Mizzou B-ball fan
08-29-2007, 11:02 AM
Not sure all that many people know about it yet, but the College Basketball Hall of Fame is about to open in Kansas City. It's going to be connected to the new Sprint Center, which is nearly complete. Kansas City was selected because it has played host to more Final Fours than any other city. An inaugural class in 2006 inducted a lot of players/coaches that were already in the Basketball HOF (Article: http://nabc.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/111806aaa.html)
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/story/251619.html
Coaches among the first to experience new facility
College basketball coaches get early look at Hall of Fame, College Basketball Experience
By BLAIR KERKHOFF
The Kansas City Star
South Carolina coach Dave Odom turned to Wisconsin’s Bo Ryan as they headed up the stairs to the second floor of the College Basketball Experience.
“You know,” Odom said, “this really is an experience.”
And they hadn’t gotten to most of the interactive stuff yet.
Coaches from around the country, in Kansas City for meetings of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, donned hard hats and got a sneak preview of the $20 million building that will house the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.
The emphasis Tuesday was on experience, and the coaches learned sweating will be an option for visitors.
Hands-on activities cover the second floor. A nearly regulation-size floor (12 feet short) surrounded by six baskets had been laid down only a day earlier.
More sections are taking shape, including areas where patrons can practice their slam dunks, three-pointers, free throws and shooting under pressure.
The shots will come complete with crowd noise, and to feel the pressure, the visitor will have 4 seconds to grab a ball, reach an illuminated spot and bury the jumper.
“This spot here is where Christian Laettner made his shot,” said Kevin Henderson, associate executive director of the NABC and the day’s tour guide.
Also on the second floor is a three-on-three court that serves as a tribute to street ball.
“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about kids saying, ‘Mom, do I have to go?’ ” Ryan said. “They’ll want to come here, and they might not want to leave.”
The hall of fame is a companion of the Sprint Center, and the buildings share a common entrance off Grand Boulevard.
Go to the right, and you head toward the 18,500-seat Sprint Center that will be home to this fall’s CBE Classic and the Big 12 men’s basketball tournament next March.
Head left and enter the 41,500-square foot College Basketball Experience, which will open with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Oct. 10, hold a special week of activities Oct. 11-16 and will run regular operating hours starting Oct. 17.
A month later, the second hall of fame class, which includes former Missouri coach Norm Stewart, will be inducted. It’ll be part of the Gallery of Honor on the building’s first floor.
Also on the ground floor: an ESPN television set where visitors can make their own calls of the game’s great moments, and an area called Mentor’s Circle, which allows visitors to log video tributes to coaches in any sport who have influenced their lives.
“The amount of thought put into these concepts, it’s extraordinary,” St. Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli said.
The concepts originated with NABC officials such as executive director Jim Haney, deputy assistant Reggie Minton, and Henderson and coaches who worked with New York-based ESI Design.
The idea that it is not a museum in the model of other sports halls is emphasized to the point where “not” is underlined in CBE publicity handed to reporters. But some traditional notions are in play.
“It is a 21st-century facility,” said John Branigan of ESI Design. “But there is an older principle at work, and that is people enjoy doing things with other people around them. You’ll act out for your friends. Your friends will be a part of an experience you can’t have in front of a screen or YouTube.”
Passers-by along Grand and 13th Street see the progress. Huge photographs fill the windows. There’s Indiana’s Isiah Thomas cutting down nets, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski giving instruction to Tommy Amaker, Arkansas’ Nolan Richardson barking instructions and North Carolina’s Rashad McCants, whose pass shows up on Grand and the recipient, Sean May, is facing 13th.
Those images, along with those on the second level, will be lighted and will give the building an evening face.
Odom appreciates the history, but he thinks when he returns he’ll be spending plenty of time on the second floor.
