Jay Bilas' top 5 college basketball venues

[theshadow]

Might be a dumb question but has Bilas been to Hilton?

Once in 2001, and a couple of times in 2015 and 2016.

 

[theshadow]

Bilas is the classic "I'm a lawyer so I'm automatically smarter than you and will talk down to you" guy.

 

[1UNI2ISU]

Bilas is the classic "I'm a lawyer so I'm automatically smarter than you and will talk down to you" guy.

He LOVES ******** about how the kids don't get paid while coaches do while collecting a seven figure check from ESPN every year. The ultimate hypocrite.

 

[Klubber]

Cameron Indoor is a dump. Since Coach K left it's now just a tiny outdated gym.

Thank you.

Cameron's the most overrated gym period. 9314 capacity does not get you louder than 14k+ at Hilton. Not even close. And Duke has been a truly elite program for decades now, so basically home court advantage doesn't mean as much.

Very few venues can boast the dramatic comeback wins like we've had at Hilton over the years. And some of those were with only pretty good ISU teams. And the crowd basically willed the team to victory.

'92 Okie St comeback was the loudest arena, outside of a packed 20,000+ Chicago Stadium, that I've ever been in. My ears rang for 3 days after. You could scream at the person sitting next to you during that one and they wouldn't be able to hear you at all.

I've been to Breslin too. That atmosphere isn't Hilton like either. It's a tough gym but pretty sterile IMO.

In my book, Hilton's top 5 no question.

 

[Jeremy]

I think part of it is that from a tv viewpoint, Hilton sounds loud but you don’t have students in view half the time to see the energy. Places like AFH and Cameron look more impressive on tv because the stands are so close to the court.

 

[wing59]

ISU needs a Big 12 title or F4 banner before we show up in these rankings..

Uh, we have 2 Big 12 regular season titles. 2000 and 2001.

 

[StClone]

Here is fairly recent top 25 list from Katz. It's tiered in groups of 5 so not a true ranking, but he has Hilton as a tier 3, or top 15 if you will. He admits hes never been to Hilton, which is kind of surprising.

The only real head scratcher for me is Rutgers with a Tier 1. I have never really heard of them having a great basketball environment. Also there are probably quite a few people who have been to home Creighton games and can speak to whether they are really better than Hilton or not at tier 2.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.fo...n-college-basketball-ranking-schools-in-tiers

He even thinks we should be higher than 14th place and Katz says he has never been to Hilton. (The article is only a year old).


Iowa State: I know, I know, Hilton Coliseum should be higher. But I’m slightly embarrassed to say that in three decades, I’ve never been. For whatever reason, I have always seen the Cyclones on the road or neutral courts. I’m sure I would move Hilton higher after a visit.

 

[awd4cy]

I was at the McKale Center for a game last winter. Really liked it, but I think Hilton edges it out. Student section at Hilton is a lot bigger. Maybe a younger season ticket crowd though.

 

[CyNews]

No mention of Hilton?

I haven't been to many but Cameron Indoor was pretty special.

And of course Allen Fieldhouse is just another gym, right Jamaal?

Ask Seth Greenberg. Bilas is not very good.

 

[CyNews]

No mention of Hilton?

I haven't been to many but Cameron Indoor was pretty special.

And of course Allen Fieldhouse is just another gym, right Jamaal?

Ask Seth Greenberg.

 

[EvilBetty]

To some Phog Allen is "just another gym" (wink) but I also think opposing coaches are to some degree intimidated by the fact that that is an obstacle their team has to overcome besides beating the opposition. I'm not going to claim I know enough to rank them but I would guess coaches would take some of that same mindset coming to Hilton

gotta win by 15 to win by 1 at PA.

 

[AlaCyclone]

I was at the Alabama @ Duke game in 2010 as well! That game was a good environment but only because Wallace Wade stadium was ~80% full of Alabama fans. Being in grad school there was fun because you didn't need a ticket to get in to the football games (just show your regular ID) and I would often just check in on a game for an hour or two as it was not a big deal to get there or park or anything like that. Getting basketball tickets was a different story.....although still not terrible given how difficult it is to get into Cameron in general.

