NCAA Tournament Coaches Not Worried About Travel or Logistics

Before the start of March Madness, the NCAA issued a travel warning to all Division I athletic directors and head coaches for men’s and women’s basketball, attempting to get ahead of any potential travel issues brought on by a shortage of charter planes and other challenges.

Now that both fields have been whittled to 16 teams, there should be far fewer problems, and the remaining coaches certainly don’t mind a few inconveniences.

Both Ben McCollum and Brad Underwood, head coaches of the men’s teams at Iowa and Illinois, respectively, dismissed the idea that travel and scheduling logistics put them at a disadvantage heading into their Sweet 16 matchups, both of which will take place in Houston.

McCollum on Wednesday brushed aside any thought of his ninth-seeded team being affected going into its South Regional semifinal matchup with Big Ten rival Nebraska after the Hawkeyes defeated No. 1 Florida in Tampa on Sunday afternoon, then had to fly back to Iowa City and leave for Houston on Tuesday.

“I mean, probably the challenge is my director of basketball ops setting everything up,” he said. “This level is so bougie. It’s like — I mean, we get back and then I get a text that says, ‘Be here at this time. The plane will be there.’ You will drive right up to the plane, you will get on the plane, everything will be done for you, the food will be there, all you have to do is bring your computer and scout. Then we get to the hotel. Everything’s perfectly set up.”

McCollum, 44, grew up in Iowa and played at North Iowa Area Community College and then Division II Northwest Missouri State, where he was later the head coach for 15 seasons.

“It’s just a [one] day difference,” he said about the discrepancy between what his team faces compared to the Cornhuskers, who won their Round of 32 game on Saturday. “So I probably don’t read into it. I’ve been at Division II for so long. I played junior college. I mean, you make your bus trips and you are ready to play. If you’re not ready to play for the Sweet 16, then you probably shouldn’t be here. That’s kind of my thought.”

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In the late game at the Toyota Center, No. 3 Illinois will face No. 2 Houston, which was eligible to play in the NBA arena located just three miles from its campus after a late switch made Rice University the official host school of the South Regional. Like his Big Ten counterpart McCollum, the Fighting Illini’s Underwood — whose first head-coaching job was at Dodge City Community College in 1988 — was unmoved at the notion his team was in an unfair position by having to play what amounts to a road game in the NCAA tournament.

“I’ll be honest, I couldn’t care less,” he said. “And I’m going to sound really kind of selfish here. I’m an old JuCo ball coach. I drove 16-passenger vans. I drove from Dodge City, Kansas, to Mesa, Arizona, for a basketball game, for a tournament, in a bus.

“If you had told me back then that I’m getting to coach basketball in the Sweet 16 and play Houston, I would sign up for it, I would crawl to get there. If we want to beat them, no matter where we play them, we would have to play great. Guess what? We’re going to have to do that tomorrow. And I think they’re going to have to play well if they want a chance to beat us.”