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Mount Rushmore


bauman

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The official story releasing our schedule quotes RM as calling Cameron Indoor Arena as "the most storied" college BB facility in the country and Duke as the "most storied" Program in the country. This got me thinking of who I would consider in those categories and I've often heard FC do Mt. Rushmores of various items.

Mt Rushmore of MBB arena's:

Pauley Pav.

Rupp Arena

Allen Fieldhouse

Assembly Hall (Ind. U.)

Cameron

Dean Smith Center

Freedon Hall (U of L)

Needing to eliminate three, I think Assembly Hall, Freedom Hall and Dean Smith Ctr. go.

Mt. Rushmore of MBB Programs:

UCLA

KY

UNC

Duke

Indiana

Kansas

This is tough, but I would eliminate Ind. and Duke. Ind U. no longer seems to be in the category with the others and Duke's reputation is primarily based on one HC-ya, I know so was UCLA, BUT their record of NCAA titles elevates them above Duke if I had to pick just one of them.

How about a Mt Rushmore of HCs:

A Rupp

D Smith

B Knight

J Wooden.

Active HCs only:

Mike K

Bill Self

J Calapari

Rick Pitino

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Mt. Rushmore has four faces, so I'm going with this:

Arena: Cameron, Allen, Rupp, and the Palestra.

Programs: Kentucky, Kansas, UNC and UCLA with Duke closing due to recent history.

Head Coaches: Wooden, Rupp, Smith and Iba.

Active: Coach K, Roy Williams, Jim Calhoun and Jim Boeheim.

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The official story releasing our schedule quotes RM as calling Cameron Indoor Arena as "the most storied" college BB facility in the country and Duke as the "most storied" Program in the country. This got me thinking of who I would consider in those categories and I've often heard FC do Mt. Rushmores of various items.

Mt Rushmore of MBB arena's:

Pauley Pav.

Rupp Arena

Allen Fieldhouse

Assembly Hall (Ind. U.)

Cameron

Dean Smith Center

Freedon Hall (U of L)

Needing to eliminate three, I think Assembly Hall, Freedom Hall and Dean Smith Ctr. go.

Mt. Rushmore of MBB Programs:

UCLA

KY

UNC

Duke

Indiana

Kansas

This is tough, but I would eliminate Ind. and Duke. Ind U. no longer seems to be in the category with the others and Duke's reputation is primarily based on one HC-ya, I know so was UCLA, BUT their record of NCAA titles elevates them above Duke if I had to pick just one of them.

How about a Mt Rushmore of HCs:

A Rupp

D Smith

B Knight

J Wooden.

Active HCs only:

Mike K

Bill Self

J Calapari

Rick Pitino

Not sure how you take off Smith Center with all the history in the rafters..And How you put calapari over Williams? Also leave off Jim Boeheim?? He's the 3rd highest on active winningest coaches.

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Mt. Rushmore has four faces, so I'm going with this:

Arena: Cameron, Allen, Rupp, and the Palestra.

Programs: Kentucky, Kansas, UNC and UCLA with Duke closing due to recent history.

Head Coaches: Wooden, Rupp, Smith and Iba.

Active: Coach K, Roy Williams, Jim Calhoun and Jim Boeheim.

I like the Palestra. More college basketball games have been played there then any other arena.
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Freedom Hall is no more for UofL basketball, moving into the KFC Yum! Center this season.

Agree with the Palestra, would be cool to see a game in that building.

I didn't include Freedom Hall in my final four list.

Sluball200, if you include the Smith Center which one of my four do you eliminate?

Looking at the suggested names on the Active HC list, I agree that Jim Boeheim needs to be on the mountain-I'd take Calapari off to make room for Jim B. That leaves me with MK, BS, JB and RP. Obviously, all are great, but I'd go with BS since he has done it at 3 D 1 programs and has a Natl Ch., same thing with Rick P., although his recent off court issues certainly hurt his reputation.

I believe it's hard to make any list of all-time great venues that doesn't include Pauley Pavillion, but certainly a number of you feel strong about the Palestra-I just see it as an old venue with a certain amount of history associated with it, but no where near the history associated with Pauley.

Taj replaced BK with H Iba, both are clearly legends. In spite of the fact that I detest Bobby Knight as a pompous, overbearing @$$, I find it hard to leave off the all-time wins leader in MBB (Div. 1).

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I didn't include Freedom Hall in my final four list.

Sluball200, if you include the Smith Center which one of my four do you eliminate?

