Candidates for the 2021 NCAA tournament have been presented with a protocol plan to help them enter a so-called “controlled environment” for this year’s edition of March Madness in the Indianapolis area, which is expected to host their championship at major conferences tournaments will be as planned.
“We strongly recommend teams with a high likelihood of being an At-Large team to stay in their conference championship city until Sunday March 14th,” said the document received from Sporting News.
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“The NCAA staff will be in direct contact with your men’s basketball administrator to discuss the logistics of airline departures from conference championships for both automatic qualifiers and at-large teams.”
Coaches from several major conferences have begun openly debating whether to be prudent given the NCAA requirements set out in this 2021 Men’s Basketball Championships Planning Guide that all 34 members of the Official Tour Party “must submit for each team” to championship tournaments to run seven consecutive daily negative COVID-19 tests “starting March 6th. At least one of these seven tests must be of the PCR type.
If a member of the Party tests positive during this sequence, the individual will be under the supervision of public health officials in the area and will not be able to travel to Indianapolis until the isolation or quarantine is complete.
The tournament begins on March 18th with the first four, followed by the first round on March 19th and 20th. The final four are scheduled for April 3rd and 5th at Lucas Oil Stadium.
For teams that are pretty sure they will make it to March Madness, participating in conference tournaments has become a problem.
“I think there will be some teams that will drop out of conference tournaments because they know they are interested in the NCAA tournament,” Louisville’s Chris Mack recently told reporters.
“I would think about it. It would probably not be my decision alone. That would be a damn good choice.”
The NCAA bought all of the Hyatt, JW Marriott, Marriott, and Westin hotels in downtown Indianapolis to determine what NCAA Vice President for basketball Dan Gavitt didn’t consider a real “bubble” – but this is obviously supposed to be a possibility minimize contact with third parties.
Everyone in each team group is assigned a single room and instructed not to welcome guests. In Indianapolis, the official tour group is only allowed to move to and from game and practice locations on official NCAA buses. In the team hotel they have to eat either in their own rooms or in physically distant dining rooms.
Teams that automatically qualify for championships played prior to March 13 – the vast majority of medium and small size leagues in a typical year – will travel to Indianapolis this Saturday. Those league champions who qualify by early evening that day will travel soon after their conference finals have concluded. Those who finish late Saturday or the following day will travel on Selection Sunday, March 14, along with those selected as participants.
There are bus travel guidelines for people coming from a distance of 350 miles or less that outline how to arrange passenger seats, mandate masks and face shields, and prohibit eating or drinking during transportation. The teams are each assigned three buses for their 34-person groups.
Those traveling by charter aircraft will only use private airports, and only the 34 in the group will be allowed on board. As with the buses, masks are required – N95 masks are recommended – but face protection is only recommended. And there will be no meals during the flight.
