NBA Basketball Veterans, Your Absence is Now Irrelevant

As the NBA lockout has progressed, there have been various drop-dead dates. If we don't reach a deal by date X, then action Y is going to happen.

All of these dates have passed, and the world has not ended.

The latest one was the drop-dead date that was supposed to occur on Wednesday at 2:00 pm Eastern time. [8:00 AM - WHOOPS, I MEAN 2:00 PM PACIFIC TIME. BUT IN THE END, IT DIDN'T MATTER.] If the players didn't agree to a deal by that time, the owners would pull their offer and replace it with a worse one. So what happened? David Stern...um, stopped the clock.

But November 11 will truly be a drop-dead date. That day happens to be Veterans Day in the United States, and it also happens to be the day that the "veteran" players and owners of the National Basketball Association will find themselves in a world of hurt.

You see, until this date, NBA basketball really didn't face any big issues - other than those people who depended upon income from the games that were cancelled in November. But even then, all of the outside pressure was on both parties to conclude a deal so that we can have basketball back.

However, basketball will come back on November 11.

It just won't be under the auspices of the National Basketball Association.

Have you been missing basketball and want to see some people play? Well, there are a bunch of NCAA Mens' Division I games that are taking place on the 11th. (All times are Eastern.)

2:00 PM NW Missouri State at UMKC
3:00 PM Hartford vs. Sacred Heart*
4:30 PM Montana State at Arizona State
5:00 PM Northeastern at Boston University
5:00 PM Johnson and Wales (Den) at Brown
5:00 PM Eastern Illinois at Indiana State
5:30 PM Fairfield vs. Quinnipiac*
6:00 PM Montreat College at Presbyterian
6:30 PM Simpson University at Utah Valley
7:00 PM Maryland-Eastern Shore at George Washington
7:00 PM Jacksonville at Florida State
7:00 PM Stony Brook at Indiana
7:00 PM Anderson IND at IUPUI
7:00 PM MIT at Harvard
7:00 PM Milligan at East Carolina
7:00 PM North Carolina-Asheville at North Carolina State
7:00 PM Loyola (MD) at Wake Forest
7:00 PM Suffolk University at New Hampshire
7:00 PM Cornell at St. Bonaventure
7:00 PM Howard at Bowling Green
7:00 PM Monmouth at Villanova
7:00 PM Covenant at Coastal Carolina
7:00 PM Lees McRae at Appalachian State
7:00 PM St. Peter's at Buffalo
7:00 PM Lake Erie College at Detroit
7:00 PM Illinois-Chicago at Eastern Michigan
7:00 PM Long Island at Hofstra
7:00 PM Lafayette at La Salle
7:00 PM Randolph College at Liberty
7:00 PM Navy at Longwood
7:00 PM Tennessee Tech at Miami (FL)
7:00 PM Northern Illinois at Purdue
7:00 PM Delaware at Radford
7:00 PM Rider at Robert Morris
7:00 PM Western Carolina at South Carolina
7:00 PM UNC Greensboro at Tennessee
7:15 PM Bethune-Cookman at Stetson
7:30 PM Louisiana-Monroe at Ole Miss
7:30 PM Dartmouth at Rutgers
7:30 PM Roanoke at Furman
7:30 PM Holy Cross at Charleston
7:30 PM American University at Richmond
7:30 PM Alabama State at Marshall
7:30 PM Valparaiso at Georgia Southern
7:30 PM Southern Utah vs. UC Davis*
7:30 PM Houston Baptist at Campbell
7:30 PM Cheyney at Coppin State
7:30 PM Rhode Island at George Mason
7:30 PM Pennsylvania at UMBC
7:30 PM North Carolina Central at Charlotte
7:30 PM St. Francis (PA) at Virginia Commonwealth
8:00 PM McNeese State at Auburn
8:00 PM USC Upstate at Arkansas
8:00 PM Florida A&M at Georgia Tech
8:00 PM Wofford at Georgia
8:00 PM Saint Joseph's at Western Kentucky
8:00 PM Bucknell at Minnesota
8:00 PM South Dakota at Nebraska
8:00 PM Texas A&M-CC at Oklahoma State
8:00 PM Idaho State at Oklahoma
8:00 PM Arkansas-Little Rock at Tulsa
8:00 PM Gardner-Webb at Clemson
8:00 PM St Gregory's at North Texas
8:00 PM Yale vs. Central Connecticut State*
8:00 PM Guilford at Davidson
8:00 PM Chicago State at Iowa
8:00 PM Charleston Southern at Kansas State
8:00 PM Austin Peay at Middle Tennessee
8:00 PM Le Tourneau at Northwestern State
8:00 PM McMurry at Southern Methodist
8:00 PM Centenary at Stephen F. Austin
8:00 PM Florida Gulf Coast at TCU
8:00 PM University of Mary at Green Bay
8:05 PM North Carolina A&T at Creighton
8:15 PM Fort Valley State at Lipscomb
8:30 PM Harris Stowe at Murray State
8:30 PM Tennessee State at Saint Louis
8:30 PM Texas Lutheran at Texas State
8:30 PM Arkansas State at Lamar
8:30 PM Dillard at Southern University
9:00 PM Montana at Colorado State
9:00 PM Miles at Jacksonville State
9:00 PM Elon at Massachusetts
9:00 PM New Orleans at New Mexico
9:00 PM Oral Roberts at West Virginia
9:00 PM Texas-Pan American at DePaul
9:00 PM Loyola (IL) at Illinois
9:00 PM North Dakota State at San Francisco
9:00 PM Alabama A&M at Tulane
9:05 PM Brigham Young at Utah State
9:05 PM UT-San Antonio at UTEP
9:30 PM CO Christian at Boise State
9:30 PM Army at Air Force
9:30 PM Portland State at Denver
9:30 PM Claflin at South Carolina State
9:30 PM Troy at Texas Tech
10:00 PM Central Arkansas at Stanford
10:00 PM Cal Lutheran at UC Riverside
10:00 PM Ft. Lewis at Colorado
10:00 PM Illinois State at Fresno State
10:00 PM Grand Canyon at UNLV
10:00 PM Missouri State at Nevada
10:00 PM Chapman at UC Santa Barbara
10:00 PM Fresno Pacific at Saint Mary's
10:00 PM Northern New Mexico at Weber State
10:05 PM Redlands at Cal State Fullerton
10:30 PM Bryant University at San Diego State
10:30 PM California Merced at Santa Clara
10:35 PM Menlo College at Sacramento State
11:00 PM Cal State Northridge at USC
11:30 PM Northern Arizona vs. Louisiana-Lafayette*
11:59 PM Citadel vs. Virginia Military*

And that's just the mens' Division I. That doesn't count the lower divisions, or the women.

All of those people who have been yearning for basketball will be able to find more than enough basketball to follow. And if television and radio stations start using these games to fill their gaps in NBA coverage, then people will be able to hear basketball whenever they want. To emphasize the point, Barack Obama is scheduled to attend the Quicken Loans Carrier Classic between the Michigan State Spartans and the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. If there are no Bulls, then the First Hoopster will attend college basketball. And people will be watching on ESPN (7:00 pm Eastern, 4:00 pm Pacific).

David Stern and Derek Fisher, you can take some time off now.

Come back to the fans at the end of March 2012.

If the fans are still there.

[SEE NOVEMBER 12 FOLLOW-UP.]