How the entire NCAA men’s basketball tournament will be played in Indiana
The NCAA finalized plans to have the entire men’s basketball tournament in the state of Indiana in an attempt to keep COVID-19 from affecting games being played.
A year after the tournament was canceled due to the pandemic, the NCAA is trying to ensure it is completed through the Final Four scheduled for April 3-5. UNC coach Roy Williams agreed that limiting travel by playing in Indiana was a good approach.
“If you play at eight different sites or 16, I don’t know how many sites we have early on, you have a greater margin of coming into contact with more people than you do if you have it all in the same city,” Williams said on the ACC coaches video conference Monday. “Indianapolis has the hotel space, the gymnasium space, everything I think that we need. So that doesn’t bother me. And in fact, I think it’s a good plan.”
N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts is glad the NCAA is already coming up with a tournament plan.
“It seems to me that the NCAA is preparing for a tournament and they are preparing for a 68-team tournament to happen in one place,” Keatts told the media Monday. “If those conversations weren’t going on I would be a little concerned that there may not be a tournament or there may not be as many teams getting in the tournament.
I think they are doing a tremendous job preparing for the end result. A lot of times we talk about what’s happening during the season but we don’t prepare for the end. I think in this situation they are doing a great job with that.”
The only games played outside of Indianapolis will be at Indiana University’s Assembly Hall in Bloomington and Purdue’s Mackey Arena in West Lafayette. But games will also be spread out around the state capital at Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse and the Indiana Farmers Coliseum on the state fairgrounds.
Lucas Oil Stadium, which is home to the NFL’s Colts and last played host to Final Four in 2015, will be set up to have two courts, although only one game will be played at a time. Bankers Life Fieldhouse, home to the NBA’s Pacers, will also be used.
This story was originally published January 4, 2021 at 12:42 PM with the headline "How the entire NCAA men’s basketball tournament will be played in Indiana."