March 9, 2025
Harrah’s Cherokee Center (Capacity: 6,268)
Asheville, NC
Chattanooga Mocs vs Furman Paladins
Final Score: 80 – 77
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The third leg of this weekend sports trip was the reason why I came to North Carolina. My fascination with low-mid major college basketball culminates in March and one of the top conference tournaments is the SoCon. Dating back to 1921, the historic Southern Conference has seen plenty of schools come and go, but in recent times, membership has steadied with ten teams (a true round-robin schedule) and mostly sensical geographically. I sincerely hope it stays this way, but no one is immune from awful realignment. The SoCon has the oldest postseason tournament in the land and the format is good too (1v8/9, 4v5, 3v6, 2v7/10). It’s always a competitive event and the last six years have produced six different champions. Since 2012, the tournament has been held here in Asheville’s Civic Center (opened in 1974) and it is a perfect host for the event given proximity to the schools and the amenities of the city. Located in the scenic western part of the state between the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains, Asheville is home to 95,000. This mountain town boasts artistic flair, outdoor adventure, historical intrigue and a wide variety of restaurants and craft beer. It’s a southern paradise for artists and hipsters as it also has turned into a top regional getaway. Sadly, Asheville experienced a catastrophic natural disaster in September 2024 via Hurricane Helene. The storm caused tremendous flooding and wind damage with significant loss of life and property. Rebuilding the heavily impacted areas will take years and the return of this sporting event put a focus on Asheville’s return.
Prestige Ranking: 4 out of 5
Location
Within Asheville itself, the storm most severely impacted the River Arts District and Biltmore Village, with the downtown area minimally affected. That is where Harrah’s Cherokee Center is located and it is walking distance to a ton of great restaurants and interesting architecture. Plus there is a pinball museum just a block down! I spent the afternoon here before the game, enjoying unlimited pinball, arcade and old game console fun. Otherwise, it’s well-worth taking the Historic Trolley Tour as the hop-on / hop-off mini bus shows you everything worth exploring in the area. Of course, the biggest attraction (literally) is the Biltmore Estate a few miles southwest of downtown. Touring the 250-room private residence of the Vanderbilt’s is the closest one may get to feeling all Downton Abbey. Asheville is the right size and right feel for this type of event, as there is plenty to do during any downtime and the city supports the tournament well.
Location Ranking: 8.5 out of 10
Accessibility / Parking
Although it’s a mountain location, Asheville has access from all directions as I-26 goes north to south and I-40 runs east to west. I-240 is a spur of that road and it’s right by the arena. While driving around, some of the roads can be tight (with varying twists/turns), but the main roads are ok. There are several parking areas nearby, including two garages along Rankin Ave near the arena. I generally had no issue with this garage, but man were the turns to each level tight, enough that I had a bit of worry I would bump my rental car. With the heart of downtown a 5-10 minute walk away, most other parking areas are sufficient too as they are within walking distance. The SoCon also runs a trolley shuttle from several of those other parking decks. Traffic both before and after Semifinal Sunday was really not an issue because of staggered departure.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 7 out of 8
Exterior
Most won’t walk enough to notice or appreciate this, but I was fascinated with the design because of the setting on a hillside. The elevation change is a whopping 150 feet from the bottom along Hiawassee Street to the main entrance at the top towards downtown. To keep the concourse level and eventual overhang from that on even footing, the base of the Civic Center is made of rustic stone as it starts with a single row before gradually increasing to a mish-mash of rocks/stones at least 25 feet high at the bottom. I’m a George Costanza, pretending I like architecture, so as I walked around I wondered….a) How do these stones make up a wall?….b) How does it support this overhanging concourse. It blew me away seeing that same rectangle outer concourse at street-level and then like 3-4 stories up. As for the building look, it’s boxy and comprised of light color (mostly beige). The actual arena is brick and a little taller in the middle. Note that there is a smaller auditorium as well and the indented entrance is between the two main buildings.
