March Madness
Filled out your office March Madness pool yet? Why bother? You spend hours researching all 64 teams and turn in your completed bracket after a kiss for good-luck. You call in “sick” so you can watch each one of your teams lose by the end of the first weekend. To top it off, the person that wins your pool every year is the girl who picked the teams based on jersey colors or that guy who ranked teams by coolest mascot. Stop the madness and use that energy to plan a trip to one (or more) of college basketball’s best arenas. |
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Durham flights | hotels | cars | forums
According to ESPN, Duke’s Cameron Crazies “have earned a reputation as the rowdiest, and wittiest college basketball fans in the land.” In fact, Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium is the only place on earth where Mensa members are heralded for their sense of humor–from jumping up and down when the opposing team has the ball to targeting visiting players, coaches and referees with rehearsed chants including suggesting short players “stand up” and pointing out that “Shaq’s got a big ol’ butt, oh, yeah!”. Visit the sites on Duke’s Gothic West Campus including the Duke Chapel and the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. Celebrate your inner geek by visiting Durham’s popular North Carolina Museum of Life and Science. |
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Philadelphia flights | hotels | cars | forums
Penn’s historic Palestra is one of the few remaining old-style gyms left in the US. It has hosted more fans at more games over more seasons than any other college arena in history and was the site of the first NCAA championship in 1939. The arena hosts most games of the Big 5, an informal association which includes five Philadelphia schools and basketball powerhouses: LaSalle, Pennsylvania, St. Joseph’s, Temple and Villanova. Easily the country’s most unique rivalry, no other city has this many schools playing such a high level of basketball. After the game, play your own Philadelphia Big 5 cheesesteak tournament by visiting the city’s top temples to grease: Pat’s, Geno’s, Jim’s, Abnor’s, and Tony Luke’s. Finally, a pool you can win. Should this feeding frenzy not end in life support, you may want to visit the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall and the Philadelphia Art Museum. |
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Kansas City flights | hotels | cars | forums
Talk about home court advantage, Kansas’ Allen Fieldhouse has the largest number of fans closest to the floor of any arena in the country. Apparently the players feel the love because over the past 15 seasons the Jayhawks have compiled a 204-17 record in the Fieldhouse. Unlike some stadiums, the fans are actually respectful of visiting players and fans (gotta love the nice folks in the Midwest). Get to the game early and participate in the Rock Chalk chant, named the greatest college chant by Teddy Roosevelt. Make time to visit one of the best college towns in the country. Bustling tree-lined streets are overflowing with restaurants, boutiques, art galleries and a renowned sidewalk music scene. |
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Los Angeles flights | hotels | cars | forums
There’s a lot of talk about dynasties in the state of California but no team deserves the title more than the UCLA Bruins. With a record 11 national championships, Pauley Pavilion holds more banners in its rafters than any other college stadium. Although you won’t see Cameron Diaz and Spike Lee on the sidelines, the Bruins do attract the likes of John Wooden, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Magic Johnson and John Lithgow. The best college neighborhood in Los Angeles is UCLA’s Westwood Village (sorry Trojans). Within a five mile radius of campus, you can shop Rodeo Drive and party alongside the cast of Entourage on Sunset Boulevard. Tell the guy at the velvet rope, Kayak.com sent you. |
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Disagree with our Top College Gyms? |
| Tell us your favorite court in the Kayak Blog comments. We’ll include an updated list next week with your suggestions. Our Carolina-bred VP Marketing is already organizing a get-out-the-vote campaign to dispel the myth of the Cameron Crazies. Anyone else up to the challenge? Ohio State, is this your year? |
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March 8th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Durham? This year? What is there to cheer about? Plus, the Cameron Crazies are highly overrated, spoiled, insulated, socially awkward children. The reason they’re so excited at the games — it’s the only time they get out of their dorm rooms.
How can you not include Chapel Hill on this list? The Dean Dome is a temple to basketball, and when Duke kids decide to explore the whole idea of a social life, they come to Chapel Hill for the nightlife. Durham is a complete waste of time.
Fly into RDU, and then travel 15 miles down the road to the real Blue Heaven.
March 8th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
Hinkle Fieldhouse Butler University!
March 8th, 2007 at 10:01 pm
What could be more magical than the Dean Dome at Carolina?
The history of the Tarheels alone makes this a special place.
March 8th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
THANK YOU for including the Palestra!
March 8th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
Kohl Center- Madison, Wis. Home of the Grateful Red. Great for hockey as well.
March 8th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
You cannot compose a list of top college basketball arenas without prominent mention of the Carrier Dome in Syracuse. Come on, folks, do you not know which arena consistently draws the largest crowds of the season, year in and year out? Do you not know that Syracuse has a population of less than 150,000, yet on occasion over 30,000 fans venture out in some tremendous blizzards and in bone-chilling cold to see the Orange in action? Sorry, but your omission of the Carrier Dome tells me you folks are terribly out to lunch.
