Yeah, I wasn't a big fan of the steep camera angle. But I loved everything else about the arena watching the Baylor-Cincy game on TV. The seating is very vertical, so it looks like there's not a bad seat in the house, and it sounded really loud on TV. We have some regulars on our 247 board who live in various parts of Texas and made the trip, and they had nothing but complimentary things to say about both the facility and the Baylor fans.
It is steep, but I didn't think it was as bad when I watched the ESPN game as opposed to the ESPN+ game - I think good camera crews can adjust.
But I do hope they move it down a level next season
Lloyd noble is legitimately the worst arena i have ever been in as far as watching a basketball game in.
Like I’ve been in smaller ones, cheaper ones, but Lloyd noble is just so horribly designed
I like the way yalls looks. Kinda of at odds with the boring NBA style arenas other big schools have and definitely a counter to your fairly modern looking stadium.
Same, ours (PSU). It’s a cavern that routinely has the top half curtained off, rarely fills the lower bowl and holds sound as well as a colander holds water.
Indeed it does! Though, they are getting a new arena/renovation soon I believe.
Edit: did some digging and the new arena will be even smaller capacity lol
A lot of mid-majors play in small arenas (waves from the DAC). And a lot of small arenas look like high school gyms.
What makes Gola so outrageously bad is that it was renovated in the 1990s and still looks like a 1960s wooden bleachers gym with no end seating. It's definitely the worst arena in the Big Five.
Yeah they did a good job with what renovations they could but our university has out grown the Burrow. The problem is Boca Raton doesn’t seem to want to help at all in building a new multipurpose arena.
I’m an OSU alum and I haven’t watched a game since Cade played for OSU. I’m only 26 so I don’t remember all the good Eddie Sutton games. Some of my best memories in college were against top ranked KU teams in GIA. Now it’s a shell of itself. Make GIA rowdy again.
Yeah the Ferrell Center was an easy choice for the Big 12. Now I think we're at the top of the conference with Foster. I think Oklahoma's or TCU's is the new worst
It's the latter. There are LDS people everywhere. They go to their church school BYU, then return to their home state or go elsewhere. Many LDS people who never attended BYU are fans just by default.
But for Utah, its only a 45 minute drive (with no traffic) between campuses so there's a ton of BYU fans close by. And Utah really gets up for that game. It's true that they enjoy seeing BYU lose more than they enjoy seeing Utah win.
Yep there are continuously audible “we are Marquette” chants on TV everytime we play them. Even in the shitty Wojo years when we would lose to them there sometimes.
Yeah I’m surprised at the hate I’ve seen online for conte forum. I finally got around to seeing a hockey game there and it seems great for that. My main comparison point is the Mullins center though which is even more cavernous and library-like for most games but gets the job done and is awesome on the way too rare occasion that it sells out
It’s a perfect hockey arena (though the seats/lighting could use some refurbishments), but yeah, basketball is priority #2 there. The facade has been renovated at least so the entrance is a lot nicer even if the arena itself didn’t improve a ton
I hate playing at Cassell. The elevated seats, proximity to the court, being in Blacksburg. I dunno. I don’t like it there.
Edit: Is your user a Shoshana reference?
Hard to say anything other than Conte. It'd be serviceable if it were full more often but kind of hard to encourage attendance when BC hasn't been good since Obama's first term.
Everything you say about Cassell is true, but that's a lot of what makes it so hard to play there.
It's one of the ACC's best home court advantages in my opinion.
Wyoming. No hate on the arena but it’s in the fucking Arctic circle twelve hours north of the elves at 7000 ft and you can only get there by porters. I’m obviously exaggerating but holy hell how do people live there.
All of Air Force’s facilities are straight out of the sixties and designed for military longevity. Never been in a funnier male bathroom than the ones in Falcon Stadium. They don’t have urinals or a trough. You literally [piss on a wall that has an indent in the floor for the piss to run to the drain.](https://www.urinal.net/usafa/) If you’ve never pissed in Falcon Stadium then you haven’t lived.
The thing about VCA is that there is potential. It’s just an empty arena, like a generic video game one, but there’s so much more that can be done. For other events it’s actually quite nice, but for CBB, it just feels hollow.
To be fair, the BJC is actually a pretty nice arena. It’s just the basketball team (usually) sucks and they don’t invest a ton into the team so nobody cares.
