more than just a basketball venue

Illinois has the best student section around!!!!!!!!! I'm an Iowa fan, and when their student section absolutely invaided Carver-Hawkeye Arena in 2005 (when Illinois was awesome), I was stunned. They also pack the Assembly Hall with orange, orange and nothing but orange every game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think the Hawk's Nest is getting better, but Illinois's student section beats out any in the country!!!! (Even Duke's, Wisconsin AND MSU's)!!!!!!!!!!

Weird shape, but the fans are like nothing I've experienced. When they're fired up (young&old), they don't shut up for a while

Are you kidding me? 1.

One of the greatest college venues out there

"I just remember orange. That's all I remember. All the orange. And you couldn't even hear. It was worse than Duke. That's the toughest place I played at."--Michigan's Lester Abram, on playing at Illinois.

The fans (always decked out in orange) are among the most passionate and loyal in college hoops. There's not a single bad seat in the house. And the home court advantage is as good as any; the Illini have had the best home record in the nation over the past 5 seasons.

A stadium that's seen a lot of things, but these days it's better than ever, with more seats, a sea or enthusiastic fans, a student section that's getting attention and are all over the court. Very hard althout to obtain a ticket in the lower two sections without season tickets. 10 years ago may have been a 3-star. Now it's lowd, exciting, and it's just a unique place to see a basketball game.

Great fans, almost always sold out, everyone wears orange. The arena is reaching the end of its life, and hopefully a new one is on the way, but the atmosphere is as good as anywhere in college basketball.

THis is just a copy of Indiana's Assembly Hall!

Though it looks like a flying saucer, This hall is almost like a classy movie theatre or the Peter Maravich Center in LSU (note that I said that it does look like something da Vinci constructed.) If you can look at the overall map of the circular hall, the parking lots are located alomst exactly on a compass rose and the main west entrance roadway makes the area look great. Not bad for an annual Big Ten powehouse in basketball.

absolutely sucks. a concrete bunker.