"Pod" CBB is on its Way
Are you ready for some college basketball?
Yes, we know, college football has barely started and there are no guarantees how long it will be able to continue.
But, we are almost certain that college basketball will make the same effort.
The NCAA next week is expected to announce plans to start the college basketball season in late November or early December.
In this pandemic year it will be unlike any season we have ever seen.
According to various sources, the Atlantic Coast Conference is recommending an all inclusive 353 NCAA tournament as one way to having the tournament, even if the regular season is truncated.
Another part of the picture will include a regular season that is played in spurts.
According to various industry sources, a unique scheduling format of clustering several teams in one spot for an extended period of time (several days) is being discussed by most of the major college basketball conferences.
The concept is to cut down on travel, maximize health protocol issues and squeeze in as many games at a time in case the COVID-19 cases spike during the winter.
Call it "Pod'' basketball.
"Everything imaginable has been discussed and looked at,'' said one source in the Big East. "If you look at what the NBA and NHL have done, putting teams together in a "bubble'' environment is something that could work.
For the Big East, that could mean getting six of the Big East teams--UConn, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova and Georgetown--and have them gather at a neutral site, which would require only a bus trip to reach.
The Mohegan Sun complex in Connecticut appears to be a likely site.
The teams would then play each other in a five game mini Big East tournament and then return home.
Playing in December, when most schools are on their holiday break remains a feasible option.
The Big East could have its remaining teams—Creighton, Xavier,Marquette, DePaul and Butler—play in a Midwest neutral site.
Other conferences such as the ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 could set up similar situations.
That procedure could be repeated in January and February.
Such a concept would change the face of the 2020-21 college basketball season into a series of week-long tournaments staged once each month through the regular season.
Critics would likely suggest that such an arrangement would remove the flavor of a college basketball season.
It is a valid argument, but as we have seen in the NBA and NHL and are starting to see in college football, this is not a normal year.
The NCAA's prime goal is to make sure it doesn't lose March Madness, it's multi-billion dollar cash cow, for a second year in a row.
In order to have a post season, college basketball needs a regular season and if it is forced to create a cluster of games one week a month for three months, that's what is likely to happen.