Toughest Place to Play

Q. I was wondering where you thought the toughest place was to play when you were on the road?

A. That is a great question thanks for asking. The NSIC has developed into one of the most difficult and balanced leagues in the country. Teams that come out of the conference and region typically have an opportunity to win a national championship. Literally, each team needs to perform at the highest level every game in order to win. Road trips in the NSIC are extremely taxing and include long hours on a bus. Many times the team will have to leave immediately after a Friday night game and travel two to three hours to the next institution. With that being said I believe the most difficult stretch is Northern State and UMary. Northern by itself is the most difficult place to play with their 8,000 seat arena and tremendous fan base. Then you have to hop on a bus and drive three hours to Bismarck, ND. This has become a very difficult venue in which to play. They have a small gym with fans right on top of the court. This really makes it difficult to communicate and play as a team.

I was fortunate to play in some outstanding arenas during my career and my favorite place to play was Williams Arena as I grew up in the Twin Cities. Of course I didn’t mind the time spent at the Mass Mutual Center in Springfield as well. Lastly, one of the most difficult stretches during my career was a road trip to Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, IN. The Richard F. Scharf Alumni Fieldhouse is a very small venue and it honestly felt like 100 degrees at tipoff. Again, much like UMary fans are fight on top of the court at Saint Joe’s. The Pumas beat us and were responsible for one of our four losses during the 2006 National Championship run. Thanks for the great question and I look forward to answering more in the future.