NCAA Tournament to be held in only Indianapolis!!

[JasonEvans]

Multiple folks reporting the entire tourney will be at one location, Indy.

I was wondering about having enough stadiums, but if there are no fans, I guess you could play in any local gym. So long as you can install cameras, it is a NCAA venue!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Em9ToolW...jpg&name=small

[budwom]

great timing to mention Indiana, right now Indiana and the Midwest are a Covid torrid zone...we'll see what happens, but I find it hard to be optimistic about a huge tournament right now...

[JasonEvans]

Interview with the NCAA folks about this decision: https://twitter.com/marchmadness/sta...76603555098631

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Multiple folks reporting the entire tourney will be at one location, Indy.

I was wondering about having enough stadiums, but if there are no fans, I guess you could play in any local gym. So long as you can install cameras, it is a NCAA venue!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Em9ToolW...jpg&name=small

You only really need four venues as during a normal NCAA tournament there are only four being used per day. So you have Bankers Life Fieldhouse, the dome, Hinkle and IUPUI's arena. There might be some others as well. Bloomington isn't that far but I assume the goal is to keep it compact.

The shooting background in a Dome is hard enough when there are people there, so it would be really tough when virtually empty - I'm not sure if they will choose to play there or not.

Having NCAA tournament games in Hinkle would be really cool given the history of the building.

[UrinalCake]

I know I'm getting way ahead of myself here, but when we get to March it wouldn't completely shock me if the tournament only consisted of 16 teams. There were reports that this idea was floated around last season, but the NCAA was unable to get it organized in time. Creating a bubble for the sweet 16 over two weekends would only require a single venue, and you'd have an extra weekend (when the first two rounds would normally be played) for the teams to quarantine in the bubble.

I certainly hope it doesn't come to this and that we are able to play the full tournament, but honestly the logistics of hosting 64 (68?) teams in a single city over three weekends sounds impossible.

[Gooch]

You only really need four venues as during a normal NCAA tournament there are only four being used per day. So you have Bankers Life Fieldhouse, the dome, Hinkle and IUPUI's arena. There might be some others as well. Bloomington isn't that far but I assume the goal is to keep it compact.

The shooting background in a Dome is hard enough when there are people there, so it would be really tough when virtually empty - I'm not sure if they will choose to play there or not.

Having NCAA tournament games in Hinkle would be really cool given the history of the building.

Considering the Dome will have no fans, maybe they will setup multiple courts and have games running simultaneously. Kind of like a big AAU tournament...

[Bluedog]

Considering the Dome will have no fans, maybe they will setup multiple courts and have games running simultaneously. Kind of like a big AAU tournament...

Yes, when I was there for the E8 game against Louisville, they were using only half the stadium anyways...They had the court going lengthwise across the width of the typical football field/endzone. The rest of the stadium was curtained off. I believe they do this at Syracuse often too. They had bleachers on the one side of the court that would be removed if there were no fans presumably, giving even more space.

[MChambers]

Considering the Dome will have no fans, maybe they will setup multiple courts and have games running simultaneously. Kind of like a big AAU tournament...

Someone better tell Barkley that there are no fans. Otherwise, he's likely to end up in Maryland.

[DU82]

Yes, when I was there for the E8 game against Louisville, they were using only half the stadium anyways...They had the court going lengthwise across the width of the typical football field/endzone. The rest of the stadium was curtained off. I believe they do this at Syracuse often too. They had bleachers on the one side of the court that would be removed if there were no fans presumably, giving even more space.

I would expect the sound of whistles from the other side could cause problems.

For the first/second rounds, when you need four locations, I could see using the Pacers' practice facility, across from Banker's Life. That could allow them not to use the dome.

For the 16 and 8 rounds, only two are needed, and could come down to whichever two make the most sense. I'm assuming the Pacers would need to leave for the three weekends if the big arena's used.

