January 27, 2024
Alumni Hall (Capacity: 5,710)
Annapolis, MD
Navy Midshipmen vs Loyola (MD) Greyhounds
Final Score: 70 – 74
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Before a weekend work conference in Baltimore, I began the trip 25 miles to the south in Annapolis for a college basketball game. Thank you to Google Maps for re-routing me to I-95, avoiding a massive delay on the closed Bay Bridge. Annapolis is the State Capitol and it sits along the Severn River and Chesapeake Bay. The unique location leads to this small city of 40,000 also being known prominently for boating and crabbing. Annapolis has a ton of preserved history and the tight historic district has so much going for it that it is a must-visit weekend destination for anyone nearby. The U.S. Naval Academy was established here in 1845 as students prepare to become officers in the Navy or Marine Corps. It is a highly selective place and the honorable that attend college here have the entire experience fully funded in return for at least five years in service after graduating with their degree. When it comes to basketball, the program has been to the NCAA Tournament 11 times. In 1986, they had a very special season as the Midshipmen reached the Elite Eight, led by All-American David Robinson. Navy joined the Patriot League in 1991, the same year that their arena, Alumni Hall, opened. It’s a basketball facility that far outclasses the rest of the conference, which is mostly made up of Gyms. Navy’s last league title and tourney bid came in 1998 (7-25 in the Conference Tournament since then).
Prestige Ranking: 3 out of 5
Location
Annapolis is very walkable as everything is tightly clustered around the brick-lined streets of the Historic District, which has a European-style layout as roads branch out into different directions. The old houses and buildings are fascinating and many of the latter have becomes restaurants, pubs, specialty shops and boutiques that make wandering the area a treat. Remember that Annapolis is near a lot of water and City Dock is the best place to stroll and watch the boats come in and out. You won’t see much of that though during basketball season as this is a much better summer spot. Finally, a visit to Annapolis isn’t complete without touring the Naval Academy. Visitors are welcome after passing security and exploring The Yard (campus) is a great experience. Be sure to see Bancroft Hall, the Chapel, the Crypt, the Museum and the waterfront. With Alumni Hall located far from the visitor entrance, you’ll be certain to pass through a lot of the interesting campus, maybe even coinciding with bells from the chapel playing a tune. It’s too bad (but understandable) that there is such a stark separation between city and campus in the form of a literal brick wall.
Location Ranking: 8 out of 10
Accessibility / Parking
Annapolis is placed away from the I-95 urban corridor, so that means people will need to take US-50 (which is a highway) to get here. A few exits will get you into the city. Traffic can be problematic in this part of the country, but Saturdays occasionally aren’t troublesome. While Alumni Hall’s location is good to get a tour of campus, it is honestly horrible in the context of accessibility. The general public is not allowed to drive anywhere onto Navy’s campus, so that means parking in the city and then walking through the Visitor’s Center. From there, it is at least a 10-minute walk to the arena. Expect to then tack on another 5-10 minute walk depending on where you park in the city (which is not easy). I went the unconventional and cheap route by using a garage on St. Johns Street, which is free on weekends. This is a 13-minute walk to the Visitors Gate, but the advantage is that it is easy to drive to and get out of. Plus, after the game, there is the exit-only Gate 3 at Maryland Ave that offers a small short-cut, cutting the total walk to a whopping 20 minutes. The other option is that you can park at the football stadium for 10 bucks and then take a shuttle bus to the arena. It is very inconvenient to try and take in a Navy basketball game.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 3 out of 8
Exterior
Alumni Hall follows the Beaux-Arts design of many other campus buildings and that is a good thing. The limestone walls combined with the sea-green material at the top makes for a solid visual upon approach. This is a very tall arena for the capacity it holds and it is a square building with indented corners that feature a bronze USNA seal in the middle. Plenty of windows can also be found on the sides of the building. North end walkways include marble benches, a stone sculpture and a view of the creek that feeds into the Severn River making for a pleasant stroll around the arena.
Exterior Ranking: 8 out of 10
Concourse
Stairs and Double Doors. Before that, everything starts quietly with a roomy lobby that features carpeting and light-colored walls. The box office is here, along with entry to the arena. A couple flights of stairs are needed from these corner vestibules to reach the concourse, which circles the arena behind the upper deck seating. The layout is interesting as it contains a lot of space between four concourse halls (well, three really, as one is for alumni space). This means that travels look like this: hallway…door…top of staircase…door…inside of arena…door…top of staircase…door….hallway. Thankfully those push doors are all open. It’s not really impactful, but just something I found unusual. The concourse can get toasty even on a day that was only in the 50s outside as the sun was beating on one side. Looks are nice as the floors are blue (with little bumpy circles), windows give an outside view and seats can be found along the side. Access is good too as a wide middle walkway inside the seating area helps to keep things from jamming up anywhere. Only thing I didn’t like were the sinks in the bathrooms as they had those stupid handles where you have to hold one side down to keep the water going. How are you supposed to wash both hands?
Concourse Ranking: 3 out of 5
Food
It is a small offering at Navy with only two stands open and eight items available. It was surprising to see a Pulled Pork Sandwich on the menu as that or a small pizza could suffice for a lunch. Maybe? I was left wondering, what is a “Hot Cup”?
