Feb. 17, 2009
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRTEENTH (PLACE) KIND
It's a spaceship.
I usually don't get much of an immediate feeling upon arriving at a Big East venue for the first time. This isn't surprising, as a fair share of the teams whose homes I've visited-Connecticut, Seton Hall (twice), Villanova, St. John's, and Providence-are actually time-shares with a professional franchise. You just can't get as psyched for Big East basketball when the notable amenities at your venue of choice include an ice lounge.
But I was immediately struck by the SunDome-the hideously named, gloriously unadorned (amenities include the Chick-fil-A cows!) home arena of the South Florida Bulls. There's something mystifying about the concrete behemoth resting at the center of an oversized parking lot in northeast Tampa.
Is it physically imposing? Considering its capacity is perhaps a third of the Carrier Dome on a good day, not quite.
Is there a buzz about the place? Well, let's see…when I last visited Tampa the USF Bulls were sitting at 0-15 in the Big East on the last weekend of the season. Needless to say, I scored an amazing parking space.
Is there a chance the arena could blast off from the parking lot on a warp speed journey to Mars? Standing there, you kind of wonder.
Tampa might as well be Mars as far as the Big East conference is concerned. USF is 873 miles from the closest Big East city-Louisville, KY. Among the original Big East member schools, Georgetown's campus is nearest to South Florida at a whopping 899 miles. To give you some perspective, you can drive 899 miles from Washington, DC and get to the outskirts of Iowa City, Iowa.
You could argue that the Big East accepted South Florida in 2005 as a replacement for the University of Miami. Whether you buy the argument or not, the Bulls are certainly carrying on the bizarre home court advantage the Hurricanes held during their thirteen year stint as the southern flank of the Big East.
Bizarre this advantage is because the Florida schools of the Big East have virtually nothing going for them that would provide a difficult venue for opponents. If the SunDome is a spaceship, the Miami Arena was a gigantic pink trash heap. Neither the spaceship or the trash heap were typically full-the attendance at South Florida's landmark victory over then #8 Marquette on Feb. 6th was about 15 percent of the Georgetown-Syracuse game last Saturday, and the Miami Arena came close to a sell-out exactly once-when the eventual National Champion UConn Huskies visited in early 1999.
But the Miami Hurricanes made a living in the 1990s on beating you at your worst possible moment. The Miami Arena was a graveyard for quality basketball teams-every year it seemed brought another wave of Top 25 upsets in Overtown, and nobody ever seemed to see it coming. This was no day at the beach.
Nobody is confusing South Florida with a giant killer-they'll qualify for the Big East Tournament this season based on the conference's newfound generosity with tournament bids-but take a look at USF's results against ranked opponents at home this season:
Syracuse L 54-59
Louisville L 57-71
Villanova L 61-70
Marquette W 57-56
Four games, and three quality opponents held for 39 minutes and completely off their game. Then-undefeated Marquette…who I am presently watching blow Seton Hall straight out of the Bradley Center (another NBA arena)…shot under 40 percent from the field in Tampa, and a staggering 10-23 from the free throw line in coming up short at the SunDome.
I need not recap how the Hoyas fared in their last visit.
Maybe it's the weather. I mean, look at the hourly forecast for Tampa tonight: it's going to be a full 26 degrees warmer at the SunDome than in Chinatown. There's something decidedly unfamiliar and potentially uncomfortable about playing in a South Florida climate so un-Big East-you almost gets the sense that you're playing a non-conference opponent.
Or maybe it's the spaceship thing after all.
The only other recent parallel I can come up with for a Big East venue whose home court advantage wildly and inexplicably exceeded the toughness of its inhabitant is the Louis Brown Athletic Center in Piscataway, NJ.
For several years through the early part of this decade, The RAC earned a reputation as one of the toughest arenas in college basketball…and it never made sense why. But the RAC always seemed to create havoc for Rutgers' opponents, never more so than in a nationally televised 2003 game when RU knocked off eventual national champion Syracuse.
RU has fallen on hard times of late that even a home court advantage can't overcome, but it's still unpleasant to play in Piscataway. Why?
Well, take a look at the place.
So 72 hours after almost escaping with a win before the largest regular season crowd in college basketball, the Hoyas are charged with saving their season in a building shaped like a flying saucer.
This year is getting stranger by the second.
Get out your tin foil--here's the broadcast information:
Georgetown at South Florida
Wednesday Feb. 18th, 7:00pm
TV: MASN and Big East Syndication
Radio: ESPN980 WTEM
John Hawkes (SFS '04)
Proud Member of Generation Burton
