Get ready for hoops season like no other

College basketball season tips off this week, and if you think we’ll get to “One Shining Moment” without a hitch, you haven’t been paying attention.

College football has survived — pardon the term — during a pandemic, but how will basketball play out?

Basketball teams have been practicing for weeks, although nothing can prepare players, coaches and fans for what looms ahead.

This will be a season like no other.

Changes are noticeable as local men’s basketball teams tip off today:

— Old Dominion plays at Maryland at the Terps’ Xfinity Center with no fans in attendance. ODU’s home opener Saturday against William & Mary will be limited to 250 spectators.

— Norfolk State’s season opener against JMU at the Dukes’ sparking new 8,500seat Atlantic Union Bank Center is scheduled for Friday without fans.

See a pattern here? Playing in an empty arena might just be the least of inconveniences during what is sure to be a trying season.

Already, some basketball games have been postponed or canceled as coronavirus cases continue to surge across the country. The University of Florida announced Sunday its men’s basketball team would not travel later this week to Mohegan Sun Arena for games against Virginia and UMass-Lowell.

And this week, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes and Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak tested positive for the coronavirus, along with some of their players, spurring a pause in team activities. Also, Duke’s opener against Gardner-Webb was postponed because of positives among the Gardner-Webb team.

Already, it’s clear college basketball players and coaches won’t be immune from the turmoil that has tossed and turned football schedules — and team routines — upside down. ESPN reported Tuesday afternoon that 150 Division I men’s basketball games and 218 women’s games have already been either postponed or canceled.

In the past two weeks, more than 30 college football games have been postponed or canceled.

While ODU announced months ago that it would skip this football season, one of its Conference USA rivals has had a trying time. The Charlotte 49ers played their season opener Sept. 12, then had two games postponed because of COVID concerns. After playing four games over five weeks, here’s how Charlotte’s schedule has looked since

an Oct. 31 loss to Duke:

Middle Tennessee: Postponed

Gardner-Webb: Canceled Marshall: Postponed

The 49ers are scheduled to return to the field for the first time in more than a month against Western Kentucky on Tuesday, Dec. 1

College football players and coaches should be commended for their resiliency. But football teams can more easily absorb missing players and coaches than their basketball counterparts. What becomes of a basketball season when a team of 12 or so players has an outbreak? Or when a coach comes down with the coronavirus.

The NCAA recommends a two-week pause in activities for positive coronavirus cases, and a two-week hiatus for a basketball team could mean missing much more than a game or two.

So as we prepare for the unknown ahead, and as Thanksgiving arrives, let’s be thankful for the sports we’ve had and stay hopeful for a safe — and complete — basketball season.