Carver is a wonderful place, but basketball teams could use a new place to play home games.

HaydenHawk56

HaydenHawk56

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Leistikow's 5 thoughts after Iowa beats Utah State: Murray twins need to play together more often

The Hawkeyes outscored the Aggies, 34-13, in the 10:49 that Keegan and Kris Murray (52 combined points) played together.
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Leisikow makes mention it was the best home environment all year for Iowa basketball at the Pentagon. 3,250 Iowa fans made more noise than we typically see at Carver. Even on TV, fans felt much closer to the action on the court.

Kinnick puts the fans right on top of the opposing teams. Our basketball team could use an advantage like that as well.

Now, it could very well be the fans as the 80s and 90s were loud, the NIT Game there was a blast (that started the NIT run), and of course Wrestling thrives.

But, imagine a better design for the basketball team. Like how loud it would get at the Field House.

Call it the Hawkeye Armstrong Center or something like that.
 
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Don't have to call it something different but CHA could be reworked. You know how the world is now. If you did that and called it something else it would be named after some corporate entity. Some bank or called the Worx Center or some such. Or Armstrong Court at the -insert insurance company name- Center.

Gotta find a way to do it and keep CHA or a real name with some Iowa attachment instead of some big faceless company.
 
I get a chuckle out of folks who talk about what a great venue the Pentagon is to watch a Hawks game in person. Well, of COURSE it is: it seats 3,500! My high school gym would be a great place to watch a Hawks game too: it would be intimate, loud, raucous! When you talk about a place that seats 15,000, it's a different ballgame.
My son and I attended an Iowa-Michigan game a few years ago and found Carver to be an excellent venue: modern, clean, and yes, LOUD. The bowl-type seating is a bit unfortunate because -- like the Rose Bowl seating -- it moves the fans farther from the court than necessary. But it's good enough...unless you want to see ticket prices double.
 
ajdwhs87 said:
Don't have to call it something different but CHA could be reworked. You know how the world is now. If you did that and called it something else it would be named after some corporate entity. Some bank or called the Worx Center or some such. Or Armstrong Court at the -insert insurance company name- Center.

Gotta find a way to do it and keep CHA or a real name with some Iowa attachment instead of some big faceless company.
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I would even be for that. Something has to change to get the fans closer to the court and get the morgue feel out of it.
 
Just watching the game now, 2 things stick out.

IA sucks at the high screen and roll. And Perkins reminds me of a shorter Magic Johnson.
 
Put a product on the floor the fans want to watch and cheer for, Carver is fine. Right now I would say the fan base is not that excited about basketball. They get pretty much the same results. Offense is fun to watch but they know the defense is not going to be good enough in the end to compete for a top spot in the league. Apathy is starting to set in and $40 tickets have fans watching at home.
 
Tippett said:
Put a product on the floor the fans want to watch and cheer for, Carver is fine. Right now I would say the fan base is not that excited about basketball. They get pretty much the same results. Offense is fun to watch but they know the defense is not going to be good enough in the end to compete for a top spot in the league. Apathy is starting to set in and $40 tickets have fans watching at home.
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This is the correct answer. I grew up close to Ames and went to a lot of games at Hilton. When Orr was the coach, AND if they played a good team in a close game, it got really loud (loved the "sit down Norm) chant when Missouri was in town). When McDermott was the coach (I didn't go for other coaches) it was dead. I've been to several games at Carver as well. Same story. Went to the ISU game when Rodell Davis had the game winning shot at buzzer. That game was louder than any game I went to at Hilton. When it's not a close game, win or lose, or if it's against a lower level team, it's dead.
 
99topdawg said:
This is the correct answer. I grew up close to Ames and went to a lot of games at Hilton. When Orr was the coach, AND if they played a good team in a close game, it got really loud (loved the "sit down Norm) chant when Missouri was in town). When McDermott was the coach (I didn't go for other coaches) it was dead. I've been to several games at Carver as well. Same story. Went to the ISU game when Rodell Davis had the game winning shot at buzzer. That game was louder than any game I went to at Hilton. When it's not a close game, win or lose, or if it's against a lower level team, it's dead.
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Remember the Davis shot (wasn't it actually a tip in?) but didn't see it live. We were 25 miles up the road in Cedar Rapids for Bad Company and Damn Yankees and by the time the concert ended and we could get to a bar the game was over.

