Phil Ellsworth of ESPNOut of all the ways the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the 2020-21 college basketball season, Kansas coach Bill Self says the changes made to the format of the 2021 NCAA Tournament could be some of the most enjoyable.
With all 68 teams headed to Indiana this week, the majority of them will be in Indianapolis, where 55 of the tournament’s 67 games will take place.
Self said recently that four Indianapolis hotels were slated to be team headquarters for most, if not all, of the teams in Indianapolis. And while that will be decidedly different from what any of them are used to — with the tournament typically being spread across the country at more than a dozen host sites — Self said it could add to the intensity of the competition.
“I think it’d be just like the NBA bubble was last year in Orlando,” Self said. “Even though you think, ‘Well there’s not as many fans, or no fans, and how can you generate energy,’ the energy comes from, ‘See that guy there? He’s trying to kick your butt, and you’re trying to kick his.”
The NCAA has announced that fans, up to 25% capacity, will be allowed into the handful of venues hosting this year’s tournament. So the games will not be played in empty venues like the one KU and Kentucky played in at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis earlier this season. But there’s little doubt that the setup, both on game day and on off days, will be dramatically different from what the coaches and veteran players have experienced in the past.
Different doesn’t necessarily mean bad, though.
“I think there’s some pros,” Self said. “I think being in Indy, hopefully for a long time, could be a positive. I think there’ll be less distractions this year than there ever has been, with tickets and family members and that kind of stuff, because we’re not going to be able to interact with them.
“We’re basically just stuck with each other,” Self added. “So I can see that kind of being a positive. I can also see it be very draining and tiresome, too.”
It’s not just the accommodations that will be different. The tournament schedule also will be slightly altered since teams, fans and television crews will not have nearly as far to go between the different sites.
This year’s NCAA Tournament will open with the First Four round on Thursday, and first-round games will follow on Friday and Saturday.
Round 2 games will be played on the next two days, March 21 and 22, and all eight Sweet 16 games will be played on Saturday, March 27, and Sunday, March 28, with each game getting its own time slot on television.
The Elite Eight will take place entirely in prime time on Monday, March 29, and Tuesday, March 30. And the Final Four and national title games will be played on their original dates of Saturday, April 3, and Monday, April 5, at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind., and Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind., will each host two First Four games on Thursday, March 18.
Those venues then will join Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indiana Farmers Coliseum and Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis as hosts of this year’s first-round games.
Starting with the second round, the four Indianapolis venues will host the rest of this year’s tournament.
“When we go to Maui or when we go to Orlando or wherever, and you have the energy of having all those teams stay in the same hotels or whatnot and you know you’re crossing paths all the time, pride becomes a factor,” Self said. “You’re not going to be able to go outside. You can’t leave the hotel. You’re stuck with everybody that’s there, and there’ll be some juices flowing just from the competitive standpoint, just inside the hotel, which I think will be good.”
