The Pac-12 might have made a blanket decision to have no sports competition through the end of the year, but the NCAA is looking into the possibility of holding regional college basketball bubbles in November and December.
In an interview with NCAA.com's Andy Katz that posted Wednesday, NCAA senior VP Dan Gavitt said college basketball might consider holding controlled regional events in November and December -- when most students will be off campus and studying virtually or having winter break anyway.
"That is potentially an opportunity to create regionalized and very controlled environments in bubble-like scenarios for non-conference or conference games," Gavitt said. "I know some conferences have made decisions about waiting until January and we're respectful of those decisions, but we need to take advantage of opportunities as well."
"... While this is going to be an imperfect season, an imperfect tournament, the virus does not know fairness and equity, and we need to be responsible and take advantage of the opportunities and windows that we have... to get the season in, and to get the tournament in a very safe and responsible way."
College basketball differs greatly from college football in that the NCAA controls the basketball postseason, and there has been a strong belief that the NCAA Tournament will be held under nearly any circumstance, even if it doesn't happen until May.
Still, Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart, chair of the 2020-21 NCAA basketball (selection) committee said the "student-athlete" part of the equation makes it especially challenging. NBA, WNBA and TBT bubbles have all featured strictly controlled bubbles within hotels and arenas.
"That is part of the equation we never forget -- that we have got an opportunity to educate our young people who are still going to class, some of them are online, some of them are in classes, so that's hybrid," Barnhart said. "That is still a part of this process that we will have to factor in.
"... But at the end of the day, we're going to find a way to play a championship and we're going to get through this thing. It might be a place where we're we're bringing folks together. It might be still in the same format. I hope we can go and do what we've done, have all the original sites and we're marching our way through March Madness and get to a final four. It could look very different.
"We will have more information over more time, and ... I will tell you the committee is absolutely focused on finding a way and a pathway forward."
In their virtual press conference Tuesday, several Pac-12 officials including commissioner Larry Scott expressed doubt that college sports can work in a bubble (as noted toward the end of our story here.)