March 9th, 2007 at 1:24 am
How about the madness at Vanderbilt’s Memorial Gym? The Commodore faithful are every bit as witty and cerebral as the Dookies and Nashville is one hell of a fun town!
March 9th, 2007 at 6:29 am
HINKLE FIELDHOUSE - Butler University! Talk about history!
March 9th, 2007 at 7:04 am
Dean Dome! Go Tarheels!
March 9th, 2007 at 7:51 am
The University of Maryland at College Park built a fifteen thousand seat (later added seating) arena called Cole Field House. Sooooo far ahead of it’s time. When ACC basketball came to Cole, fans could feel the building rock. Cole Field House was built in the late 1950s, when other schools had gyms that had pull out bleachers. Cole has since been replaced but is still being used today for normal campus functions.
March 9th, 2007 at 8:19 am
The “O” Dome. (Across the street from the “SWAMP”)
GO GATORS!!!
March 9th, 2007 at 8:23 am
Nutter Center—Wright State University—Ranked Teams come in, but they don’t come out!
March 9th, 2007 at 8:35 am
For your comment regarding how can you leave U of North Carolina off a list of Durham sites to visit, thank you. It’s ridiculous to think how could this website could mention Duke and not mention the Tar Heels, when Duke can’t even make it past the first round of the ACC tournament?. Get it right Kayak if you value your important customers…
March 9th, 2007 at 8:58 am
Puh-leeze, people. Have you not heard that the University of Virginia has the best new place for b’ball?
The John Paul Jones Arena rocks, is beautiful, and . . . well . . . we have Thomas Jefferson and the beautiful citty of Charlottesville, so what else is there to say? Honestly, we are getting a lot of props from TV announcers about the majesty of JPJ — it’s almost embarrassing — but we’re 16-1 in our first year in the new arena and are ready to become the new most difficult place to play.
March 9th, 2007 at 10:38 am
College Park, MD- The Comcast Center is a beautiful facility that showcases the Terps (both men’s and women’s) national championship trophies (that’s right plural!) Across campus Cole Field House still stands, it was home to one of the most historic college basketball games in history, the 1966 NCAA championship game, when five black starters lead Texas Western past an all-white Kentucky team.
March 9th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
Best college basketball court in USA these days is the renovated Palestrs in Philadelphia, PA. Tradition, sightlines, noise, old time feeling is all captured here. Visit for the experience ! Like no where else in the country !
March 9th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
PALESTRA !
March 9th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
The new John Paul Jones arena at UVa has to make the list. Not only is it a gorgeous, state of the art facility (selected as best new concert venue in the nation) but UVa was undefeated at home in ACC play and is enjoying their best season in a long, long time. Sure, it doesn’t have the history of other arenas but give us a few years (plus Charlotesville is plenty historic).
March 10th, 2007 at 1:53 am
Ther is NO place like The Pit - the venerable McCarthur Court at the University of Oregon in Eugene. It has one several national recognitions for noisest, craziest and “worst place” for an opposing team. Ask Bill Walton how much he “liked” playing there
March 10th, 2007 at 1:54 am
There is NO place like The Pit - the venerable McCarthur Court at the University of Oregon in Eugene. It has won several national recognitions for noisest, craziest and “worst place” for an opposing team. Ask Bill Walton how much he “liked” playing there
March 10th, 2007 at 8:53 am
I do not see what is so funny about the Duke fans “targeting visiting players, coaches and referees with rehearsed chants including suggesting short players ’stand up’ and pointing out that ‘Shaq’s got a big ol’ butt, oh, yeah!’ It is immature and, quite frankly, not very creative to admonish someone’s physical characteristics just for a laugh. Would it be as humorous to make fun of someone’s race or ethnicity? (The answer should be “NO!”) ~ so why is it okay to get a laugh at the expense of someone because of his/her height or other physical characteristics?
Thanks for bringing this out ~ it ensures that I will never go to a Duke home basketball game.
March 11th, 2007 at 10:06 am
As an Alumni I have to say the Schott. Or Schottenstein at Ohio State! Lets go Buckeyes!!!
March 11th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Definitely mad mad March!! Da Da.
March 12th, 2007 at 10:38 am
I have to agree with Daisyterp. MARYLAND
I used to like Cole Field House but Comcast Center is nice
May 4th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Indiana’s Assembly Hall is near the top if not at the top of this list…home to a 55 home game winning streak…more than a dozen big10 championships, 3 natl championships, 20 yr tourney streak, top 3 in national attendance EVERY year, when Duke played there in 2006, coach K called it :”the loudest arena”, and the overal winning percentage in 37 years is over 85%…and the unique architecture is stunning…all this adds up to the REAL Assembly Hall (dont listen to Illwhini fans), the greatest basketball arena of them all.