Time to Move Central Iowa 4A Substate Basketball Games to College Arenas

[tm3308]

I am sorry but have to disagree with using the Knapp Center for the smaller schools. Maybe it would work for the larger schools due to sheer size but packed gyms add more atmosphere than do venues that are only 3/4 full.

During Meyer's junior year, PCM played Pella at the Knapp Center for a regular season game. That was the year Kyle Korver and Pierce Hibma were seniors at Pella. I think Pella was #1 in 3A while PCM entered the game like #3 in 2A. There was a huge crowd on hand and the players loved playing at the Knapp Center but the atmosphere wasn't the same as it had been in the Pella gym the year prior or the following year. Don't get me wrong, it was a great atmosphere but it wasn't the same.

There was talk the following year, Meyer's senior year, of moving the Bondo/PCM game to another venue as everyone knew Urbandale's gym wasn't near big enough but no other venue was available that night.

I can understand the issues when the 4A schools are involved but when it is the smaller schools I think the atmosphere would fall apart in the huge venues.

I wish they'd moved PCM's district semi-final that year against Wayne to a bigger gym. I swear, Wayne only got MAYBE 200 fans into the gym out of 1,000 seats (they reserved 250 up to a certain time, but most Wayne fans were still stuck in the line wrapping around the building when that time passed). I was lucky I got in, though (it helped that I was in 8th grade, so I didn't take up much space).

That was one helluva game, too. Wayne was supposed to get blown out, and was down just 3 with a minute to go.

 

[Benddontbreak]

Packed gyms are what high school basketball is all about. Moving it would really take away from the atmosphere. We should be talking about how poorly the teams are seeded in boys bball instead.

And for anyone who hasn't been to a big 4A substate game, you're missin out.