Andy Katz said, on the B1G Network, that the Lions should play week night games at Rec Hall, and weekend games at BJC. Discuss.
Rec Hall vs BJC
- Thread starter EPC FAN
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I posted in another thread that if PSU had played every Big 10 game at Rec Hall this season, they probably would've won every one; that's how important it is to be in that type of setting.
That's totally overstating the home court advantage that Rec Hall gives us.
It’s overstating it but it’s not totally wrong.
PSU bball can’t fill the BJC, especially on weeknights. It can be cavernous, empty and dull which doesn’t attract new fans and can be a deadly environment to play in for players (and future recruits visiting).
The Rec Hall atmosphere makes it more intimate and special. It would help to build the program and create interest. As it becomes more crazy it’ll attract more students and fans (much like the white out has in football). Create the enthusiasm and the ‘show’ aspect of the game at PSU.
Agree that it sucks for recruiting and players, but it also gives an advantage to us in that we're used to playing in that environment, and our opponents usually aren't. We've got the 76th best HCA in the country, and 7th in the B1G based on Pomeroy's numbers.
But I'd say it's "wrong" in that even if Rec Hall was giving us an enormous bump, it might be worth another 2 points over the worst home court in the country (and likely isn't worth close to that over the BJC). We've already lost games by 9, 4, and 9. Moving them to Rec Hall isn't a 10 point difference to overcome that.
For me it’s not so much a point differential issue. It’s an atmosphere issue.
Look at all the talk about PSU bball suddenly by national pundits after the 1 Rec Hall game last night. It seems they’ve gotten more attention/ PR the last 24 hours than they have all year combined. It draws attention and becomes an ‘event’. The goal would be to start to attract more fans and interest as well as create a buzz about playing at PSU (which can only help in the team’s performance and recruiting compared to the BJC).
Rec Hall is a lot like Cameron at Duke. Make it a crazy place to watch a game that draws local and national interest (similar to the reputation the white out does for football). That crazy ‘snake pit’ reputation can only help to build the program IMO.
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Noticed this trend as well, as we do knock off some good teams in there and I've read on other boards that teams hate playing there. It's like a sports psy-op for some teams. Works for us as well as against us, as would Rec Hall. There are pros and cons to anything.
People of a certain age recall when the BJC first opened and the team was pretty good, it was a loud and boisterous atmosphere when there were 10 or 12K+ in there. We all know the manifold reasons people don't show up, it's been discussed to death. Job 1 is to win.
In 95-96, the BJC was a fantastic atmosphere when it was packed every game. But I've finally realized that even putting a really good team on the court isn't enough to overcome our geographical obstacles (and the lack of college hoops fandom in our fanbase)...we're still not going to regularly pack the BJC for a weeknight game, and 95-96 was a flash in the pan mostly due to the "newness" of the BJC.
I went to the hoops game against Minnesota at the BJC back in January. Attendence for that game was over 12,000 if I remember. I love Rec Hall, but it only holds around 6,500. Would love to see weekday games at Rec Hall and weekend games at the BJC. I’m sure accommodating season ticket holders would be a headache as far as assigning seats. Also not sure of cost involved putting down, and taking back up, the basketball court (floor). When you factor in 10 conference home games, figure one reserved for the Palestra, how many are actually played on a weekend? I think the conference only gives us 3 or 4 weekend games. Disappointed in the students who had tickets for last night and didn’t show. I’ve heard there are issues with students trying to transfer tickets, so I’m not really sure. Maybe a special lottery for students connected to the Legion of Blue. The empty corners looked bad on TV. Sorry for the rambling post, I’m tired.
How many weekends does PSU play at home??? Not many Saturdays. Put the women in there too! But it won’t happen because essentially the BB programs are tenants of the BJC which is owned by PSU and the university ain’t missing that money… many more events would come to area in the winter if the BJC was available. Bottom line PSU doesn’t care enough about BB to make any changes. They just don’t.
I don't know if it is totally overstating it. A little probably. We may only lose 3 of 10 home games so Rec Hall could maybe have made 2 of those losses (say NW and Minny) at BJC wins. Not bad.
Again, moving from the BJC to Rec Hall isn't going to turn a 9 point loss into a win. Home court doesn't swing things nearly that much.
And who knows, play everything in Rec Hall and we might drop the Wisconsin or Ohio State game that we won at the BJC (if we're getting into theoreticals).
My point is that NW and Minny maybe don't make those huge runs on us in Rec Hall. Maybe they do, who knows. Yeah, we could have very well lost last night too so there are both sides to it.
And maybe Kanye doesn't run into the Minny player, get concussed,we win and then he doesn't spiral down the drain.
That Gopher game is quintessential PSU hoops....bad loss and somehow we lose even more than just the game.
Not for the feint at heart ❤
You're only talking about theoreticals. Where does the 2 pt advantage number come from? Playing in REC clearly gives us an advantage in certain situations. How much is impossible to say. Illinois was a 7.5 point favorite so by your logic they would have been a 9.5 pt favorite in BJC?
I think we’d have a pretty similar chance of winning in the BJC…we’ve knocked off our last four ranked opponents at home, and three of those were on the East side of campus.
