BleedGopher
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Like most of you, I'm a CBB junkie. Despite the Portal Era and NIL and all that other nonsense, there's still something special about college basketball - the student sections, the traditions of each program, the arenas (historic, nostalgic, new, old, nice, dumps, etc.), they are all so different. All this together is what makes college basketball so special.
A few years back I set out to try to see men's college basketball games at 100 different D1 arenas. This is a laborious process and one that will take time, but I'm currently at 57 different D1 arenas to date (as of 3/19/26).
I travel a lot for work and often have scheduling control over where I go (within reason) and thus, I try to plan my work trips around CBB games and I'll often extend into the weekend to see as many as I can. I love putting the puzzle together if I'm in XX part of the country, I'll see what is within driving distance (I'll often drive up to 4-5 hours to see a game in a new D1 arena and my favorite is seeing multiple in one day.) This winter in particular I set two personal records, I saw three games in 1 day in 3 different states (Indiana State, Wright State and Eastern Illinois) and then a few weeks ago I saw 4 games in 1 day (same state): Cal, Stanford, Santa Clara and Saint Mary's. It was a fantastic day! Going to heavily populated D1 clusters (Nor Cal, So Cal, Houston, Dallas, etc. makes it a lot easier to stack new arenas).
I am not a fan at all of neutral site college sporting events for the regular season. It takes away what makes college sports special, so while I've attended neutral site games I don't seek them out and I don't include them in my list below or journey to 100. This includes not counting conference tournaments, NCAA Tournaments, holiday tournaments or the lamest of the lame, the random ASU vs BYU game on a Tuesday night at the Suns Arena or similar.
Current list as of the end of the 2025-26 CBB season:
(* means I saw the Gophers play against that team)
Arizona
Arizona State
Baylor
Belmont
Bowling Green
Butler*
California
Chicago State
Creighton
Dayton
DePaul
Duke
Eastern Illinois
Georgia St.
Grand Canyon
Houston
Houston Christian
Incarnate Word
Indiana
Indiana State
Iowa*
Kansas
Long Beach St
Loyola Marymount
Memphis
Miami
Minnesota*
Nevada
North Carolina
North Texas
Northwestern
Nebraska*
Ohio St*
Oklahoma
Oklahoma St
Oral Roberts
Purdue*
Purdue Fort-Wayne
Rice
Sam Houston St
Saint Mary’s
San Diego
San Diego St
Santa Clara
SMU
Stanford
TCU
Texas
Texas A&M
Texas Southern
Tulsa
UC-Irvine
UCLA
USC
UTSA
Wisconsin*
Wright State
My top 10, keep in mind this is arbitrary on when I saw the game (vs good opponent, vs a rival, etc.) but I can only make an assessment based on the game I saw and not what I've heard or seen on TV. I tend to give a lot of weight to student section atmosphere, game day experience, non student section (re: season ticket holders/adults) passion, unique traditions, etc.
My current Top 10 through the 2025-26 season, in order:
Duke
Kansas
Grand Canyon
Arizona
Saint Mary's
Purdue
Texas
Dayton
Creighton
Butler
Saint Mary's knocked Oklahoma State out of the Top 10 as I was at the game a few weeks ago when Saint Mary's beat Gonzaga on Senior Night to get a tie for the conference title, the last time the two will face each other in the WCC. It was SM's Super Bowl and the atmosphere was absolutely electric, though I realize that wasn't normal, but that was my experience at the 1 game I've seen there.
What's not on this list is Taylor University's "Silent Night" which I've attended and I'd put that as a Top 3 experience, but they aren't D1 so it's not on any of my lists.
The Barn is a tough one for me to grade because I've been to hundreds of games over the years. If my only game was during the 1997 season, that atmosphere and noise would have it as Top 5. If I had only been to games during the Johnson era, it would be one of the least impressive P5 atmospheres. For now I've left it out of my Top 10, but if Medved gets its going again, I will likely add it back in.
My Bottom 5 as of the end of the 2025-26 season, in order of absolute worst on down:
Chicago State
Incarnate Word
Eastern Illinois
Texas Southern
Wright State
There have been a few absolute gems that I never expected:
Belmont - I had no idea that Belmont and Lipscomb Universities are on the same street, a few miles away from one another and I happened to be at this game and the rivalry was intense. Their arena, while small, was very nice and rocking.
Houston Christian - this gym is tiny, smaller than many HS gyms, but it was absolutely packed and the crowd was really into it.
Indiana State - they've had a nice facelift to their arena and it was really nice. Probably too big of an arena for their program, but it was nice.
I need to hit the NE part of the country, so many programs. I want to hit the Big 5 in Philly, NY has a bunch, I really want to get to Utah State, etc. The journey to 100 D1 games often requires a lot of driving, most games by myself (but I love talking to fans of these random teams), and eyes wide open at the variance in D1 game day experiences. The delta between Duke to Chicago State is amazing, and that's what makes CBB so fun.
