Advertisement
Davidson's Stephen Curry exits an empty and cavernous Ford Field, which holds 72,818 people. The converted football field will be the site of tonight's NCAA Midwest Regional semifinal games.
Advertisement
Photo Gallery
Practice at Ford Field
Videos
2008 NCAA Tournament
Full video coverage of the Kansas Jayhawks in the 2008 NCAA Tournament
Audio clips
2007-08 March 27 KU-Villanova Pregame
Detroit — Bill Self walked over by Kansas University's bench at the beginning of Thursday's open practice at Ford Field. One look at the unorthodox setup, and KU's head basketball coach was taken aback.
"Whoa," he said.
Ford Field has an innovative design with the intention to hold 72,818 fans for the NCAA Tournament games. That includes today's 8:40 p.m. Sweet 16 matchup between Kansas and Villanova.
For the sake of sight lines, the court is on a 27-inch stage. The team benches are next to the stage, meaning the bench players essentially will be watching the game with the court close to eye level.
"I'm going to reserve judgment," Self said of the setup.
He's also going to have to decide whether to coach from the court standing up or 27 inches below it sitting down.
Fans - particularly the ones in the cheap seats in the 300 level upstairs - will have to sacrifice the most with the court so far away. As for the players, Villanova held its open practice before talking to the media, and reported minimal problems with depth perception or anything else that might pop up with playing in such a massive venue.
"You've got to get used to shooting," Villanova's Corey Stokes said. "It is a lot different with all the open area around. You do have to get adjusted to it."
Many of Villanova's players said it reminded them a little of the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y., another football venue which converts to a basketball arena in the winter.
Villanova's players actually received an e-mail earlier this week describing the setup of Ford Field and showing a picture of it from one of the corners.
"You could see all the stands, and you see this little wooden thing. It was about like thumbnail small," guard Scottie Reynolds said. "We were looking for the court. Then we saw it in the middle."
It's not much of an exaggeration. But none of the players thought it would make much of a difference in the end. Both teams spent their entire 50-minute window Thursday working out on the stage/court to get used to it.
And playing in front of so many fans - there could be more than 60,000 in attendance today - is something any player would enjoy.
"I don't think that's going to be a problem," KU's Russell Robinson said. "I can play on the roof if that's where we have to play at.
"At this point in time, we're just going to go out there and play the game."
More like this
- KU in elite company 5 comments / March 29, 2008
- Gary Bedore's KU basketball notebook 2 comments / March 28, 2008
- Inked Jayhawks discuss their body art 25 comments / March 28, 2008
- Last trip north benefited Wildcats' Pena March 28, 2008
- Jayhawks looking for 'Cats of a different stripe 10 comments / March 28, 2008
UPDATED: 2008-09 Kansas Men's Basketball: Past, Present and Future March 11, 2009
Sherron Collins: One-on-One November 3, 2008
KU trumpets its triumphs with new I-70 turnpike signs July 2, 2008
Jayhawks up for ESPY honors July 1, 2008
Bill Self at the White House June 3, 2008
Comments
Brock (anonymous) says...
I am looking forward to watching KU play basketball in the Rose Bowl someday.
March 28, 2008 at 6:10 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jayhawkinatl (anonymous) says...
Yeah, the money-mongers (i.e., the NCAA) dictating such set-ups are pricks!!!! Would love to see the fans respond negatively by keeping such behemoth venues noticeably empty.
March 28, 2008 at 7:11 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KUDAD (anonymous) says...
Arrowhead stadium needs a roof!
March 28, 2008 at 7:28 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
chuckberry32 (anonymous) says...
why don't we just play a game on the moon. People would be dunking from the half court line!
March 28, 2008 at 7:32 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
tis4tim (anonymous) says...
From what I've heard this morning, some unnamed players have already said they won't go diving for loose balls near the edges of the court because of the two-foot drop-off. Why there isn't acres of extra floor, especially because the endzones aren't being used is kind of ridiculous.
