Sightlines, watching the game:  Convocation Center, Ohio University
                                                          Convocation Center, EMU

Modern amenities:     Toledo


I haven't been to NIU so I can't really speak to that arena, although I know it's large and modern. 

I've never been, but Savage is certainly up there.  Good amenities and generally speaking good crowds.

I've been to Ypsi once. I think it's a jewel. If that place was filled, it would be an intimidating place to play.

I've never been to NIU or Buffalo, so I can't say what the best in the MAC is.

Ohio has the correct balance of capacity, big arena feel and intimacy.

Savage, Ball State and Stroh are too antiseptic. Ball State feels a bit like the missile silo area at the Air Force Museum in Dayton for some weird reason.  The JAR is too small. Millett feels like the setting for a high school musical with the curtains and discolored greenish gold seats. Central and Western are so bland I don't remember anything about them.

I definitely agree that the Convo beats Alumni Arena hands down but don't diss Alumni Arena. I love it there. When they do get big crowds, it can be a very tough place to play as they've almost beaten #3 Pittsburgh and #2 UCONN there in the past decade. The design of the arena is a little different but I like it. Plus, they have an overhead HD Jumbotron now, which is pretty cool.

And to be honest, I've liked all 3 MAC arenas I've been to. (Ohio, UB, Kent St.)

Convo has big arena feel to it, UB just cuz its my hometown team, and Kent St. is an amazing place when they pack it.

Been to CMU. Nothing stood out about it other than it felt like a big high school gym.

Been to them all multiple times. Some people like wines, others heirloom tomatoes and others cars or any other myriad of passions. Mine is gyms.

Top 4 are Convo, EMU, CMU, Savage.

I judge gyms and facilities on several criteria. COnvo is tops in many of them. Gameday experience, Comfort, sightlines and believe it or not on a quiet morning when I am in there the ghosts of the past are all there. The noise of the crowd and the heat and smell of a packed gym and a raucous student body reverberate even in the quietest moments. There are certain gyms you stand under the basket in the paint and palpably feel it. THe Coliseum at UK, Many HS gyms in our neck of the woods, the Fairgrounds at Columbus, St Johns, Hinkle. There are times I am overcome with emotion fighting back tears of joy as I stand in the middle of the court as I think of the players who have stood inthe same spot and fans who make up the soul  of the place. The Convo, from the first time I stepped in there at 1135 pm on a Friday Night with Coach Townsend reached out and did it.

THat said it needs work, I have many ideas which were lost on the old board. It needs a practice gym, it got new training rooms or at least ones that are functional in this century. Locker rooms are adequate, volleyball being very nice as they raised funds and had a great plan. It needs a gear store like Stroh and Kron and ......ya know we all have ideas Movin on

CMU pleasantly surprised me . Ticket area and entrance are a freeking hike and count on sub zero and a ton of snow aytime you are there. Once in the sitelines are awesome. Band and students are well placed, seats are individual and comfy and concessions can be acccessed and delivered to your seats. Little menus on each seat. Next door is the Dick ENberg study facility for athletes, a huge indoor arena and quality weight room. Offices and general tone and feel though devoid of ghosts and character are pretty nice. RENOVATIONS were worthwhile.

EMU is green and large., I like it. Decent parking, gear store withn ice layout on the way in, great concessions and above average bathrooms. Seat are nice and comfy and save for the square layout that leaves the corner views a bit disconcerting very nice facility. NOt much history and a little sterile but homey in a weird kind of way.

Kron....nice use of posters and displays taking a fan back historically to celebrate the past. and show the ascendancy to D1 from D2....something Wright should consider. THe seats are plasticy and the press have a tight fot over there on the opposite side of the floor. The risers are a bit rickety and not really confidence inspiring but the seats are there with pretty good sitelines. Company store on the bottom floor is sweet and back facilities and locker rooms are nice. Concessions are pretty lame and not located very well. Student sections at the end of the floor are pretty lame as are the students filling them. Sound system is decent and scoreboards/individual player boards are pretty readable anywhere.

Buffalo uses the Bunker theme and erects an homage to concrete block. Lots and lots of stairs and blue. Seats are comfy although they seem to be remote from the floor. The student section and band are at the visiting team end and filled with....excuse the politically incorrect term ....retards. Kids who have no respect for themselves, talk during the anthem, make disparaging remarks to the visiting team while the announcer is readling the accomplishments of their players on senior night....just morally bankrupt humans that have complete disregard for tradition, manners and a lack of self esteem. That placement of the students and band could be so much more if they actually had any imagination and self restraint. The concourse is pretty nice with the history of the game and UB athletics.

Ball State loves to think they have the best arena in the MAC but in comparison to several area High Schools nearby they are probably the 6th or 7 th best within 25 miles and nowhere near the visual and comfort experience that CMU and EMU have . Upper deck seatoggs include a climb up massive stairs to sit on aluminum. Use of vinyl banners is very weill executed to cover the unused seats. Nest is at the end by visitors bench and like Buffalo could be much better with a creative student body....Chirp CHiirp has always been a little lame but the fans are a least respectful and a bit basketball savvy. THe locker rooms and training facilities make this a better facility than the gameday atmosphere. Press tables and courtside seats were part of the plan and not an afterthought. Benches and locker rooms are situated so that teams are not crossing each other and close. Scoreboard is decent and individual players lines visible. Not many ghosts. but a ton of practice gyms nearby for multiple teams Sterile but a good place to catch and game. Concessions easily accessible and numerous.

