ADVERTISEMENT

Basketball in Philly

jamesvanderwulf

HR Legend
Nov 27, 2015
28,133
33,170
113
People's Republic of Johnson County
Cool write up in the CR Gazette today by Mike Hilas, with a little history of the Palestra and basketball in Philadelphia in general. A lot of Iowa connections.

ajax-request.php


By Mike Hlas, The Gazette IOWA CITY - The last time an Iowa men's basketball team played in Philadelphia was 1980, when it beat Georgetown in the NCAA East Regional final to advance to the Final Four.

A University of Pennsylvania student from Philadelphia named Fran McCaffery was in the crowd at the Spectrum that day.

Two years later, Mc-Caffery was a senior Penn player in the NCAA tourney. His Quakers team had a crazy season, starting 3-0, losing its next nine games including its first two in the Ivy League, then winning 12 straight to win the Ivy and get that league's automatic berth in the NCAAs.

Penn's home games then and now were in the Palestra, an 8,725-seat gym on Penn's campus. It opened in 1927. It is called the Cathedral of College Basketball. It has hosted more college basketball games than any building in the world.

It will have two more on Saturday. In the evening, Penn plays Ivy League archrival Princeton. In the afternoon, McCaffery's Iowa team will battle Penn State, which moved this home game from State College to Philly. It's a clash of Top 25 teams who built nice bodies of pre-New Year's work. It is sold out.

As of Thursday afternoon, the cheapest seats for the game at Stubhub.com were $104. Most were going for more.

McCaffery's father, a Philadelphia beat cop for 28 years, worked as a tickettaker and later as a security officer in the Palestra and got sons Jack (a longtime Philly sports writer) and Fran into games.

What games they were. Philadelphia's Big 5 - La Salle, Penn, St. Joseph's, Temple and Villanova - all would play each other every year. Saturday night doubleheaders in the Palestra were big events.
https://cedarrapidsgazette-ia.newsmemory.com/
 
We are winning this game, no doubt. Good juju. McCaffery's have a lot of motivation for this one.

Plenty of Philly guys on the Penn St. roster. This Penn State team is very, very good and will be middle of the pack with us. Their record just didn't reflect it last year because of a very long run of very close losses. They're 8-4 in their last 12 Big Ten games which includes wins over Maryland (twice), Michigan, and @ Illinois.
 
  • Like
Reactions: perryhawk
PSU is the first team with a really good power forward in stephens. Hawks will be tested with their small lineup. Just not a good matchup for us. go hawks!
 
PSU is the first team with a really good power forward in stephens. Hawks will be tested with their small lineup. Just not a good matchup for us. go hawks!

I suspect we will see more of Pemsl/Kriener on the floor with Garza at times to compensate. On the flipside, if/when we go 4 guards I'm curious who they match up with Connor. Intriguing matchup to watch.

Does anyone else think it actually benefits Iowa to play this game in Philly, as opposed to on PSU campus. Bryce Jordan, even on the rare occasions that PSU has been good, has rarely sold out and is almost a reverse home court advantage because of how empty the arena usually is.
 
This is almost the view from our seats tomorrow (row 5 in this section)

image-asset.jpeg

That’s awesome. I also didn’t realize this was going to be a double header. Hopefully that limits the PSU faithful even more.

Nearly 9,000 in that gym is going to be a tight squeeze. Hope you’re sitting next to loved ones, because if not they may be loved ones by the end of the night.
 
  • Like
Reactions: nu2u and kceasthawk
That’s awesome. I also didn’t realize this was going to be a double header. Hopefully that limits the PSU faithful even more.

The Iowa/PSU game starts at 2 PM Eastern and the Penn/Princeton game is a 7 PM Eastern tipoff. I would assume they sold tickets to each game separately and will clear the gym out after the first game ends.
 
What a beautiful place to watch--and play--a basketball game. The stands are right on top of the court. No bad seats. It should be a battle against a talented PSU team, but it's one the Hawkeyes can win. And it will be an awesome environment. Really looking forward to it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: kceasthawk
The Iowa/PSU game starts at 2 PM Eastern and the Penn/Princeton game is a 7 PM Eastern tipoff. I would assume they sold tickets to each game separately and will clear the gym out after the first game ends.


Looking at stubhub ($138.75 for a single), it seems you’re absolutely correct.

According to the HR website, tickets are going for $120 each. For one game and a “home” team that doesn’t sell very well generally, that is crazy. What are the chances that Iowa has a decent turnout from the NYC area?
 
That’s awesome. I also didn’t realize this was going to be a double header. Hopefully that limits the PSU faithful even more.

Nearly 9,000 in that gym is going to be a tight squeeze. Hope you’re sitting next to loved ones, because if not they may be loved ones by the end of the night.


Knowing they had bleacher seating for the most part, when tickets went on sale I bought 4 for the 3 of us, and have the aisle seat- not my first rodeo! :)

they do empty it out between games- but they were offering discounted tickets to the Penn-Princeton game to anyone who had Iowa-PSU tickets...

I am just happy my travel time for this year's game dropped to 2 hours (traffic dependent) round trip from 7 hours (weather dependent) round trip the last couple of treks to State College...
 
Looking at stubhub ($138.75 for a single), it seems you’re absolutely correct.

According to the HR website, tickets are going for $120 each. For one game and a “home” team that doesn’t sell very well generally, that is crazy. What are the chances that Iowa has a decent turnout from the NYC area?