Exterior Ranking: 6.5 out of 10
Concourse
The aforementioned visible concourse has windows all along three sides and this is a big plus because the outer views are worth showing off. Right next door, you have the Basilica of Saint Lawrence, a towering brick church built in 1905. On the other sides, the elevation provides a great overview of the area and there’s a nice spot to see the downtown skyline. There’s even a huge outdoor deck to take in the view once you get past any clouds of smoke from that designated area. Paint colors and designs are attractive throughout the concourse. In terms of maneuverability, side spacing is on the tight side, however the typical crowd size meant that it never felt all that cramped. The front area is more open and that is especially aided by a large atrium connecting the arena and theatre. They probably should’ve had more “stuff” in this area and it would’ve been perfect for a kids zone. There’s also a lower level concourse as this is a very unusual arena where the majority of seating is on the upper deck and that’s also where a small ramp leads from each main concourse opening. The below space is accessed by a separate ramp in the back and it has a concession stand to go along with a basement-like appearance. It’s also awkward to figure out walkways to get to the other sideline down here (you actually go near the arena floor even though that felt like it didn’t seem right). Concession lines moved efficiently, while the bathrooms were tight.
Concourse Ranking: 3 out of 5
Food
It felt like the space would offer more concession stands as some closed side ones kept offerings down to a couple areas. That meant a standard menu that at least had a Carolina touch to it. The “NC BBQ Sandwich” was evidence of that and since I didn’t try it, I hoped it was pulled pork. Burgers and Chicken Sandwiches could be modified with some barbeque touches. Otherwise, pizza, hot dogs and tenders were the other choices and I opted for the latter. There is a local Ice Cream cart from Annie B’s. For alcohol, there are plenty of decisions. Since Asheville is such a beer city, your best bet is Highland Brewing or Oskar Blues Brewing.
Food Ranking: 4.5 out of 8
Interior
What makes this arena really unique is that the majority of seats are on an upper deck and I love that. The elevated vantage point makes for great sightlines while still feeling close to the court. The rows are pitched at a steep level and that helps too. One downfall though is that there is a wide walkway in front of the first row. This means you can have people walking by, plus a railing gets in the way of the court view despite the elevated platform of the first couple rows. Chairs are wide enough in spite of the mustard coloring which makes it feel like they’re original to the 1970s. The arena design is a rectangle with curved corner sections. As you get towards the end of the sidelines, views aren’t the best since the Civic Center originality means a lot of floor space behind the court. Down at court level, there are differences at each end, which seems a bit odd as it means disparities in student section size. One end features a natural progression and meet up with the upper deck, while the other end has the Courtside Club, a social section enhanced with the usual amenities. The band plus a much smaller student area sits behind that. The maroon seats on the sideline sections are unique here with this first level because they have a confined feel given the overhanging ceiling of the upper deck within touching distance. Harrah’s Cherokee Center is well lit and has a good look on TV as well. I’m all for sporting venues that stand out and this is certainly one of those.
Interior Ranking: 10.5 out of 14
Scoreboard
The lack of a center-hung scoreboard is replaced by a dot-matrix ribbon board between levels and this gets the job for quickly seeing time and score. In terms of replays, those come from the video screen at each upper end. It’s a pain to turn and look at that, but sometimes I’m ok with the effort because scoreboards can be distracting from the action. The screen was pretty good about showing replays and the quality was solid too given the relative new age. Other information can be found up here, including a detailed layout of player stats.
Scoreboard Ranking: 3 out of 4
Displays
It’s an interesting entrance as barricades skirt around bronze statues of people enjoying bluegrass music. Asheville may have turned hipster, but it’s roots and surrounding area are certainly still Appalachia. Inside towards the court is where you’ll find SoCon stuff and the most noticeable are the large team banners hanging on the sides. I like how prominent that look is. Set further back are pictures of each SoCon Hall of Fame member. Missing is a list of champions.
