In Honor of March Madness, These Are the 25 Most Impressive NCAA Arenas (2024)

If you love college basketball, then you’re no stranger to March Madness and the sound of rowdy student sections raucously cheering on their teams. Not only do the spectators encourage their respective teams to leave everything on the court, but they also create a sense of unity, especially whenever a team is playing on their home turf. In fact, for many of America’s top basketball schools, the team is synonymous with its home arena and evokes images of pristine, shiny floors, the squeak of sneakers running back and forth, and the loud buzz of a clock that’s timed out.

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In celebration of March Madness, we created a list of the 25 most incredible NCAA arenas based solely on the towering architecture that make up the buildings.

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Basketball or football. Take your pick. Not many NCAA basketball arenas—okay, no others—also house football. Built on a former football stadium site, the inflatable domed structure is the largest on-campus basketball arena in the country with a capacity for 49,000 for football, while its largest basketball setup was over 35,000 fans. Structurally speaking, the Carrier Dome isn’t the most intriguing venue on the list, but its size marks a high point for the NCAA.

One of the oddest roof designs in sports comes to Florida at the domed Stephen O’Connell Center. While the 10,100-capacity building originally opened in in 1980, the venue underwent a major remodel—including a complete rebuild of the interior—in 2016 that gives the unique original Teflon roof design a modern spin with glass entrances and a new look inside the venue.

With 6,000 fans sitting no farther than 24 rows from the court, The Citadel’s McAlister Field House opened in 1939. With a military-style—and slightly castle-like—exterior, the interior remains intimate with fans on all sides of the court under an arched roof.

One of the relatively new venues for NCAA hoops, the 2013-opened Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln lies not far from famed Memorial Stadium and seats over 15,000 in a completely modern design that feature a concrete and metal façade, class-encased entrance and concourse and plenty of premium areas, video boards and views to the state capitol.

Size matters in Kentucky. The largest arena designed specifically for college hoops, the 23,500-seat Rupp Arena for the University of Kentucky opened in 1976 and is currently undergoing a renovation to remake the prominence of the building. While so large, the building remains tucked away in the local landscape until a renovation gives it a fresh front door to one of the largest arenas in the land.

Think circular when you think Wichita State. From the sweeping round roof outside the Charles Koch Arena, which houses 10,400 fans, the “Roundhouse” design inside originally constructed in 1955 gave a “futuristic” design at the time with its circular shape meant to improve sightlines. The venue has undergone modern updates, but still retains a nod to all things circular.

One of the oldest arenas in the country, Lavietes Pavilion first opened in 1926 and houses around 2,000 fans. With a modern update to the building, the brick façade helps highlight the famed skylight roof, giving the arena a distinct look from both the outside and the inside.

Originally dubbed Purdue Arena, the circular concrete and steel structure with a domed roof opened in 1967. Housing over 14,000 fans, the unique aluminum ceiling in Mackey Arena not only helps Purdue create a loud basketball environment but gives the arena a look unlike others throughout the country.

With floor space on five levels—think everything from fencing to indoor tennis—the Jadwin Gym has one of the most unique setups in the NCAA. Using a roof design of three interlocking shells, the basketball portion of Jadwin offers asymmetrical seating that pushes the majority of the capacity to one side and opens up other portions of the venue for an indoor track. Truly a distinct design creates a bit of architectural intrigue.

The shell of the former Aztec Bowl gives this 12,414-seat arena a certain stadium feel. Opened in 1997, an open-air concourse provides a unique feel to an arena event. Built on the site of the old Aztec Bowl stadium and directly into a canyon hillside, Viejas Arena encloses one end of the old horseshoe-shaped bowl. Two sections of the stadium’s original concrete bleachers and cobblestone walls frame each side of the north entrance.

Sure, Williams Arena has seen some massive renovations since originally opening in 1928, but it still contains much intrigue from the first design. A 1950s renovation divided the arena into two within one building, a 14,600-seat venue for basketball and a smaller arena for hockey, which has since moved out. The airplane hangar-style arched roof remains intact with double-arch steel beams creating an architectural ceiling. One of the few raised floors remaining in the game, the roughly two-foot elevation means the first row of seats drops below the court. Dubbed “The Barn,” Williams Arena retains old-arena charm from floor to ceiling.

It took a different style of construction to open The Pit for the University of New Mexico in 1966. Architect Joe Boehning first built a 338-by-300-foot Behlen roof and then excavated 55,000 cubic yards of dirt to form a seating bowl that drops 37 feet below street level with the goal of eliminating supports for the roof obstructing views within the bowl. The style reduced costs of the structure that originally required 28,000 yards of concrete and has since expanded to over 18,000 seats.

It may not impress with its minimal 3,200-seat capacity, but the 1925-opened court — the oldest on-campus NCAA Division 1 basketball arena — has history on its side. The exposed trusses and large window at one end give this Bronx facility interior style. But it’s the stonework on the exterior that really sets Rose Hill apart.

Now holding more than 9,000 the brick building opened in 1940 with a nod to The Palestra. Inside, expect 1940s design and tight confines to be the earmark of the building design of the age. As plans for the largest basketball structure south of Philadelphia at the time grew from original plans, the venue was actually designed by Julian Abele, one of the nation’s first African-American architects. Stone was taken from the Duke quarry in nearby Hillsborough, North Carolina, where all the stone for the original campus was found.

Not only is the 21,750 capacity one of the largest in the NCAA, but the unique roof structure of North Carolina’s home since 1986 gives the building a unique character. The metal deck roof includes a center fabric dome, allowing for a skylight-style dome. Designed specifically for basketball, the octagon shape brings seats low and close to the court while aiming to have unobstructed views in such a large venue.