Looking at the suggested names on the Active HC list, I agree that Jim Boeheim needs to be on the mountain-I'd take Calapari off to make room for Jim B. That leaves me with MK, BS, JB and RP. Obviously, all are great, but I'd go with BS since he has done it at 3 D 1 programs and has a Natl Ch., same thing with Rick P., although his recent off court issues certainly hurt his reputation.

I believe it's hard to make any list of all-time great venues that doesn't include Pauley Pavillion, but certainly a number of you feel strong about the Palestra-I just see it as an old venue with a certain amount of history associated with it, but no where near the history associated with Pauley.

Taj replaced BK with H Iba, both are clearly legends. In spite of the fact that I detest Bobby Knight as a pompous, overbearing @$$, I find it hard to leave off the all-time wins leader in MBB (Div. 1).

I find it hard to take any of the arenas off, i dont think you can to be honest...Having said that I have RW over RP anyday

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The Smith Center opened in 1986; it replaced the former home of the Tarheels --- Carmichael Auditorium. Remeber the "flip scoreboard" on the court corners at Carmichael? Reminds me of old CYO games. Smith seats almost 22,000 whereas Carmichael only 10,000. Rupp Arena opened ten years earlier and replaced Memorial Coliseum, UofK's on-campus, 8,500 seat arena. Given the storied nature and fanatical following of those two schools, the pump in game day seating availability is understandable.

Cameron is of French architectural descent and was built by the same firm that built the Palestra. It was the largest arena, outside the Palestra, when it was opened.

Old Cole Fieldhouse at Maryland was an amazing place in its time. Comcast is a zoo (especially for Duke games0 but I find today's fan somewhat ruder and cruder than in the past. Hinkle I love. Old Kiel had some great character in my opinion. You hear a lot about "The Pit" for New Mexico in Alburquerque. The old Cincinnati Gardens, home to Xavier and Oscar Robertson's Cincinnati Royals, was another storied venue.

I remember broy likign the amenities at Savvis and not wanting to lose those at any new SLU venue. In contrast, the Palestra has slab benches surrounding the court; creatuire comfort was no tin the design minds of the Palestra. Even old West Pine had slab backs, the Palestra, not so.

So I guess if your opinion is based on a "nice" seating experience, the Palestra and Cameron would go out the door.

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How about the sleaziest HC's:

Calipari- Kanter didn't get cleared because he was a pro making a $100k and couldn't speak English . JC stated, "Big Jerk, he could have made 5 times that if he'd come to KY". Also, JC never met a ACT or SAT he didn't like. And the only coach in history to have two final four appearances vacated. He could have a whole mountain to himself.

Huggins- did any of his UC kids ever get a degree? I know they got a lot of free clothing- orange jumpsuits.

Pitino- Noted for the famous "oh, your dad needs a job? No problem, he's head of basketball ops." And, of course, "she was my trainer's wife? Huh, I didn't know that."

Tark-He recruited state prisons and reform schools- enough said.

Honorable mentions:

Eddie Sutton- When you absolutely need it today....screw Western Union.... call Fed Ex

Quinn Snyder- Not tenured enough to make the mountain, but dang he sure gave it a good shot in the short time he was around. Last seen coaching a coaching a Mexican pro team called "The Machetes."

Jim O'Brien- "The kid lived in a war zone... he needed the 6 grand for food and it came out of my own pocket!"

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How about the sleaziest HC's:

Calipari- Kanter didn't get cleared because he was a pro making a $100k and couldn't speak English . JC stated, "Big Jerk, he could have made 5 times that if he'd come to KY". Also, JC never met a ACT or SAT he didn't like. And the only coach in history to have two final four appearances vacated. He could have a whole mountain to himself.

Huggins- did any of his UC kids ever get a degree? I know they got a lot of free clothing- orange jumpsuits.

Pitino- Noted for the famous "oh, your dad needs a job? No problem, he's head of basketball ops." And, of course, "she was my trainer's wife? Huh, I didn't know that."

Tark-He recruited state prisons and reform schools- enough said.

Honorable mentions:

Eddie Sutton- When you absolutely need it today....screw Western Union.... call Fed Ex

Quinn Snyder- Not tenured enough to make the mountain, but dang he sure gave it a good shot in the short time he was around. Last seen coaching a coaching a Mexican pro team called "The Machetes."

Jim O'Brien- "The kid lived in a war zone... he needed the 6 grand for food and it came out of my own pocket!"

Larry Finch makes my list. Watching his wife get thrown out was one of the highlights of my life!

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