SOUTH BEND – In some ways, they have been homes away from home for Notre Dame basketball since 2000.
Playing in a conference – the Big East until 2013 and the Atlantic Coast Conference since – often takes the Irish to the same places to play the same teams every year. Ten trips here one year, ten trips there the next. Notre Dame may visit other buildings once or twice for in-season or, hopefully, the NCAA Tournament.
Following is our ranking of the top 25 arenas that Notre Dame has seen the first 25 years of the 2000s. Buildings are ranked not necessarily for the number of games the Irish have played or how many times they’ve won, but for the memories and the moments made, some of which still resonate today.
Under that criteria, somebody, make that some building, is getting left out. Apologies.
How does your list compare?
∎ 25. West Virginia Coliseum (Morgantown, West Virginia)
Record since 2000: 5-3.
Last visit: 2012.
Thoughts: It rises there in the distance as you exit Interstate 79 – an epic ode to concrete. Inside. Outside. Everywhere. Concrete.
No matter how many times you’ve visited, you’re never quite prepared for the Mountaineer to shoot that musket pre-game, and then, if West Virginia wins, post-game. You’re likely to hear John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” bouncing from the public address system speakers (“Almost heaven …. West Virginia …) as you conduct post-game player interviews. From the unique media seating near the top of the lower bowl, where you absorb all the noise, to the post-game pressers and media dining in the Jerry West Room – yes, that Jerry West – it’s a cool place. And a cool trip.
∎ 24. Gainbridge Fieldhouse (Indianapolis)
Record since 2000: 6-9.
Last visit: 2021.
Thoughts: It’s Indiana. It’s basketball. It should work. It often hasn’t for Notre Dame, which seems another world away when you make the 150-mile trek to the center of the state. The Crossroads Classic was a wonderful day of basketball for the four biggest Division programs – Butler, Indiana, Notre Dame and Purdue – but Notre Dame ran a distant fifth (seriously) in terms of fan support on those December Saturdays. Sorry, Nap Town’s not an Irish town.
Notre Dame’s best win here may have been 69-51 in 2000 against a No. 16 Cincinnati team. The No. 14 Irish had their way with the Bearcats, the first tangible evidence the program was ready to turn a competitive corner.
The building lost some of its charm with the recent redesign. It was perfect then. Not so much now.
∎ 23. Petersen Events Center (Pittsburgh)
Record since 2000: 5-8.
Last visit: 2024.
Thoughts: Weird to think that when you watch games in the Pete you might be sitting in the same spot where Tony Dorsett ran for all those yards, where Hugh Green made all those tackles and where Dan Marino tossed all those touchdowns. The arena occupies the same space where Pitt Stadium once stood. The school scrapped its football presence on campus … for hoops.
This rivalry dates to the Big East when both teams were West Division members, but it has faded in the ACC. It might be a push as to what fan base – Notre Dame’s or Pittsburgh’s – has lost more juice over the past few years.
Best part about afternoon games at the Pete? You can be back in Northern Indiana that night.
∎ 22. Freedom Hall (Louisville, Kentucky)
Record since 2000: 0-4.
Last visit: 2009.
Thoughts: You often had to weave around miles of barns and stables and hay and roped off parking areas in the Kentucky Exposition Center to reach the arena, which showed its age by the time Louisville became an annual Big East stop on the schedule.
The sightlines stunk, the media room was the size of a closet and the Irish never won there in the 2000s, but fans knew their basketball. Except for the time they thought an injured Luke Harangody (knee) was in uniform and going through warmups one night (“Oh, yeah, he’s playing.”). Uh, fellas, that was Jack Cooley.
This place was good while it was around, but it was time for a change. An upgrade to an A+ arena we’ll hear more about later.
∎ 21. HP Field House (Lake Buena Vista, Florida)
Record since 2000: 4-2.
Last visit: 2015.