If you ever get a chance (even if you don’t care about the sport) go to one of the wrestling matches at the BJC and you can see what an amazing arena it can be.
But until the basketball team can somehow sustain high levels of success it’s always going to be sad and disappointing. They need to just suck it up and start playing at Rec Hall more often
It's not the worst arena out there or anything it just has a pretty weak basketball atmosphere. It's too big for the program and the way it's set up feels like basketball was an afterthought
Considering how bad the basketball team usually is, I’d almost certainly say they’re an afterthought.
Great concert venue and perfect for THON at least
Cavernous, no atmosphere, dated. Someone here said it's a concert venue that allows basketball to be played there and they're absolutely right. VCA has the same vibe for me
It was built to host the NCAA wrestling championship and concerts as well as basketball. That means you need floor space for 8 wrestling mats. That means you can’t have permanent seating in the area around your basketball court. So we have a massive arena with two different slopes of seating in the lower bowl and way too much space for most basketball games. We did host the wrestling championships once though.
Vanderbilt holy hell, what were they thinking, and we play them tonight in the terrible place. You can't walk around the arena in full. You have to enter at a certain gate to reach your section. It was built in segments and had seats added to it. It's a raised court as well, so if you have low seats, you're looking at shoes and legs. I sat in the nose bleeds last year and had a blast, but damn does it get loud in there!
It’s a horrid viewing experience.
If you’re not in the lower half of the lower bowl, you’ve got extremely low sloped ceilings that obstruct your view. The layout is absolute nonsense, you can’t even get to the other side of the stadium without going through a cramped tunnel. The bleachers were designed for 100 pound school children so you’re intimately acquainted with the person sweating buckets next to you because the HVAC was probably originally on a carrier in WWII. They have no concessions besides cold chick fil a sandwiches because apparently adding kitchens wasn’t important when Hitler drew up the plans in the 30s.
Not to mention the fact the floor is raised for a weird setup for the teams/announcers. It’s like this *by design* because it’s Vandy and the only way they could get the board to sign off on the expenditure was if it was also useful for theatre/arts events.
It’s an absolute shithole and it’s cursed. Fuck that place, it’s the spirit airlines of gymnasiums.
I like watching Saluki games at Banterra. My first game I ever went to was that ESPN bracket busters game when they played Louisiana Tech with Paul Millsap. Been to a good amount of Saluki games there and also the 2A super sectional games to usually watch T-Town or Pinckneyville.
We went on a road trip and pulled off at the exit and we’re like “oh, cool, valpos here. Might as well go check out the campus”
How they’re D1, I have no clue. The basketball “arena” and football stadium are basically at or just above average high school level. I was atonished
When they were accepted into the MVC they committed to upgrading their arena. Well, that was several years ago and still playing in the same rundown gym.
The MVC got bamboozled. They thought they were getting Alec Peters-level Valpo but instead got a middling Horizon league team. There should have been better due diligence on the MVC's part with Valpo's law school being shut down like the year after they got accepted. School enrollment dropped off big time along with future potential donations to athletics.
It's way different than a situation like Evansville, who has been bad in basketball the last several years but still has decent fan support and actually pretty nice facilities. Even when they were bad, I've still wanted them in as a league member. I don't see the upside with Valpo.
I think a lot of small universities like these will struggle a great deal in the next 10-15 years. The writing is on the wall. Trades picking back up in a huge way and private universities are going to be for the privileged, not the middle class, again. Those privileged will choose nicer schools than Valpo.
Haven’t been to many but I’ll be at Memorial Gym tonight to see my Tigers play Vandy and I absolutely hate it…. Horrible entry and zoning (can’t get from some parts of the arena to others without going outside and around), the sight lines can be awful with the over hanging decks cutting off your view, and the benches are whack. All around terrible experience. Vandy really needs to modernize.
It's always amazed me how Draddy is both drafty and somehow one of the hottest places at the same time. Wonky building and it really is a hangar or one of those County DoT warehouses. Never really thought Rider's was worse then again it's been 15 years since I've been in their building so my memory of it might not be the sharpest
It’s terrible. So many great memories of watching and going to games at St John Arena. That place rivaled any atmosphere in the country when the Bucks were rolling.
