NCAA Tournament scheduled to go on as planned, without virus bubble

INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments are scheduled to go on as planned amid a rise in postponements and cancellations.

NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt told NCAA.com the NCAA Tournament was slated to go on in the normal format and there’s been no discussion of playing in a bubble like last season.

“We are certainly closely monitoring the unfortunate and sudden COVID spike and will consider any adjustments as necessary for the health, safety and success of the championships,” Gavitt said Wednesday. “However, despite the current challenges we’re experiencing in college basketball, the solutions to these problems during this phase of the pandemic are likely quite different than the dramatic championship format changes we had to adopt last year.”

The 2020-21 season got off to a late start due to the pandemic and both NCAA Tournaments were held at one site — the men in Indianapolis, women in San Antonio.

The NCAA reduced the number of games needed to be eligible for the 2021 NCAA Tournament to 13 because the condensed season limited chances for make-up games.

Gavitt said there was no reason to alter plans for the 2021-22 season since it started on time and there are a variety of mitigation aspects to combat the virus, including vaccines and boosters. He added games that aren’t played will be declared no contest and the selection committee will be aware of those games.

The 2022 men’s NCAA Tournament is scheduled to take place in New Orleans and the women’s in Minneapolis.