Love this:
“The start of the season had become so compressed with the holidays and exams,” Dan Gavitt, the NCAA’s senior vice president for basketball, told NCAA.com, “that the additional three days allows schools to better schedule the start of the season and it’s the benefit for the student athletes and coaches.”
Those darn exams were getting in the way of sports! So let's start even EARLIER and lengthen the season, adding even more overlap with football, etc., etc.