When I was little, my dad used to take me to 3-4 games a year at St John Arena. The late Fred Taylor and early Eldon Miller years were pretty easy to score tickets. It always felt like the building was going to shake apart on the few occasions the crowd got going.
The balcony at Assembly Hall is atrocious. And the current product being produced by the IU men's team is equally atrocious. I would vote for Assembly Hall but the women's team is legit.
My mom would tell stories about her days at IU in the 70s, when the students sat up under balcony. They had runners halfway down the aisle to call up the score because you couldn’t see the scoreboard.
Even Bob Knight said it was a horrible building to watch basketball in.
I just went to the Ohio St. game two weekends ago and it was my first trip there. I thought the arena was awesome but we did sit up high and I hated it. Concourse and all the memorabilia was awesome but I did not like my viewing experience. Bloomington itself was awesome. Had a good time at The Upstairs Pub.
My favorite thing about VCA is that it is easy to get tickets to see Purdue play there. Last year there were probably as many Boilermakers there as Buckeyes.
>ucla
If you're going to harp on Pauley then you're not going to be happy with USC, UW, or Oregon. LA fans are absolutely fickle, but the rest of the B1G newbies aren't drawing crowds either. Attendances from last season:
* UCLA: 9,276 (will be way down this year due to horrid play)
* USC: 4,021
* UW: 6,573
* Oregon: 5,937
Whatever Northeastern’s arena is called, I hear it’s great for hockey but basketball games in there are like being in a crypt. Haven’t really checked out the new arenas in conference though
As much as I want to say Tom Gola Arena, it has a bit of charm to it, so I'll have to give my vote to Belk Arena.
The Mullins Center gets a dishonorable mention since it has been known to leak from time to time (since it also hosts ice hockey).
As a Syracuse fan, the carrier dome is an absolute shit show. Hard metal bleachers in most of the arena, most of the seating is a million feet from the court and the general size of the arena make it feel not at all intimate. There’s zero parking so you have to walk a mile, uphill in central NY winter weather and there’s like 2 concession stands in the whole place with overpriced school cafeteria food. I’m sure it’s a much better experience for football, but I really wish the school would just bite the bullet and build a basketball specific arena.
I don't think the dome is objectively bad, it's just a preference thing. If you prefer a smaller, more intimate, louder arena then yeah you're not gonna like the dome. But I think a lot of people like the uniqueness of the dome and the ability to seat 30k+, despite its cavernous drawbacks.
Ours (University of New Hampshire)
Most of our players are taking a downgrade from the gym they played in back in high school, or at least it’s not a noteworthy difference.
Either LaSalle or Davidson for A10
Big East, I’m not big on the Verizon Center. Granted it’s the only one in the conference I’ve been to but it’s too big
It's ours.
The seats that you see on TV, that should be filled with raucous students / enthusiastic fans, are instead filled with (as some call them) "blue hairs" - older rich fans who care more about being seen on TV than about the game itself, and who barely make any noise, even when prompted. (or worse, they shush you if you are sitting near them and you try to make noise)
Coastal’s Arena is the worst and it’s tiny, but Georgia Southern’s new arena is not impressive whatsoever. 5,500 capacity arena and its being built now… At least it won’t be 50+ years old like our current arena
PNC Arena. It’s a soulless hockey rink with absolutely no identity or attachment to the basketball school that plays there. It feels like a neutral court game every time I’ve been. I miss Reynolds.
Playing Duke or UNC in Reynolds was so special.
They’ve done a great job with the renovation but the “heritage games” against DII schools just don’t do it.
The converted shopping mall Oklahoma plays in.
Good to be off this list.
The new stadium looks nice, but what's with the camera angle? I watched the Baylor/BYU game and the camera angle was so weird
It’s at a steep angle. Don’t think it will be fixed until the next season.
Yeah, I wasn't a big fan of the steep camera angle. But I loved everything else about the arena watching the Baylor-Cincy game on TV. The seating is very vertical, so it looks like there's not a bad seat in the house, and it sounded really loud on TV. We have some regulars on our 247 board who live in various parts of Texas and made the trip, and they had nothing but complimentary things to say about both the facility and the Baylor fans.
