Archive for the ‘College Basketball’ Category

More from the Patriot League

Posted by Sean Rowland on January 17, 2012

I’m ashamed to say the basketball arena at Lafayette College in Easton, PA alluded me the last few years. Not sure why last Saturday was my first appearance there as the drive is relatively short. This was the second straight Patriot League facility and fifth overall visited. The 3,500 seat Allen P. Kirby Sports Center first made its appearance on The List last year, when I lowered the minimum capacity from 4,000 to 3,500. Sitting up on College Hill, the small private school rises well above the city and provides a nice birds-eye view of Easton and the Delaware River as a winding road brings you to the top of the hill. The football stadium parking here was awful and for basketball it wasn’t much better with one small deck available, but luckily that was enough and it was no problem getting to. Speaking of football, it was a very strange walk to the Sports Center as you walk through Fisher Field. Despite the cold and wind, it was great because that gave me the opportunity to walk the stadium and take some pictures that I didn’t get during my first visit there in 2006.

The Kirby Sports Center has a nice, modern exterior and concourse that was aided by renovations. The opening foyer looks more like a student union as opposed to an arena, but once you push in a little further, the hallway before entering the gym is nicely decorated with Lafayette maroon on the walls and complete with several trophy display cases. The gym itself is meh. All wooden bleachers with three sides of seating, while at the other end is a food stand before it opens up to the rest of the “sports center” (indoor track and other training), giving it a less than appealing look and feel. Lafayette-Bucknell was the game I saw and had an interest for, as I am a big fan of the lower-level in college basketball. Both teams were 2-0 coming in, but Bucknell is the prohibitive league favorite and they showed it. Hardly ever trailing they outclassed the Leopards and Mike Muscala was impressive scoring 27 with ease. The Bison won 79-65 with a 9-2 run to start the second half pushing them to the insurmountable lead. It was nice seeing a good crowd on hand (a legit announced attendance of 2,515) and the fans all were reading the free program as they were into the game. They seemed to know a lot about the team and league, too bad Bucknell never really gave them a chance to be more vocal.

For more on the whole arena experience, be sure to check out #112 Kirby Sports Center on the right side of the page

Posted in Arenas, College Basketball | 3 Comments »

I Love Sports

Posted by Sean Rowland on December 12, 2011

Lately college basketball (namely college athletics) has disappointed me as I watch my favorite sport gradually become worse off thanks to football, money and program corruption….But then something like this happens:

and I’m reminded why I love sports so much!

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College Basketball Arenas Update

Posted by Sean Rowland on November 29, 2011

Georgia Tech's Thrillerdome (Alexander Memorial Coliseum) is being completely re-done and turned into the Hank McCamish Pavilion (picture from www.ramblinwreck.com)

Over the last month, I went through all of the basketball leagues to update any arena changes on The List. Not much news from the professional leagues, but at the collegiate level, there were some changes including three new facilities, with another one opening late in the season.

We start in Evansville, where the Aces will now be playing in the downtown Ford Center, which replaces venerable Roberts Stadium, a place that I am sad to see gone from The List. Roberts is in limbo, but not currently hosting any sporting events and I’ll bet it will meet the wrecking ball soon. Out in the MAC, Bowling Green opens the Stroh Center. That will replace Anderson Arena, which just goes down to hosting gymnastics. Lastly, there may be another arena opening down in Texas as UT-Arlington is planning on opening the College Park Center on February 1st. Very interesting in that the five home games that UTA plays in the new arena are going to be absolutely free. Kudos to the nice gesture, though I’m skeptical and guessing fans are going to be heading to a facility that isn’t yet complete. I could be wrong, but why not just wait till 2012-2013 and start fresh with a new arena for the whole year.