Displays Ranking: 2 out of 6
Cost
Event parking is $11, probably a number that is to be expected, but still annoying. If you want to avoid it, you should be able to seek out alternatives. As for tickets, the upper-level General Admission seating is around $50 (including fees) for both the Final and the Semifinals (gets you in to two games). Feels like it should be $10 – $15 cheaper, but I understand the price given that fans/alumni will shell it out. I peeked at resale the morning of the Semifinals and there was literally one single ticket available, so that isn’t an option to hold out for. In terms of All-Session tickets, they are around $200. A few years ago, a Redditer did an awesome job finding the cost for an all-session at each conference tourney and the SoCon ranked 16th out of 28th. For concessions, a Burger Basket was $13, Hot Dog: $4 and a beer $9. All a little below average.
Cost Ranking: 6 out of 8
Fan Support
Most neutral-site conference tournaments feature fans that have some sort of affiliation with the schools involved. That’s understandable and I guess I overvalue the popularity of the support, expecting more without a rooting interest to check out the action. In Asheville, it’s similar as visible neutrals numbered around a hundred or so. What makes the SoCon so great is that you have five schools just within a 2:30 drive and the rest all within 3-6 hours. That means the tournament will have a decent showing from students and alumni. Each game and round has variability, but I’d say the arena is on average half-full. That’s more than respectable at the mid-major level and it’s near the top number-wise, outside of the Missouri Valley and MAC. The Top Six RPI conferences still will draw notably more. For the Sunday Semifinal that I attended, I’d guess a crowd of 3500 – 4000. That was made up of about 70% Furman fans and 30% Chattanooga. The second semifinal certainly thinned out, probably down to an attendance of 1500. VMI had barely anybody with Wofford owning the house. If I had to rank the order of fan support at the tournament, it probably would go like this (keep in mind that distance is just important as fandom): 1) Western Carolina, 2) ETSU, 3) Furman, 4) Wofford, 5) Chattanooga, 6) UNCG, 7) Samford, 8) Mercer, 9) Citadel, 10) VMI.
Fan Support Ranking: 6 out of 8
Atmosphere
It is not a casual crowd here and the fans for most teams are pretty into the game. There is often great energy and passion throughout, making the atmosphere really fun. In this Semifinal session that I attended, the dueling cheers were awesome and it began with the intros as each pep band welcomed their team. The building is intimate and the small surface area leads to really great noise. Furman and Chattanooga went back and forth with little settling from fans. The next game featured mostly fans from Wofford, but they were just as loud for their team. If you get some relatively nearby teams, the atmosphere is goosebump-inducing given what is on the line. In my opinion, the SoCon in Asheville has the best atmosphere out of any conference tournament, better than the MAC, Missouri Valley (building too big) and WCC at the mid-major level. And better than the Power Four because of what’s at stake and those conferences play in larger venues where atmos. can get a little lost.
Atmosphere Ranking: 12 out of 14
Other Stuff
The Southern Conference also had a stint here at the Asheville Civic Center from 1984 to 1995…..The name of the multi-building complex is Harrah’s Cherokee Center, while the actual arena is called ExploreAsheville.com Arena. A terrible name and most refer to the former title…..Other entertainment was hit or miss as they did a good job during media timeouts with on-court games and what not. They still gave the bands time to play too if they were there. The miss was in the concourse/atrium as random Plinko could’ve been replaced by some other kids stuff. There at least was a table for each team playing with pom-poms and selfies with a mascot…..Ah, the Bo’ Bracket. The fast-food regional chain Bojangles is popular down here and there’s a bracket in that flavor across each upper end…..The Men’s and Women’s Tournament is held around the same time.
Game
The first semifinal was mouth-watering: the 5th seeded Paladins (at 25-8, this ain’t a normal 5 seed) against the regular season champs, Chattanooga Mocs. It turned out to be one of the best college basketball games that I’ve ever seen live. In fact, it probably was the best game all season. Back and forth, crisp play, intense, fantastic flow, high shooting percentage. This is college basketball at its finest. With under two minutes left, Honor Huff hit two 3s to put the Mocs up five. Furman then answered with their own 5-0 run as PJay Smith and Nick Anderson were clutch. Trey Bonham was blocked at the buzzer and the game got a deserved overtime session. There, Furman was able to pull away (though it was interesting at the end) and the Paladins go to the Championship game after a heart-stopping 80-77 win. Smith finished with 25 and Huff, 28.
Stadium and Arena Visits 
