25 Most Incredible College BB Arenas

[UCONNJACK]

Interesting read.

In Honor of March Madness, These Are the 25 Most Impressive NCAA Arenas

You have to see some of the mind-blowing architecture for yourself.

www.popularmechanics.com

 

[UConnTrumbull]

If you like 4000 seaters this list is for you!

 

[Northbound]

If you like 4000 seaters this list is for you!

Well interesting in the title has nothing to do with capacity and like 70% of the list are “P6” arenas.

But if you’re equating seating capacity to interesting then we’ll see you at the XL and not at Gampel.

To each their own.

 

[87Xfer]

Is Cameron the only D1 facility where the baskets hang from the ceiling?

 

[TerryBoyz]

So I flipped through this.. Syracuse, Florida. Okay seems okay. Then see Citadel, Tulane,Fordham???
Okay, on what basis is this judged?
Architecture?
Thought
.

Can’t wait for his next list… 25 best arenas based on Wi-Fi coverage.

 

[Austin316]

My favorites not on the list or named UConn

Grand Canyon U
Houston
Xavier
Nova
Cinci
WVU
Texas
DePaul
VCU
Gonzaga
St Mary’s
BYU

 

[NJHoops]

Vanderbilt’s court is a menace.

Everyone should see a game at the Palestra, Ideally, this would have occurred when more of the Big 5 teams were great and the respective fan sections were elite, mean, and funny, but it’s not too late.

Cameron Indoor is fantastic, as is the number of former Duke players who have kids named Cameron.

Hinkle is great, wish better basketball was being played there right now.

 

[Dave]

In celebration of March Madness, we created a list of the 25 most incredible NCAA arenas based solely on the towering architecture that make up the buildings

 

[husky429]

Didn't bother to read the list, but I always have really liked Yale's court. Most years I'll go to a game and get some Modern on the way home.

 

[Chin Diesel]

So I flipped through this.. Syracuse, Florida. Okay seems okay. Then see Citadel, Tulane,Fordham???
Okay, on what basis is this judged?
Architecture?
Thought
.View attachment 90691
Can’t wait for his next list… 25 best arenas based on Wi-Fi coverage.

Confession time. I was at the UConn/Tulane game in March 2020 right before everything shut down.

It was a neat little place. Seats were comfortable, concessions were good, parking was a breeze and it was easy to get in/out of the area.

If Tulane was ever any good that would be a fun environment. It could get loud real quickly. Of course this all depends on Tulane being decent.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

The OK State arena was great, surprised it didn't make the list. Vandy and Minnesota? No. Rather Cals or UDubs for big older types.

 

[Drew]

I for one am stunned that XL Center didn’t make the list

 

[LIUCHusky]

Confession time. I was at the UConn/Tulane game in March 2020 right before everything shut down.

It was a neat little place. Seats were comfortable, concessions were good, parking was a breeze and it was easy to get in/out of the area.

If Tulane was ever any good that would be a fun environment. It could get loud real quickly. Of course this all depends on Tulane being decent.

Agreed. My wife and I were there also. Really liked the venue.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

glad popular mechanics are showing an interest in college basketball...

 

[husky8273]

I've been in 8 of these, saw games in 5 of the 8.

 

[Husky68]

Confession time. I was at the UConn/Tulane game in March 2020 right before everything shut down.

It was a neat little place. Seats were comfortable, concessions were good, parking was a breeze and it was easy to get in/out of the area.

If Tulane was ever any good that would be a fun environment. It could get loud real quickly. Of course this all depends on Tulane being decent.

You are right, live near Tulane and go to couple games a year. Beat Memphis at home, football team was there to be honored, was great crowd. Like their coach and he was a very happy guy after that game.

 

[ucp990411]

Buzz Williams said it right when he was asked what arenas were the best. “The ones with multiple national championship banners”!
My 2nd favorite coach.
He was also asked what he would do if he wasn’t a coach. “ work with special needs kids”
Very cool

 

[Travelman6]

Who is the guy who was trying to go to all the college bball arenas? Would be interesting to see his non UConn top 10

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

Cameron Indoor is fantastic, as is the number of former Duke players who have kids named Cameron.

I named my daughter Harry A Gampel.

Checkmate dook

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Is Cameron the only D1 facility where the baskets hang from the ceiling?

Quite a few. Think Colorado still does but most are smaller venues like Iona, LaSalle, Manhattan, Fairfield Alumni Hall, Colgate...

