32 conferences won’t be playing this season.

The Ivy League became the first Division I league to cancel its basketball seasons. They will not play any winter sports in 2020-21 and will delay a decision on spring sports until at least the start of March 2021.

“Consistent with its commitment to safeguard the health and well-being of student-athletes, the greater campus community, and general public, the Ivy League Council of Presidents has decided that league schools will not conduct intercollegiate athletics competition in winter sports during the 2020-21 season,” the Ivy League announced in a release.

The Ivy League’s decision comes only 13 days before the scheduled start of the 2020-21 college basketball season.

The eight Ivy League institutions are Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, and Yale. Yale was projected to be the best of the bunch this season; CBS Sports ranked the Bulldogs 99th in their preseason projection of all 357 Division I men’s basketball teams. Bethune-Cookman previously announced it would sit out the 2020-21 college basketball season, making it nine Division I teams opting out of the season.

In Canada, the national college championship for this season was already canceled.