The travel restrictions were suspended this year.

I think it's pretty safe to assume the 2-flight rule and higher seeded teams getting 1st round home games will be put back in place next year once the COVID situation is resolved.

Bryant is in Rhode Island, not Maine, BTW. There would have had to be some major reshuffling of the bracket to stay within the 2-flight rule since someone would have had to fly from the East Coast to Denver and SB.

I'm not sure what the NCAA accomplished by doing that

However. Unless the intention was to put each team into a sort of bubble at the first round sites, I don't think this was a good idea.

As it is, instead of 8 teams traveling to first-round sites, this year 13 teams are traveling to first-round sites (all except North Carolina, Duke and Virginia). 10 of those 13 teams will have to fly to first-round sites (exceptions are Georgetown, High Point and Loyola).

If the tournament ever adds a round prior to the Round of 16, I think that four sites for the Round of 16 would be an excellent idea. I don't think it was a good idea for this year.

As far as the two air travel games rule goes, I think the NCAA has occasionally allowed three air travel games, and I think they would have done so this year as well. The only two unseeded teams in the bracket within bussing distance to Duke and North Carolina were High Point and Loyola. Matching up Loyola against Duke would not have been fair to either team, and moving Denver to the unseeded part of the field so that they could face ND (a move which would have saved one air travel game) wouldn't be fair to either team as well.

Makes sense. And right on Bryant. *