University Arena, photo by Western Michigan University
University Arena is located in Read Fieldhouse at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. It is home to the WMU Broncos men’s basketball, women’s basketball, volleybal, and gymnastics teams and seats 5,421. The building opened in 1957 and was named in honor of legendary coach Herbert “Buck” Read who coached the Broncos to a 345-169 record.
Wikipedia’s entry on Western Michigan Broncos Men’s Basketball says that the Broncos have appeared in three NCAA Tournaments (1976, 1998 & 2004). Alumni who have reached the NBA include Don Boven, Dillard Crocker, Paul Griffin, Ben Handlogten, Reggie Lacefield and Walker Russell.
WMU has a small photo gallery of University Arena and links to some photographers with WMU sports photos for sale.
More Michpics Michigan March Madness!
Gophers at Crisler Arena, photo by B Cohen
Crisler Arena at the University of Michigan hosts men’s basketball, women’s basketball, men’s gymnastics and women’s gymnastics. It opened in 1967, was named for Fritz Crisler, legendary UM football coach and athletic director and designed by Dan Dworsky. Wikipedia’s page on Crisler Arena says that is is often called “The House that Cazzie Built,” a reference to superstar Cazzie Russell. Russell led UM to Big Ten titles ‘64-66 and his popularity caused the team’s fanbase to outgrow Yost Fieldhouse. The arena seats almost 14,000 and you can read more about it at the Crisler Arena page at MGOBLUE.com.
Wikipedia’s entry for the University of Michigan Wolverines men’s basketball says:
The Wolverines have won 12 Big Ten regular-season conference titles, as well as the inaugural Big Ten Tournament in 1998, which it later forfeited due to NCAA violations. The team has appeared in the NCAA Final Four on six occasions (1964, 1965, 1976, 1989, 1992* and 1993*) and won the national championship in 1989 under Steve Fisher. The program later forfeited its 1992 and 1993 Final Four appearances due to NCAA violations. Other notable players who played for Michigan include Daniel Horton, Bernard Robinson, Gary Grant, Terry Mills, Glen Rice, Jalen Rose, Rumeal Robinson, Jamal Crawford, Juwan Howard, Chris Webber, Cazzie Russell, and Mark Hughes. (I’ll add Robert Traylor, Rudy Tomjanovich and Phil Hubbard to that list)
More items of interest for you include a biggee-sized view from up high, this photoset titled Paging the Fab Five and a couple of photos of Crisler Arena from the Bentley Historical Library.
Michigan March Madness: Jack Breslin Student Events Center, Michigan State University
March 15, 2008
The Breslin Center, Michigan State University, photo by jgeorge_2006
The Jack Breslin Student Events Center at Michigan State University was named in honor of Battle Creek native and MSU grad Jack Breslin. In 1989, it replaced Jenison Fieldhouse as the site for MSU men’s basketball and women’s basketball games. Wikipedia’s entry on the Breslin Center says that although the arena nominally contains 16,280 seats, seating is about 15,000 for most events.
The arena’s current basketball court is the same floor where the Spartans won the 2000 NCAA Men’s Tournament, which was at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. The school purchased the floor from the NCAA and Final Four floor installer Horner Flooring (based in Dollar Bay, Michigan) after the title game, and had a plaque installed on the baseline near the Michigan State tunnel to commemorate the floor’s purpose in the school’s history.
The Spartans have won two NCAA championships and ten Big Ten championships in men’s basketball. The Spartans won the National Championship in both 1979 and 2000 NCAA Tournaments. MSU alumns who play or have played in the NBA include Maurice Ager, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Greg Kelser, Morris Peterson, Zach Randolph, Shawn Respert, Jason Richardson, Scott Skiles, Steve Smith, Eric Snow, Jay Vincent and Kevin Willis.
I’m not entirely certain who jgeorge is, but they have uploaded the photo above large enough for great wallpaper and have many more MSU sports photos.
For more pictures, check out a Flickr search for Breslin Center, the MSU Basketball set by Blackbeard Ben and this incredible shot of the Breslin Center at MSU’s Convocation by Patrick T Power. The photo gallery at BeASpartan.com has a few photos from the Breslin including this beauty.
Convocation Center, photo courtesy Eastern Michigan University
From Wikipedia’s Eastern Michigan University entry I learned that the school was founded in Ypsilanti in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the first normal school created outside the original 13 colonies. It became the Michigan State Normal College in 1899, Eastern Michigan College in 1956 and ultimately Eastern Michigan University in 1959. In 1991, the school become one of the first to abandon a Native American mascot (the Hurons) for the current name of Eagles. In 1991, when EMU qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history, announcer Brent Musburger referred to the team on-air as the “No-Names” and there is apparently still a campaign to restore the Huron. EMU is in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) and:
Eastern’s men’s basketball team has appeared in four NCAA Division I tournaments, and have a 3-4 record, tied for third best among Michigan colleges. In the 1996 Men’s Basketball Tournament, Eastern Michigan defeated the Duke Blue Devils in the opening round; it would be the Blue Devils’ last first- or second-round defeat until 2007, when they were upended by VCU in the opening round.
EMU plays their games at Convocation Center, a nearly 205,000 sq ft structure that was completed in 1998. Here’s a photo of the arena dressed up for convocation. They don’t list what programs use the facility, but here’s a link to their women’s basketball (2008 MAC champions) and men’s basketball programs. Basketball Reference lists a number of notable EMU grads in the NBA including Earl Boynkins.
Rose Arena, photo by CMU Sports Information
I noticed that March has 5 Saturdays this year and that Michigan has 5 NCAA Division I schools. Seemed like a plan to feature the basketball arenas of all five schools in honor of March Madness. I decided to feature them in alphabetical order, so we begin with Central Michigan University’s Rose Arena, home of the CMU Chippewas men’s basketball, women’s basketball, volleyball, wrestling and gymnastics programs.
The Daniel P. Rose Center (commonly called Rose Arena) is a 5,200-seat arena that opened in 1975. The Chippewas play on a wooden court was used only once prior to CMU’s purchase — for the 1986 NBA All-Star Game. CMU’s media kit says:
Since its opening in 1973, Rose Arena has been the site of two women’s championships and four men’s championships. In 1980, Rose was the site of the national AIAW Division I National Championships (at the time, the equivalent of the men’s NCAA Tournament). And, in 1984, Rose hosted the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament. Rose has also been the site of the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s girls basketball finals since 1997.
The Rose Rowdies are right on top of the action in the east end zone. A true “sixth man,” this group is an intimidating force for opposing teams. Their chants and cheers create an intense, enthusiastic atmosphere.
Wikipedia’s entry for the Daniel P. Rose Center has a few photos and you might be interested in NBA players who played at CMU and the CMU Sports Hall of Fame. NCAA Men’s Division I Tournament bids by school on Wikipedia says Central has 4 NCAA Tourney appearances with the last being 2003 when Chris Kaman led the Chips to an upset over Creighton before being dispatched by Duke.
The other Division I schools are EMU, MSU, UM & WSU and if you have a cool photo of one of them, post a link below or send an email. Likewise, any links to related Rose Arena / Central Michigan University stuff would be welcome!
