Illini prepping for lengthy stay in Indianapolis | Sports | news-gazette.com – Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette

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CHAMPAIGN — The Illinois men’s basketball team isn’t in an absolute hurry to get to Indianapolis for the Big Ten tournament.

The double bye the Illini secured with their runner-up finish in the regular season means a Friday evening start. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic means a final practice in Champaign on Thursday morning before making the two-hour bus ride east.

There’s also the part where Illinois will leave for the state of Indiana this week and maybe not come back until the first week of April.

The Big Ten tournament will feed directly into the NCAA tournament in its new centralized home in Indianapolis. Teams that are assured a spot in the latter — the Illini included — have been encouraged to arrive to Indianapolis as early as possible to go through COVID-19 testing protocols.

Simple enough for Illinois, since it will already be in town. Whenever the Illini are finished in the Big Ten tournament, which might just be Sunday’s championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium, they’ll transition into the NCAA’s “controlled environment.” It won’t be a full-scale bubble like the NBA and WNBA pulled off last summer, but basically once you’re in it, you’re in until you lose and go home.

“We’re stuck,” said Joey Biggs, Illinois assistant athletic director for basketball. “We can’t even really go outside and get fresh air the way it’s going to be. We’re going to be in that bubble other than riding to game sites and practice.”

Biggs has spent this week finalizing all of the details for Illinois’ extended stay in Indianapolis. Itineraries have to be finalized. A practice site in Indianapolis for shootaround purposes — no easy task with both the Big Ten men’s and women’s tournaments plus the opening rounds of the NAIA championship in town — also had to be secured.

“Just trying to work through the logistic stuff and making sure you have everything you need for what you hope is a monthlong stay,” Biggs said.

Everything Illinois might need for that extended stay is a long list. It goes beyond having enough socks and underwear. Like equipment for strength and conditioning coach Adam Fletcher and athletic trainer Paul Schmidt all the basketball detritus required for the team to function (dry erase boards, tech to run film sessions on the road).

Then there’s the food. Feeding players, coaches and staff for what could be weeks on the road — without an ability to leave the hotel — is quite the organizational task.

“You have to be able to keep things fresh and keep things where guys are eating good stuff and it’s stuff they want to eat,” Biggs said. “Find that balance between what’s good for them and what tastes good to them. Sometimes those things aren’t the same. The NCAA is working with us and outside groups to where the hotel will let you do one meal a day where you can bring it in. That will be good because we can mix in some different things and get things they like and make sure we have good food for them.”

That the NCAA tournament was moved to Indianapolis was a blessing in disguise under the circumstances created by the pandemic.

If it turns out the Illini left something at home, all it takes is a phone call and a quick trip from Champaign from someone not in the team’s small travel party to deliver it.

“We’re lucky in that regard,” Biggs said. “If we were going to (Los Angeles) for the NCAA tournament, you’d have major issues with that. If you forget anything, you have to go buy it. That’s hard because they won’t let you out.”