Guaranteed College Basketball This Year? NCAA Files Trademark for "Battle in the Bubble"
Some potentially exciting news Monday morning as word is out the NCAA has filed to trademark the phrase "Battle in the Bubble" according to an article from Darren Rovell.
The NCAA filed to trademark the phrase "with the intent of using it both as the name on tournaments, not exclusive to basketball, and to use the phrase on clothing to sell merchandise."
While this doesn't 100% guarantee there will be a college basketball season this winter, it certainly gets us closer to that reality. If the NBA and NHL are any indication to the success of playing in a bubble, I think you'll see college basketball utilize it to some degree.
With that in mind, there have been reports over the past week or so of potential locations where bubble tournaments or seasons could be played.
Over the weekend, CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein reported several tournaments have reached out to the Sanford Pentagon in South Dakota about hosting early season bubble tournaments.
Source: Several early season tournaments have already reached out to the Sanford Pentagon about hosting their events.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) August 29, 2020
This is a venue to watch during the "Golden Window" for college basketball. https://t.co/cqlgz1avFe
Other locations reported by Rothstein are Winthrop University in South Carolina and, of course, Orlando and the facilities the NBA is currently utilizing.
Also, if the season begins either on Nov. 25 or Dec. 4, two of the likely start dates for college basketball this season, the casino/hotel resort Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT has become a favorite to host early non-conference tournaments such as the Empire Classic, the Gotham Classic, the Legends Classic, the Hall-of-Fame Tipoff and the Hall-of-Fame Invitational.
The idea would also be to play 2020-21 conference tournaments and the NCAA Tournament in March in bubbles should the occasion arise.
Related: Oklahoma State finalizes 2020-21 non-conference schedule.
While it's going to be interesting to see how it plays out as the College of Charleston has canceled fall sports, Oklahoma State is scheduled to play in the Charleston Classic towards the beginning of the season. Rothstein has reported that several of the preseason tournaments could possibly add teams to the schedule, so if the Charleston Classic isn't played, you could see the Cowboys make a move towards another tournament.
Oklahoma State enters the 2020-21 season with as much hype as anyone can remember in recent years. Mike Boynton and Co. signed a top-five nationally ranked 2020 recruiting class headlined by the No. 1 overall prospect in the country in Cade Cunningham and combined it with an already talented and young roster led by point guard Isaac Likekele.
