I'm not a big follower of Big East basketball but was watching Pitt at home the other night. I thought it was extremely odd to have the luxury boxes 10 rows deep and seeing 7 year olds running around in the backround was very distracting. When did this come about?

I really was curious as to the decisions behind this, and thought I'd see what everyone else's thoughts were. Feel free to add any other venues good or bad that have oddities/atmosphere.

As somewhat of an old timer I miss the Bucks at St. John. VCA just doesn't have the same appeal for me.

VCA is turrible.

st. John is loud and rockin' when the Bucks have had to play there over the past few years(NIT game vs. Cal)

Big East venues don't seem to have the same intensity (mainly because so many play in NBA type arenas)

UConn in the hartford cc
Marquette at the Bradley Center
St Johns at the Garden
Nova at Wachovia
GTown at Verizon
Seton Hall at IZOD


even the on campus arenas are large venues (Louisville, Pitt, Syracuse, Providence

Few of them have a real homecourt advantage. Rutgers has one in the RAC but then again, they are rutgers. WVU has one and I think at times Notre Dame has one.

As an opponent I wouldn't fear going into most of those environments. Then again I am an ACC guy and I look at Little John, Cassel Coliseum, Cameron and see true college basketball environments

"As somewhat of an old timer I miss the Bucks at St. John. VCA just doesn't have the same appeal for me. "

A lot of people likely agree with you. My favorite venues are:

1) Mem gym at Vanderbilt University...the benches are quirky being underneath the baskets and the stage is odd, but it has a great way of maintaining the sound.

2) Allen Fieldhouse for a big Kansas game, it is the "Big House" of college basketball.

3) Cameron (yeah everyone hates Duke, but it is a great place to watch a game).

Yeah, Pitt made a terrible decision aesthetically to put the luxury boxes so close to the court. Monetarily, they're probably mopping up. The Zoo is still, however, a viable contender for toughest road game in the country. You can't argue the Panthers' record at home.

My favorites:

Cameron - most historic venue and best atmosphere in college basketball. When Carolina is in town, the place might be the loudest
sports arena on Earth.

Allen Fieldhouse - home to Wilt the Stilt, Forrest Allen, Dean Smith, etc. Kansas is college basketball's birthplace, and Allen its cathedral

Rupp Arena - the fans often are oddly quiet (not as much as the Dean Dome), but Kentucky's fans are the most fervent in the country and game days in Lexington are always a life-altering event to the citizens who live in the Commonwealth

MAC Court (Oregon) - the balconies (yes, balconies, there are like six of them perching over the boys in green and yellow) look like something out of Shakespeare play, and the fans rock the floorboards like Celtics followers of old. This quirky barn is the Boston Garden of college basketball

Assembly Hall (IU) - great college atmosphere, and, when the Hoosiers are rolling, the place just oozes with history. There is no place in college basketball where national championship banners are more intimidating.

Anderson Arena (Bowling Green) - back in the '90s, when Antonio Daniels and Jim Laranaga were roaming the court for the Falcons, this building was the "House that Roars," but that's not why I enjoy Anderson anymore. It is simply the best place to watch a high school boy's tournament game in Ohio

Tune in to see LittleJohn Coliseum this weekend. Great arena.

The Breslin Center in East Lansing is a pretty loud building...

Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse. It's where they filmed the final game in the movie Hoosiers.

reclegend22 wrote: Yeah, Pitt made a terrible decision aesthetically to put the luxury boxes so close to the court. Monetarily, they're probably mopping up. The Zoo is still, however, a viable contender for toughest road game in the country. You can't argue the Panthers' record at home.

My favorites:

Cameron - most historic venue and best atmosphere in college basketball. When Carolina is in town, the place might be the loudest
sports arena on Earth.

Allen Fieldhouse - home to Wilt the Stilt, Forrest Allen, Dean Smith, etc. Kansas is college basketball's birthplace, and Allen its cathedral

Rupp Arena - the fans often are oddly quiet (not as much as the Dean Dome), but Kentucky's fans are the most fervent in the country and game days in Lexington are always a life-altering event to the citizens who live in the Commonwealth

MAC Court (Oregon) - the balconies (yes, balconies, there are like six of them perching over the boys in green and yellow) look like something out of Shakespeare play, and the fans rock the floorboards like Celtics followers of old. This quirky barn is the Boston Garden of college basketball

Assembly Hall (IU) - great college atmosphere, and, when the Hoosiers are rolling, the place just oozes with history. There is no place in college basketball where national championship banners are more intimidating.

[b]Anderson Arena (Bowling Green) - back in the '90s, when Antonio Daniels and Jim Laranaga were roaming the court for the Falcons, this building was the "House that Roars," but that's not why I enjoy Anderson anymore. It is simply the best place to watch a high school boy's tournament game in Ohio

[/b]

Did I hear that BG wil soon replacing Anderson Arena?

Little Danny wrote: Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse. It's where they filmed the final game in the movie Hoosiers.

And they haven't done one thing to upgrade it since filming. I was waiting for Hoosiers to actually break out while I was there.

As far as atmosphere though, Butler fans are pretty weak.

Did I hear that BG wil soon replacing Anderson Arena?

Yes, they are building a brand new convocation center, the Stroh Center, that will serve as home to Falcon basketball and volleyball as well as various university and community events such as concerts, graduations, trade shows, etc. While I hate the idea of a new building on Bowling Green's campus -- Anderson is just such a legendary place to catch an evening game -- the new building will be a fabulous place, one of the most modern venues in the country when complete.

Unfortunately, the new arena also means no more high school basketball games in Anderson Arena, marking the end of an era, that's for certain.

And I can't believe I forgot Hinkle. This is the hidden gem of all sports monuments. What a great place. And I'm glad to read that nothing about the place has changed in over 50 years. That's refreshing considering the day and age we live in today. Other institutions should take note.

Did you know that it is possible to reserve the actual Hickory gym that was used in the movie Hoosiers?? My cousins did this a few weeks ago and played in the gym for about an hour. I wish I could have joined them.