Basketball will have masked boys and girls players

 

The upcoming and new edition of a Colorado basketball season will be masked … by competitors, coaches, trainers and other limited personnel permitted to be on hand.

Season B, the second of the unprecedented four seasons in the 2020-21 school year during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, will require players to compete while being masked, according to the Colorado High School Activities Association.

It will be the first time in-staters must wear masks during competition. In Season A, participants were required to wear masks leading to actual game and event beginnings, such as cross-country runners who had to wear masks at the starting line of races and couldn't remove them until the starting gun had been fired, and tennis players who had to sport the masks until they stepped on the court. 

The abbreviated season, set to open practice in less than two weeks, also will have a series of other notable changes announced Monday.

For instance:

--- The first practice will be Jan. 18 and first games on Jan. 25. The end of the regular season will be March 6.

--- There will be no district rounds for any of the five classifications. The state brackets will be released on March 8 and tournament dates will include March 9, 11, 13 and 16. State finals will be March 19-20 (Class 2A boys and girls, 4A boys and girls, and 5A girls on March 19; and 1A boys and girls, 3A boys and girls, and 5A boys on March 20, if fans are permitted).

--- There will be 14 regular-season games for varsity, 12 for lower levels.

--- Players are limited to 76 quarters during the season other than in overtime and the playoffs.

--- A minimum of seven games will be required to qualify for the postseason.

--- Playoff teams will be determined by the RPI, coaches poll and rankings by MaxPreps and Packard.

--- As well, league champions will automatically qualify for the playoffs, although there will be smaller brackets. The normal 48-team brackets for 5A and 4A will have only 32 and 3A, 2A and 1A will shrink from 32 to 24.

--- Capacity limits in gymnasiums will have to be considered for ventilation.

--- Prior to the season, open gyms will need permission from district and health officials. And there can be no contact with other schools prior to Jan. 25.

--- Game rosters are to be limited to 12 players with three coaches, an athletic trainer and only essential personnel; ditto for practices.

Information on the remaining Season B sports also is due to be released this week.