I’m looking from a handicapping standpoint…those that are using custom HCA would likely have a spread of about 2 between the worst HCA in the country and the best. As for Wednesday night…we also would have been a 7.5 to 8 point dog at the BJC, as no one is adjusting their numbers for that change.
Yeah. They’ve never overcome a double digit lead at the BJC. Oh, wait……On the other hand, I watched us blow a double digit lead vs Princeton in Rec Hall.
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Rec Hall is a nice home court advantage but we lose that game on Wednesday night probably 99 out of 100 times or 98 out of 100 and the Rec Hall excitement is not as big. I think Rec Hall helped the team during that furious comeback but Illinois melted down too. This was the one in a 100 type win maybe one in fifty. Illinois had to do everything wrong down the stretch....and they did. Take a shot too early, turn the ball over, miss 2 free throws and foul a 3 point shooter. Meanwhile we do everything right, drill a 3, steal and bucket, make 3 clutch free throws in the final seconds.
Let Andy Katz pay for the added expenses. As an example do you have any idea what it cost to lay down the BB floor and remove ?
If you watched the video of it going down, the answer is not very much
like how they dominated a 8-6 ivy league Princeton team there....ooops they lost that game.
Which just like the white out if done every game the novelty will wear off very quickly. You will quickly see a half empty Rec Hall. If Rec Hall was such a home court advantage why did we lose so many games there? Penn State was 12-15 at home in 3 season there.
Big Ten Record at home
92/93 1-8
93/94 5-4
94/95 6-3
I assume you are going to donate the several million to expand rec hall to build locker room and other facilities for the teams? You can’t have them playing there full time dressing in temporary locker rooms. So now they have two locker rooms to maintain because there is not room in rec for them to practice.
On the other hand does anyone think Penn State maintains the same atmosphere there after the novelty wears off? The environment of a one off game is not going to carry to every home game. I give it a year before Penn State is playing in a half full Rec Hall.
Never said it would guarantee wins, just that it would be a much better atmosphere than the half empty and poorly constructed BJC.
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Is a half empty Rec Hall a much better atmosphere? People falsely think that every game would be like the Illinois game. In reality the arena would be half empty just like the BJC. Keep in mind at the time Rec Hall had a capacity of 8,500 and the best season had 6,666.
Average Season Att. Games
1. 6,666 1994-95 106,648 16
2. 6,461 1993-94 90,458 14
3. 6,119 1992-93 79,545 13
4. 6,095 1965-66 54,850 9
5. 5,873 1990-91 82,217 14
Honestly I wish Penn State would have renovated the BJC into a hockey arena which I think would fit in better there. Then built a basketball only facility. I always thought USC Galen Center would have been the perfect model. It is a small field house type arena that seats 10,258 which would be perfect size. Imagine this with the open glass facing mount nittany.
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Is a half empty Rec Hall a much better atmosphere? People falsely think that every game would be like the Illinois game. In reality the arena would be half empty just like the BJC. Keep in mind at the time Rec Hall had a capacity of 8,500 and the best season had 6,666.
Average Season Att. Games
1. 6,666 1994-95 106,648 16
2. 6,461 1993-94 90,458 14
3. 6,119 1992-93 79,545 13
4. 6,095 1965-66 54,850 9
5. 5,873 1990-91 82,217 14
Honestly I wish Penn State would have renovated the BJC into a hockey arena which I think would fit in better there. Then built a basketball only facility. I always thought USC Galen Center would have been the perfect model. It is a small field house type arena that seats 10,258 which would be perfect size. Imagine this with the open glass facing mount nittany.
I agree a basketball only arena would be better. Problem is, PSU doesn’t have a 10,000 seat arena like USC or Colorado and it’s not happening anytime soon. Since the university owns the BJC, it has no incentive to build a new arena and lose their main ‘tenants’ of the BJC.
At this point I don’t see the argument of keeping things as they are and refusing to use RecHall during the week. If the whole argument is the atmosphere at Rec will decrease over time, I disagree. It was always superior to the BJC IMO but even if it does, what have you lost? Nothing. It just equals the current atmosphere at the BJC.
They need to shake something up. It’s been 30 years of futility while continuing to do the same thing and expecting different results.
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I’d love to see PSU get an arena like at UDub or Colorado. 10,000 seats and built for basketball.
UDub-
Colorado-
I agree a basketball only arena would be better. Problem is, PSU doesn’t have a 10,000 seat arena like USC or Colorado and it’s not happening anytime soon. Since the university owns the BJC, it has no incentive to build a new arena and lose their main ‘tenants’ of the BJC.
At this point I don’t see the argument of keeping things as they are and refusing to use RecHall during the week. If the whole argument is the atmosphere at Rec will decrease over time, I disagree. It was always superior to the BJC IMO but even if it does, what have you lost? Nothing. It just equals the current atmosphere at the BJC.
They need to shake something up. It’s been 30 years of futility while continuing to do the same thing and expecting different results.
Are you going to write the check to expand the facility to use it during the week? To build locker rooms, media facilities and broadcast facilities to accommodate basket teams there? Are you going to write a check for the lost revenue from decreased ticket sales, parking fees, concessions sales, and premium seating losses?
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