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March is my favorite time of the sports calendar primarily because of the world of college basketball. I don’t mind that the rest of the country joins in the fun after the diehards follow college basketball’s important regular season through and through. Now we’re entering conference tournament mode and the excitement starts to peak. This year, the tournaments have a little different meaning with all the money-crazed conference affiliation switching going on. I’ve focused my attention on 16 of Division I’s more geographically-acceptable conferences and the Atlantic 10 is not one of them. They were getting on the edge with adding Richmond, Charlotte and Saint Louis several years back and then Bernadette McGalde tried to get all Big Time by adding Butler and VCU, along with pricing out long-time fans by moving the conference tournament from Atlantic City to the Barclays Center. Kind of gives me a chuckle to see the conference get picked on themselves with the new Catholic 7 (a place I can actually live with if it is an even 6 East Coast teams and 6 Midwest teams). That brings us to Temple, who after 33 years in the A-10 crawls back to it’s football bully, the former Big East, but this time for the full membership. You know, the one that Big East that once said “Your football team sucks and you have to leave”. Is it worth it Temple? Let me know next year after your February conference game against SMU.

OK, enough ranting…there is a stadium trip in this whole post and regardless of my frustration with the conference shuffle, I did have a good time at a very quality arena in Temple’s Liacouras Center. I really like visiting Philadelphia and the wife decided to accompany me on this trip. We are usually drawn to Old City and that’s where we went back to prior to the 2 PM game start. With her being Jewish, we decided to check out the new National Museum of American Jewish History. Really interesting and well thought out museum that extended five floors. I wish we had one more hour as there really was a lot to take in and I can concur whole-heartedly with the glowing TripAdvisor reviews. It took about 20 minutes to get through the Philadelphia Flower Show traffic through the city and up Broad Street to Temple. The North Philly neighborhood surrounding the school is really dicey, but Temple itself is quite modern with new buildings, shops and restaurants near the Liacouras Center.

The arena opened in 1997 and is almost three times the size of the old McGonigle Hall next door. A nice open entryway has plenty of room for fans before they enter into the arena concourse with a huge block T logo staring at them on the wall. Inside, I like the building a lot as the two-level, cherry-seated facility has great sightlines throughout. Banners up above are a nice reminder of the storied history that this school has. On the court, Temple was fighting for an NCAA at-large bid and they didn’t do a lot against a bad Rhode Island team (8-18, 3-10). The Rams kept knocking three’s down and it was a struggle for awhile until the Owls finally seized control in the second half. They hung on for a 76-70 win. There was a good crowd on hand as I would say it was about two-thirds full. I’m sure next week’s CBS game will be sold out. The crowd was ok and really didn’t get loud until the second half. When the home squad made some great plays to pull ahead by seven, many were on their feet cheering. However, as URI came back and the Owls needed a boast, the crowd sat quietly waiting for something to happen. They needed to make some noise there. Many have ragged on the Temple crowds before and comparing them in the scope of the whole A-10, I rated them 5.5 out of 8 points for fan support and 8.5 out of 14 for atmosphere. Check out the detailed review on the entire Liacouras Center experience by clicking here or on the reviews section to the right.

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Fordham’s Rose Hill Gym falls just shy of making the 3,500 capacity requirement to be on The List, however the historical nature of the arena gives them a special exemption and on Sunday, I made the visit over to the Bronx. It’s never enjoyable to make a drive into NYC, but on this late Sunday Morning, the roads weren’t too clogged and it’s rather straight-forward to Fordham (the Cross Bronx to Webster Ave and then a couple quick turns to campus). After shelling out $11 to park in the garage (gasp!), I walked over to Arthur Ave, known as the Little Italy of the Bronx. Lunch was at Tino’s Delicatessen, a true Italian deli that made for quite a satisfying pre-game meal. Walking back to campus, I realized I had to go through a guard station and saw the sign “Please show your student ID”. My first thought was “crap” and then I explained to the guard that I was going to the game and parked on campus, grabbing some lunch before heading back. He was gracious enough to let me back in. I understand given the area (some side streets nearby are quite shady) why campus is blocked off, but I wish that was a little more obvious to visitors. Be aware if you make the trip someday, Fordham parking is just for Fordham.

I had enough time to wonder the university before the 1 PM tip and it is a really nice campus. Old stone, gothic buildings make up most of the central part and you could sense the history in this Jesuit school. The gym is designed much in the same manner that the other campus buildings are and the 1926 design remains wonderfully untouched on the outside. Entrance to the gym is through the McGinley Center, a multi-purpose building serving many needs. After some initial issues trying to get my will-call ticket, I walked through the tiny hallway corridors into the gym. The history shines on the outside, while inside, though you can see the old nature of the arena, it is not as charming as other older basketball buildings. Each side has a small set of seating, most of it being red, plastic bleachers. Where the age shows is at the top of the sidelines, where an old balcony holds two rows of seats on a wooden platform. These are terrible seats because on one side, TV cameras get in the way of many, while the other side has a huge Fordham banner hanging down from the ceiling that restricts the view. Another curious thing was the placement of bathrooms. They are outside of the arena as one has to exit the gym back to the McGinley Center. That’s fine, but maybe don’t put signs inside the gym that say “Additional bathrooms upstairs and downstairs”. I asked three guards where those bathrooms might be and was pointed in the wrong direction each time. Yikes.

Where Rose Hill pleasantly surprised me was the atmosphere. Given Fordham’s perennial crapiness and their current 5-11 record, I wasn’t expected much from the crowd. But the 2,000 or so there were fully into it and I should’ve known better from New Yorkers. After getting back home, I watched a little of the YES re-broadcast and the noise does not come out on TV. In the second half, tiny Rose Hill was very loud, enough where I muttered to myself a few times “this is pretty good”. This was without the students (who were returning on campus for classes tomorrow) and the crowd got on their feet a few times as Fordham made a push late in the game. As for that game, it was against A-10 foe, Massachusetts (who brought a decent set of fans of their own). Getting sidetracked for a second, Fordham does not belong in the A-10. Since 1995, they have had one winning record and just a few years ago had an astounding 41 game conference losing streak. I know the prestigious university is well off in terms of money, so how about going to a more even level of competition (along with a better geographic fit). I think the Rams really belong in conferences that they previously were in…either the Patriot or MAAC. Anyway, back to the game…Massachusetts’ interior defense had its way with Fordham in the first half as the Rams seemed to miss every contested shot in the paint. With Chaz Williams carving it up on the offensive end, UMass took a 40-26 lead at the break. In the 2^nd half, it was a different story as Fordham played with more intensity and started to get shots to fall (they shot 27% in the first half, 47% in the second). Chris Gaston also took over as he had 18 of his 20 points and Fordham chipped the lead to two in the final minutes. They just couldn’t make that final push and UMass made their free throws as they held on to win 77-73. A frustrated crowd at the end saw the Rams fall to 5-12 on the year. Overall, I walked out of Rose Hill Gym intrigued with a visit that had some surprises. Look for a more detailed review to the right later in the week…until then take care!

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.