MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Have you ever gone on vacation to the beach and the weather was so bad that you spent most of your time trapped inside your hotel room?
 
Well, that's sort of what the players in this year's NCAA Tournament were going through until they completed their COVID-19 testing this morning.
 
These guys were basically confined to their hotel rooms until earlier today.
 
"We just got our full clearance this morning where we can start leaving our floor and really leaving our room," West Virginia guard Miles McBride said this afternoon. "We couldn't leave our rooms for the first day and a half, basically, because we didn't have our test results back. We practiced pretty late last night, which was good because we're going to play a late game."
 
With something as unpredictable as a worldwide pandemic, putting on a college basketball tournament with 68 different teams times 30-plus members of a travel party is a fairly significant deal.
 
In terms of logistics, it's probably the college sports equivalent of planning the Normandy invasion during World War II. So many different variables, such as a group of elite officials going out to eat some dinner and one of them catching the virus, can come into play.
 
In one regard, it's helpful for the coaches because it pretty much takes care of their players' curfews.
 
"The hardest was yesterday when you had to stay in your own room and you couldn't fraternize with any of your teammates," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. Huggins is participating in his 25^th NCAA Tournament this year. "I think going to practice last night really helped getting guys together. Now that they're allowed to be around each other a little bit more it's been fine."
 
McBride said he spent last night watching NBA games.
 
"I watched Damian Lillard put up 50 against the Pelicans in that comeback win. I mean, there's not much you can do but just continue to watch basketball," he said.
 
Or listen to music on your phone or play video games, something McBride admits he doesn't do.
 
"I've got a book here with me, the John Thompson book, and I'm going to start reading that, so it really is nothing but basketball for me," he said. "My other teammates probably have video games and other things they're kind of keeping up with.
 
"And, oh, study hall … academics for sure," he added.
 
One of the unique experiences of this year's NCAA Tournament is having all of the teams in one city, which means a lot of them will run into each other in the hotels in which they are staying. This morning McBride ran into North Carolina coach Roy Williams, and they said hello.
In prior NCAA Tournaments, the 68 teams are spread out at different sites around the country and have very little interaction with each other before the games.
 
"The closest I can get to this feeling is like an elite AAU tournament where you've got a bunch of big names and a bunch of good players in the same place," McBride explained. "The best teams in America are all in one place, and it's unique with the tournament like this because we're all together. We pass by a bunch of different teams and during a regular tournament you wouldn't get to see them other than on TV or things like that."
 
Huggins does see that as a positive.
 
"They're trying the best that they possibly can. I think letting teams get out and practice (Tuesday) was a big step in getting those guys back to a little bit of normalcy," he said.
 
For McBride, just being part of something he's watched since he was a little kid is a dream come true despite being in a bubble setting with limited fans. West Virginia was supposed to play in last year's NCAA Tournament during McBride's freshman season before COVID-19 canceled the postseason play.
 
"It's been one of my biggest dreams to play in March Madness," he said. "It's a little different this year, but I'm still so happy to here. One of the main games I remember is Marcus Page hitting a big shot for North Carolina and Villanova coming down and Kris Jenkins hitting the big shot (to win it). There have been big upsets and big shots by big-time players, and this is where it happens. It's exciting to be here."
 
McBride is also appreciative of the massive effort the NCAA has put forth to make this year's tournament happen.
 
"Obviously, not being able to play in the tournament last year I think that hurt everybody. The people here are doing a really great job, and I'm sure it's tough getting 68 times a travel party of 30 taken care of with facilities and all those things. I think they're doing a really great job," he concluded.
 
Third-seeded West Virginia will take on No. 14-seed Morehead State on Friday night at 9:50 p.m. at Lucas Oil Stadium. The game will be televised nationally on truTV.