Thoughts: Located on Disney property inside the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex – football fields, soccer pitches, baseball and softball diamonds, and oh, yeah, an ESPN-themed restaurant to boot – the Field House was small and loud and perfect for the annual Old Spice Classic during Thanksgiving weekend. In 2010, Notre Dame held Cal to five points – five! – in the first half.
The Irish won the Old Spice that year, which set the stage for a magical march to 27-7 overall, 14-4 in the Big East and a No. 4 national ranking. One of the weirdest post-game interviews happened in HP as former Irish guard Ben Hansbrough answered questions while sitting in a cold tub. Only B-Hans, baby.
∎ 20. Carrier Dome (Syracuse, New York)
Record since 2000: 4-13.
Last visit: 2024.
Thoughts: Make the hike up Raynor Avenue with temperatures below freezing and a foot of snow on the ground, past parking lots and dorms and you feel like you’ve finally reached the summit of arena receiving. There, you had to make sure one door was completely closed before opening another (air lock ventilation and all).
It was always spooky to hear the wind howling through the place as you traversed the back corridor to the media room, which doubled in fall as a football locker room. Post-game, you often wrote not knowing if you might be snowed in for the next three days. Winter, and big basketball momentum swings, always seemed to hit harder in Central New York.
∎ 19. Memorial Gymnasium (Nashville, Tennessee)
Record since 2000: 1-0.
Last visit: 2000.
Thoughts: It was only one game in 2000, but one was enough to make Memorial Gym a must-see after Notre Dame, ranked No. 11, did what was needed to secure a tough road win. You needed to leave a trail of pens to find your way from the playing floor to the old locker rooms and back in those days.
Few gyms are as unique, where media once sat courtside looking up at the action on the raised floor. In 1998, media seating was at the top of the structure, where vertigo was an issue. It offered views from angles like no other. The team benches are still located underneath the basket on either end. It’s just a weird but wonderful place.
∎ 18. Rupp Arena (Lexington, Kentucky)
Record since 2000: 1-1.
Last visit: 2020.
Thoughts: Notre Dame registered its only Rupp win in program history in 2020 (“Basket by …. Hubb”) in a building that has all the exterior charm of an Amazon warehouse. COVID-19 limited attendance to 3,075. That was a shame. When Rupp is rolling, and it’s seemingly always rolling, it’s as intimidating a place as anywhere. Homecourt is worth an extra eight to 10 points every single night. The second deck is enormous, the noise never ceases and it’s expected that if you play at Rupp, you’re losing. Big.
Finding your way back to your hotel was never an issue. All you had to do was exit one end of the concourse and you were in the Hyatt, where the lobby bar could get crazy before and after games at Rupp.
∎ 17. Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia)
Record since 2000: 4-5.
Last visit: 2016.
Thoughts: Located off Interstate 95 in the sports complex of South Philadelphia, Wells Fargo showed its age early. It looked and felt old even when it was generally still new. It felt tired early. It still was a good place for hoops, especially with noon starts with the Flyers set to play that night. An NHL team’s opposing gear would be stacked in the hallways ready for the load in. Or out.
The Billy Joel concert sellout banner in the rafters is a nice touch.
The press room had the feel of a newsroom on a constant deadline. Spacious and always bustling with people hustling in and out. Those soft pretzels and giant candy bars were a welcome sight after filing.
It’s still the site of Notre Dame’s last Sweet 16 win over Wisconsin in 2016.
∎ 16. Gampel Pavilion (Storrs, Connecticut)
Record since 2000: 1-2.
Last visit: 2011.
Thoughts: The building’s Dome was easy to spot from Route 44 (where am I?). It’s a unique roof and a surprisingly small structure (capacity 10,167) dropped seemingly in the middle of nowhere among the fields of Connecticut. How could that place be a center of Big East basketball for so many seasons? It often filled quickly and rocked, especially when the Irish made a rare on-campus appearance.
Many of the matchups with Connecticut were reserved for the bigger arena (33 minutes away) in downtown Hartford, but the game in Gampel in 2011 still serves as a high point in a highlight season. If you won there, you were legit. Notre Dame wrecked Connecticut’s senior day with its upset win. It was the last loss for the Huskies, who went on to win a national championship.
