TCU’s season of home games on a high school court is hardly unique in college basketball.
Whether through renovations or natural disasters, teams have had to look elsewhere for venues through the years.
Some examples, past and future:
FLORIDA is set for a roughly $50 renovation of the O’Connell Center that breaks ground soon after the season ends in March. The planned completion date is late December, so the Gators are working on a home schedule likely to include games in Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa and South Florida.
UCLA played most of the 2011-12 season at the Los Angeles Sports Arena while Pauley Pavilion underwent a $132 million renovation. The Bruins had some games at the home of the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks. The women played at the John Wooden Center on campus. UCLA didn’t have to move home games this season despite the court getting covered in 10 inches of water from a broken pipe last summer.
GEORGIA TECH split the 2011-12 season between Gwinnett Arena in the Atlanta suburb of Duluth and the downtown home of the Atlanta Hawks while Alexander Memorial Coliseum was almost totally rebuilt. It’s now called McCamish Pavilion.
WEST VIRGINIA played the 1999-2000 season elsewhere while asbestos was removed from the home arena. The Mountaineers played nine games in Charleston, more than two hours away, and six in Wheeling, about an hour out. They also played in a 3,000-seat gym in Fairmont, about half an hour away. The women played at a nearby high school. A portable basketball court was used in Charleston and Wheeling.
GEORGETOWN has had to play NIT games at tiny on-campus McDonough Gymnasium because of scheduling conflicts at an arena it shares with the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the NHL’s Washington Capitals. The crowd noise is ear-splitting when the 2,500-seat venue is full.
URSULINE, a Division II school in Ohio, is playing and practicing for the second straight season at nearby colleges, high school and recreation centers after a tornado destroyed the school’s athletic facility. The new building is supposed to open in June.
ILLINOIS will play five games in November at the 7,700-seat Prairie Capital Convention Center in the state capital of Springfield during a critical stage of a $165 million renovation of the State Farm Center.
TULANE was shut down for the fall semester after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The men’s basketball team went to Texas A&M, while the women went to Texas Tech. Tulane reopened for the spring semester in 2006.
N.C. STATE will soon renovate Reynolds Coliseum, which housed the men’s team when it won the NCAA title in 1983 and is now the home for the women. They will play most of next season’s games at a nearby high school in Raleigh, but could be part of some doubleheaders with the men at PNC Arena just off the campus.