 

[CL82]

Dumb list. For what it's worth, Jadwin Gym at Princeton is a terrible place to see a game. The floor is tucked into the corner of a larger multipurpose building. It sucks the juice out of the place. On the other hand Princeton Stadium is a great place to see a game. Small, but right sized for Princeton.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Who is the guy who was trying to go to all the college bball arenas? Would be interesting to see his non UConn top 10

@Greathusky

No joke, this guy was one of my top inspirations for me to get out and check out local D1 games. which in turn, opened up my interest in mid-major basketball as a whole, which then inspired me to start my blog.

Rose Hill is absolutely fantastic, especially if you are into historic buildings. Back in February, I wrote a piece about the electricity in that building since Fordham basketball has been on its run.

Didn't bother to read the list, but I always have really liked Yale's court. Most years I'll go to a game and get some Modern on the way home.

I still haven't been to a Yale game yet (the Friday night games correlate with the worst traffic from work (Greenwich) to New Haven...90+ minutes, but overall, Yale has beautiful facilities. The Yale Bowl, Ingalls Rink, Westville Music Bowl...

 

[storrsroars]

I named my daughter Harry A Gampel.

Checkmate dook

Terrible idea. All her classmates will simply call her "Hag".

 

[Greathusky]

Who is the guy who was trying to go to all the college bball arenas? Would be interesting to see his non UConn top 10

That would be me. You can see my blog at www.journeyto351.com to follow my travels.

I am currently at 118 games so some obvious ones that I have not seen will not be in the list .

Here goes:

10. Miam- A campus surrounded by palm trees and sun.
9. Maryland - A huge ass arena on campus that should be in a city.
8. Florida Gulf Coast - see Miami
7. Syracuse - My hate for them does not cloud their impressive arena..
6. Tulane- The new Orleans feel for the campus was very cool.
5. Virginia - A loud and huge enthusiastic setting.
4. UNC - Dean Dome. A sea of loud blue at that game.
3. Princeton - Walking into the arena reminded me of Space Mountain in Disney.
2. Yale- The steep steep bleachers with cathedral windows along the top made the game an afterthought.
1. Penn (Palestra) - The walls surrounding the arena was museum dedicated to college basketball. Historic in so many way.

 

[MU in MKE]

Look, I know I'm biased... but some of those choices are truly perplexing. How do MSG and the beauty below not blow the doors off of at least 1/3 of that list??

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Look, I know I'm biased... but some of those choices are truly perplexing. How do MSG and the beauty below not blow the doors off of at least 1/3 of that list??



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its gorgeous!!! Think the author was considering more of the old school types or perhaps the unusual like Fenway or Wrigley in baseball. I like the older gyms. enjoyed going to Keaney at URI as an example.

 

[Samoo]

Look, I know I'm biased... but some of those choices are truly perplexing. How do MSG and the beauty below not blow the doors off of at least 1/3 of that list??



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Is that a basketball arena or an airport terminal - both inside and out?

 

[MU in MKE]

its gorgeous!!! Think the author was considering more of the old school types or perhaps the unusual like Fenway or Wrigley in baseball. I like the older gyms. enjoyed going to Keaney at URI as an example.

I thought that must be the case too, but they have some newer arena's and MSG was kind of an engineering feat at the time it was built. So who knows what the criteria really was!

Is that a basketball arena or an airport terminal - both inside and out?

Those are fightin' words! Actually, I'm not really sure if they are. Some newer terminals are pretty amazing. A for effort on your part though.


I'll leave you with some concourse (get it?) pictures for your viewing envy enjoyment.

Ohhhh wait... now I see it...

 

[HuskyHawk]

Look, I know I'm biased... but some of those choices are truly perplexing. How do MSG and the beauty below not blow the doors off of at least 1/3 of that list??



View attachment 90772View attachment 90771

It's very nice, but I think any NBA arena should be disqualified from being considered a "college arena". Another reason MSG shouldn't be on the list.

For anyone asking about UConn, I don't think Gampel is really worthy and XL certainly isn't.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Is that a basketball arena or an airport terminal - both inside and out?

I'll be honest, I don't know what arena that is - I'm guessing it's Marquette given the poster in this thread who obviously takes pride in it - but nothing about it screams college basketball to me. It looks like a nice enough place to see an NBA game or a concert.