∎ 15. Rutgers Athletic Center (Piscataway, New Jersey)
Record since 2000: 3-6.
Last visit: 2012.
Thoughts: Enough with the Jersey Mike’s Arena nonsense. The hulking, windowless, colorless, seemingly lifeless (on the outside) structure on Hosptial Road will always be the RAC. It was loud and cramped and fans were Jersey obnoxious, but that’s what made it so unique.
The Irish absorbed their share of RAC body blows. In January 2012 after a gut-punch of a loss, Mike Brey walked slowly back through the post-game debris at midcourt and had an epiphany. We’ve got to start (freshman Pat) Connaughton, he said of how the Irish needed to be better. Connaughton started the next game (an upset of No. 1 Syracuse) and never came out of the starting lineup for the rest of his career. Losses at the RAC often cleared out the cobwebs like that.
∎ 14. Bradley Center (Milwaukee)
Record since 2000: 1-5.
Last visit: 2013
Thoughts: In 2005-06, the Big East decided to do what was never done − play a league game on a Friday night. On January 20, 2006, with a snowstorm having dumped nearly a foot of the stuff outside, 18,876 fans, a record at the time to see a basketball game in Wisconsin, threatened to blow the roof off Bradley Center after Steve Novak banged in a corner 3 with 1.1 seconds left to beat Notre Dame, 67-65.
Bradley Center had the best pre-game media buffet in the league – grilled chicken the size of basketballs, chilled asparagus salad, homemade chocolate chip cookies. Ice cream sandwiches at halftime and post-game. You could cover a Notre Dame game there and be back home and in your bed in three hours. Seriously.
∎ 13. Pepsi Center (Denver)
Record since 2000: 1-1.
Last visit: 2008.
Thoughts: Open the curtains in your Marriott City Center hotel room and soak in a sweeping view of the front range of the Rockies. Step outside and breathe in the clean, crisp Colorado air. Take a walk around Coors Field. Hop the media shuttle for the quick ride over to Pepsi Center (now Ball Arena), which was still relatively new and seemingly state of the art with its marble floors and granite everything in 2008.
There aren’t many better places to spend an extended stay for an NCAA Tournament than Denver. Even if a few “fans” interrupted your live TV shot after the loss to Washington State. Denver is as cool of a city to be in as anywhere in the beat. Gotta get back.
∎ 12. Barclays Center (New York)
Record since 2000: 10-5.
Last visit: 2023.
Thoughts: Stay in lower Manhattan and take the subway under the East River to the borough of Brooklyn. It’s still a rush to take that mountain-steep escalator up to Atlantic Avenue and see the Barclays Center marquee appear. Like, time to go to work.
Notre Dame enjoyed a run there (7-1 at one point) where it owned Barclays, where the ACC Tournament should never, ever be held. If you’re not in midtown in March (IYKYK), it’s not worth being in New York City.
The trip back to Manhattan after games, often after hours, can be an adventure. In 2017, after Duke beat Notre Dame to win the ACC tournament championship, one Blue Devil fan insisted the NCAA Final Four semis were played on a Friday night. And everyone in his group agreed. Come on, guys, be better.
∎ 11. Pauley Pavilion (Los Angeles)
Record since 2000: 1-2.
Last visit: 2018.
Thoughts: The building looks like others on campus, the layout makes you feel like you’re watching from the Valley, the media seating is near the roof and the media dining? Don’t ask. There’s not much that’s cool about being at Pauley Pavilion, except being at PAULEY PAVILION with all those national championship banners in the rafters and the court named for John Wooden. Then it hits you that it’s UCLA. You get it. All of it.
It’s time for Notre Dame to get UCLA back on the schedule, and sooner than later. There’s no reason this series should be dormant for this long. Getting out of Indiana, getting away from the ACC, and getting to California can help cleanse even the grimiest basketball palate
∎ 10. Cameron Indoor Stadium (Durham, North Carolina)
Record since 2000: 2-5.
