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NCAA News Archive - 2007
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NABC facility treats fans to basketball 'experience'
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By Greg Johnson
The NCAA News
The NCAA News
If you ever wondered what it’s like to be in the locker room before a highly anticipated men’s college basketball game, the National Basketball Coaches Association has made that a virtual reality.
The College Basketball Experience opened its doors October 17 in Kansas City, Missouri, and many consider the attraction the Universal Studios for basketball.
The impetus for the initiative came in the early 1990s when NABC Executive Director Jim Haney and his staff brainstormed ways to celebrate men’s college basketball. Since then, the NABC has sponsored “Fan Jams” in the Final Four venue, but the College Basketball Experience is much more.
The NABC wants the 41,500-foot, two-story building to be part of the home of college basketball. Besides the interactive experience, the same building houses the Sprint Center basketball arena and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.
“A lot of universities have their own halls of fame and tributes for their basketball teams, but there is no one place that pulls it together under one roof,” said the NABC’s Kevin Henderson, the executive director of the College Basketball Experience. “It allows the visitor to become part of the game. Fans are the ones who pay for tickets and support their teams. This is a celebration of all of that more than anything.”
It all begins on the first floor of the $24 million facility, which was funded with private and public dollars. Visitors enter an elevator that has the interior decorated as a locker room. Before the doors open on the second floor, visitors watch a video of a coach giving a pregame pep talk. Several NABC members filmed segments for the experience.
Visitors then walk down the Tipoff Tunnel where — with the help of crowd noise and band music — they feel like they are entering a deafening arena before the big game.
Once on the regulation-sized court, fans can partake in several interactive drills involving all aspects of the game.
“Once you have arrived at this point, it is game time,” Henderson said. “You can participate in slam dunks, three-point shooting and beating the clock with last-second shots.”
There’s also a foul-shot drill that simulates what it’s like to go to the line while the crowd tries to distract the shooter.
“We have actually filmed students for this, and you are shooting into an image that is on a 16-foot-by-12-foot screen,” Henderson said.
All of the activities can be conducted in one-on-one, two-on-two, three-on-three or five-on-five contests. Visitors also can receive instruction on the fundamentals of basketball at a coaches’ clinic.
“Each activity venue has written tips on the nuances of the game,” Henderson said. “The voice of the coach permeates throughout as a teacher.”
Henderson said fans who participated on an October 10 open house were sweating when they were done. “Our goal was to make this as authentic as possible.
“If you are coming here to just hang out and be with friends and family, you want to come prepared because you will sweat in this facility,” he said.
When visitors leave the interactive participation in basketball skills, they pause for “halftime.” The transition zone leads to the Hall of Honor, which highlights key moments in a timeline of college basketball history.
The final stop in the College Basketball Experience takes fans to the Mentor’s Circle and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. In the Mentor’s Circle, fans listen as the nation’s top coaches pay tribute to those who positively affected their lives.
The Hall of Fame recognizes legends of the game and stimulates almost all of the senses. This year’s induction class of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Austin Carr, Dick Barnett, Dick Groat, Norm Stewart, Lefty Driesell, Guy Lewis, Vic Bubas, Phog Allen, Adolph Rupp, Henry Iba and John McLendon will be honored November 18.
“The hall of fame has museum qualities in it, but it is only one-third of the total facility,” Henderson said. “The rest of the facility is about teaching the game to allow people to immerse themselves in the game through hands-on activities.”
The College Basketball Experience opened its doors October 17 in Kansas City, Missouri, and many consider the attraction the Universal Studios for basketball.
The impetus for the initiative came in the early 1990s when NABC Executive Director Jim Haney and his staff brainstormed ways to celebrate men’s college basketball. Since then, the NABC has sponsored “Fan Jams” in the Final Four venue, but the College Basketball Experience is much more.
The NABC wants the 41,500-foot, two-story building to be part of the home of college basketball. Besides the interactive experience, the same building houses the Sprint Center basketball arena and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.
“A lot of universities have their own halls of fame and tributes for their basketball teams, but there is no one place that pulls it together under one roof,” said the NABC’s Kevin Henderson, the executive director of the College Basketball Experience. “It allows the visitor to become part of the game. Fans are the ones who pay for tickets and support their teams. This is a celebration of all of that more than anything.”
It all begins on the first floor of the $24 million facility, which was funded with private and public dollars. Visitors enter an elevator that has the interior decorated as a locker room. Before the doors open on the second floor, visitors watch a video of a coach giving a pregame pep talk. Several NABC members filmed segments for the experience.
Visitors then walk down the Tipoff Tunnel where — with the help of crowd noise and band music — they feel like they are entering a deafening arena before the big game.
Once on the regulation-sized court, fans can partake in several interactive drills involving all aspects of the game.
“Once you have arrived at this point, it is game time,” Henderson said. “You can participate in slam dunks, three-point shooting and beating the clock with last-second shots.”
There’s also a foul-shot drill that simulates what it’s like to go to the line while the crowd tries to distract the shooter.
“We have actually filmed students for this, and you are shooting into an image that is on a 16-foot-by-12-foot screen,” Henderson said.
All of the activities can be conducted in one-on-one, two-on-two, three-on-three or five-on-five contests. Visitors also can receive instruction on the fundamentals of basketball at a coaches’ clinic.
“Each activity venue has written tips on the nuances of the game,” Henderson said. “The voice of the coach permeates throughout as a teacher.”
Henderson said fans who participated on an October 10 open house were sweating when they were done. “Our goal was to make this as authentic as possible.
“If you are coming here to just hang out and be with friends and family, you want to come prepared because you will sweat in this facility,” he said.
When visitors leave the interactive participation in basketball skills, they pause for “halftime.” The transition zone leads to the Hall of Honor, which highlights key moments in a timeline of college basketball history.
The final stop in the College Basketball Experience takes fans to the Mentor’s Circle and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. In the Mentor’s Circle, fans listen as the nation’s top coaches pay tribute to those who positively affected their lives.
The Hall of Fame recognizes legends of the game and stimulates almost all of the senses. This year’s induction class of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Austin Carr, Dick Barnett, Dick Groat, Norm Stewart, Lefty Driesell, Guy Lewis, Vic Bubas, Phog Allen, Adolph Rupp, Henry Iba and John McLendon will be honored November 18.
“The hall of fame has museum qualities in it, but it is only one-third of the total facility,” Henderson said. “The rest of the facility is about teaching the game to allow people to immerse themselves in the game through hands-on activities.”
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