With my re-entry into Club 124 as well as my Toronto on the Road quest both scheduled to finish in Seattle next month, it is time to start focusing on my final pursuit: the 387 active NCAA Division I home venues. There are still 290 to see, which is going to take some time. This year, I am focusing on those in the Northeast, as they are easier to get to. One of the few remaining that is accessible on public transit from NYC is at Quinnipiac University, located in Hamden, Connecticut, a few miles north of New Haven. With a hoops doubleheader scheduled for Sunday afternoon, I decided to make the trip, taking Metro North to New Haven and then an express bus to the university. The bus drops you off at the bottom of York Hill, the campus where People's United Center is located. There is a path that goes under Sherman Avenue and takes you to the entrance of the university at the bottom of the hill, from where you will have to trundle a half-mile up the road, which lacks a sidewalk and has rocks along the side of road at some places. This is not a pleasant experience and I would expect few are stupid enough to do so, but I had no choice and so made my way up, no doubt to amusement from passing drivers.
Before entering, I had a look at the bobcat sculpture along with a plaque explaining its legend that encourages you to rub its paw for good luck. Quinnipiac University is named after a Native American nation that lived in the area and the legend borrows heavily from one of theirs. Interestingly, the Bobcats were known as the Braves until 2001, when the university's administration dropped the name due to its inappropriate nature. Twenty years later, there are still two Braves teams in Division I: Bradley and Alcorn State, though both do not use any Native American imagery. The World Series champions on the other hand...
Anyway, People's United Center was opened in 2007 as TD Bank Sports Center and contains two separate venues: a basketball court and a hockey arena. The picture below gives an idea of the structure of the building. The basketball court is to the left as you are facing the main entrance. The box office is between the two sets of doors, and $15 got you both games, though I probably could have paid $10 for the women's game and just stayed.
Inside, there is a lobby with a small concession stand known as The Den, which has your basic arena fare and a few standing tables behind at which you can consume your meal at your leisure.
From these tables, you can enjoy the view looking south all the way to New Haven.
Access to the each venue is through a set of doors. I had a look inside the hockey arena and the seating bowl is nearly identical to the basketball setup, though capacity differs slightly (3,386 for hockey and 3,570 for basketball). The hockey rink is named after Frank Perrotti Jr., a long-time fan of the team, while the basketball court is a gift from members of the Lender family (of Lender's Bagels), which makes it Lender Court; a name I find somewhat ironic as People's United is a bank.
Inside the entrance to Lender Court, there is a mural on the wall that shows one of many Quinnipiac logos. I really like the emblems and colours used here and throughout the facility.
You can see below how the seating bowl is shaped more like one for a hockey rink than a typical basketball setup. This leads to large spaces between the court and the seats behind the baskets. The blue seats and yellow support structure match the school colours and go very well together.
Above the entrance is the University Club, a lounge with a bar and kitchen that lies above the lobby and provides seats inside both venues.
The men's basketball team has not enjoyed much success, never reaching the NCAA Tournament and going 0-5 in their appearances in the lesser postseason events. There are also banners commemorating those who have scored 1,000 points in their career at Quinnipiac. I did not see banners for the other MAAC schools.
The women have done quite well for a smaller school, including a Sweet 16 appearance in 2017, where they lost to eventual champion South Carolina.
There are 14 rows in the seating bowl and any seat along the sideline would be fine. Avoid those end zone seats unless you really need to be away from other fans.
The scoreboard is a simple four-sided video board with an additional ring underneath. The quality of the live action and replays is very good. I also really appreciated the logo on the floor with a bobcat swiping stylized as a Q. As a bit of useless trivia, Quinnipiac is the only school in Division I that starts with Q.
And that is about all you need to know. This is a simple venue that is attractive and well designed. Just make sure that you drive.
The Games
The first game featured the women taking on Hartford in a mismatch, with the Bobcats prevailing 113-64, the most points I have ever seen scored by a team in a college basketball game. They shot 53% from beyond the arc and it was incredible to watch as they drained trey after trey. Still, the lack of competition made it difficult to stay focused and I have yet to see a truly competitive women's game at this level.
After a break, the men started their affair with the visiting Brown Bears, who stormed to an 11-0 lead. The Bobcats inched their way back and tied the game at 21, but they could not take the lead and went to the half down 34-29. The early part of the second stanza saw several lead changes and ties, including 49-49 with 11 minutes to go. As is often the case in basketball, it was just a short period of time in which the game was decided as Brown's Kino Lilly Jr. notched 7 points around a couple of Quinnipiac turnovers and when Jaylan Gainey hit a jumper, it was suddenly 58-51 Bears with 8:39 to go. That was certainly more than enough time to for the Bobcats to get back into it, but they could not make key shots and continued to turn the ball over, never getting closer than 5. When Lilly added a jumper and two free throws on either side of the under-4, it became 66-57 and another Bobcat miscue and two more bricks ended what little chance they had of a comeback.
The final was 72-61 with the big difference Brown's prowess on the offensive glass. They grabbed 12 of 29 boards after their misses, leading to 15 second chance points compared to just 6 for Quinnipiac. Lilly led all scorers with 24 points, while Australian Jacob Rigoni paced the Bobcats with 15, including 4 threes. The game ended just before 6 p.m., giving me plenty of time to run back down the hill and catch the bus to New Haven, happy to have added another venue to my list.
Notes
A few years ago, I attended a game at Lehigh University and was intrigued by one of the officials, who had a unique running style. I determined his name was Jeffrey Anderson and promptly forgot about him. But this year, when I attended the season opener at UConn, Anderson was one of the officials and seeing his amusing trots jogged (sorry) my memory. I did a more thorough search and found a Twitter fan account that is worth following, if only for the highlights of Anderson's unusual jaunts down the sideline. Anderson officiated the Final Four thriller between Gonzaga and UCLA back in April, and was in Hawaii for the Maui Invitational last week and Florida for the Emerald Coast Classic, including the final game between LSU and Wake Forest on Saturday night. So I was more than a little surprised to see him on the court today, meaning he flew from Florida to Hartford (or New York) and drove to the game, all within 22 hours. Of course, I have done similar things, but that is as a fan. To do so as an official shows real dedication. What really impresses me is how Anderson is happy to referee these low-level games despite being one of the top officials in the land.
In the past I have mentioned my love for hard tickets, and the ducat I acquired here demonstrates why.
The school logo is on the front and an illustration of the venue decorates the back. This is how printed tickets should look. If a smaller school can do this, so can every team out there. Bring stubs back now!
This was the 98th venue on the list of 387. Only 289 to go!
Next Up
A quick trip to Boston on Wednesday to add two more hoops homes to my list: Cabot Center for Northeastern women and Lavietes Pavilion for Harvard men. Then it is off to Vegas next weekend to finally get to see Allegiant Stadium, home of the Raiders. Check back next week to see how it all turned out.
Best,
Sean