The College Basketball Bubble

The NCAA announced Monday, November 16th, that the entirety of the NCAA March Madness Tournament would be held in one location. This removes the tournament from 13 sites across the country for preliminary rounds. 

Instead, all 68 teams and 6 rounds of basketball will be hosted in a single location, a replication of the NBA's bubble they created at the ESPN Wide World of Sports within Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. So far, the NCAA has reported to be in talks with the city of Indianapolis as the host site, the original location of the 2021 Final Four.

While this is no doubt a far better idea than the sending teams across the country to compete, it can certainly be improved. I am not confident that sending 68 separate programs to metropolitan Indianapolis is a strong idea; it is not going to be able to be a controlled, private environment like the NBA bubble was, no matter how hard they try. They won't be able to all play in one stadium, there are simply too many games to be played. They will have to spread a bit over the city, creating several different environments that will need to be airtight and monitored.

The question is also presented of how long will the tournament be? A typical tournament schedule begins in the second week of March and ends in the first week of April. That is a fairly long amount of time to be keeping student athletes in a confined environment. Comparing it the NBA bubble again, I doubt they will be able to fully accommodate the student athletes in the same way that Walt Disney World was able to.

What happens if the chosen location becomes a hot-zone for the coronavirus when tournament time comes around? Cities seem to be the go-to option for the NCAA, but those also have the potential to have the most danger when it comes to COVID. 

If you read my most previous article, you have learned that I side with Iona head coach, Rick Pitino, in that I think the season should be delayed in light of the exponential rise in cases and the tournament should be pushed back altogether; it is better to have delayed basketball that is safe than get two weeks in and the season is falling apart.

The NCAA lost $375 million by having to cancel the 2020 March Madness tournament, so I think it is fair to say they don't want to have to cancel again. I think the only way to avoid cancellation is to be patient and wait to start later than the current tip-off date of November 25th. Then, find a better location than a metropolis to drop hundreds of student athletes, coaches, and personnel.