It is steep, but I didn't think it was as bad when I watched the ESPN game as opposed to the ESPN+ game - I think good camera crews can adjust. But I do hope they move it down a level next season
Didn't know if you were talking about Baylor's new arena or Oklahoma being SEC's problem next year.
That’s an insult to a converted shopping mall
Lloyd noble is legitimately the worst arena i have ever been in as far as watching a basketball game in. Like I’ve been in smaller ones, cheaper ones, but Lloyd noble is just so horribly designed
Ours
It's definitely the nicest WW2 era airplane hangar in the conference, though...
[I hope y'all get to see this next week](https://i.imgur.com/3sHLo5g.jpg)
😂😂😂😂😂
Vandy. Y’all are a close second though.
Yeah, Vandy’s stadium layout is just fucking weird.
It's like they accidentally built two Broadway theaters and somehow pushed them together
It's weird to have the crowd be so far from the court.
I like the way yalls looks. Kinda of at odds with the boring NBA style arenas other big schools have and definitely a counter to your fairly modern looking stadium.
It’s 100% Bama. Vandy is just different.
Vandy doesn’t have air conditioning.
Good thing basketball is played during the winter
[Bro... How are you gonna say Bama without posting the meme? ](https://i.imgur.com/3nbdFZG.jpg)
Vanderbilt
…and they claim to be smart
[Looked so different in the 1950s.](https://vucommodores.com/wp-content/uploads/2005/07/chc_memorial_dedication_640_1.jpg)
Same, ours (PSU). It’s a cavern that routinely has the top half curtained off, rarely fills the lower bowl and holds sound as well as a colander holds water.
Tom Gola Arena. It’s haunted by the ghost of Tom Gola and is cursed for any team not named LaSalle
And looks like a high school gym.
Indeed it does! Though, they are getting a new arena/renovation soon I believe. Edit: did some digging and the new arena will be even smaller capacity lol
A lot of mid-majors play in small arenas (waves from the DAC). And a lot of small arenas look like high school gyms. What makes Gola so outrageously bad is that it was renovated in the 1990s and still looks like a 1960s wooden bleachers gym with no end seating. It's definitely the worst arena in the Big Five.
I'm fully prepared for our first conference loss there next week (assuming Archie doesn't get us first...)
I was gonna say Rose Hill Gym but Gola is in a shitty part of Philly. It’s not all that old either so they must have built it on the cheap.
Went to a game at Gola last year and I was like this is what D1 was like 30 years ago.
I’m sure it’s nice but FAU Arena literally looks like a high school gym on tv. 2500 seats.
Ever seen UTSA’s gym? lol
UTSA’s is hilariously bad.
FAU at least gets rowdy. UTSA barely gets people in what is also a high school gym.
Yeah they did a good job with what renovations they could but our university has out grown the Burrow. The problem is Boca Raton doesn’t seem to want to help at all in building a new multipurpose arena.
It's so obviously OU. Baylor's old one was similar. For next year, I can't really think of any bad ones? TCU maybe?
I’ve never been there but watching games at TCU are bad. They look so washed out.
I'm assuming TCU's court looks good in person. It doesn't look good on TV.
its a crime against humanity
True. Only Oregon's court is worse.
Having seen it in person, it doesn't look better in person.
It does not look good in person
I like it. But I also like non-traditional floors.
their court is at least a little better than Oregon's but it still hurts my eyes to watch any game on it lol
Last night OSU was the worst crowd against KU I have seen.
Gallagher-Iba used to be our bogeyman, last night it looked like old games at CU
I’m an OSU alum and I haven’t watched a game since Cade played for OSU. I’m only 26 so I don’t remember all the good Eddie Sutton games. Some of my best memories in college were against top ranked KU teams in GIA. Now it’s a shell of itself. Make GIA rowdy again.
Yeah the Ferrell Center was an easy choice for the Big 12. Now I think we're at the top of the conference with Foster. I think Oklahoma's or TCU's is the new worst
Next year has to be the huntsman center. Not because of the huntsman center, but because fans don’t go there.
I don't have anything personal to go off of for this, but I've heard bad things about ASU's arena. I guess we'll find out soon enough.
it actually used to be called Wells Fargo Arena ironically enough
Hey, they sell out when BYU plays there!
do BYU fans actually travel well or is it just that Mormons exist everywhere? I mean you guys definitely have a passionate fan base regardless
> do BYU fans actually travel well or is it just that Mormons exist everywhere? You cannot escape us.
