The top 10 picks from each of our media experts
When folks are looking for a place to vacation, maybe they consult well-traveled friends. When they’re looking for a place to eat, maybe they ask their favorite foodie or consult Yelp.
The bottom line, when you’re looking for the best, it’s usually good to ask the experts, the true connoisseurs with experience and discerning tastes.
We’re taking the same approach to find the best college basketball venue in America.
Athlon Sports polled a dozen college basketball media members — both writers and broadcasters, professional journalists and former players and coaches — on their top arenas. We asked each to rank their top in terms of atmosphere, experience and amenities. In short, where would they recommend fans go to see a game.
Athlon tabulated all of their ballots, giving each No. 1 10 points all the way to one point for No. 10.
Some of the results were surprising. Some were not. While we expected Kansas’ Allen Fieldhouse and Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium to be the top two, we were taken aback at how much separation there would be between those two and the rest of the field. Indeed, Kansas and Duke were the only arenas to appear on all 12 ballots.
We were pleased to see the diversity in picks, too, beyond just our top 10. Our panel picked arenas form coast to coast, stadiums from major conferences and the mid-major ranks, and venues old and new.
Slideshow: Images from the Top 10 Arenas
Here were the final results:
| Complete Results: Athlon Sports’ College Basketball Arena Experts Poll | ||
| Arena | School | Points (first-place) |
| 1. Allen Fieldhouse | Kansas | 115 (9) |
| 2. Cameron Indoor Stadium | Duke | 105 (1) |
| 3. Hinkle Fieldhouse | Butler | 58 (1) |
| 4. Rupp Arena | Kentucky | 50 |
| 5. Assembly Hall | Indiana | 49 |
| 6. Breslin Center | Michigan State | 37 |
| 7. The Palestra | Penn/Philadelphia Big 5 | 35 |
| 8. Madison Square Garden | St. John's/Big East Tourney | 34 (1) |
| 9. The Pit | New Mexico | 31 |
| 10. Gallagher-Iba Arena | Oklahoma State | 24 |
| College Basketball Arena Experts Poll: Individual Ballots | |
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Jay Bilas, ESPN 1. Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas 2. Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke 3. Breslin Center, Michigan State 4. Rupp Arena, Kentucky 5. Assembly Hall, Indiana 6. Hinkle Fieldhouse, Butler 7. Kohl Center, Wisconsin 8. UD Arena, Dayton 9. Carrier Dome, Syracuse 10. Gallagher-Iba Arena, Oklahoma State |
Rob Dauster, College Basketball Talk 1. Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas 2. Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke 3. Hinkle Fieldhouse, Butler 4. Gallagher-Iba Arena, Oklahoma State 5. The Palestra, Penn 6. The Pit, New Mexico 7. Assembly Hall, Indiana 8. McKale Center, Arizona 9. Breslin Center, Michigan State 10. Rupp Arena, Kentucky |
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Mike DeCourcy, The Sporting News 1. Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas 2. Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke 3. Madison Square Garden 4. McKale Center, Arizona 5. Williams Arena, Minnesota 6. Rupp Arena, Kentucky 7. Breslin Center, Michigan State 8. Hinkle Fieldhouse, Butler 9. Alaska Airlines Arena, Washington 10. Gallagher-Iba Arena, Oklahoma State |
Pat Forde, Yahoo Sports 1. Hinkle Fieldhouse, Butler 2. Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke 3. KFC Yum! Center, Louisville 4. Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas 5. Assembly Hall, Indiana 6. Dean Smith Center, North Carolina 7. Rupp Arena, Kentucky 8. Fifth Third Arena, Cincinnati 9. Breslin Center, Michigan State 10. Thompson Boling Arena, Tennessee |
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Fran Fraschilla, ESPN 1. Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas 2. Assembly Hall, Indiana 3. Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke 4. The Palestra, Penn 5. Hinkle Fieldhouse, Butler 6. Carrier Dome, Syracuse 7. Breslin Center, Michigan State 8. The Pit, New Mexico 9. Hilton Coliseum, Iowa State 10. Gallagher-Iba Arena, Oklahoma State |
Jeff Goodman, ESPN 1. Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas 2. Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke 3. Rupp Arena, Kentucky 4. McCarthey Athletic Center, Gonzaga 5. Hinkle Fieldhouse, Butler 6. Viejas Arena, San Diego State 7. The Pit, New Mexico 8. Charles Koch Arena, Wichita State 9. Comcast Center, Maryland 10. CenturyLink Center, Creighton |
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Seth Greenberg, ESPN 1. Madison Square Garden 2. Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas 3. Rupp Arena, Kentucky 4. Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke 5. McKale Center, Arizona 6. Carrier Dome, Syracuse 7. Assembly Hall, Indiana 8. Breslin Center, Michigan State 9. The Pit, New mexico 10. Dean Smith Center, North Carolina |
Jason King, Bleacher Report 1. Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas 2. Assembly Hall, Indiana 3. Cameron Indoor, Duke 4. Carrier Dome, Syracuse 5. The Pit, New Mexico 6. Gallagher-Iba Arena, Oklahoma State 7. McCarthey Athletic Center, Gonzaga 8. Rupp Arena, Kentucky 9. Charles Koch Arena, Wichita State 10. Kohl Center, Wisconsin |
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Dave LaMont, ESPN 1. Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas 2. Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke 3. Madison Square Garden 4. Charles Koch Arena, Wichita State 5. The Pit, New Mexico 6. Hinkle Fieldhouse, Butler 7. The Palestra, Penn 8. Pauley Pavilion, UCLA 9. Assembly Hall, Indiana 10. Cole Field House, Maryland |
Matt Norlander, CBSSports.com 1. Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke 2. Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas 3. Hinkle Fieldhouse, Duke 4. Assembly Hall, Indiana 5. The Palestra, Penn 6. Breslin Center, Michigan State 7. Gallagher-Iba Arena, Oklahoma State 8. The Pit, New Mexico 9. Carrier Dome, Syracuse 10. Rupp Arena, Kentucky |
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Eric Prisbell, USA Today 1. Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas 2. Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke 3. Madison Square Garden 4. Hinkle Fieldhouse, Butler 5. Rupp Arena, Kentucky 6. Breslin Center, Michigan State 7. The Palestra, Penn 8. Kohl Center, Wisconsin 9. Assembly Hall, Indiana 10. Peterson Event Center, Pittsburgh |
Dick “Hoops” Weiss, BlueStar Media 1. Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas 2. Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke 3. The Palestra, Penn 4. Rupp Arena, Kentucky 5. Joyce Center, Notre Dame 6. Gallagher-Iba Arena, Oklahoma State 7. Breslin Center, Michigan State 8. Dean Smith Center, North Carolina 9. The Pit, New Mexico 10. McCarthey Athletic Center, Gonzaga |
Slideshow: Images from the Top 10 Arenas
