B.I.T.C.H., Please. These Basketball Rankings STINK
The Basketball Intelligence Technical Committee & Heralds has gotten the internet in a bit of a frenzy with another bullshit graphic ... again. Clearly, America is being trolled because we are too dumb and lazy to read the small print on iTunes and business contracts, so there is absolutely zero chance we read the fine print on a website where we are ready to jump on freezing cold takes, BUT I'm going to use this as a chance to establish my take on Indiana college basketball stadiums.
Notre Dame's *googles basketball stadium name* Purcell Pavilion/Joyce Center whatever name they decide to call it clearly stinks. A football school in South Bend, Indiana which is basically Chicago. There are high school gyms in Indiana that are more passionate about basketball than The Fighting Irish.
Once you throw out the clear troll job of ND, the next 3 basketball stadiums are all great places to watch a game BUT can be ranked in descending order starting with Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse coming in at #3. A lot of basketball purists will get their panties in a wad hearing that the historic Hinkle Fieldhouse isn't at number 1, BUT Hinkle is almost like a basketball museum where it's almost better to walk through during daytime hours and soak it all in.
I've said it once, I'll say it a million times more until I die, my grandparents were extras in the crowd cheering on Jimmy Chitwood during the final scene of the movie Hoosiers filmed at Hinkle.
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The Fieldhouse could be considered a basketball Mecca, but Hinkle doesn't get loud enough to get ranked at #2 on the list of Indiana college stadiums, that honor belongs to Mackey Arena in West Lafayette. Purdue stays consistent and the simple design of their stadium fits their program, BUT you are school of engineers and this is the best thing you can design? Your stadium should be a kick-ass glass pyramid, or part moon base with all the astronauts that have gone through the halls of your school. Instead, 3/4 of the stadium is shitty steal/ wood bleacher seats. Assembly Hall feels like scaling a 90 degree cliff face to walking up to find your seat, but I'm content just to have basic structural integrity coming from a place known for its business school.
There isn't a bad seat in Mackey? I guess a bleacher seat shouldn't count as a real seat, so that statement is somewhat true. All the comfortable seats are reserved for the media and rich people. Being crammed into seats like sardines without any divider is small, but you'd be amazed at how many dumb people can't stay in their own personal space. Design something better Purdue.
I understand not beating IU in this ranking will be trigging to Boilermaker fans, but enjoy the fact Purdue has dominated Indiana on any court over the last decade.
That means the #1 college basketball gym in the state of Indiana belongs to the Indiana Hoosiers. Yes, Assembly Hall in Bloomington will give you a serious case of vertigo while your climbing to your seat, but there is no other venue that gives a better home court advantage. You can say Purdue has won more games at Mackey recently, but Assembly Hall is such a powerful venue that it was able to somewhat cancel out Tom Crean's horrendous coaching, not to mention the fact that Archie Miller struggled to even win even win a game away from home.
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Assembly Hall combines a history of basketball tradition with noise that could put even the most ruckus basketball venues to shame. AH has student section closer to the action that doesn't require a lame name to identify themselves, and when the old people in the crowd decide they want to sit down, they all have their own individual seat like everyone else who bought a ticket. Unless you're John Mellencamp, then you just lean up against the brick wall and watch.