USA - College Basketball Arenas

[bigwilley]

Since it's March Madness, I thought we would discuss which college basketball arenas are the loudest?

5. McOnnel Court- University of Oregon


4. Allen Fieldhouse- Kansas


3.Oconnel Center- Florida


2. Rupp Arena- University of Kentucky


1. Cameron Indoor Stadium


Thats what i think, what yall think?

[eMKay]

All I know is you have Cameron ranked in the right spot, that place is crazy from tip-off until the final whistle.

[Scoots71]

They don't call 'em the "Cameron Crazies" for nothin'.

[bigwilley]

Anyone else wanna make a list? My list must be that special

[Scba]

I've heard that McArthur Court is pretty loud.

[bigwilley]

I forgot bout florida's arena, that place is crazy..

[Benn]

McArthur Court Oregon (before they move to a new arena), and the O-Dome should definitely be on the list. Williams arena can be painfully loud when the Gophers are doing well. So can the Peterson Center at Pitt and the Breslin center as Michigan State and the Carrier Dome at Syracuse. I have never heard of Freedom Hall or the Dean Dome being particularly loud, just that the teams are usually really, really good.

[bigwilley]

I edited it

[40Acres]

5) University of New Mexico - The Pit


4) University of North Carolina - Dean Smith Center


3) University of Kansas - Phog Allen Fieldhouse


2) Oklahoma State University - Gallagher-Iba Arena


1) University of Kentucky - Rupp Arena

[bigwilley]

No cameron crazies? I will take the uk arena as a compliment those are my wildcats!

[rantanamo]

Is Cameron really loud? Its a small building so I wonder if it can have the sheer noise that a plce like Rupp could.

[Scoots71]

Small arenas can be extremely loud if they are compact enough. I've seen 4,000 seat arenas that are just as loud as a 15,000 seat arena because of how noise travels off of the walls. Cameron is one of those (not as small, but the concept is the same), while some of the others are very loud from the sheer number of bodies.

[Benn]

The Thing with Cameron is they have more people at every game than the fire marshal should probably allow. They fit a little under 10,000 in a gym that looks like 7,000 apparently the student section is ridiculously cramped and they do seem to make some noise on TV. You gotta factor in volume of space against capacity (as well as materials, steel reverberates much more than concrete) Rupp has a huge capacity, but it is also physically a huge structure.

[bigwilley]

Yeah, but ive been to a uk basketball game. When uk goes on a run there is no way cameron indoor is as loud.

[Benn]

Go to a Duke game sometime, that would be the only way to know for sure, unless someone has gone all over the place and gotten decibel counts. I will say on TV Cameron seems louder than most, Rupp included.
The loudest place I have been to is Williams arena, which is a steel framed barn with a steel upper level and metal roof. The upper level also extends all the way out over the lower level, and the suites are suspended from the roof. The footprint is tiny compared to the capacity and that much metal has some serious reverb, which can lead to an insanely loud atmosphere, however we didn't have much to cheer from about 1999 until we managed to snag Tubby

Williams Arena, capacity 14,625, 1928
(largest arena in the Country from 1950-1971 with a capacity of 18,500)
image hosted on flickr

[lpioe]

Any videos of the atmosphere of this arenas?

[bigwilley]

I got 2 from rupp.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=yL-snEtQG...ure=related(It goes crazy at 4:20)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LQ9-eI5xjmM

Duke
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YHP8JYy0XmU

[Indiana Jones]

Since I go to IU, I hate Kentucky, but at least their program has tradition and a fanbase compared to Florida, Duke, Tennessee, Ohio State, etc. So, I respect that. I hear UK fans complain a lot about your quiet alumni in the best seats. Upstart programs can afford to put students in those seats, which is too bad for UK, IU, UNC, KU, etc.

Assembly Hall is loud. I've been to the Breslin, Williams, Cameron, Mackey, Rupp and they're all different. Our fanbase and gameday atmosphere are better than almost all I've visited. There is no clear winner, but Assembly Hall is in my top 3.

This was the loudest sporting event I've ever attended to and Coach K called it the loudest game he has experienced outside Cameron.



Regardless of who you support, big college basketball games are awesome.

[bigwilley]

Ok Indiana we have rich people in those courtside seats, so it could be very loud if we had more student sections. However it isn't because we can't afford it, our basketball program just built a 80 million dollar PRACTICE facility and is going to build a new arena 24k to 28k is expected. I dont think its cuz we dont have the money. However I am dissapointed we have those old people down that close.
O yea did you hear kentucky might get devin ebanks?

[Indiana Jones]

Willey,

Those big donors cannot be displaced, they're a big reason you have money. Also, if you put students court side they would be really pissed and raise hell. Some of them have had seats there for decades. We have the same problem. The up and coming programs don't have massive established alumni seating, so they can fill the seats with students.

Your practice facility was $30 million. And Devin's AAU coach and handler haven't mentioned UK at all btw.