Venerable Rose Hill Gymnasium on the Fordham University campus and Max Stern Athletic Center, home of the Yeshiva Maccabees, are two of the 64 featured venues, rivalries and traditions included in the newly-released coffee table book Buckets List: 64 Iconic College Basketball Experiences. The Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden also rates an essay in the 160-page tome published by SLAM.
The two college meccas appear in the “Hidden Gems” section, with “Rose Thrill,” which opened in 1925, noted for its historical significance and Stern for the home court advantage its coziness provides.
“Vince Lombardi traversed the floor on his way out to Fordham’s football practices,” notes the piece on Rose Hill. “Kenny Anderson, Lew Alcindor, Kenny Smith,
Len Elmore and Chris Mullin played high school playoff games there, as Rose Hill’s 3,200 seats have been witness to the best New York has to offer.”
“While the national spotlight may have arrived in recent years via Yeshiva’s near-record-setting win streak that reached 50 games,” reads the item on Yeshiva’s court “the reality is the Macs have been a gritty sleeping giant of the hardwood for a few decades.”
Madison Square Garden’s entry focuses on the Big East Tournament, held at the World’s Most Famous Arena every year since 1983.
Created for the fans who plan road trips around rivalry games, know every word of their school’s fight song and believe the best way to understand and appreciate the spectacle of college basketball is to experience it in person, Buckets List travels across the country in search of the places and moments that give the sport its soul.
The book organizes its 64 experiences into five categories:
- Cathedrals
- Rivalries
- Traditions
- Big Stages
- Hidden Gems
From Allen Fieldhouse, Cameron Indoor Stadium and The Palestra to Silent Night at Taylor University and the Toilet Paper Game at John Brown University, the book captures college hoops at every level. Its pages visit the Final Four, the Maui Invitational and conference tournaments while also celebrating distinctive venues such as the Corn Palace, Rose Hill Gymnasium and The Sanford Pentagon.
“Every college basketball fan has a list of places they want to get to someday,” said Peter Robert Casey, chairman of SLAM and creator of Buckets List. “This book is a nudge to put a date on the calendar. Make the trip, lose your voice and come home with a story.”
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