An offseason like no other is almost over.

257 days ago.

Michigan's men's team was warming up inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis,

getting ready for a scheduled matchup with Rutgers for a spot in the Big 10th tournament quarterfinals.

As we've heard from so many in the months since, including a few players here on Defend the Block,

that was a surreal day.

The news of Rudy Gobert's positive diagnosis and the NBA's pause from the night prior

is still fresh in everyone's mind.

The eerieness of watching two teams prepare for a game, a big game,

with no fans filing in to get ready for tip off, and then the official announcement

that the Big Ten tournament would be canceled. Of course, hours later, the NCAA tournaments

were canceled as well, and knowing what we know now, it was unquestionably the right thing to do,

even though, still to this day, it seems so strange that there was no March

madness, no team that had that one shining moment. So 257 days later, here we are on the eve

of a new season in college basketball, and there are plenty of unknowns. We did not know the

men's schedule until last week. The women's

schedule hasn't still fully come out. 10% of men's college teams are on pause right now because

of COVID-19. Nobody knows what this season will look like. Nobody knows what next week will look

like in college basketball.

Quite frankly, no one has the definitive answer for the best way to handle this complex

situation. But if the players want to play, if the coaches want to coach, and if the schools

and conferences set up, implement, and enforce strict guidelines, We've got a real shot to have a college

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