Last visit: 2024.
Thoughts: Everyone who loves basketball or even likes it should experience Cameron at least once. But once is enough. Seriously. Blink and you might miss it. Like Pauley, it feels like just another building on campus. Like the physics lecture hall.
Then the game starts and you spend the next two hours being kneed in the back by some junior covered in blue paint, your laptop screen is covered in spittle (truth) and Notre Dame is headed for another lopsided loss. Often at halftime, you can’t wait for it to end.
Except the time in 2016 when Notre Dame scored 95 points and won at Cameron for the first time in program history. The silence that Saturday was staggering, except for the Irish celebrating. That was a fun one, once you wiped clean your screen.
∎ 9. Dean Smith Center (Chapel Hill, North Carolina)
Record since 2000: 1-7.
Last visit: 2024.
Thoughts: Get to your media seat early in an arena where seemingly EVERYTHING from the chairbacks to the state logo at center court to the air ducts around the building is Carolina blue and wait for it.
Wait for the hype video they play in advance of tipoff, where North Carolina’s basketball greats appear on the videoboard and say, “I’m so-and-so and I’m a Tar Heel.” Everyone is in it. Tyler Hansbrough. James Worthy. The last to speak is anyone but least when Michael Jordan appears and doesn’t even say his name. He doesn’t have to. He just says, “I’m a Tar Heel.”
The place goes up for grabs. The Smith Center is a big Carolina blue barn, but it’s also something else. It’s a shrine for college basketball.
∎ 8. Quicken Loans Arena (Cleveland)
Record since 2000: 1-1.
Last visit: 2015.
Thoughts: It’s been 10 years and counting since Notre Dame nearly shocked the world and beat then-undefeated Kentucky to advance to its first Final Four since 1978, and the feeling of what that night was like in downtown Cleveland has yet to fade. At all. Every time you see a game from the arena on TV, every time you write the name of the arena, memories of that moment stir.
The energy, the vibe, the nervousness and the anxiety and everything that went with a game that featured 12 ties and 20 lead changes and looked like it was in Notre Dame’s control is still there.
Entering the Notre Dame locker room after that one that night was surreal. There were so few tears. Everyone was too spent from what they had just experienced to be sad, happy, or anything.
∎ 7. Capital One Arena (Washington)
Record since 2000: 10-7.
Last visit: 2024.
Thoughts: Ride the Metro in from Reagan National and exit at Gallery Place/Chinatown. Check into your hotel a block away. Get some Chinese food, walk back over to Capital One and you sometimes felt like you’re back in South Bend. For a long stretch in the 2000s, this was Notre Dame’s home away from home. After having never won here, it won four straight. Chants of “Let’s Go Irish!” dominated.
There was a time when the Irish had such a presence in that arena. In that city. Then it all kind of disappeared.
Notre Dame has won almost every kind of game here – in-season tournament games (BB&T Classic, anyone?). One-off games. League tournament games. Conference tournament games. The only bad time in D.C. is when you don’t get to play in D.C.
∎ 6. Viejas Arena (San Diego)
Record since 2000: 1-1.
Last visit: 2022.
Thoughts: Maybe the most breath-taking arena (and campus) anywhere. Built into a hillside canyon that offers stunning panoramic views, Viejas sits in the middle of what was once the Aztec Bowl football stadium. The arena foundation is nestled between what was the football seating sections. You can still see the concrete stands.
The NCAA tournament setup is also one of a kind. Really, one in a million. The media work room, interview dais and media dining area are all outside under a big top type of tent. Portable space heaters are available in case it gets cold, but that’s crazy. It’s an amazing layout. Seeing the view and the palm trees and getting some California sun is almost enough to forget how the Irish came thisclose to the Sweet 16 in 2022.
∎ 5. Lahaina Civic Center (Maui, Hawaii)
Record since 2000: 5-1.
Last visit: 2017.
