Hooters Magazine asked me to rank the top five most intimidating arenas in college basketball. Here is my list. Look for the article in the upcoming Hooters Magazine!
College basketball is a game that runs on emotions and the home crowd can push its team over the top by blowing the roof off of the gym in big moments. While the crowds are important, sometimes the gym itself is the sixth man on the court. For years Cole Field House in Maryland was an advantage for the Terps, helping Maryland compete in the ACC against the likes of Carolina and Duke. UCLA’S Pauley Pavilion for years gave the Bruins an advantage, but in today’s game, it just doesn’t compare to several other arenas. There are five arenas that give the home team at least a five-point advantage in every game that is played there. Here are the top five most intimidating gyms in the country.
#5 Rupp Arena. The home of the Kentucky Wildcats deserves to be on the list because of one simple upgrade the university did several years ago: The Rupp-E-RUPP-tion Zone. The 23,500-seat arena used to put the old blueblood season ticket holders in the lower level, and while the players were usually dynamic, the crowds were anything but. The decision was made to move the students down near the court of the largest arena build specifically for basketball in the country. Rupp has led the NCAA in attendance for five straight seasons, 14 of the last 14 years and 22 of the last 24 years. Oh, and don’t forget Ashley Judd!
#4 Cameron Indoor Stadium. Name me one other place in the country where students camp out in "Krzyzewskiville,” to get one of 1,600 student tickets to cram into a gym that houses about 9,000 people. The Cameron Crazies section is RIGHT ON TOP of the action, with future Supreme Court Justices and Congresswomen donning face paint and chanting up a storm. Cameron’s credibility took a bit of a hit in 2002 when the school installed AC because apparently the odor was too much to take for some of the fans.
#3 The Carrier Dome. The Syracuse Orange basketball team shares its home venue with the Orange football team, but that doesn’t exclude the Carrier Dome from being an intimidating arena. The Loud House as it has been dubbed can hold 33,000 basketball fans and nearly 50,000 football fans but in February of 2010, more than 34,000 packed in to watch the Orange knock off Villanova. The Carrier Dome has a Teflon-coated, fiberglass inflatable roof which is a scary wonder to look at during a game.
#2 The Pit. New Mexico’s University Arena goes by the nickname of “The Pit,” for a good reason. The floor is 37 feet below grade, and with 17,000 people screaming, it is no wonder that The Pit is an intimidating place to play. During a game in the 1988-89 season, the noise registered 118 decibels officially, two decibels louder than the old record set at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The home team doesn’t seem to mind the noise though, winning 631 of 776 games (.813) played at the Pit since it opened in 1966.
#1 The O’Connell Center. The Florida Gators have been a football school since Steve Spurrier roamed the sidelines, but the basketball team has its own home court advantage. Florida’s answer to the Cameron Crazies, the Rowdy Reptiles, create such an advantage that ESPN the Magazine dubbed the gym “The House of Horrors,” And the actual floor is enough to inspire the Gator team as it is the same floor from the Indianapolis RCA Dome from when the Gators won the 2006 National Championship.
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