Bored games: Teams find fun ways to fill gaps at NCAA Tournaments

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Wi±e ball games and ping-pong tournaments. Boat rides, TikTok videos and Uno. Lots and lots of Uno, in fast-paced games in which the cards fly in a frenzy.

The men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments in Indianapolis and San Antonio aren’t all COVID-19 tests, basketball and contact tracing. But being in quasi-isolation with any movement inside and outside hotels restricted, teams had to get creative during the days and weeks between games and nasal swabs to find ways to stay entertained.

The North Carolina State women staged Wi±e ball games in their team hotel and set up a basketball hoop arcade game for shooting contests with coach Wes Moore.

While Stanford won four games to advance to the Final Four, they were also staging sweat-inducing pingpong tournaments. And true to form for the NCAA postseason, a few on the overall top seed in the women’s tournament complained about their draw in the field.

The women’s tournament also had a digital portal where athletes could sign up for yoga or meditation sessions or just pose questions about life inside the tournament.

Cards also were big with Baylor men with serious games in the Bears hotel in Indianapolis, guard Adam Flagler said as the No. 1 seeded Bears advanced to the Final Four.

“We had a Uno tournament. We had a Connect Four tournament,” Flagler said, although he didn’t know who won, just that it wasn’t him.

“When I lose, I can’t even focus any more,” Flagler said.