(08-03-2020 09:30 AM)AssyrianDuke Wrote:  Not necessarily CAA BB specific, but I was listening to "Titus and Tate Podcast" over the weekend and Mark Titus had an interesting idea for the college basketball "season." Creating a bubble for each of the 32 conferences and playing only conference games over the course of 8 weeks. Players might be doing most of the coursework online anyway, so that wouldn't change. Based on what we have seen from the NBA and MLS, bubbles seem to work; moving around the country MLB style, not so much. The winner of the mini-season would be the conference champion and move on to a bubble NCAA tournament. They proposed it in Maui, and I wouldn't mind "working from home" on the islands

One issue though would be how many games are played. For example, the CAA has 10 teams; ACC has 15. Do the CAA/ACC have each team play every other team once? That's 9 games for CAA and 14 for ACC. Do they try to play 14 or 16 games in the bubble season (2 games a week with/without a bye)? Another would be the cost of testing, health and safety measures, etc. As they pointed out, the SWAC and the SEC have different finances; would the NCAA be putting up this money with the purpose of making it back on the Tournament?

There are of course other issues, but it seems like a decent proposal and starting point.

Hopefully by late October, there will be a much better handle on which vaccines will be ready, for which targeted groups, and most importantly the "when" available. I think that delivery availability date will be critical in terms of what decisions are to be made about winter sports. The fall sports know nothing will be available at the start or likely even midway through their respective seasons. Winter sports at least has some hope that global distribution of vaccines could be in play. Whether that means no pre-conference games and starting conference-only in January or pre-conference will take place in some form in Nov. and/or Dec. depends (IMO) heavily on that vaccination forecast.

Certainly, if it looks like vaccines won't be available until say March, then ideas like bubble locations will have to be taken into consideration if they want to push forward. The NCAA will be keen to do everything it can to have March Madness in 2021 after missing out in 2020 (and the $$$ that goes along with it).