If fans are not allowed, I really like the idea of having the Final Four at Hinkle.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

For the first/second rounds, when you need four locations

Well, you could use Cameron, the two courts in the Krzyzewski Center and the one in Card Gym. House everyone at the Washy Duke and JB Duke hotels. That's a pretty compact bubble!

Also, the Greensboro Coliseum, which earlier offered to host a bubble scenario in December and January, has their "field house" court, where the G-league team plays, so that's two courts. Add in UNC-G and NC A&T, and there's your four courts, all in Greensboro!

[JasonEvans]

I know I'm getting way ahead of myself here, but when we get to March it wouldn't completely shock me if the tournament only consisted of 16 teams. There were reports that this idea was floated around last season, but the NCAA was unable to get it organized in time. Creating a bubble for the sweet 16 over two weekends would only require a single venue, and you'd have an extra weekend (when the first two rounds would normally be played) for the teams to quarantine in the bubble.

I certainly hope it doesn't come to this and that we are able to play the full tournament, but honestly the logistics of hosting 64 (68?) teams in a single city over three weekends sounds impossible.

Well, remember that as teams get eliminated they go away, so you would only need 68 for the briefest of moments and you would be down to 16 after just a week of play.

While we know that things can change, the NCAA tournament folks who went on TV this morning were very clear that they are not changing the size of the field. I think contraction to 16 or even 32 is highly unlikely.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Sticking 68, 32, or even 16 teams in one place, having them all come in during one weekend, seems like a very unhealthy idea.

(I think the idea will be moot anyway, but I'd think that keeping them spread out as is always done would be the smarter way to go.)

[sagegrouse]

Any "Polis" works for me

[DukieInKansas]

Any "Polis" works for me

Yep!

[hallcity]

Considering the Dome will have no fans, maybe they will setup multiple courts and have games running simultaneously. Kind of like a big AAU tournament...

They did that at the old Georgia Dome for the Olympics. There was a big curtain separating it into two courts. The problem with doing that in Indy is that you'd need two PA systems. You can get that sort of thing accomplished for the Olympics but maybe not for the NCAA Men's basketball tournament, especially when you don't really have to.

[jimsumner]

How about Raleighapolis?

We have PNC Arena, Reynolds Coliseum, Dorton Arena (the Carolina Cougars used to play there) and Broughton's gym is big enough to host a big holiday prep tournament.

And it would be really, really close for me not to be able to go.

[budwom]

I wouldn't make any non refundable hotel deposits based on this announcement, that's for sure.

[Bay Area Duke Fan]

Any "Polis" works for me

Governor of Colorado?

[jv001]

How about Raleighapolis?

We have PNC Arena, Reynolds Coliseum, Dorton Arena (the Carolina Cougars used to play there) and Broughton's gym is big enough to host a big holiday prep tournament.

And it would be really, really close for me not to be able to go.

Ah, Dorton Arena and the Carolina Cougars, great memories.

GoDuke!

[uh_no]

How about Raleighapolis?

We have PNC Arena, Reynolds Coliseum, Dorton Arena (the Carolina Cougars used to play there) and Broughton's gym is big enough to host a big holiday prep tournament.

And it would be really, really close for me not to be able to go.

yeah people are freaking out about being able to do it logistically, but in reality, it's 4 gyms and not a whole lot of hotel rooms, at least athlete and official wise. I mean we're talking maybe 15 players, so 8 rooms, and 8 rooms for coaches? So 15-20 per team? 1200 rooms is big, but it's a pittance when we're talking about a large city. And if they wanted to get REALLY fancy, they could stagger arrivals for the first round, so the early losers in R1 leave before a new batch arrives.

And fortunately as the universities are mostly/all online anyway, getting back, to campus will not be a hindrance for academics like it would be most years, so the schedule could be more spread out if needed.

Either way, I'm not sure they would have announced indy without having a plan in place to pull it off, logistically....now, the virus may have other plans, but I don't see why it should be impossible in *a bubble*

I know you jest about raleighapolis, but I see no reason why the triangle are wouldn't be able to host it from a logistics standpoint