“I can’t wait to bring my three grandchildren here,” Odom said. “This is where they’ll want to be.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hall of Fame future dates
Oct. 10 Ribbon cutting and public ceremony
Oct. 11-16 Special opening-week activities
Oct. 17 Normal operating hours begin:
Wednesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Sunday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
Nov. 18 National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony
Nov. 19-20 CBE Classic at Sprint Center
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/story/251619.html
Coaches among the first to experience new facility
College basketball coaches get early look at Hall of Fame, College Basketball Experience
By BLAIR KERKHOFF
The Kansas City Star
South Carolina coach Dave Odom turned to Wisconsin’s Bo Ryan as they headed up the stairs to the second floor of the College Basketball Experience.
“You know,” Odom said, “this really is an experience.”
And they hadn’t gotten to most of the interactive stuff yet.
Coaches from around the country, in Kansas City for meetings of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, donned hard hats and got a sneak preview of the $20 million building that will house the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.
The emphasis Tuesday was on experience, and the coaches learned sweating will be an option for visitors.
Hands-on activities cover the second floor. A nearly regulation-size floor (12 feet short) surrounded by six baskets had been laid down only a day earlier.
More sections are taking shape, including areas where patrons can practice their slam dunks, three-pointers, free throws and shooting under pressure.
The shots will come complete with crowd noise, and to feel the pressure, the visitor will have 4 seconds to grab a ball, reach an illuminated spot and bury the jumper.
“This spot here is where Christian Laettner made his shot,” said Kevin Henderson, associate executive director of the NABC and the day’s tour guide.
Also on the second floor is a three-on-three court that serves as a tribute to street ball.
“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about kids saying, ‘Mom, do I have to go?’ ” Ryan said. “They’ll want to come here, and they might not want to leave.”
The hall of fame is a companion of the Sprint Center, and the buildings share a common entrance off Grand Boulevard.
Go to the right, and you head toward the 18,500-seat Sprint Center that will be home to this fall’s CBE Classic and the Big 12 men’s basketball tournament next March.
Head left and enter the 41,500-square foot College Basketball Experience, which will open with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Oct. 10, hold a special week of activities Oct. 11-16 and will run regular operating hours starting Oct. 17.
A month later, the second hall of fame class, which includes former Missouri coach Norm Stewart, will be inducted. It’ll be part of the Gallery of Honor on the building’s first floor.
Also on the ground floor: an ESPN television set where visitors can make their own calls of the game’s great moments, and an area called Mentor’s Circle, which allows visitors to log video tributes to coaches in any sport who have influenced their lives.
“The amount of thought put into these concepts, it’s extraordinary,” St. Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli said.
The concepts originated with NABC officials such as executive director Jim Haney, deputy assistant Reggie Minton, and Henderson and coaches who worked with New York-based ESI Design.
The idea that it is not a museum in the model of other sports halls is emphasized to the point where “not” is underlined in CBE publicity handed to reporters. But some traditional notions are in play.
“It is a 21st-century facility,” said John Branigan of ESI Design. “But there is an older principle at work, and that is people enjoy doing things with other people around them. You’ll act out for your friends. Your friends will be a part of an experience you can’t have in front of a screen or YouTube.”
Passers-by along Grand and 13th Street see the progress. Huge photographs fill the windows. There’s Indiana’s Isiah Thomas cutting down nets, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski giving instruction to Tommy Amaker, Arkansas’ Nolan Richardson barking instructions and North Carolina’s Rashad McCants, whose pass shows up on Grand and the recipient, Sean May, is facing 13th.
Those images, along with those on the second level, will be lighted and will give the building an evening face.
Odom appreciates the history, but he thinks when he returns he’ll be spending plenty of time on the second floor.
“I can’t wait to bring my three grandchildren here,” Odom said. “This is where they’ll want to be.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hall of Fame future dates
Oct. 10 Ribbon cutting and public ceremony
Oct. 11-16 Special opening-week activities
Oct. 17 Normal operating hours begin:
Wednesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Sunday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
Nov. 18 National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony
Nov. 19-20 CBE Classic at Sprint Center