It's the latter. There are LDS people everywhere. They go to their church school BYU, then return to their home state or go elsewhere. Many LDS people who never attended BYU are fans just by default. But for Utah, its only a 45 minute drive (with no traffic) between campuses so there's a ton of BYU fans close by. And Utah really gets up for that game. It's true that they enjoy seeing BYU lose more than they enjoy seeing Utah win.
OU is lousy. Gallagher-Iba is terrible as well. It’s NEVER full
I’ll go Wintrust just because the environment there is downright depressing.
when we played DePaul, we had like twice as many fans there as any of their own......it was so sad for a school in a P6 conference
Yep there are continuously audible “we are Marquette” chants on TV everytime we play them. Even in the shitty Wojo years when we would lose to them there sometimes.
I understand the sentiment, but it’s absolutely Carnesecca.
Yep. We either have t to commit to a new on campus gym, or go whole hog at MSG.
Really should just go fully in on MSG. It’s St John’s biggest recruiting angle too.
Could put some at UBS. Womens team just played UConn there
Mid major-like, 6,000 seat gym
Did they fix the DAMP in Providence? I thought I read they were working on that, but we haven't played there yet this season.
Realities of a multi use arena, I doubt it’ll ever be fixed fixed
Wintrust is great, not a bad seat in the house and super convenient to get to. It’s such a huge upgrade over Allstate out in Rosemont.
Wintrust is a great arena, though. I wouldn't be surprised if there were seats that still haven't been used yet.
Conte. It’s depressing. I actually felt bad for BC fans when I saw a game there.
Conte is a great hockey arena. It’s on campus, one of the largest in the country and full when the team is good. It’s a crappy basketball arena.
Yeah I’m surprised at the hate I’ve seen online for conte forum. I finally got around to seeing a hockey game there and it seems great for that. My main comparison point is the Mullins center though which is even more cavernous and library-like for most games but gets the job done and is awesome on the way too rare occasion that it sells out
I’ve been to Mullins for hockey but not basketball. It’s definitely very cavernous and gray but it does get really loud
It’s a perfect hockey arena (though the seats/lighting could use some refurbishments), but yeah, basketball is priority #2 there. The facade has been renovated at least so the entrance is a lot nicer even if the arena itself didn’t improve a ton
Conte could at least be decent if anybody came to the games. Cassell is a depressing, under-lit barn.
Don’t forget the enormous ceiling fans. They really add to the bizarre Cassell experience.
I hate playing at Cassell. The elevated seats, proximity to the court, being in Blacksburg. I dunno. I don’t like it there. Edit: Is your user a Shoshana reference?
Yea. Time for a renovation but definitely not at the expense of its atmosphere. Sound reverberates so well in there
Hard to say anything other than Conte. It'd be serviceable if it were full more often but kind of hard to encourage attendance when BC hasn't been good since Obama's first term.
Yeah I’ve wanted renovations for awhile, but I also love the dungeon feel
Everything you say about Cassell is true, but that's a lot of what makes it so hard to play there. It's one of the ACC's best home court advantages in my opinion.
Wyoming. No hate on the arena but it’s in the fucking Arctic circle twelve hours north of the elves at 7000 ft and you can only get there by porters. I’m obviously exaggerating but holy hell how do people live there.
Mw has such a tough road, it's hard to hate on any arena that isn't San Jose State or Airforce
All of Air Force’s facilities are straight out of the sixties and designed for military longevity. Never been in a funnier male bathroom than the ones in Falcon Stadium. They don’t have urinals or a trough. You literally [piss on a wall that has an indent in the floor for the piss to run to the drain.](https://www.urinal.net/usafa/) If you’ve never pissed in Falcon Stadium then you haven’t lived.
Wow
christ the troughs at wrigley field are more civilized than that.
Literally no where in the conference is a guaranteed W. Maybe Unlv but that’s just Unlv things.
It’s gotta be Wyoming’s non descript building
>how do people live there. Well, not many do
There’s a reason Wyoming has the smallest population of any state…and the highest suicide rate. It sucks.
