Tate: They should have stuffed Huff
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CHAMPAIGN – Listen closely. From his office in Huff – you can call it Huff Hall; it'll always be Huff Gym to me – the ghost of Harry Combes beckons: "Come on over. The water is fine."
No, Harry, for some very complicated reasons, the UI just missed a nostalgic opportunity of grand proportions. With the Assembly Hall occupied by the marvelous Cirque du Soleil this week (seven shows), Huff stood as the only alternative for Illinois to host Stony Brook in the NIT ... as opposed to traveling to Long Island, N.Y.
Holding the No. 1 seed, the UI explored venues in Springfield, Chicago and elsewhere before receiving a memo from the NCAA that off-campus arenas would not be permitted.
In those moments when Huff loomed as a possibility, the earth at nearby Roselawn Cemetery began to shake as Bob Zuppke, George Huff, Doug Mills and former UI leaders dreamed of the exquisite pleasure of seeing one more basketball game there (even if a Chief-less halftime disappointed).
They would have carried memories of Andy Phillip, Dike Eddleman and Don Sunderlage. They could have retold the exploits of historic rivals like Indiana's Jimmy Rayl and Purdue's Terry Dischinger. It would have been the all-time homecoming at a venerable site where Illinois won 339 of 418 basketball games, and southern teams were still competitive for single-division state titles.
Problems, solutions
Why not? If Huff can handle several thousand fans in a wonderfully closed environment for volleyball and wrestling, and if the UI women would have been better off there for the last 10 years, why not cram in 4,000 fans for a Wednesday night celebration?
There are, doggone it, some unavoidably good reasons.
– Huff is a construction site. The north wall, completed in 1927 as part of the original $740,000 building, is due to come down for the expansion of classrooms and seminar rooms, this funded by the College of Applied Health Studies. An interior wall has already been erected on the north side. The area is not now considered "viable."
– Parking would be a major problem. The lot to the south is a sea of black mud.
– Restrooms aren't sufficient for 4,000 fans for two-plus hours.
– The balcony seats are old and narrow, and wouldn't handle some of our plus-sized citizens. The lower bleachers would necessarily be truncated because of the width of the playing floor. And that's another problem since the court would have to be reconfigured from volleyball.
My solution would have been: (1) Avoid the north side, (2) it's only one night so go to the bathroom early, avoid drinks and gut it out, (3) fix the floor as was done for the 100th Anniversary alumni game, (4) provide buses for people parked at the Assembly Hall and (5) locate our larger fans in the bleachers.
What happened?
Why, you may be wondering, did this become an issue? With the DIA co-managing the Assembly Hall, why weren't the NIT dates left open?
Well, that's what "co" means. The Assembly Hall multi-tasks. The circus is in demand – my Friday tickets cost $90 apiece – and required a decision nine months ago. After due consideration, and recognizing the possibility of a conflict – surely, Illinois wouldn't miss its second NCAA tournament in three years – it made sense to accept the guaranteed revenue from the circus.
This was weighed against the fact the UI must guarantee $40,000 to host in behalf of an NIT that takes 75 percent of net ticket sales. So it is not much of a revenue producer (imagine the money lost by Illinois' trip to Long Island). And for those who want to see more UI games, that remains a possibility if Illinois advances to second- and third-round games at the Assembly Hall next Monday and Wednesday.
As it stands, Stony Brook's Seawolves will move from a 1,500-seat crackerbox to a campus arena that was renovated just in time for Stony Brook to host the America East final, only to see the regular season conference champs lose in the semifinal at Hartford, Conn. So Illinois will play in a renovated arena that can exceed its official capacity of 4,100, somewhat more than the current Huff, against a team that never drew more than 1,650 at home this season.
For those who would have enjoyed the inconvenience of Huff Gym, it is nostalgia lost ... and possibly never to return.
Loren Tate writes for The News-Gazette. He can be reached at ltate@news-gazette.com.
If nothing else, the Illinois basketball team earned the right to start out with a home game in the NIT as a top seed. Due to athletic department incompetence in giving up the dates at the Assembly Hall this will not happen. The Illini can not afford to give away an earned home court advantage in this way. Kent Brown's explanation on Monday Morning Quarterback about how this happened was not satisfactory. How can this be left up to chance?
WHO THE HELL CARES! the nit is for losers nobody cares where they play, just another failed season thank u very much mid major weber u suck. i hope they win 1st game in nit so they get a home game and weber the dork abd tate and turpin better known as bert and ernie can see how empty the hall will be. hensons last game was a loss at home in the nit, before he was fired i just hope history repeats itself and webers last game will be a loss at hall in the nit. good riddance bruce weber, take a look in the mirror, ill tell u what u r lookin at a big LOSER WHO SHOULD FIND A NEW LINE OF WORK. do illinination a favor dont go away mad just go away!
"Due to athletic department incompetence in giving up the dates at the Assembly Hall this will not happen."
These are the kinds of posts that need to be deleted immediately. They are purely moronic and have no value.
The column says the circus had to be scheduled months in advance. It also says the Assembly Hall is a multi-use facility and that there is far more money to be made with the circus.
Next time, read. Think. Breathe. Then post.
Nope. Anything non-factual or purely moronic should be removed. As soon as a post says something untrue like: "Henson was fired," then the whole post should be deleted. If someone simply ignores the facts, then the post should be removed.
LT does bear some of the blame here, though, for throwing crap at the wall to see what will stick. No way could a game be played at Huff under the conditions cited here.
"– Parking would be a major problem. The lot to the south is a sea of black mud.
– Restrooms aren't sufficient for 4,000 fans for two-plus hours.
– The balcony seats are old and narrow, and wouldn't handle some of our plus-sized citizens."
What's wrong with parking at the Hall and walking over? It's what, 4 or 5 blocks? How lazy are you people? Set up buses for the handicapped, and walk your butt over to the game.
Not to mention, maybe doing a little more walking would help with the narrow-seat issue...
And the restrooms? Assembly Hall doesn't have adequate restrooms either, so the fans would be well-prepared to be at Huff.
A game at Huff would be rocking, and be better than having 6,000 people in Assembly Hall for a game. It's too bad it won't work out, and that we can't make a little lemonade from this lemon of a season.
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