Our seats direct from Penn were $27.50 each
 
Looking at some of the Iowa practice pictures, it looks like they updated the bleachers on the ends and put seats in on the sides.

The old field house look would be awesome. I’d prefer something between Bankers Life and Baylor’s new gym. Maybe around 14,000 to 15,000. Something like Vandy’s Memorial Gym would be cool too if the fans were a bit closer to the court. Something similar to Williams Arena with more suites and less obstructed views.
 
  • Like
Reactions: And1Hawk
Looking at some of the Iowa practice pictures, it looks like they updated the bleachers on the ends and put seats in on the sides.

The old field house look would be awesome. I’d prefer something between Bankers Life and Baylor’s new gym. Maybe around 14,000 to 15,000. Something like Vandy’s Memorial Gym would be cool too if the fans were a bit closer to the court. Something similar to Williams Arena with more suites and less obstructed views.

14-15 K is too big for the future trend of live sports. Make it no more than 12 K and maybe closer to 10. It’s about experience and atmosphere for live games. We need this throwback style of arena with a few modernizations so bad but absolutely nothing from Barta on vision.
 
  • Like
Reactions: littlez
Penn State fan checking in here. I was at the PSU-Michigan St. Palestra game 3 years ago, and there were a smattering of MSU fans there, but was still 95% PSU fans. I would expect it to be about the same today. Also, our forward's name is Lamar Stevens. I've seen it spelled a few different ways on this board. Good luck to the Hawkeyes today, it will be an exciting game, no doubt.
 
Agree with And1. Not that it’s even a thought, but 10-12K is ideal. Future is smaller not bigger.
 
  • Like
Reactions: And1Hawk
I know this is minutiae, but is this a road game or neutral site game for purposes of rankings? Against a conference opponent and being one of PSU’s 10 home games I would hope this counts as an away game.
 
I know this is minutiae, but is this a road game or neutral site game for purposes of rankings? Against a conference opponent and being one of PSU’s 10 home games I would hope this counts as an away game.

Good question, I was wondering the same thing. I searched around the internet and couldn’t find anything on point. I suspect the same as you, that this is considered a home game for PSU and away for IA

Also, there is an impact to the NET score / ranking as well,

I’d also be interested if anybody knows for sure.
 
14-15 K is too big for the future trend of live sports. Make it no more than 12 K and maybe closer to 10. It’s about experience and atmosphere for live games. We need this throwback style of arena with a few modernizations so bad but absolutely nothing from Barta on vision.

I just can’t see Iowa building a new arena 2,500-3,000 below its average yearly attendance. Even the Iowa big wigs aren’t that stupid.
 
Penn State fan checking in here. I was at the PSU-Michigan St. Palestra game 3 years ago, and there were a smattering of MSU fans there, but was still 95% PSU fans. I would expect it to be about the same today. Also, our forward's name is Lamar Stevens. I've seen it spelled a few different ways on this board. Good luck to the Hawkeyes today, it will be an exciting game, no doubt.

I wouldn’t take the spelling too personal. Many Iowa fans can’t spell Iowa player’s name correctly. Kriener and Wieskamp, a senior and sophomore, have troubled more than it should.
 
I watched the game on DVR delay so later than what others may have said but I can't get past what an incredibly stupid, idiotic decision made by the IA Sports Administration / IA coaching staff to hand the PSU team a home court advantage that is considered a neutral court.

The team brought it, the IA coaching staff didn't with that decision. IA would have probably won that game in Happy Valley.
 
Last edited:
I watched the game on DVR delay so later than what others may have said but I can't get past what an incredibly stupid, idiotic decision made by the IA Sports Administration / IA coaching staff to hand the PSU team a home court advantage that is considered a neutral court.]

The team brought it, the IA coaching staff didn't with that decision. IA would have probably won that game in Happy Valley.

There is very little, if anything, that Iowa could have done to stop this game from being played there.
 
I watched the game on DVR delay so later than what others may have said but I can't get past what an incredibly stupid, idiotic decision made by the IA Sports Administration / IA coaching staff to hand the PSU team a home court advantage that is considered a neutral court.

The team brought it, the IA coaching staff didn't with that decision. IA would have probably won that game in Happy Valley.

There is very little, if anything, that Iowa could have done to stop this game from being played there.

In a way, that makes me feel better about the situation. I didn't fully consider that, if true. I presume you're saying the B1G administration / BTN really drove that decision for ratings and money. Very possible, no doubt.
 
In a way, that makes me feel better about the situation. I didn't fully consider that, if true. I presume you're saying the B1G administration / BTN really drove that decision for ratings and money. Very possible, no doubt.

No, it was a home game for PSU, so they pretty much get to pick the venue, within reason.
 
  • Like
Reactions: skydog0784
If it's true that Kenpom catergorized this game as a neutral site loss for the Hawks, that is a travesty. This was a PSU home game, pure and simple.
 
If it's true that Kenpom catergorized this game as a neutral site loss for the Hawks, that is a travesty. This was a PSU home game, pure and simple.

That is on Kenpom. The game was not on campus but it was in Pennsylvania. Philly is probably the city with the largest concentration of PSU alumni and students. It was Christmas break and most of the students were home. That venue is an advantage for PSU.
 
ADVERTISEMENT