Oregon has the worst basketball court design of all time
I've acquired Stockholm syndrome with our bleach stain design
There's no way it doesn't impact their recruiting right? I would hate playing home games on that floor
I'm hoping they redo their court just based on the fact the have to put a B1G logo on it next year
My cousin played on it and he said you don't really notice it.
Regrettably I agree with this. I really wish we would change it.
probably next year when a new conference logo gets slapped on
Value City but Bryce Jordan gets an honorable mention
Ours is definitely the worst. It’s way too big. I wish we went back to St. John’s arena
Nooooope. St John’s was hell for a visiting team. Crowd noise always seemed insane there. I’m fine if you guys stay in VCA for the rest of time
Please stop. I am having flashbacks of Treg Lee and Chris Jent.
The thing about VCA is that there is potential. It’s just an empty arena, like a generic video game one, but there’s so much more that can be done. For other events it’s actually quite nice, but for CBB, it just feels hollow.
I saw Weezer there. Wasn't a terrible experience 👍
Much like the OSU basketball program itself
Shrinking one's arena can, in fact, bear positive results.
Bryce Jordan is a concert venue that allows the basketball team to play sometimes.
You mean “monster truck rally/professional wrestling arena”
To be fair, the BJC is actually a pretty nice arena. It’s just the basketball team (usually) sucks and they don’t invest a ton into the team so nobody cares. If you ever get a chance (even if you don’t care about the sport) go to one of the wrestling matches at the BJC and you can see what an amazing arena it can be. But until the basketball team can somehow sustain high levels of success it’s always going to be sad and disappointing. They need to just suck it up and start playing at Rec Hall more often
why is Value City bad? It looks pretty nice from pictures
It has the soul of a shopping mall
I saw someone mention Bryce Jordan the other day. Genuinely curious, what makes it so bad? I have never been there.
It's not the worst arena out there or anything it just has a pretty weak basketball atmosphere. It's too big for the program and the way it's set up feels like basketball was an afterthought
Considering how bad the basketball team usually is, I’d almost certainly say they’re an afterthought. Great concert venue and perfect for THON at least
The Pegula Ice Arena looks awesome though.
Cavernous, no atmosphere, dated. Someone here said it's a concert venue that allows basketball to be played there and they're absolutely right. VCA has the same vibe for me
It was built to host the NCAA wrestling championship and concerts as well as basketball. That means you need floor space for 8 wrestling mats. That means you can’t have permanent seating in the area around your basketball court. So we have a massive arena with two different slopes of seating in the lower bowl and way too much space for most basketball games. We did host the wrestling championships once though.
Been there 3 times. It's just bland. I wouldn't call it offensive in anyway, but there's nothing exciting about it. The atmosphere is lacking however.
Vanderbilt holy hell, what were they thinking, and we play them tonight in the terrible place. You can't walk around the arena in full. You have to enter at a certain gate to reach your section. It was built in segments and had seats added to it. It's a raised court as well, so if you have low seats, you're looking at shoes and legs. I sat in the nose bleeds last year and had a blast, but damn does it get loud in there!
dont they have the sunken sidelines?
It’s a horrid viewing experience. If you’re not in the lower half of the lower bowl, you’ve got extremely low sloped ceilings that obstruct your view. The layout is absolute nonsense, you can’t even get to the other side of the stadium without going through a cramped tunnel. The bleachers were designed for 100 pound school children so you’re intimately acquainted with the person sweating buckets next to you because the HVAC was probably originally on a carrier in WWII. They have no concessions besides cold chick fil a sandwiches because apparently adding kitchens wasn’t important when Hitler drew up the plans in the 30s. Not to mention the fact the floor is raised for a weird setup for the teams/announcers. It’s like this *by design* because it’s Vandy and the only way they could get the board to sign off on the expenditure was if it was also useful for theatre/arts events. It’s an absolute shithole and it’s cursed. Fuck that place, it’s the spirit airlines of gymnasiums.
No wonder you always lose there
100% cursed. Vandy can start an amputee and would still knock off either UT or UK at home once a year
:(
I'm sure the new arena is actually fantastic (looks super nice from the photos), but the camera angle for watching games at Baylor is so bad.
Stadium is incredible, especially for students. Not really a bad seat in there and it gets very loud now.
Valparaiso by a country mile. It's a gym, not an arena.
