EVEN MORE COLLEGE HOOPS POSITIVE VIBES: The NCAA Filed A Trademark For Battle In The Bubble, An Idea Pitched For A 20-Team Event
OH MY GOD IT'S HAPPENING! I MIGHT JUST WRITE THIS ENTIRE BLOG IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE FUCK IT, IT SOUNDS EVEN MORE AND MORE LIKE WE'RE COLLEGE HOOPS.
/Takes a deep breath, does the up tuck
Okay so Battle In The Bubble. I blogged this a few weeks ago:
A blueprint to play nonconference games inside a bubble went out to 50 teams this week. Rhossi Carron, who runs the U-Sports Group, a Houston-based sporting event company that is scheduled to host two nonconference events this season in Texas, has a proposal for the “Battle in the Bubble.” It would include 20 schools, with each team playing eight nonconference games and a scrimmage over three weeks in December in Houston.
I can't stress how awesome this idea is. We need to be creative with things like this if we want a college hoops season for sure. Now that the NCAA is trademarking the event makes it seem like they are on board. More importantly it makes it seem like college hoops teams are on board. Right now it sounds like we're going to have bubbles for tournaments - Mohegan Sun, Vegas and Orlando - instead of traveling all over.
But what else this is doing is setting up the possibility for an NCAA Tournament bubble. You don't think the NCAA will sell the shit out of that if it happens? They are in the money business and doing the whole 'Battle In The Bubble' with March Madness will print money. Shit, I'd buy a shirt.
Now for the rest of the season? Who knows. There are talks within the Big 10 and Big East that they are exploring potential bubble plays. It's obviously easier for the bigger conferences to do this, especially if regular students end up not being on campus. They can get away with the current amateurism rules easier that way. That or because it's the NCAA, they'll just say fuck it and play either way.
I don't even care, because this is a good idea. This is how we help save the college hoops season. Now if we get the 20-team event in Houston, I want the best teams there. Actually, I want the most unique matchups there. I said it before but give us Xavier/Dayton, Kansas/Missouri, old school rivalries that we get back. Throw Howard in there with Makur Maker playing. I just know I'm selfish and I want college hoops. It sounds more and more like we're getting it.
Obligatory for every college hoops blog - positive vibes only.
PS: If they are selling shirts, it makes all the sense in the world for athletes to get a cut of this, since you know, they are the ones playing. If this also changes amateurism and things like that it's even better.