Go College Basketball!!
A few years back I set out to try to see men's college basketball games at 100 different D1 arenas. This is a laborious process and one that will take time, but I'm currently at 57 different D1 arenas to date (as of 3/19/26).
I travel a lot for work and often have scheduling control over where I go (within reason) and thus, I try to plan my work trips around CBB games and I'll often extend into the weekend to see as many as I can. I love putting the puzzle together if I'm in XX part of the country, I'll see what is within driving distance (I'll often drive up to 4-5 hours to see a game in a new D1 arena and my favorite is seeing multiple in one day.) This winter in particular I set two personal records, I saw three games in 1 day in 3 different states (Indiana State, Wright State and Eastern Illinois) and then a few weeks ago I saw 4 games in 1 day (same state): Cal, Stanford, Santa Clara and Saint Mary's. It was a fantastic day! Going to heavily populated D1 clusters (Nor Cal, So Cal, Houston, Dallas, etc. makes it a lot easier to stack new arenas).
I am not a fan at all of neutral site college sporting events for the regular season. It takes away what makes college sports special, so while I've attended neutral site games I don't seek them out and I don't include them in my list below or journey to 100. This includes not counting conference tournaments, NCAA Tournaments, holiday tournaments or the lamest of the lame, the random ASU vs BYU game on a Tuesday night at the Suns Arena or similar.
Current list as of the end of the 2025-26 CBB season:
(* means I saw the Gophers play against that team)
Arizona
Arizona State
Baylor
Belmont
Bowling Green
Butler*
California
Chicago State
Creighton
Dayton
DePaul
Duke
Eastern Illinois
Georgia St.
Grand Canyon
Houston
Houston Christian
Incarnate Word
Indiana
Indiana State
Iowa*
Kansas
Long Beach St
Loyola Marymount
Memphis
Miami
Minnesota*
Nevada
North Carolina
North Texas
Northwestern
Nebraska*
Ohio St*
Oklahoma
Oklahoma St
Oral Roberts
Purdue*
Purdue Fort-Wayne
Rice
Sam Houston St
Saint Mary’s
San Diego
San Diego St
Santa Clara
SMU
Stanford
TCU
Texas
Texas A&M
Texas Southern
Tulsa
UC-Irvine
UCLA
USC
UTSA
Wisconsin*
Wright State
My top 10, keep in mind this is arbitrary on when I saw the game (vs good opponent, vs a rival, etc.) but I can only make an assessment based on the game I saw and not what I've heard or seen on TV. I tend to give a lot of weight to student section atmosphere, game day experience, non student section (re: season ticket holders/adults) passion, unique traditions, etc.
My current Top 10 through the 2025-26 season, in order:
Duke
Kansas
Grand Canyon
Arizona
Saint Mary's
Purdue
Texas
Dayton
Creighton
Butler
Saint Mary's knocked Oklahoma State out of the Top 10 as I was at the game a few weeks ago when Saint Mary's beat Gonzaga on Senior Night to get a tie for the conference title, the last time the two will face each other in the WCC. It was SM's Super Bowl and the atmosphere was absolutely electric, though I realize that wasn't normal, but that was my experience at the 1 game I've seen there.
What's not on this list is Taylor University's "Silent Night" which I've attended and I'd put that as a Top 3 experience, but they aren't D1 so it's not on any of my lists.
The Barn is a tough one for me to grade because I've been to hundreds of games over the years. If my only game was during the 1997 season, that atmosphere and noise would have it as Top 5. If I had only been to games during the Johnson era, it would be one of the least impressive P5 atmospheres. For now I've left it out of my Top 10, but if Medved gets its going again, I will likely add it back in.
My Bottom 5 as of the end of the 2025-26 season, in order of absolute worst on down:
Chicago State
Incarnate Word
Eastern Illinois
Texas Southern
Wright State
There have been a few absolute gems that I never expected:
Belmont - I had no idea that Belmont and Lipscomb Universities are on the same street, a few miles away from one another and I happened to be at this game and the rivalry was intense. Their arena, while small, was very nice and rocking.
Houston Christian - this gym is tiny, smaller than many HS gyms, but it was absolutely packed and the crowd was really into it.
Indiana State - they've had a nice facelift to their arena and it was really nice. Probably too big of an arena for their program, but it was nice.
I need to hit the NE part of the country, so many programs. I want to hit the Big 5 in Philly, NY has a bunch, I really want to get to Utah State, etc. The journey to 100 D1 games often requires a lot of driving, most games by myself (but I love talking to fans of these random teams), and eyes wide open at the variance in D1 game day experiences. The delta between Duke to Chicago State is amazing, and that's what makes CBB so fun.
Go College Basketball!!
