Kansas basketball and football need to prepare for schedule cancellations

With the Ivy League announcing no games before January first of 2021, Kansas basketball and football should prepare for a reality that some of their non-conference games will be postponed or maybe even canceled.

The Ivy League was one of the first conferences to suspend sports back in March, and now they’ve announced that the league will not play any games until 2021. This may cause an issue directly for Kansas basketball, and it may be a sign of things to come.

Kansas basketball was set to play the Harvard Crimson on December 29 of 2020, and that game looks like it may be in jeopardy despite no official ruling one way or the other from Harvard or Kansas. The decision by the Ivy League goes deeper than one game for the Jayhawks though.

The Ivy League canceling those games could set a precedent for schools that don’t rely on sports, and it may lead to some Kansas basketball and football games against low-level non-conference teams to be canceled.

For KU football, it’s hard to imagine teams like New Hampshire, an FCS school, and Coastal Carolina, a Sun Belt Conference school, wanting to play football this season. For Kansas football, they could still play 10 games if those two choose not to play. Their other 10 are against all Big 12 schools along with Boston College.

For Kansas basketball, they’re scheduled to play five teams that would be considered mid or low-major: Southern Utah, Eastern Illinois, Stony Brook, Omaha, and Harvard. There’s a real chance that the other four games may not happen for the Jayhawks, and fans should be prepared for that scenario should it arise.

Obviously, everybody wants a college football and basketball season in 2020 and 2021, but if it comes down to it, then the athletes’, coaches’, staff, and fans’ safety needs to be protected at all costs.