Do You Like The LNC As A Basketball Venue?

[Sooner_In_MI]

There's been some talk about this today so I figure I'll start a poll.

Personally, I'm going with no. It's nice a terrible arena but three main drawbacks are the fact that the seats are so far away from the court, there's no true upper deck, and there's a wall splitting up the student section. Do these things make it impossible for the LNC to get loud? No, but they make it much more difficult than it should be...which is a huge problem for a program like ours.

Your thoughts?

 

[Sam]

Burn it down.

 

[StoopsBros]

The several times I've been, it hasn't felt collegiate. I'd propose a smaller, quaint arena ala Duke that the fans are right on top of the action. If you've never been to a game at Duke, I'd recommend it whether you're a Duke fan or not.

 

[SoonerDan74012]

It's not that bad of an arena when it's full and it can get very, very, loud and rowdy. Does it have some flaws like the seats being too far away from the court? Yes but it's not the worst venue in the country like some on here are suggesting.

 

[I love lamp]

Burn it down.

:ez-laugh:

 

[ksSooner13]

Burn it down.

The tornado last may almost got it....

 

[Sooner23]

It's not the best thing out there, but it's certainly not the worst.

I don't think we're ever going to get a new arena because of that practice facility that is attached to it. If they do anything, they'll renovate the LNC and try and make it better. Not sure how that can be done though other than maybe taking out the orange plastic seats and replacing them with cushioned ones.

I also wouldn't mind seeing them moving the media, who sit on the floor behind the South goal in the corners, up to the rafters and put students in those areas like they are behind the North goal.

I do like the idea of renovating and maybe even expanding the Fieldhouse (add on the east side over that parking lot). That could be cool.

 

[MsProudSooner]

I voted yes. It's not perfect but as with any arena, it's only as good as the crowd.

Someone mentioned that a new basketball arena is doubtful because of the practice facilities. I don't know of any reason they couldn't build a new, basketball friendly arena to the south of LNC and attach it to the practice facilities. LNC could then either be torn down or modified for some other purpose. I don't see this happening in the near future though.

 

[DenverSooner]

I voted yes. It's not perfect but as with any arena, it's only as good as the crowd.

Someone mentioned that a new basketball arena is doubtful because of the practice facilities. I don't know of any reason they couldn't build a new, basketball friendly arena to the south of LNC and attach it to the practice facilities. LNC could then either be torn down or modified for some other purpose. I don't see this happening in the near future though.

I agree. The arena is fine when it has a crowd that is into the game. I know young people are going to claim this isn't true but it was considered one of the toughest venues in the country for many years during the Tubbs era.

 

[OKUman]

Beats the crap out of the Ford Center or Cox.

 

[soonerbms]

I had no problem with it during my sophomore year at OU when we beat UCONN, OSU, and Kansas at home.

 

[Sooner04]

It's a fine arena. Not a bad seat in the house. When full, it can rock like no other. In the late 80s it was roundly lauded as the toughest place to play in the country. Not in the conference, in the country.

But it is a mausoleum when half empty. OU fans have shown over the years they'll support a winner, but they'll abandon ship quicker than rats when the vessel starts to sink. Right now, it feels like we're on the Lusitania.

 

[Snr4Life]

When it's full, the LNC can get really rocking and loud, but that just hasn't happened of late.

Here is what I would like to see, but it probably won't happen:
Keep the LNC and modify it to have some luxury boxes in the upper bowl areas.

and/or

Build a basketball specific rectangular arena that holds around 10k on the other side of the practice facilities

 

[soonermcd93]

Any arena is fine when its full. The question posed is the arena structure itself. It sucks. Keep the LNC for gymnastics or whatever and just build a new facility to the south of the practice facility and connecting it there.

 

[Big Old Booger]

It's a fine arena. Not a bad seat in the house. When full, it can rock like no other. In the late 80s it was roundly lauded as the toughest place to play in the country. Not in the conference, in the country.

But it is a mausoleum when half empty. OU fans have shown over the years they'll support a winner, but they'll abandon ship quicker than rats when the vessel starts to sink. Right now, it feels like we're on the Lusitania.

this.

I can remember a time when nobody, and I mean nobody, wanted to travel to Norman to play OU. Tarkanian would come and so would Pitt, but that's really it. Georgia Tech came one time when they had Mark Price but said they would never come back. We played Syracuse at the Carrier Dome, but Boeheim wanted no part of a return trip to Norman. Duke came in once when they had Tom Hill's son on their team, and that's really about all of the big powers that came in when Tubbs coached. Arizona even came one time in the 88 season, but for the most part the big boys didn't want to come to Norman and leave with their asses handed to them and the sooners scoring 100 points (on them).

For anybody to use the arena as the reason why our program is in the crapper is misinformed, IMO. When the product on the court is good, and the opponent is worthy, the place can be as loud as any arena in the country. Is it perfect? No, but not many arena's are (perfect).

Tubbs used to turn up the temp in the arena and most of the teams that came in complained about how hot it was.

 

[StoopsBros]

The Mabee Center (Oral Roberts), at one time, was a great arena. Now it's a dumpster, basically. It opened in 1972.

 

[NMSooner'80]

There's nothing wrong with the LNC that a repudiation of the heinous donor program / football-priority points policy wouldn't cure (along with a product that OU had for the better part of 1977-2006).

 

[OUhoops11]

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=172&f=2481&t=7244841

 

[stoops4pres]

I'm not a fanatic of the LNC myself, but if you guys think that arena is bad, try going to the Tad Pad at Ole Miss or Coleman Coliseum at Alabama... Those places are atrocious.

 

[Sam]

How dumb are they?

I've already heard from non KU co workers that Texas would/should be the real champion since they beat us head to head. I said why? We beat CU and NU and they lost to those schools. People are really pretty pathetic. I told them if Texas ended up the champions that CU and NU should lay claim to the title according to their theory. (Sorry about hijacking the thread.)