Lots going on over in the Blue Ridge Mountains and the beautiful city of Asheville. First, the school (UNC-Asheville) opened their new building, Kimmel Arena, with #1 North Carolina visiting a few weeks ago. The arena only seats 3,200 so it didn’t make The List, however it looks like a great facility and a huge step up from the Justice Center. Elsewhere in Asheville, the city is back hosting the Southern Conference Tournament in March. The Asheville Civic Center (soon to be re-named to US Cellular Center) will be home and that brings them back to The List.

Lastly, a couple of renovations for some major conference teams. UCLA is temporarily playing in the LA Sports Arena while Pauley Pavilion undergoes major renovations. Meanwhile, Georgia Tech is leaving campus for the 2011-2012 season as they get ready for a kind of new arena next season. Alexander Memorial Coliseum is getting completely gutted and overhauled, re-opening as the Hank McCamish Pavilion next year. This transition was pretty quiet as I never really heard much news about it. Seems like the building is the same, but everything inside the old Thrillerdome will be completely re-done.

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College Basketball Conference Re-alignment

Posted by Sean Rowland on November 13, 2011

OK, I’m sick of College Football and all the money-hogging school presidents, ADs and conference commissioners. All of this conference re-aligning is going to ruin college athletics in 10-15 years (amongst other reasons). I’ve been to many college football games and stadiums, but at the FBS level, the politics can be so maddening. The results of all this conference switching, which has been driven by football, is ruining my favorite sport: college basketball. The familiar conference season is in the process of becoming altered for the worse.

So…I’ve done some doodling over the last few weeks and worked on some ideas to re-do the college basketball conferences. I completely ignored football and its implications with these conferences. Instead, I focused on geography, natural rivalries, balancing of schedules (aiming for a home-away game against each team) and similarities in schools. Not everything was able to balance out, but it was fun fantasizing about what could be in the conference portion of Our Game. The same amount of attention was paid to each conference, from the Big East to the Big South. If you have any ideas for improvement, please let me know!

All the results are below, the highlighted teams are those that are in a new conference. Some stats…I made three new conferences: Great Midwest Conference, Gulf Coast Conference and Southwest Conference. Two of those are a blast from the past. Gone is Conference USA and the Great West Conference. Six conferences were good just the way they are: Horizon, Ivy, MEAC, Missouri Valley, NEC and SWAC. Six schools got sent back to Division II or III: Bryant, Elon, Houston Baptist, NJIT, Savannah State and Utah Valley. Only two conference have an unbalanced group of teams: Big Ten (11) and Southern (13). Twenty-five of the conferences allow for a balanced schedule.

Posted in College Basketball | 2 Comments »

Quinnipiac Basketball

Posted by Sean Rowland on March 9, 2011

The winter arena season is wrapping up for me and this was definitely the last college basketball visit of the year (there may be one more hockey arena in the works, then its on to ballparks). Hamden, CT and the TD Bank Sports Center was the destination and the game would be an NEC Tournament Semifinal game between Quinnipiac and Robert Morris. Typically, I don’t go to “playoff” games for a first arena visit because it can skew my impression of the atmosphere. However, this place was absolutely rocking and totally worth it. A deluge of rain followed me both to and from Connecticut as the drive was not pleasant. But if it fell as the white stuff, I wouldn’t be on my way. Hamden is a nice town and Sleeping Giant State Park is a cool visual while heading North on Whitney Ave. The campus at Quinnipiac is really scenic nestled up by that mountain, while the new basketball arena sits up on a hill about a half-mile from the new campus.

TD Bank Sports Center is a nice facility built only a few years ago and it actually has both a seperate basketball and hockey arena. It’s a small building (only seating 3,560) and though it has a standard oval seating bowl, there are nice touches to give the arena some character and a little bit of a different touch. These include: a floor-to-ceiling glass window allowing for an outdoor view, yellow-painted beams and trusses, a University Club that is set high in one of the corners and perched over the 360 degree walkway. Overall, it was yet another arena that I enjoyed.