I hope that won't affect our hustle tonight. KU by 17.
Rock Chalk!
March 28, 2008 at 8:05 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
BCRavenJHawkfan (anonymous) says...
We should know early if it has an affect on shooting.
March 28, 2008 at 8:44 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KU (anonymous) says...
I think the "apron" around the court is about 12 to 15 feet, so there shouldn't be any big concerns about hustling out of bounds.
It will definitely keep the benches out of the game being 2 feet below court level and 12 to 15 feet from the court.
I don't know what the NCAA is thinking when they choose these huge venues. If you can get a ticket in a 70,000 seat house for an average of $75, you'll probably generate about $4,200,000 in ticket revenue because unless you have the Final Four, you're only going to get 50,000 to 55,000 fans. But how much did it cost to rip out the 3,000 permanent football seats and all the man-hours to build the stage and put in the risers and hang the scoreboard???
Compare that with Charlotte Arena with 20,200 seating capacity and a ticket price of $142. You generate $2,870,000 in ticket revenue but you don't have to spend millions to alter the facility.
I'd think the profit after all is said and done is about equal. It must be about the spectacle of the thing more than the income generated for the NCAA, don't you think?
March 28, 2008 at 9:22 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
FlaHawk (anonymous) says...
Didn't the old KSU facility Ahern have an elevated court? I remember watching games back in the 60s and I could hae sworn that it was elevated then.
March 28, 2008 at 9:55 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KU (anonymous) says...
Minnesota has an elevated floor. Old-timers might be able to confirm or deny this, but I think I read somewhere that for a short time, Allen Fieldhouse had a raised floor. Is that correct?
March 28, 2008 at 10:05 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
txrockchalk (anonymous) says...
The Minnesota Gophers have an elevated court, and not many schools have a more unique setup than Vanderbilt's raised court - - which is essentially square-shaped with the benches residing at each end.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Me...
March 28, 2008 at 10:07 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
BCRavenJHawkfan (anonymous) says...
Just read a similar article about this on ESPN.com. One little fact ESPN has that this article does not is that spectators will only be on two sides, areas behind the goals will not have spectator seating. Not clear if it will be curtained off or just open nothing. The biggest effect could be on something as simple as free throw shooting.
The NCAA clearly has too many executives with too much time on their hands to dream up this crap.
March 28, 2008 at 10:14 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
okjhok (anonymous) says...
That's in Houston, not in Detroit. There are no curtains in Detroit.
March 28, 2008 at 10:53 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KGphoto (anonymous) says...
If we can't shoot, well then we'll just have to smother them with defense. That's what I want to see anyway. Swipe the rock and run them off the edge of the court.
There is no reason we can't find a way to win. We have more game. No excuses.
March 28, 2008 at 11:02 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KU (anonymous) says...
Amen, KG.
March 28, 2008 at 12:29 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
leikness (anonymous) says...
AFH used to have an elevated court as well I believe.
I personally think this set up is a horrible idea. I know how much it effects me when I move from gym to gym and how it does take a little while to get adjusted. I think this will be an issue for Rush.
March 28, 2008 at 1:05 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jayhawkinatl (anonymous) says...
I wonder if Nova will have a slight advantage since they play in the Carrier Dome (against the 'Cuse) every year. I hear it's supposed to have a similar feel.
March 28, 2008 at 4:13 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KU (anonymous) says...
I wonder if we have the slight advantage because we have five seniors and a rotation with much more experience than Villanova?
March 28, 2008 at 4:28 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
brooksmd (anonymous) says...
Don't see any reason to elevate the court. Went to the Superdome when Final 4 was in NO a few years ago and don't believe they raised the floor and the way they added seats worked just fine. We were up high but still had a great view. Unfortunately watching Collison brick so many FT was not such a great view.
March 28, 2008 at 5:21 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )