Better Home Court?

[businesslawyer]

Maybe we can stop having this same discussion over and over and over for a while? Or are there some who don’t want to believe their own eyes? One can theorize reasons why Gampel is quieter until the cows come home, but the crowd last night spoke for itself.

And a special shout out to the student section, who put their cell phones down for two hours and got into the game.

 

[ConnMotors]

I was there on opening night vs St John’s with friends. Had never been up to the campus before. Did not know where to park. Found a place then went in. Was in Augh. Great atmosphere. Fun and loud. Way better than going to see them play at the New Haven Coliseum.

Has Gampel out grown itself? That is a very good question. The place is smaller than the Hartford Civic Center. But you are closer to the action. And, that makes it for a more entertaining game to be a part of. Even though getting to Hartford is way easier if a location you still can not beat the atmosphere of being at GP.

 

[CTBasketball]

That was a riled up crowd. An angry crowd who wanted the team to stuff Pitino over a table and give him a spanking. I wanna say 75% of the crowd stood the entire game. Very impressive and a fantastic showing.

A few media outlets praised that as one of the better home courts in the land.

 

[superjohn]

Hartford has been way than Gampel lately.

 

[ct06111]

Gotta stop with the goal horn.

Love hockey, but the recent goal horn after big moments is gotta stop. Kills the actual crowd noise and is actually super annoying.

Villanova in 22 was WAY better. My Avatar pic…

 

[superjohn]

Gotta stop with the goal horn.

Love hockey, but the recent goal horn after big moments is gotta stop. Kills the actual crowd noise and is actually super annoying.

Villanova in 22 was WAY better. My Avatar pic…

I love the Whalers horn.

 

[Waquoit]

I love the Whalers horn.

Time for Whaler's trivia: The hockey horn was brought to the Whale by former GM Brian Burke. Coming from several other teams, he hated Brass Bonanza. So he banned it after made goals, to be replaced by the horn. He didn't last long and Bonanza came back after he left.

 

[Kolumbo]

Heh. It's UConn that's special, not Gampel. We took the road trip to Virginia for a game the year before Gampel opened. My first impression of Gampel was that it was just like Virginia's building. That same year, Virginia announce they were building a new arena because the old one was deemed obsolete. That tells the story, imo. Gampel was obsolete from the start.

 

[Tyler2Rings]

Gotta stop with the goal horn.

Love hockey, but the recent goal horn after big moments is gotta stop. Kills the actual crowd noise and is actually super annoying.

Villanova in 22 was WAY better. My Avatar pic…

You're wrong on the goal horn.

Villanova was a better crowd but not by much, and considering it was a beatdown, last night was just as impressive

 

[John]

I love the Whalers horn.

Whalers had Brass Bonanza, you mean Wolfpack horn.

 

[GlastonTim]

Love the horn, just need to time it better for Big Red.

 

[superjohn]

Whalers had Brass Bonanza, you mean Wolfpack horn.

No, of course I don't mean Brass Bonanaza which is my all-time favorite sports theme song. I mean the Whalers horn.

 

[JB75]

Gampel is a special place. When I was a student in the mid late 90s, Gampel was by far the loudest and most intense place for visitors to come to. It took a special performance (see Kittles and Villanova in 1995) for the other school to win. I remember games against Syracuse in the 1994-1995 season, Stanford in 1997-1998 and the game against Michigan State in the 1998-1999 season as special atmospheres that can only happen at Gampel. Gampel set us an apart and it’s a shame the atmosphere is nothing like the 90s or early 00s. Obviously, ticket inflation has a lot to do with it but if I had my choice Gampel over HCC all day/week.

I agree with all of this- gampel for sure back in the day but lately I have to admit the Civic Center has been pretty legit —last night was top 3 loudest/best crowd there and I’ve been a season ticket holder for 15 years. Plus, Hartford is just better - central location, more stuff to do , more pregame lead in , holds more people, etc..

 

[CL82]

Whichever home court has Pepe's apizza delivered in a car with Blizzak tires and AWD is the only answer.

But only if the pizza delivery car maintains a distance of at least 300 feet from the car in front of it.

 

[CL82]

Love the horn, just need to time it better for Big Red.

This. It just needs to be standardized. Does the chant come first or the horn? If the horn comes first it needs to be the same every time so that fans know when to start the chant. I'd say, one blast of the Horn and then go right into the big red chant.

I wasn't a fan of the horn initially, but I'm coming around on it.

 

[CL82]

Maybe we can stop having this same discussion over and over and over for a while? Or are there some who don’t want to believe their own eyes? One can theorize reasons why Gampel is quieter until the cows come home, but the crowd last night spoke for itself.

And a special shout out to the student section, who put their cell phones down for two hours and got into the game.

Agreed Biz. It's kind of a pointless discussion.

FWIW...For a big game where there is a sellout (or near sellout like last night) the atmosphere in Hartford is amazing. The old Civic Center gets incredibly loud.

 

[Kolumbo]

Going to Hartford for the basketball games is a great time. The bars around the HCC are packed and there is a pre-game camaraderie with fans talking about the upcoming game. Then everyone heads over to the arena. The atmosphere was incredible last night. Everyone wanted this win so badly and to keep the pedal to the metal and blow the jonnies and pitino out. I would much rather prefer to stand the whole game rather than constantly standing up and sitting down based on what the people in front of me are doing, but you can't stand unless everyone around you stands. I wish I could go stand in the student section!

 

[Chin Diesel]

No, of course I don't mean Brass Bonanaza which is my all-time favorite sports theme song. I mean the Whalers horn.

Would love that as an exit song after the final horn sounds as a way of announcing another UConn win.

When I did my last trip to CT a few months ago I picked up another Whalers cap at the gift shop at Bradley. Even in the Panhandle of Florida I get comments on it almost every time I wear a Whalers hat.

The Whalers brand is still strong but I don't think it is too much of a stretch to transfer that state resident sports pride to the UConn brand.

 

[Scrutineer]

You can talk all you want about recent crowds, but if you weren't at the "Hartford Civic Center" in January of 1990, for the Syracuse and Georgetown games, you missed the impact and intensity of the first really wild environments for UConn men's basketball.

The scenes were electric. The lighting seemed brighter. There was an intensity, even during warmups, greater than at any game we attended over the years.

The crowds each night, all 16,284 (or thereabouts) in attendance were hyped and standing for much of the games.

They were the first really big games we'd had in years and we were beginning to sense how good this team could be.

Big Monday for Syracuse, and five days later Saturday night with Georgetown, and a week later Gampel opened with Dan Cyrulik's career night! A great win after getting destroyed at the Garden by 31 only three and a half weeks earlier.

There was a special magic with the earlier games of today's six time National Champions.
We hadn't been there before.
We hadn't dominated any highly ranked teams on national television.
Yet we always harbored the dream of our teams doing special things.
We're really glad and thankful we were able to see it happen.

 

[Moose1979]

This. It just needs to be standardized. Does the chant come first or the horn? If the horn comes first it needs to be the same every time so that fans know when to start the chant. I'd say, one blast of the Horn and then go right into the big red chant.

I wasn't a fan of the horn initially, but I'm coming around on it.

I'm surprised no one has suggested this yet, but is that the horn of a Cargo Ship???

 

[boog204]

Gampel is a special place. When I was a student in the mid late 90s, Gampel was by far the loudest and most intense place for visitors to come to. It took a special performance (see Kittles and Villanova in 1995) for the other school to win. I remember games against Syracuse in the 1994-1995 season, Stanford in 1997-1998 and the game against Michigan State in the 1998-1999 season as special atmospheres that can only happen at Gampel. Gampel set us an apart and it’s a shame the atmosphere is nothing like the 90s or early 00s. Obviously, ticket inflation has a lot to do with it but if I had my choice Gampel over HCC all day/week.

Mich St. is the best and most raucous game I personally saw at Gampel. Still, I went and saw a few games at the old Cole Fieldhouse when Maryland was good in that same timeframe, and it was a night and day difference between the two places. Those games at Cole were what I always envisioned a college basketball game feeling like. I always felt pretty underwhelmed by the Gampel games. HCC always seemed louder and more exciting. Granted, a large part of that is that HCC gets the better games.

 

[KembaRunner]

I don't know which location I would take over the other as this seems like an eternal debate. However, Gampel in the 1990s and early 2000s was loud and raucous and fantastic. My wife who is from California only started going to UConn games with me since 2011 where the first game was against Syracuse with the ESPN anchors there. She always asks me "what is up with this crowd?". She is right. When I watch other teams' home games, their fans are loud. UConn home games are like a library compared to other teams' home crowds.

I noticed the issue with our fans in Maui, too. It's not an old age thing, either. Dayton has plenty of old fans, and they were loud and stood the entirety of all 3 games.

UConn deserves better fan involvement at their home games and they need the fans to be like the fans in the Villanova game in 2022 where Hurley got ejected. Those fans intimidated and influenced the officials and got every 50-50 call to go in UConn's favor after Hurley's ejection.

May not be an age thing, but we do have an old fan base 😳

 

[superjohn]

May not be an age thing, but we do have an old fan base 😳

Connecticut has a bit of an older population than the average but aren't most in person fanbases on the older side? Games are expensive and older people have more money to shell out.

 

[3rdbass]

I don't know which location I would take over the other as this seems like an eternal debate. However, Gampel in the 1990s and early 2000s was loud and raucous and fantastic. My wife who is from California only started going to UConn games with me since 2011 where the first game was against Syracuse with the ESPN anchors there. She always asks me "what is up with this crowd?". She is right. When I watch other teams' home games, their fans are loud. UConn home games are like a library compared to other teams' home crowds.

I noticed the issue with our fans in Maui, too. It's not an old age thing, either. Dayton has plenty of old fans, and they were loud and stood the entirety of all 3 games.

UConn deserves better fan involvement at their home games and they need the fans to be like the fans in the Villanova game in 2022 where Hurley got ejected. Those fans intimidated and influenced the officials and got every 50-50 call to go in UConn's favor after Hurley's ejection.

Just let my brother and I attend games. We are in our 50's and loud as hell. We are always reacting to the game in good or bad way(Bad calls). LOL! I can't stand fans who just sit there and barely show any reaction. Are they really invested in the team or just there to pass the time? They don't have to act as crazies like my brother and I but show a little emotion please.

 

[3rdbass]

That was a riled up crowd. An angry crowd who wanted the team to stuff Pitino over a table and give him a spanking. I wanna say 75% of the crowd stood the entire game. Very impressive and a fantastic showing.

A few media outlets praised that as one of the better home courts in the land.

Yeah it looked and sounded loud on tv. I was very happy about that. Also, as Hurley mentioned the fans came out for the game in Creighton too but unfortunately the team didn't show up.