What really set this visit apart was the atmosphere. I mean, it was surprisingly loud and boisterous! The Bobcats were playing the team that beat them (at home) in the NEC championship last year and revenge was on their minds. The crowd was loud and there were a few points late in the second half when it was hard to hear myself talk after a big play. A great turnout by the students too and they did a good job. It was an intense, hard-fought game that Robert Morris eventually ended up winning with a soft floater by Velton Jones with :04 left. I felt bad for those students and fans who were pretty upset while filing out as the finality of the season hit them. For a more detailed review, click here. I’ll also have a review posted over at Stadium Journey in a few weeks.

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Hoops Heaven at The Palestra

Posted by Sean Rowland on January 30, 2011

Last year, I made my first Philly college hoops trip to check out Saint Joseph’s newly renovated Hagan Arena. It was a bone-chilling January day, so it was ironic that a year later, I was making the same trip South (this time down I-95, instead of using the I-476) on a 19 degree day to see the Cathedral of College Basketball, The Palestra. What a great trip this was as I arrived plenty early to soak in as much of the experience as I could. Getting to campus really is no problem, but finding parking isn’t fun as the gym has almost no parking. Its easier to use Exit 345 to go through Drexel and then I used the lot in front of the garage at Chestnut and 34th, which was nice because when leaving it’s a breeze to get back onto I-76. Be prepared for city parking prices as it cost me a ridiculous $15. I’m not one that likes seeking out street parking, but for those that do, go for it. Anyway, after circling the exterior, I was heading inside only to find the doors locked at 5:30 (game was 7:00). Penn’s website says doors open an hour and a half before the game. Don’t believe it, because it wasn’t until 5:50 that they opened and that’s only because the crowd gathering in the tiny entranceway was getting too big.

One of the great parts of the building is the museum that they built in the surrounding concourses with renovations earlier in this century. I spent about 45 minutes just going through and reading all the stuff on the walls here. Each hall has a theme: Pennsylvania basketball, the Big 5, the Ivy League and player appearances and performances. The walls feature murals, display cases, descriptions and pictures of the amazing history in the building. Stepping inside is like a blast to the past in so many respects, it just blew me away. The simplicity of the design and intimacy of the seats (both with each other and to the court) is sweet and I don’t think 8,722 seats could be this close to the court again. You can also feel the enormity of the history that has taken place in this building and people have said there are ghosts or spirits inside. Check out one of the pictures I took with an orb on the left side. Maybe it’s dust, maybe not?

This was a Big 5 game (more on that in a bit) and once you get to game-time on a packed night, those seats fill up fast and it is a chore to squeeze in to the bleachers and sit on your number. You’ll likely be touching the person next to you continuously and doing some sweating as I stripped off my jacket and sweatshirt, down to a t-shirt by the 10:00 minute mark. But putting up with the uncomfortableness is well worth it, as soaking up the passion and atmosphere is hard to match. The acoustics make this building loud and it’s just terrific to watch basketball.

The Big 5 is Philadelphia’s unofficial conference consisting of Penn, Saint Joseph’s, Villanova, Temple and LaSalle. Since 1955, they have played each other round-robin style to determine a champion, who gets pride and bragging rights. There was an interruption of the series in 1991-1998 (boo to Rollie Massimino and Temple’s former AD for that). This Big 5 game between Penn and Saint Joe’s brought a near-capacity crowd that was rocking despite the poor records of both. I would say it was split probably 5/8ths for Penn and 3/8ths for Saint Joe’s, but the Hawks had a bigger student section. The students have one of the cooler traditions during games called “Roll-outs”, which are long, clever messages rolled out on brown paper and then passed down the rows to the bottom for the other side to see. Penn’s crowds have not been as good during Ivy or non-conference games (averaging 3,000 – 4,000), but it’s still best in the conference and hopefully turns around when they start winning some more. Regardless on this night, with Big 5 action, the Palestra was rocking.