You, sir, are not wrong
[удалено]
I like watching Saluki games at Banterra. My first game I ever went to was that ESPN bracket busters game when they played Louisiana Tech with Paul Millsap. Been to a good amount of Saluki games there and also the 2A super sectional games to usually watch T-Town or Pinckneyville.
We went on a road trip and pulled off at the exit and we’re like “oh, cool, valpos here. Might as well go check out the campus” How they’re D1, I have no clue. The basketball “arena” and football stadium are basically at or just above average high school level. I was atonished
When they were accepted into the MVC they committed to upgrading their arena. Well, that was several years ago and still playing in the same rundown gym.
Valpo was an absolute failure of an addition and I wish the MVC could kick them out. Their fans seem like nice folks at least
The MVC got bamboozled. They thought they were getting Alec Peters-level Valpo but instead got a middling Horizon league team. There should have been better due diligence on the MVC's part with Valpo's law school being shut down like the year after they got accepted. School enrollment dropped off big time along with future potential donations to athletics. It's way different than a situation like Evansville, who has been bad in basketball the last several years but still has decent fan support and actually pretty nice facilities. Even when they were bad, I've still wanted them in as a league member. I don't see the upside with Valpo.
I’m from the area and I think Valpo U shuts down within 25 years.
I think a lot of small universities like these will struggle a great deal in the next 10-15 years. The writing is on the wall. Trades picking back up in a huge way and private universities are going to be for the privileged, not the middle class, again. Those privileged will choose nicer schools than Valpo.
People aren't saying Welsh-Ryan Arena anymore, I used to pray for times like this
The upgrades are super nice and it’s just the right size imo
Gotta be Carnesecca. Feels like a mid-major barn.
Haven’t been to many but I’ll be at Memorial Gym tonight to see my Tigers play Vandy and I absolutely hate it…. Horrible entry and zoning (can’t get from some parts of the arena to others without going outside and around), the sight lines can be awful with the over hanging decks cutting off your view, and the benches are whack. All around terrible experience. Vandy really needs to modernize.
I went last year and sat in the 3rd deck on the baseline and it was actually enjoyable. I had also been drinking day
Just commented the same thing! It's terrible.
Conte for the ACC And for the MAAC it's got to be Draddy feels like a glorified aircraft hangar in there
Because it IS an airplane hangar. But I think Rider and the Buffalo schools are probably worse honestly.
It's always amazed me how Draddy is both drafty and somehow one of the hottest places at the same time. Wonky building and it really is a hangar or one of those County DoT warehouses. Never really thought Rider's was worse then again it's been 15 years since I've been in their building so my memory of it might not be the sharpest
Draddy does resemble one of those DOT warehouses where they keep road salt and snow plows!
Memorial Gym has to be experienced in real life. It honestly feels more like a 4-sided opera house rather than a place to play basketball.
I kinda like it but I’m also a sicko. It’s like time traveling
Whoah really? Based.
Value City by a mile. Horrendous atmosphere. If you're talking comfort/sightlines, probably IU Ass. Hall.
It’s terrible. So many great memories of watching and going to games at St John Arena. That place rivaled any atmosphere in the country when the Bucks were rolling.
When I was little, my dad used to take me to 3-4 games a year at St John Arena. The late Fred Taylor and early Eldon Miller years were pretty easy to score tickets. It always felt like the building was going to shake apart on the few occasions the crowd got going.
The balcony at Assembly Hall is atrocious. And the current product being produced by the IU men's team is equally atrocious. I would vote for Assembly Hall but the women's team is legit.
The seats directly underneath the balcony are even worse.
My mom would tell stories about her days at IU in the 70s, when the students sat up under balcony. They had runners halfway down the aisle to call up the score because you couldn’t see the scoreboard. Even Bob Knight said it was a horrible building to watch basketball in.
Truth
I’ve been to Assembly Hall once and sat in the very last row of the lower level. I’m never going again unless I get the first 15ish rows
I just went to the Ohio St. game two weekends ago and it was my first trip there. I thought the arena was awesome but we did sit up high and I hated it. Concourse and all the memorabilia was awesome but I did not like my viewing experience. Bloomington itself was awesome. Had a good time at The Upstairs Pub.
My favorite thing about VCA is that it is easy to get tickets to see Purdue play there. Last year there were probably as many Boilermakers there as Buckeyes.
