The Barn is #4 in Chicago Tribune's rankngs of B1G basketball arenas

Behind Assembly Hall, Kohl Center and Breslin Center

4. Williams Arena, Minnesota: On frigid winter nights, there's not a better place in Minneapolis to cozy up than "The Barn." Before 1992 renovations, fans all but rioted over the sacrilege idea of building a new arena. You have to appreciate old-school charm to put up with limited amenities and obstructed views in an arena constructed in 1928. But the raised court, tight seating and arched roof make for a one-of-a-kind atmosphere.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...en-arenas-spt-1114-20141113-story.html#page=1

I guess I can agree to disagree with this article..

The Barn >>> Kohl Center.

Go Gophers!!

The Barn is and always will be my fav.

GO GOPHERS!!!

Kohl Center?

The kohl center is a typical generic building. The badgers have had good teams that's why its tough to win there in my experiences gopher defeats gave had nothing to do with the crowd.

bemidjigopher said:

The kohl center is a typical generic building. The badgers have had good teams that's why its tough to win there in my experiences gopher defeats gave had nothing to do with the crowd.

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This story is joke. The MSU arena is fairly dull inside, but the fans (mainly students) bring great energy so it ranks above Williams due to the sound and tradition. The Illinois State Farm Center has always been unique, and is being renovated right now and the fans also bring it so it might also deserve being at the top of the list, but it is not.

The Wisconsin fans are an old constipated crowd and the arena sucks donkey balls. UW did not get much for their money with that place, and even the Ohio State generic arena is better.

Assembly Hall in Bloomington is an odd, uncomfortable facility with a bunch of crusty, entitled, whiny fans as well. Indiana had not fear of flushing Bobby K, so they also should fear not and dump this place and start over considering they have all that open space around the FB an BB stadiums to build a new facility without first tearing down AH. They need to build a IU based Indy Pacers style BB only state of the art facility on campus.

The best are Williams, Breslin, iowa Hawkeye Carver if they ever win big again, and the new Nebraska facility. The Lincoln Arena looks great on TV and the fans are insane. (see Wicsonsin game last spring) Maryland has a good claim for the top of the list as well.

If William Arena were to be replaced, which is not a terrible idea, the Maryland Comcast Center would be a good example of what need to be done. Not all of the more recent Big Ten attempts to replace a historic BB facility have been done very well, but Nebraska and Maryland did it right. Heck if Maryland resurrected Cole Field House, it would probably merit being on the top of this list.

The OSU arena is not terrible, but even they had to admit they blew it, when returning to St John Arena for an NIT, or pre Big Ten game a few years go, when the lost atmosphere was noted.

oak_street1981 said:

This story is joke. The MSU arena is fairly dull inside, but the fans (mainly students) bring great energy so it ranks above Williams due to the sound and tradition. The Illinois State Farm Center has always been unique, and is being renovated right now and the fans also bring it so it might also deserve being at the top of the list, but it is not.

The Wisconsin fans are an old constipated crowd and the arena sucks donkey balls. UW did not get much for their money with that place, and even the Ohio State generic arena is better.

Assembly Hall in Bloomington is an odd, uncomfortable facility with a bunch of crusty, entitled, whiny fans as well. Indiana had not fear of flushing Bobby K, so they also should fear not and dump this place and start over considering they have all that open space around the FB an BB stadiums to build a new facility without first tearing down AH. They need to build a IU based Indy Pacers style BB only state of the art facility on campus.

The best are Williams, Breslin, iowa Hawkeye Carver if they ever win big again, and the new Nebraska facility. The Lincoln Arena looks great on TV and the fans are insane. (see Wicsonsin game last spring) Maryland has a good claim for the top of the list as well.

If William Arena were to be replaced, which is not a terrible idea, the Maryland Comcast Center would be a good example of what need to be done. Not all of the more recent Big Ten attempts to replace a historic BB facility have been done very well, but Nebraska and Maryland did it right. Heck if Maryland resurrected Cole Field House, it would probably merit being on the top of this list.

The OSU arena is not terrible, but even they had to admit they blew it, when returning to St John Arena for an NIT, or pre Big Ten game a few years go, when the lost atmosphere was noted.

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Be careful.

station19 said:

Be careful.

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Minneapolis has plenty modern, boring arenas already. Keep the barn forever.

Haverhill said:

Minneapolis has plenty modern, boring arenas already. Keep the barn forever.

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That's a long time you know.

The KC is the coldest buildin I've ever ben in, and it had nothing to do with the fact that it was in th wintertime when I went.

I liked Welsh-Ryan (Northwestern) consideably more tha the KC. The crowd was pathetic, but the building wasn't.

I've been in Welsh-Ryan ( a complete dump), Carver Hawkeye (the Hawks were really good that year, the place was sold out and the sound was really muffled) and I've seen Assembly, but not for a game. Williams far surpasses any of them but I can see why Assembly is a tough place to play. The stands seem to shoot straight up over the court; it's the most extreme angle I've ever seen in an arena. It has to be very intimidating for opposing teams.

I went to Northwestern for Gophers-Wildcats football in 2001 and wandered in to Welsh-Ryan Arena before the game (it was open for a pep rally and reception). For a second I thought it was a practice or intermural gym before it hit home that this was a Big Ten basketball arena. As small as it looks on TV, it comes off even smaller in person. With all the purple and white banners combined with the small size and bleacher seating, it seemed more at home at St. Thomas. Northwestern claims almost 8,200 seats, but it honestly looks like it holds 6,000 at the very most. I’d love to catch the Gophers there sometime. If the Wildcats ever got consistently good and started drawing, the atmosphere would be great, sort of like that small gym Penn State had when it first joined the conference with students so close that security occasionally had to push them back into the bleachers during a game against us.