Pennsylvania ended up winning 73-61 in a game that was closer than that. It was pretty close until a late run around the 4:00 minute mark gave the Quakers the advantage for good. It was a really well played game with not many fouls, but still with an intensity. Tyler Bernardini impressed me with 27 from a variety of ways. I’m also surprised to see how far the Hawks have fallen as they’re now 5-13. I’d like to see them get good again, hard to believe it’s only been seven years since they went 27-0 in the regular season. As for Penn, Jerome Allen’s got them going in the right direction as they started 2-0 by winning their first two Ivy games this weekend. With Princeton having a terrific season, hopefully that final March 8th game will have some meaning at The Palestra once again. Definitely happy I was able to check out one of the most historic venues in college basketball, for the official review click to the right #98 The Palestra.

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Heading to the Cathedral of College Basketball

Posted by Sean Rowland on January 20, 2011

Oh man…I can not wait, weekend plans are finalized and I’m all set to step foot in one of the most hallowed places in College Basketball, The Palestra in Philadelphia. Really looking forward to this arena visit as I’ll not only be seeing a historic venue, but it’s also a Big Five game with Saint Joseph’s making the visit. Oddly enough it was Saint Joseph’s that I went to go see at Hagan Arena about a year ago on a similar cold, January Saturday. Now it’s time to check out one of their city rivals as this is a venue I’ve been wanting to see for awhile. Should be a good time!

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Another Great Game at Rider’s Alumni Gym

Posted by Sean Rowland on January 15, 2011

I should go to Alumni Gym more often. Rider University’s tiny arena (or gym) is located in Lawrenceville, NJ and though the 1,650-seat facility is not on The List, I have visited it twice now for a couple basketball games. The first time I made the hour and a half drive from my house was in 2009 to see a great MAAC battle between Rider and Siena (the “Onions, Double Order!” year the Saints beat Ohio State in the tourney). In that game, this happened:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChVqZB4S1W8

Flash forward to last night, where the Iona Gaels (10-6, 5-1) played Rider (11-6, 4-1) in a big game at the top of the conference. It was another classic:

The Gaels went on to win a thriller, 100-96 in OT. Iona jumped out to a 30-13 as Rider was laughingly sloppy. Then a barrage of 3s brought them back in it and they even went up eight in the second half. From there, it was a see-saw affair that was exciting as these two teams love to push the pace as evidenced by the score. One guy who stuck out during the game was Mike Glover who was an absolute beast with 17 boards. The MAAC tourney this year in Bridgeport should be a fun affair.

Even though Alumni Gym is tiny (the 333rd largest out of 345 Division I teams), it’s cozy and fits the Lawrenceville, NJ campus nicely. In the main entrance is a nice Athletics Hall of Fame for all Rider’s best athletes. After navigating a couple of hallways you enter to the main foyer, where a couple double doors brings you to the gym. They pack it in most nights and the fans bring passion to the game. The only discernible feature to this gym is the mold on the slanted roof. Otherwise, it suits the need of the program and the Broncs have a good thing going with Alumni Gym. Plus, if they need a bigger facility, they can (and have) play at Sun National Bank Arena in Trenton, about 20 minutes away. There’s nothing like being inside a warm gym on a cold winter’s night. For a full review, head on over to Stadium Journey, where I will be doing a write-up on the arena.

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My Favorite Venues to Visit

Posted by Sean Rowland on December 4, 2010

Xavier's Cintas Center...College Basketball's passion helps to make it my favorite type of venue to visit (picture from EA Sports (http://insideblog.easports.com/archive/2009/02/09/ncaa-basketball-09-xavier-university-toughest-places-to-play-finalist.aspx))

I’ve always been an admirer of all types of stadiums, ranging from ballparks to arenas to football fields. Ballparks by far are the most popular that are chronicled and I think there are several reasons for it: popularity of the sport, the easy-going nature of attending games and the ballpark quirks. While of course I love visiting ballparks and the uniqueness of each one…it’s not my favorite. Football stadiums’ most discernible feature is likely atmosphere both inside and out, while hockey arenas have a certain character to each one. Both of these stadium types are enjoyable for me to visit, yet there is one type of facility that I have a special kinship out of all of them.

