On Wednesday, the Big West Conference released the conference schedules for both the men’s and women’s basketball teams.

After months of uncertainty following the cancellation of all fall sports, the schedule release signals the intent of the Big West Conference to have a basketball season this school year.

Given the circumstances, of course, the schedule will be anything but typical. Rather than the usual round-robin gauntlet, each team will play back-to-back games against the same opponent, with the majority of these games taking place on Fridays and Saturdays. Through this method, the conference hopes to limit travel while still allowing each team to play every conference opponent twice.

 In addition, each team will have a one week bye in the schedule. However, games will not be rescheduled if a team is forced to quarantine.

Both UC Santa Barbara basketball teams will kick off conference play on Sunday, Dec. 27 against UC Irvine, with the women’s team hosting the Anteaters at the Thunderdome and the men traveling down to Irvine. As of now, no fans will be allowed in the stands for these games; however, this issue will be revisited by the Big West Board of Directors as the season progresses.

For the rest of the season, the men’s and women’s teams will play nearly identical schedules. While both teams will play against the same school on the same day, one team will host the game at the Thunderdome while the other team will travel for a road game.

Both teams will play a 20-game schedule, with the final games of the season on March 5 and 6 against Cal Poly. For those games, the men’s team will play at the Thunderdome while the women’s team will travel to San Luis Obispo.

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Brandon Victor
Brandon Victor serves as a 2020-2021 sports editor. He has covered men's tennis, men's soccer and women's basketball in his three years at the Daily Nexus.