Cowboys Settle Into NCAA Tournament Bubble in Indianapolis

Do you remember a movie back in 1976 starring John Travolta, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble? It was a love story about a young man suffering from an insufficient immune system that had to live in a bubble. That is extreme, much more extreme than what the Oklahoma State Cowboys and the other 67 teams slated to begin play as early as Thursday in the First Four.

Oklahoma State begins at 5:35 p.m CT against Liberty with a first-round game in the Midwest Regional, appropriately enough, that will be played in the Indiana Farmer’s Coliseum. That building, in itself, is a story, and you can read more about it in our Premium content.

Indiana State Fair

Indiana Farmer’s Coliseum

The Cowboys gained some experience with the “bubble” concept last week and weekend in Kansas City as the Big 12 had two hotels booked out and the men’s teams each had a floor in one and the women’s teams playing in the Municipal Auditorium had the other. The team’s stayed on their floor, one player, coach, or staff member to a room. The team did have a common meeting room where they could eat some meals, meet, watch video, and even stage a walk thru. There was no freely moving about, no hanging out.

The NCAA Bubble is even more strict. Oklahoma State found out right away that when the NCAA wants you to move, you need to be ready. Although, Cowboys head coach Mike Boynton did put a foot down in wanting his team to be able to be together and watch their name called on the NCAA Selection Show. It seems the NCAA had slotted the Cowboys for travel then. That meant they were in, but might not have that magic moment of seeing them in.

“We had kind of a funky schedule and we almost weren’t able to watch the show and that wasn’t going to be fun,” Boynton said of the NCAA Selection Show and the NCAA’s demand for them to travel at that time. “I wanted to make sure our guys got to enjoy that moment and the trade-off was that we were going to have to leave pretty quickly. Then we had weather and plane issues and I haven’t really talked to them much yet.”

Yes, the Cowboys arrival to the “Bubble” of downtown Indianapolis was in the wee hours of Monday morning March 15. They were immediately tested for COVID-19 on arrival and then ushered to their floor of the JW Marriott and their individual rooms.

Booking.com

The Cowboys are staying at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianaplois.

“They sent us a menu in Kansas City last week and we all got to look it over and order from it,” Oklahoma State athletic media relations men’s basketball contact Stephen Howard told me as he sipped on coffee in his room at the JW Marriott. “The food is good. I had a skirt steak (for lunch).”

I had heard the food was genuine the night before as Liberty, Oklahoma State’s opponent, was already in Indianapolis and going through quarantine.

“It was great. They brought salmon and shrimp and bring it right to my door,” Liberty star scoring guard Darius McGhee said on Sunday evening in a Team call. “The food is good, and I have no complaints on the food.”

The quarantine is the first step, and the Cowboys went in the early AM of Monday and came out of it at 7 p.m. on Monday evening. It is 18 hours of testing and isolation to make sure, as a team, that the Cowboys will keep the bubble safe for them and every other team. All of the hotels the teams are staying in connect with a skywalk to the Indianapolis Convention Center. That includes the JW Marriott where the Cowboys are staying. The NCAA has set up 12 full courts for practice. They also have weightlifting and training rooms that the teams use. Each team gets two hours of court time to practice and then an hour for training each day while in the bubble and when not designated with a day off.

Visit Indiana

The Convention Center, where all the practice courts are located, sits in the shadow of Lucas Oil Stadium.

Oklahoma State, coming out of the quarantine, got one hour of court time to shoot and just stretch out after their quarantine was over Monday night. Other than practice and training, the rest of the time in the bubble is primarily spent in your room. I’m guessing the NBA bubble wasn’t much different, then again with millionaires maybe it is.

“It probably depends on your team and our team is kind of unique in this regard, we have a team of guys that don’t really socialize that much,” Boynton said of his squad. “I don’t know if that is because they have been conditioned that way for a year. They don’t care anymore, and I think that may be kind of sad because at some point we will eventually (get back to socializing). They like to stay in their rooms. Even when we are back on campus, we offer these guys, ‘why don’t a couple of your guys come by the house (Boynton’s) to get away.’ ‘No, we’re good. We’ll just stay here and play PS4 and watch Netflix.’ That is one of the flipsides of this shut down or whatever you want to call it. You kind of condition these kids to be anti-social as human beings, which I hope we come out of this thing and we’re better off.”

That is kind of a sad statement, but it is true. All of us have adapted to having more alone time or being with significant other or family and not seeing many people outside of our family or tight circle.

Pokes Report

This team values basketball and seems to enjoy their alone time too.

The real significance here is that this is all designed to put on a basketball tournament that has become a national, even international treasure. Certainly, America without March Madness and office brackets is not really America in March. That was something the pandemic took a year ago that was most lamented as virtually all of us went through our own quarantine last year at this time.

“As far as the basketball is concerned, it may be good that our guys won’t be distracted or feel like they are being forced to do this because they kind of enjoy the individual opportunities to do their kind of thing on their own,” Boynton explained. “They have their own rooms, food brought to them. They literally don’t have to do anything until it is time to get up, brush their teeth, and go to practice. Then (go) play a game. I think another team might have a different experience, but for us I think our guys have enjoyed it to the degree that you can enjoy being isolated. They also know that getting a chance to play on the biggest stage is something that they have all looked forward to.”

Their sacrifice is their gain. Cade Cunningham, Kalib Boone, Isaac Likekele, Avery Anderson III, they all want to play in the NCAA Tournament. They all want to shoot for their “shining moment.” They are willing to sacrifice to do it. We have to be thankful that they are, so we get to watch.