Mick Ralphs of Bad Company did make a mention, however, of the football team's impending Rose Bowl game. That got a rousing cheer from the patrons.
 
ajdwhs87 said:
Don't have to call it something different but CHA could be reworked. You know how the world is now. If you did that and called it something else it would be named after some corporate entity. Some bank or called the Worx Center or some such. Or Armstrong Court at the -insert insurance company name- Center.

Gotta find a way to do it and keep CHA or a real name with some Iowa attachment instead of some big faceless company.
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What they need to do is build a new arena for basketball and keep Carver for wrestling.

8,000-10,000 seats with a closer student section. With a new arena you could do that without pissing the donors off because you could have premium box seating with 2-3 decks.

Re: the naming, call it Chris Street Court and name the arena The Fieldhouse.
 
Carver has to stay. If they build a new basketball arena CHA needs to stay for wrestling. Carver is the Mecca of the sport. There’s no wrestling venue in the world, folkstyle or freestyle, with more history than that building.

Our team fills it for conference duals and has led the nation in attendance the last 14 years and almost every year since Gable started coaching.
 
Alford tried some things, he moved the student section around and it failed pretty much like everything else in his tenure.

Just looking at the behind scene politics I don't think Carver will be replaced in the next 10 years...there is an argument that you can stretch that out for the next 20 years.
 
Tippett said:
Apathy is starting to set in and $40 tickets have fans watching at home.
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I think the price thing is always going to be that way for every P-6 program. It’s just the way it is.

And to be honest, you can’t really even get decent seats anymore in CHA for single games (from the ticket office). You have to go to StubHub and anything not in the ends or corners and below row 30 is gonna cost you $80 and on up depending on who we play.
 
Northside Hawk said:
Remember the Davis shot (wasn't it actually a tip in?) but didn't see it live. We were 25 miles up the road in Cedar Rapids for Bad Company and Damn Yankees and by the time the concert ended and we could get to a bar the game was over.

Mick Ralphs of Bad Company did make a mention, however, of the football team's impending Rose Bowl game. That got a rousing cheer from the patrons.
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I was thinking it was a tip-in, but my memory is fading.
 
Would be interesting to know what radius BB games draw from.

FB games draw from several hundred miles due to FB being an "event" and such. And there's only seven events per 12 months.

BB is (primarily) a 2-hour evening or night venue...with multiple games to choose from.

Who from west of Des Moines or north of Ames or east of the Quad Cities wants to drive that distance, pay for sucky parking and be home after midnight? On a weekday night? In the middle of tenuous Iowa weather?

Asking for a continual 15K CHA BB sellout is a lot to ask.
 
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99topdawg said:
I was thinking it was a tip-in, but my memory is fading.
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Mine too, but not from that night.

That was one of at least five buzzer beaters that year, three for us and two against us. James Moses beat Indiana with a similar tip in and it was in Bloomington.

Bobby Knight took it pretty well. He hauled his team back out onto the court after the game to practice box outs for only ninety minutes or so.
 
Fryowa said:
What they need to do is build a new arena for basketball and keep Carver for wrestling.

8,000-10,000 seats with a closer student section. With a new arena you could do that without pissing the donors off because you could have premium box seating with 2-3 decks.

Re: the naming, call it Chris Street Court and name the arena The Fieldhouse.
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And put it downtown, as discussed before. Stick it in place of what's left of that Old Capitol Mall and it's walking distance for thousands of students and near dozens of restaurants and bars.
 
Fryowa said:
Carver has to stay. If they build a new basketball arena CHA needs to stay for wrestling. Carver is the Mecca of the sport. There’s no wrestling venue in the world, folkstyle or freestyle, with more history than that building.

Our team fills it for conference duals and has led the nation in attendance the last 14 years and almost every year since Gable started coaching.
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Maybe Madison Square Garden if you take pro wrestling into account, but point well taken. Carver represents when it comes to the grapplers.
 
Seth53 said:
Would be interesting to know what radius BB games draw from.

FB games draw from several hundred miles due to FB being an "event" and such. And there's only seven events per 12 months.

BB is (primarily) a 2-hour evening or night venue...with multiple games to choose from.

Who from west of Des Moines or north of Ames or east of the Quad Cities wants to drive that distance, pay for sucky parking and be home after midnight? On a weekday night? In the middle of tenuous Iowa weather?

Asking for a continual 15K CHA BB sellout is a lot to ask.
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I travel a hell of a long ways for football and have wrestling season tickets, but the only time we go to basketball games is when they’re adjacent to a wrestling meet.

I’m a half hour from South Dakota.
 
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