Big East Basketball: Ranking best homecourt advantages for 2020-21 season
By Max Marmitt
2. Butler Bulldogs Home Court: Hinkle Fieldhouse
If attending a game at Hinkle Fieldhouse isn’t on your bucket list already, it’s something you and every college basketball fan should have at the top on your bucket list. Built in 1928, there’s not a stadium that is more historic in the entire country. Hinkle also has 43 years of hosting high school state championships, including in 1954 leading to one of the best basketball movies of all time, Hoosiers. In a top-tier basketball state in the country, Hinkle is nicknamed “Indiana’s Basketball Cathedral” and officially declared a nationally historic landmark.
It’s not just the history that makes this stadium this stadium so great, the atmosphere is unmatched by basically the rest of the country as well. Blaring with noise what feels like every second, Butler fans make this a super difficult environment that even the nation’s best gets rattled by. In a stadium capacity of 9,100 fans (renovated in 2011), Butler fans love basketball to the absolute fullest.
Unquestionably a top 15 home-court advantage in the nation, I wouldn’t disagree with people ranking this a top 10 home-court advantage either (or having Butler #1 on this list honestly). Butler is 90-27 in their time in the Big East, only losing more than three home games in the two years where their season record was below .500. Half of their losses this century have come in the Big East, as the Bulldogs have an astonishing 266-54 record this century at home.
Butler has had at least one All-Big East player every year, including Roosevelt Jones, Kellen Dunham, Kelan Martin, Andrew Chrabascz, and Kamar Baldwin. 2x All-Big East Kamar Baldwin didn’t get anywhere close to the national attention he deserved last year as he was a true gamer, averaging 16.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 3.3 assists. What separated him from most guards was his clutch gene, as he would dominate teams and be the go-to guy for Butler in crunch time, including some game-winning buzzer-beaters.
No matter who is on the team though, the atmosphere of Butler games will always be electric. I’ve done my best trying to explain, but it’s hard to put in words how great the atmosphere at Hinkle Fieldhouse is. In any year of college basketball, winning at Hinkle Fieldhouse is an accomplishment that shouldn’t be taken for granted.