Last night was my first trip to Allen Field House. I've been to the Palestra many times, Pauley Pavilion, and Hinkle. JMHO but it is really hard for an arena to compete with a field house for home court advantage and the Palestra is my favorite. They do a lot of things right. The creepiest is the stolid KKKKKKKUUUUUUUU at the beginning and end of the game. The best part was the blue mist.
The student section is very Cameron-like and looked fun even when KU was losing...But the rest of the place was very geriatric and very male (maybe 10 men for every woman in my section). Let me begin with the fact that I'm 55. The tickets I was given were in row 22 (face value $125 each). The lower section has 11 rows and the upper section has 26, so I was about 4 from the top, but they felt like great seats. It was pretty much me and a bunch old grumpy white guys. It was like watching a game with a room full of my uncles. Maybe it was because KU looked pretty rough for much of the game. I was surprised but maybe should not have been.
Looked like KU tried to take Murray out of the game and UK tried to take Ellis out of the game. Both teams struggled to get offense from other places. Both teams looked highly prepared and courageous at times, then lost and clumsy at times. Both coaches went deep into their bench throughout the game and significantly changed looks. I thought it was a true coaching duel between teams with many raw and flawed highly athletic players. After the LSU game I worried that UK might succumb in a tough road venue, but they started ready and continued to punch to the end. I was very proud to be there in my gear even in the loss.
The student section is very Cameron-like and looked fun even when KU was losing...But the rest of the place was very geriatric and very male (maybe 10 men for every woman in my section). Let me begin with the fact that I'm 55. The tickets I was given were in row 22 (face value $125 each). The lower section has 11 rows and the upper section has 26, so I was about 4 from the top, but they felt like great seats. It was pretty much me and a bunch old grumpy white guys. It was like watching a game with a room full of my uncles. Maybe it was because KU looked pretty rough for much of the game. I was surprised but maybe should not have been.
Looked like KU tried to take Murray out of the game and UK tried to take Ellis out of the game. Both teams struggled to get offense from other places. Both teams looked highly prepared and courageous at times, then lost and clumsy at times. Both coaches went deep into their bench throughout the game and significantly changed looks. I thought it was a true coaching duel between teams with many raw and flawed highly athletic players. After the LSU game I worried that UK might succumb in a tough road venue, but they started ready and continued to punch to the end. I was very proud to be there in my gear even in the loss.
