NCAA Basketball: 10 teams that will be hurt most from fan-less games

Syracuse Orange

No school possesses a larger building to house their basketball games than Syracuse, and quite frankly, no other team comes even close. Having most recently broken their own world record for attendance by momentarily expanding their capacity during a 2019 game against Duke, the Orange carry the means to seat a whopping 35,642 fans. Kentucky’s Rupp Arena, the next closest program, still appears dwarfed once compared to Syracuse’s Carrier Dome, with over 11,000 seats still separating the two arenas.

With an arena completely classified into its own league, to omit fans from filling it gives way to a potentially unsettling and disappointing image, as the excessive amount of emptiness poised to take place during games feels entirely uncharacteristic to Syracuse’s nationally-acclaimed basketball program. Rather than the Dome’s visiting players gazing up with awe at its extravagance, before momentarily experiencing the angst and timidness that comes once one remembers the crowd’s feelings towards those who oppose the Orange, things will instead just look hollow and deserted.

But aside from the Dome’s attendance capabilities, their fans’ spirit remains what truly makes Syracuse basketball special. The school ranked as the number one “school spirit” college for straight three years according to Princeton Review, and once combining all this with their attention-grabbing orange attire, Syracuse essentially checks all the boxes required to define the college game’s most intimidating fan-driven factor for a regular basketball season.

But unfortunately, an irregular season instead likely lies before the Orange everyone else making this list. With everything mentioned potentially removed, the Orange go from perhaps the most recognizable collegiate venue to instead a team forced to play in what might feel like merely an empty warehouse, oddly reminiscent of season one episode from The Office.

Hopefully, the Orange can at least refrain from suffering from any premature, game-ending flagrant-personal-intentional fouls.