ASU Basketball: College Basketball Tournaments Could Be Played In The Disney Bubble
Move over Lebron James because Remy Martin may be coming to town.
With the success of the NBA bubble, college basketball looks to replicate the results. Jon Rothstein is reporting that 8 college basketball tournaments will potentially be held in Orlando, Florida.
ASU, Oklahoma, San Diego State, Saint Mary's, Hawaii, Temple, Seattle and North Texas are all expected to compete in the Diamond Head Classic tournament.
But before ASU can compete for anything, the Pac-12 must first reverse their decision to postpone all sports for the rest of the calendar year. The events in recent weeks should leave you feeling optimistic that Pac-12 basketball can return before the year ends.
The Big-10 announced yesterday; they will be resuming a football season after initially postponing all fall sports for the rest of 2020, just like the Pac-12. This should add some extra pressure to the conference to make a decision soon.
Many of the hurdles the Pac-12 had in front of them when they first made their decision have been cleared.
We didn't know when the expected start date for college basketball would be, but yesterday it was announced the season will commence on Nov. 25.
Previously, it was not possible to get same-day results for the athletes. But on Sept 3. the Pac-12 announced a partnership with Quidel Corporation. Now, the athletes can get tested daily and get the results back in less than 24 hours.
There were two states with restrictions that were preventing six Pac-12 teams from competing. According to this statement yesterday by Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott, that is no longer the case.
"The Pac-12 welcomes today's statements by Governor Newsom of California and Governor Brown of Oregon that state public health officials will allow for contact practice and return to competition, and that there are no state restrictions on our ability to play sports in light of our adherence to strict health and safety protocols and stringent testing requirements, including our recently announced partnership with Quidel which will enable daily rapid results testing."
The stars seem to be falling in a place for a return of Pac-12 sports in the near future. With a lot of the original issues being solved, we can only hope we see ASU basketball get a chance to compete at 'The Most Magical Place on Earth.'
A full breakdown of all eight tournaments according to Rothstein:
Champions Classic: Kentucky/Kansas, Duke/Michigan State
Jimmy V Classic: Baylor/Rutgers, Gonzaga/Tennessee
Preseason NIT: Arizona, Cincinnati, Texas Tech, St. John's (matchups have yet to be determined)
Orlando Invitational: Michigan State, Gonzaga, Auburn, Xavier, Saint Louis, Boise State, Belmont, Siena (matchups have yet to be determined)
Myrtle Beach Invitational: Pitt, Nebraska, Missouri, Dayton, Loyola-Chicago, Utah State, Furman, Charlotte (matchups have yet to be determined)
Charleston Classic: Florida State, Seton Hall, Oklahoma State, Houston, Penn State, Tennessee, VCU, Charleston (matchups have yet to be determined)
Wooden Legacy: Kansas, Virginia, UCLA, Georgetown (matchups have yet to be determined)
Diamond Head Classic: Arizona State, Oklahoma, San Diego State, Saint Mary's, Hawaii, Temple, Seattle, North Texas (matchups have yet to be determined)