Ever since the NBA found success at the Orlando bubble inside the DisneyWorld campus, many have been wondering if college basketball could attempt something similar. Although there are constant challenges that both basketball and football face in playing during a global pandemic, one aspect where basketball has an advantage is in the size of the team being significantly smaller. We have also seen a bubble format work for basketball not only at the NBA level, but even before that in The Basketball Tournament (TBT) in July. With less personnel and a quicker turnaround for games, the bubble has worked well on the hardwood so far.
Recently, CBS college basketball insider Jon Rothstein gave some weight to the rumors that the NCAA could try something similar to the NBA and TBT.
Sources: Following the success of the NBA restart, Orlando has emerged as a prime location to play multiple early season college basketball tournaments in a bubble type setting.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) August 19, 2020
Especially in an early-season tournament setting, a bubble format makes a ton of sense in theory. Mostly top tier programs participate in the best early-season tournaments, you can play many games in a single day, and it would not have to last tremendously long.
The Orlando campus at DisneyWorld has proven to be a fantastic location given the amount of gyms, hotel space, and campus space for athletes. We will see if the NCAA can pull something off in order to try and save the early part of the college basketball season.