Food Ranking: 2.5 out of 8
Interior
The intimate arena features equal amounts of seating on two levels and it is in the shape of an octagon around the court. There are 11 rows on the first level and the stands are elevated by several feet above the court, helping with sightlines in spite of starting a good distance from team benches. The blue chairs are quite comfortable to sit on thanks to a lot of cushion, while the backs are very straight (“Poise Counts!“). Heads don’t get in the way of the view in this area. Further up, the second level is rarely used and the few folks I saw up here were mostly solo game viewers that were looking to stretch out a bit. Because of the wide middle walkway, these sections were set further back then a normal upper deck. Also, sitting anywhere near the aisle further down led to some horrible railing obstructions. One interesting aspect of the seating bowl are the corner sections. These triangles lead to rows getting smaller and smaller, eventually shrinking to just one seat in Row 1. It’s a nice arena and again certainly the best in the Patriot League right now. I just wish they would lower those really bright lights at the top as they are annoying.
Interior Ranking: 8 out of 14
Scoreboard
The center scoreboard is smaller than you would expect for an arena of this size as it gets swallowed up by the background of the seating bowl. Four screens have the scorebox at the bottom quarter, while the rest of the video is for game action, replays and in-house views. Kinda hard to see the finer details given the size. Panels saying “Go Navy” complete the corners. Missing is any area to see player stats.
Scoreboard Ranking: 2.5 out of 4
Displays
Similar to the Football Stadium, Navy highlights the many have come through Annapolis and served their country. Each armrest inside the arena honors the name of one of those people. You’ll also find on the interior walls, the Class Crest going all the way back to 1906. It is a fascinating tour of each intricate design. The halls outside of the main court contain beautiful artwork, huge murals and replica ships. Basketball honors are minimal and while that’s understandable, I would have liked to seen more inside the arena. Instead, trophies for David Robinson and other memorabilia is confined to Lejeune Hall, a separate building further away. Team honors are on banners from the rafters and Robinson’s #50 is retired along with four other players. You’ll also find conference titles and NCAA appearances in this area.
Displays Ranking: 4 out of 6
Cost
Tickets are cheap at just $10 and parking can vary between free and $10. Outside of the inconvenience of how to arrive to the game, Navy basketball is a good deal. Concessions are mixed as a $6 Pulled Pork is understandable compared to a $9 pizza.
Cost Ranking: 7.5 out of 8
Fan Support
A lot of families with kids were at this game, maybe having something to do with the face painter and balloon artist in the house. The crowd size was somewhere in the 1,000 to 1,500 range. Generally, Navy is 1st or 2nd in PL attendance and there’s some other factors that contribute to that. Other schools have seen a downward trend the last several years while Navy is consistent. Even for the team’s biggest home game in years, the upper deck was empty and the lower-level was only half full when Navy hosted a conference tournament semifinal game in 2022. Opponent seems to be more important than team quality as Navy does get a couple solid non-conference foes in the building thanks to their Veteran’s Classic tournament at the beginning of the year. This usually leads to a half full arena unless it’s a really big name as Maryland, Michigan and Florida State were sellouts. The Army game of course is a sell out as well.
Fan Support Ranking: 4 out of 8
Atmosphere
Given the mostly family setting for this Saturday afternoon affair, it was about what you would expect. It was nice to see attentiveness though as baskets were greeted with decent applause and there were times when the crowd felt a little run coming and would respond with some louder cheers. This showed that there is passive potential for a fine atmosphere late in the game. Just don’t expect any fervent cheering or celebrations. There is a very small pep band that sparingly played tunes. It was disappointing to see practically no students at the game, though I don’t know what the itinerary looks like for a Service Academy. After the game, everybody stands up for the playing of the Alma Mater.
Atmosphere Ranking: 6.5 out of 14
Other Stuff
Phone service inside the arena is horrendous. It’s not just using apps or the internet as I couldn’t even send texts or make a phone call (normally I wouldn’t care, but I needed to coordinate a meet-up for a work conference)…..Students and the athletic teams are known as “Midshipmen” or “Mids”……Bill the Goat is the team’s mascot and he was in action at this game, mingling with the many kids. It was good to see this mascot so active….”Beat Army” is a famous phrase that is seen and heard even when they aren’t playing. On the court, the two service academies have an in-conference home and home series against each other…..I’ve always been interested in current 13-year head coach Ed DeChellis. It is very rare to see a coach voluntarily move from a high-major to a mid-major, which is what we did after leading Penn State. The Nittany Lions are even his alma mater. It put a smile on my face to see a win for the little guys at that time…..The court is named after Dave Smalley, a person that was associated with the program for over 50 years…..Navy had 26 players on the bench for the game I attended. I didn’t know you could have that many!
Game
Two conference foes separated by just 40 minutes faced off and it was one of the worst teams in college basketball that controlled the game. Loyola came in with a record of 3-17 and a KenPom ranking of #348, yet they led most of the way between 5 and 10 points. Late in the game, it looked like Navy was going to make a run as Austin Beingni was leading the charge. He finished with 19 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, but the Midshipmen could not cut the lead to any lower than 4. Deon Perry finished with 30 points for Loyola.
Stadium and Arena Visits 
