NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt said in a statement released Monday that the NCAA plans to provide direction by mid-September about whether the 2020-21 college basketball season will start on time or if “a short-term delay is necessitated by the ongoing pandemic.”

The timeline gives the NCAA approximately a month to evaluate the status of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has dramatically altered the outlook for college football season and already disrupted plans for early-season college basketball.

Gavitt’s statement said he plans to collaborate with the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball oversight committees in the coming weeks to finalize any recommendations that warrant “consideration by the NCAA Division I Council for the start of the college basketball season.” 

The statement from Gavitt said the NCAA has “developed and studied contingency plans for alternatives to the scheduled Nov. 10 start date.”

“We recognize that we are living and operating in an uncertain time, and it is likely that mid-September will be just the first milestone for many important decisions pertaining to the regular season and the NCAA basketball championships,” Gavitt said. “While circumstances may warrant flexibility resulting in a different and perhaps imperfect season, the ultimate goal is to safely provide student-athletes and teams with a great college basketball experience.”

Gavitt told CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander in July that “If there’s basketball being played anywhere safely in 2021, we will have March Madness.” But the path to staging a full season leading up to an NCAA Tournament is already facing a few challenges.

Earlier this month, the Pac-12 canceled all athletic competition until at least Jan. 1, a decision that wiped out several nonconference games. The move will force the conference to begin its league slate later than originally scheduled. The Ivy League is also not playing in the fall semester.