Stroh has just been reviewed by many here. I liked the team store, the prectice facilities and offices.

Kent is a big high school gym with dark hallways underneath, ridiculous broadcast facilities, nice big screens, good student placement at the end along withthe band. Narrow entryways and blocked views when people are moving in and out. Aging with cramped offices underneath and bad parking situation that always has a long snowy walk. Upstairs aisles and seating is pretty old school with narrow aisles and hard bleachers.

Savage is pretty awesome. THe concourse is wide and full of history. Great history and great displays. THe transformation from ugly seats and carpet on the walls is remarkable. Great seating with excellent sitelines, the Varsity club up in the end for pregame and great concession areas. I really like the boxes. COncourse goes around and gives pretty good places for SRO crowds to pass and be.  Parking still sucks but the package is so good.

Miami...not even in the conversation. Was really great when I was a kid and big step up when they opened it but with UD opening a few years later it never held my interest. Getting worse by the year. Sightlines are horrible, seating is nasty. Vidboards weak. Student sections lame. Not much I like about seeing an game there even when MsCoop and I steal Mrs Coles seats they still inhale profoundly deep. Must be the same for recruiting because they dont even bring them on campus for games if possible preferring to bring them to hockey and football weekends.

NIU....I lived in Dekalb. It is bad enough that the wind starts somewhere in Mid Iowa and rolls across the plains till it finally hits Dekalb.....that you would locate your arena on the very west end of town where you  are going to bring a recruit in mid winter is insane. That those kids would have to walk across the west end of campus to get to practice in 20 below wind chill and leave the arena at all hours is nuts. Fans walking across the parking lot to the old arena were at least protected from the eternal winter was nuch better.  Entrance is nice and airy. Locker rooms are deep in the bowels of the arean as is the post game press area. Track around the top and the walk to seats gives the feel of being in an airplane hangar. Walking down into the plastic seating is ok but seats are flimsy and cheap feeling. Far enough back from the court to feel detached.. Sound of the band is lost in the cavernous confines and the student section .....hmmmm.... I dont even remember them having one..... The scoreboard is pretty sweet. not a great place for a game though.

WMU......"A basketball court runs through it." Like Ohio built a arean in the middle of a residence hall WMU placed their court inthe middle of a track. Seating upstairs is strange and seems far away bt downstairs  is nice (save for the old displaced Marshall Pricks who moved from WV to Michigan for jobs that sit in the same thrid row , 3, $ and 5 seats in behind our bench and say the same ridiculous things to our players) and comfy...space behind the baskets is occupied with seats that have depth problems with the track behind them. SOme nice amenities (and the best looking dance team intheMAC) with concession areas being cramped in behind the track way underneath. Place seeems like it can rock but I am not sure it gives a great overall feel. and I would hate to be over onthe upper deck bleachers.as they Look hard even from far away. Restrooms upstairs are clean and bright.

Best restrooms are Ball State by far , even when the palce was packed you never had to wait to go.... Got to think worst are in the Convo with a wall full of antique hand dryers and 14 watt pre cfc bulbs (Maybe dyson  and Sylvania want a test site)

Hard to beat the concessions to your seat at CMU but the best concession area with regard to lack of lines and selection. is at ...Savage and Buffalo (though it is a very LOooooooong walk from the block wall side of UB) . Best use of concourse area for school history....hmmm probably buffalo but the Ohio trophy cases are pretty cool. Miami has an interesting concourse and the best Hall of Fame. Stroh has probably the best overall  underneath facility with state of the art training and practice facilities and team stores Recruits will eat up the non court area of the arena and the bitchin falcoon outside.

DID I miss any? hmmmmm Licouras Center is probably above everything but Savage and COnvo.

Worst site lines are in the upper corners of Stroh. And I know it is sight lines....sorry about that. .

Borna - Great recap. My favorite:

"even when MsCoop and I steal Mrs Coles seats they still inhale profoundly deep."

The politically correct term is New Yorkers/Jerseyers (appologies to Buffalobobcatfan, but I've lived here long enough to be allowed to say that)

Great recap Doc!!

Great shout out for Columbus' Fairgrounds Coliseum, aka the barn.  Aesthetically the place is awful but fill it with HS basketball fans in March and it is a bucket list kind of experience.  Sadly, many early round HS tournament games that were once played there in marathon sesions have been moved.

besst game i have been to at UD recently was Dunbar Trotwood, Wright's senior year. Place was rocking but the walkways were crazy packed and you could not move anywhere

  I echo everything you said here, but add one place - Cintas Center.  I "hate" XU, but their building is outstanding.  In my opinion it's not UD Arena caliber, but it's #2 in the state as far as basketball venues go.