Thoughts: From courtside, take a steep flight of stairs in the tiny building that doubles as a Maui Bureau of a Motor Vehicles branch, slide out the side door and stop. Stare. Sitting there across a field and a two-lane highway and some land is the Pacific Ocean. The water. The waves. The beauty. The everything.
It’s easy to forget about basketball in a building that’s all about basketball at its purest form. There are no real locker rooms. Players step off the bus in full uniform and return to the nearby resort hotels without showering or changing after games that are usually off-the-chart good.
Playing in Maui still matters. Winning in Maui matters. The gym is so small but the payoff for success there is enormous. You win in Maui, your program matters. It sure helps with the long flight home.
∎ 4. University of Dayton Arena (Dayton, Ohio)
Record since 2000: 1-1.
Last visit: 2022.
Thoughts: There’s a reason the NCAA Tournament First Four has been held every single season since its start since 2011 in the arena on the banks of the Great Miami River and hard by Interstate 75.
Southwest Ohio loves college basketball. They pack the place that looks like the wings of an airplane (Dayton: First in Flight) no matter what teams are in the bracket. UD Arena rivals Viejas for its uniqueness. Descend the ramp from the player entrance to the main floor without stumbling, then hike it without having to catch your breath. You’ll see.
Notre Dame’s only trips to Dayton in the 2000s have been for NCAA Tournaments. Micah Shrewsberry has said he’s willing to play anyone, anytime, anywhere. Rekindling the series with Dayton would qualify.
∎ 3. KFC Yum! Center (Louisville, Kentucky)
Record since 2000: 4-5.
Last visit: 2024.
Thoughts: KFC Yum! Center (opened in 2010 at a cost of $238 million) was built with the hope of luring an NBA franchise to the banks of the Ohio River. Yum! Center is likely nicer than many NBA arenas. It’s a basketball palace, and laughable to think the Cardinals once called Freedom Hall home.
When Louisville basketball was good, the arena and all its amenities (bourbon bar, anyone?) were a fitting backdrop. When the Cardinals weren’t, fans stopped caring. And stopped going to games. The buzz is now back, which means the place again will become one of the toughest (and best) places to play. Win or lose, covering games here are a gift.
Best of all, it’s an easy four-hour drive down from the Bend.
∎ 2. Greensboro Coliseum (Greensboro, North Carolina)
Record since 2000: 5-5.
Last visit: 2023.
Thoughts: Stop moving the ACC Tournament around – to Washington and to Charlotte and most definitely to Brooklyn (you’re not in the Big East) and keep it in Greensboro at the massive Coliseum. THAT is ACC basketball, especially after the renovations put some needed fresh/bright light in the building.
March feels like March when you spend two, three, four days in the barn that used to be known as Greensboro Coliseum (for the record, it’s the First Horizon Coliseum now). You want your program to be taken seriously in the ACC? Win the league tournament. Win it in Greensboro. Notre Dame did both in 2015 in its second season in the league.
∎ 1. Madison Square Garden (New York)
Record since 2000: 14-24
Last visit: 2018.
Thoughts: One drawback of Notre Dame jumping to the ACC in 2013 was that it left behind Madison Square Garden. Look at all those games there since 2000. Thirty-eight! The Garden was truly a home away from home for Irish hoops.
If college basketball is in your blood, there’s nothing better than the Big East Tournament semifinals in Madison Square Garden on a Friday night in March. That night’s life changing. The vibe’s like no other.
The Garden is everything they say it is. The Mecca. The GOAT of basketball arenas. If you cannot feel and touch and smell all the hoops history, you don’t have a pulse. Notre Dame wasn’t taken seriously in the Big East until it started winning games in the Garden.
There was nothing like filing your gamer at 1 a.m., leaving the press area and taking the winding ramp down to street level (the Garden floor is on Level 5). You’d exit onto 33rd Street and have a clear view of the Empire State Building. Nowhere else but in New York.
You’ll know when Notre Dame hoops gets good again when it gets back in the Garden.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com
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