College basketball arenas bring me the most excitement. It probably helps that this is my favorite sport and I try to follow all 300+ teams and all 32 conferences. So I have a vested interest in the game and yes all of the games are important as teams are working towards a conference championship or an at-large to the tournament and have a chance at the National Championship. The arenas themselves are so special too and yet many of the old ones are likely to live on unlike the special pro places that were torn down. Allen Fieldhouse, Cameron Indoor Stadium, Hinkle Fieldhouse and The Palestra. All arenas completely different from each other. Then you also have some fantastic new buildings like the Kohl Center. At the other end of the spectrum, you can go see games at tiny arenas that are vastly different than the homes of the big boys, but yet just as important to the school and their fans. Things are so much more intimate in the smaller arenas and yet each team has the same chance to play for the ultimate prize…win your conference, win the next 6 games and you are National Champion.

Atmosphere and passion are another reason why college basketball arenas are my favorite to visit. Yes, I realize that probably more than half of the teams/arenas feature a laid-back, minor-league ballpark like atmosphere. However, there are those that are just incredible with student sections and fan noise making the experience memorable. Just check out a few Youtube clips:

Dee Glen Spectrum at Utah State
Allen Fieldhouse at Kansas
O’Connell Center at Florida

I’m a lover of all stadiums and thoroughly enjoy visiting those playing all types of sports, but college basketball has to be #1 in my heart. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the opportunity yet to visit some of the true gems (especially with my job getting toughest during the exact calendar of the season), but getting to any arena and college basketball game is great.

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Highlighting a few Conference Tournament Arenas

Posted by Sean Rowland on February 26, 2010

We are heading into the best time of the year in College Basketball as March is only a few days away. The fun truly begins March 2nd with the first rounds of the Big South, Horizon and Ohio Valley Conference Tournaments. Looking through the list of tourney sites, there are a couple of arenas hosting tournaments who do not have a main sports tenant. For those looking to catch a game at these arenas, this is your rare chance:

Boardwalk Hall – Atlantic City, NJ (Atlantic Ten Championship)
I’ve actually been to Boardwalk Hall for last year’s A-10 Tournament and I really liked the arena. Nice location and even though the inside is a little oddly shaped for basketball, it was a nice place. Boardwalk Hall has been around since the 1920s, but underwent a major renovation and it’s good to see it still being used after an ECHL team moved out of town a few years ago. There are still a good number of boxing events hosted here.

Sprint Center – Kansas City, MO (Bix XII Championship)
Probably the biggest arena and market with no anchor sports team. The pro-style arena cost $276 million and opened in 2007. It hosted an arena football team, but that is gone now that the league folded. Kansas City and college basketball have a lot of history (the cb hall of fame is even in the arena) and I know the Big XII likes to move their tournament around, but hopefully they make this a permanent stop.

Anaheim Convention Center Arena – Anaheim, CA (Big West Championship)
The few times I’ve seen this arena on TV, it never seemed all that appealing to me, but when does an arena attached to a convention center ever blow you away? The Anaheim Arsenal of the NBDL used to play here, but have since moved. The Big West has been using this arena as host for awhile now and it makes sense to me with all of the California schools in the conference.

Leonard E. Merrell Center – Katy, TX (Southland Championship)
This place is actually home to high school basketball at the Katy school district, but I wanted to highlight it here. Katy is a small town, but its actually a suburb of Houston. A couple of minor-league teams have played at the arena and folded, in the meantime I think it is a really nice facility for the conference. Great size (5,600) and location.

Summit Arena – Hot Springs, AR (Sun Belt Championship)
Not to be confused with the Summit Arena in Nashville or the old Summit that hosted the Houston Rockets. It was nice that the Sun Belt moved from a home school (Lafayette’s CajunDome) to a more neutral site in Hot Springs. However, attendance always seems terrible at their championships.

Posted in College Basketball | 2 Comments »

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