It was an incredibly beautiful day!

I love the Stadium and visited the Rose Bushes and statue of Wallace Wade too.

 

[AlaCyclone]

Here is fairly recent top 25 list from Katz. It's tiered in groups of 5 so not a true ranking, but he has Hilton as a tier 3, or top 15 if you will. He admits hes never been to Hilton, which is kind of surprising.

The only real head scratcher for me is Rutgers with a Tier 1. I have never really heard of them having a great basketball environment. Also there are probably quite a few people who have been to home Creighton games and can speak to whether they are really better than Hilton or not at tier 2.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.fo...n-college-basketball-ranking-schools-in-tiers

The Rack @ Rutgers! Have not been, but I have heard that is really cool in an old school kind of way. I think the word is cozy.

As for Creighton, I went to the Iowa State @ Cregihton game a couple of years ago, and it was fantastic. NBA level Arena with a college atmosphere. Wouldn't rank it above Hilton though!

 

[nfrine]

And Jay went to school at....Duke. Surprise, surprise.

 

[HFCS]

Uh, we have 2 Big 12 regular season titles. 2000 and 2001.

Like I was saying earlier we actually have the second most B12 hardware but KU is so far ahead of everybody it's ridiculous. I'd argue a few of these are pretty heavily officiating assisted though, especially the year KSU tied them but just obviously won more games in reality.

Outright titles:
KU: 14
ISU: 2
Texas: 1
OKSt: 1
Baylor: 1
Never: Tech, KSU, TCU, WVU, Colorado, A&M, Missouri, OU, Nebraska

Shared titles:
KU: 6
Texas: 2
OU: 1
Tech: 1
KSU: 1
Baylor: 1
Never: OKst, ISU, TCU, WVU, Colorado, A&M, Missouri, Nebraska

Tournament titles:
KU: 12
ISU: 5
OU: 3
Texas: 2
OKSt: 2
Missouri: 2
Never: Baylor, KSU, TCU, Tech, WVU, Colorado, A&M, Nebraska

 

[AlaCyclone]

Assembly Hall is a weird building but my god does it get loud in there.

Mackey is also pretty great but that's more for the atmosphere than the building itself, it's the same roundhouse everybody built in the mid-60s.

Outside of those two plus State Farm Center and Breslin the Big Ten doesn't really have any memorable buildings since they did all the replacing/rebuilding in the 80s and 90s.

The Big 12 has way better venues top to bottom.

Welsh-Ryan Arena @ Northwestern is a cool basketball gym!

 

[Yaz]

Bilas is compromised by blue bloods. I take much of what he says with a grain of salt

Yep. He is the Kirk Herbstreit of Basketball and another espn shill

 

[AlaCyclone]

Thank you.

Cameron's the most overrated gym period. 9314 capacity does not get you louder than 14k+ at Hilton. Not even close. And Duke has been a truly elite program for decades now, so basically home court advantage doesn't mean as much.

Very few venues can boast the dramatic comeback wins like we've had at Hilton over the years. And some of those were with only pretty good ISU teams. And the crowd basically willed the team to victory.

'92 Okie St comeback was the loudest arena, outside of a packed 20,000+ Chicago Stadium, that I've ever been in. My ears rang for 3 days after. You could scream at the person sitting next to you during that one and they wouldn't be able to hear you at all.

I've been to Breslin too. That atmosphere isn't Hilton like either. It's a tough gym but pretty sterile IMO.

In my book, Hilton's top 5 no question.

I was on Row 2 behind the basket opposite of the missed Okla. State free throws, and I could feel the floor / stands shake. That place was C-R-A-Z-Y!

 

[t-noah]

No mention of Hilton?

I haven't been to many but Cameron Indoor was pretty special.

And of course Allen Fieldhouse is just another gym, right Jamaal?

Can you really blame him on those?

Now his top 10 or 15 would be interesting.

Edit: Don't bash me. ISU is #1. We all know that.

 

[NENick]

To me, the value of an arena & home crowd is the effect when playing as an underdog. Of course Duke, NC, Kentucky win most of their home game, since they're usually loaded with talent. Hilton has built a reputation of being a place where highly-ranked teams lose.