CHARLESTON — The college basketball season can tip off Nov. 25, a day before Thanksgiving.

But where said games will take place is still unanswered. Will college campuses host these games or will a controlled, bubble environment pop up, bringing multiple teams to one site for a set number of days to play a set number of games?

All good questions. All questions the NCAA, college athletic administrators and college coaches are trying to get some clarity on and have answers before the season starts amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before the pandemic, only one date was publicly known on Illinois’ 2020-21 men’s basketball schedule, with the Illini scheduled to host Arizona on Dec. 12 at State Farm Center. That game, which was announced on Oct. 12, 2018, might be in limbo, but the Pac-12 announced Thursday night the basketball season was back on after saying last month all athletic competitions were halted until Jan. 1.

Other regular staples on the Illini’s nonconference schedule include the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge game and the annual Braggin’ Rights game against Missouri, played every year in St. Louis since 1983.

Just 45 miles south of Champaign, however, Eastern Illinois already had nine men’s basketball nonconference games lined up before the NCAA’s decision to start the season on Nov. 25. Among those was a Nov. 10 home game against Milwaukee and road games against Kansas (Nov. 16), Illinois State (Dec. 19) and Butler (Dec. 22).

On the women’s basketball side at EIU, former Illini coach Matt Bollant had his Panthers set for 11 nonconference games, starting with a home game on Nov. 10 against Evansville and including a four-team home tournament at Lantz Arena in Charleston involving Northern Illinois, Southern Illinois and Western Illinois on Dec. 4-5, along with road games against Minnesota (Dec. 20) and Illinois State (Dec. 28).

A key caveat, though, with all of those scheduled games is they are subject to change based on NCAA or Ohio Valley Conference scheduling policies. And another contingent not expressed yet by the NCAA is how often college basketball players, coaches and staff members will be tested for the virus.

“There’s going to be some increased testing with that,” said Eastern Illinois athletic director Tom Michael — also a former Illinois men’s basketball player and former UI athletic administrator. “I think that the recommendation will be that we need to test three times a week, so there’s some things that everybody has to work out with that concept. Everybody is anxious as we see some college football get going here the last few weekends to try and get some things done.”

But playing college basketball games in a bubble does not seem likely for a low-major program like EIU. The athletic department already took a financial hit by not playing at Kentucky in a football game initially set for Oct. 10, with Kentucky to pay EIU $500,000 for that game before it was canceled. Money is a deciding factor when it comes to pulling off a bubble in college basketball, similar to what the NBA has done for the last two months near Walt Disney World.

“I think the financial piece is one that’s just going to make that essentially very impractical for us to do,” Michael said. “Logistically, the OVC has already looked at things, like Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. They haven’t had a thing played there in some time and they’re very welcoming, but you look at hotels and meals and doing that for two to three weeks, it doesn’t become practical in those regards.”

Michael also said having in-person classes this semester — which EIU is currently doing — is another component in the bubble talk.

“As long as we’re having face-to-face classes, I think that there is something about this collegiate and amateur model that says, ‘Man, we need to be doing classes. Let’s not lose sight of that piece as well,’” Michael said. “I know there are going to be some conferences certainly that have the financial means to do some of those things that can help guarantee that.”

Both EIU basketball programs had their seasons end last winter before the NCAA tournament was canceled on March 12, one of the first major sporting calamities of the pandemic. The EIU women lost 63-52 to Tennessee-Martin on March 6 in the OVC tournament semifinals, capping off a 19-12 season and the EIU men lost 76-65 on March 5 in the OVC tournament quarterfinals, finishing with a 17-15 record.

But in order for their seasons to tip off this winter, Michael said he, EIU men’s basketball coach Jay Spoonhour and Bollant are stressing to the players on those respective teams that what they do away from the gym is just as important as the work they’re putting in trying to prepare for a season unlike any other.

“That’s sometimes a difficult message to get through to 18-to-22 year-olds, but it’s something we’re constantly working on,” Michael said. “I also look at our football program who we’ve had on campus since the middle of July. Knock on wood, they’ve done a pretty good job with 110 guys in that environment. I would like to think as we continue to get through this with our two basketball programs that we can create that sense here and all of the things that we’re trying to do every day with our student-athletes will provide that environment as well.”