The Big East Conference is looking into having a men’s basketball bubble at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., among other locations beginning in January due to the pandemic, NJ Advance Media has learned.
“We are exploring other bubble options,” said a person with knowledge of the Big East Conference’s plans. “Mohegan is one of them.”
The person was granted anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly.
It’s unclear what other sites are being considered, although Omaha, Neb., and IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., have been mentioned. IMG is not currently an option, NJ Advance Media has learned.
Mohegan Sun is hosting a variety of non-conference games and events this month and calling it “Bubbleville.”
The Big East also recently announced it would hold its women’s basketball tournament at Mohegan Sun from 2021-23 after completing a three-year run for the event at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Ill.
It’s unclear if the Big East is considering holding its men’s basketball tournament at Mohegan Sun. The event is slated for Madison Square Garden from March 10-13, but that building hasn’t hosted an event since the Big East Tournament was cancelled in March. The Big East announced a preliminary schedule for December with each team playing four or five games at campus or venue locations.
“We are very excited to bring one of the Big East’s premier competitions to Mohegan Sun Arena, a one-of-a-kind facility that has long served as one of the best women’s basketball venues in the country,” Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman said in a statement.
Ackerman said during the league’s recent media day that it was a “possibility” that the league would have one or more bubbles beginning in January.
“There’s no doubt: The bubble is the answer,” said Villanova coach Jay Wright. “If you want to get where you are sure that you’re going to get all your games in, the bubble’s the answer [and] the medical experts will agree to that. The challenge for us is ... our players and students. They’re not employees so to force someone to go into a bubble is shaky. And, if you do it for the men you have to do it for the women, which doubles the cost for everybody ... [and] we don’t think the schools, really have the finances to do that.”
Already this season three Big East men’s teams — Villanova, Marquette and UConn — have had a player test positive and have had to pause basketball activities. UConn announced its positive test on Thursday.
The NCAA recommends that all Tier-1 individuals, including players, quarantine for 14 days after a positive test. A UConn spokesman said the length of the shutdown would be determined by the school’s medical people.
“I expect that we’re going to have disruption,” Ackerman said last week during Big East media day. “What happens with the virus is out of our hands. … I’d be lying if I said we couldn’t have disruption.”
Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard, who previously called scheduling non-conference games a “s—tshow,” told NJ Advance Media on Friday he thinks the league needs to find a way to go without pausing teams for 14 days based on testing.
“I’m still perplexed of the amount we’re testing why we can’t contact trace out of the quarantine,” Willard said. “It just doesn’t make sense. There’s no point in testing this much. We should just test before the game. We’ve taken six tests in two weeks. We’ve gotta be able to use the tests. The average person’s not taking three tests a week.”
Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media.