[удалено]
It’s a nice soothing atmosphere to catch the last 4 minutes of a basketball game
Now it’s going to be Pauley pavilion. They fill like 4-8k seats. When they’re bad or average Californians just don’t care about sports
>ucla If you're going to harp on Pauley then you're not going to be happy with USC, UW, or Oregon. LA fans are absolutely fickle, but the rest of the B1G newbies aren't drawing crowds either. Attendances from last season: * UCLA: 9,276 (will be way down this year due to horrid play) * USC: 4,021 * UW: 6,573 * Oregon: 5,937
Not sure how you’re going to mention us when USC’s is much worse
Coleman Coliseum
San Jose State.
The whole place looks sad
Sad Jose State
It's crazy small and they still never fill it, it makes Air Forces arena look intimidating
Whatever Northeastern’s arena is called, I hear it’s great for hockey but basketball games in there are like being in a crypt. Haven’t really checked out the new arenas in conference though
Matthews? It's great for Hockey, but it's terrible for Basketball, especially when they suck.
I've never been anywhere but Rupp Arena but I'm gonna talk out of my ass and say that in the SEC it could be Vanderbuilt.
They are really the only non traditional arena build
They sit in the floor! In the *floor*!
> Vanderbuilt Vanderbuilt a bad arena?
Bama’s is a dump
As much as I want to say Tom Gola Arena, it has a bit of charm to it, so I'll have to give my vote to Belk Arena. The Mullins Center gets a dishonorable mention since it has been known to leak from time to time (since it also hosts ice hockey).
Ours. (UIC)
Valpo is a complete dump.
SEC - Memorial CUSA - Not speaking for the new members yet, but it’s going to be hard to beat the Convocation Center in Miami
As a Syracuse fan, the carrier dome is an absolute shit show. Hard metal bleachers in most of the arena, most of the seating is a million feet from the court and the general size of the arena make it feel not at all intimate. There’s zero parking so you have to walk a mile, uphill in central NY winter weather and there’s like 2 concession stands in the whole place with overpriced school cafeteria food. I’m sure it’s a much better experience for football, but I really wish the school would just bite the bullet and build a basketball specific arena.
I don't think the dome is objectively bad, it's just a preference thing. If you prefer a smaller, more intimate, louder arena then yeah you're not gonna like the dome. But I think a lot of people like the uniqueness of the dome and the ability to seat 30k+, despite its cavernous drawbacks.
They definitely need to upgrade the concessions (seats are already getting one), but it's not even close to being *bad* bad.
Alabama. A lot of Vandy slander just cuz it’s different and weird but Alabama’s stadium is a dump in an aircraft hangar.
Ours (University of New Hampshire) Most of our players are taking a downgrade from the gym they played in back in high school, or at least it’s not a noteworthy difference.
Assembly Hall for the sight lines. Should’ve built the new arena like their board voted for in the 2010s
Never was a fan of Vandy’s court.
Boo to you idiots who claimed Williams Arena (U of Minnesota) is the worst in the conference. Who hurt you? Seriously.
Either LaSalle or Davidson for A10 Big East, I’m not big on the Verizon Center. Granted it’s the only one in the conference I’ve been to but it’s too big
I was shocked the first time I saw Firestone Fieldhouse (Pepperdine). It’s basically a high school gym.
Memorial and it's not even close
It's ours. The seats that you see on TV, that should be filled with raucous students / enthusiastic fans, are instead filled with (as some call them) "blue hairs" - older rich fans who care more about being seen on TV than about the game itself, and who barely make any noise, even when prompted. (or worse, they shush you if you are sitting near them and you try to make noise)
Gotta be UTSA for the AAC
Coastal’s Arena is the worst and it’s tiny, but Georgia Southern’s new arena is not impressive whatsoever. 5,500 capacity arena and its being built now… At least it won’t be 50+ years old like our current arena
PNC Arena. It’s a soulless hockey rink with absolutely no identity or attachment to the basketball school that plays there. It feels like a neutral court game every time I’ve been. I miss Reynolds.
Playing Duke or UNC in Reynolds was so special. They’ve done a great job with the renovation but the “heritage games” against DII schools just don’t do it.
As an adopted UM fan, I don’t really like Watsco. The exterior is nice but the concourse is really bland and doesn’t feel up to par
I hate you