MW hoops schedule moves from 18 to 20 league games

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., -- The Mountain West announced changes to the 2020-21 men’s and women’s basketball formats on Monday afternoon which emphasize the health and safety of student-athletes, coaches and staff while significantly reducing travel.

The Conference will move to a 20-game schedule under a modified format that will play out over 11 weeks within the context of state, county and local guidelines.

Wyoming's new head coach Jeff Linder said back in October that he voted for a 20-game league schedule in the beginning.

In the new format, MW teams will face each other in a two-game series in the same week with a one-day break between contests. Each institution will have five home and five road series, reducing the regular travel schedule by four weeks to help mitigate potential virus exposures.

League play will begin in December and conclude the last week of February. The format adjustments create flexibility throughout the season to potentially reschedule games which may need to be postponed as the schedule plays out. This is a one-year model adopted specifically to address the unique challenges of the current COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2020-21 Mountain West men’s and women’s basketball schedules are forthcoming.