SF Chronicle article RE: Maples, Cal hosting

[BearClause]

With Maples out, Cal named host for tournament
Stanford, Santa Clara to start on the road
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/11/30/SPGTKA3PBD1.DTL

I kept on hearing that Stanford put up a bid, but it was previously unclear whether St Mary's also put up a bid. The article makes things a lot clearer.

[simplycurious]

Nice article, in terms of what was really going on at Stanford, but nothing was really cleared up with St. Mary's!

I'm still confused as to why their bid (now that we know one was submitted) was turned down by the NCAA. Can you help us out with this one BearClause, since I'm sure you're more familiar with St. Mary's playing site than many on the board here.

Thanks!

[BearClause]

[quote author= [glow=red,2,300]simplycurious[/i][/b][/color][/glow] link=board=general&thread=1101837760&start=1#0 date=1101843156]Nice article, in terms of what was really going on at Stanford, but nothing was really cleared up with St. Mary's!

I'm still confused as to why their bid (now that we know one was submitted) was turned down by the NCAA. Can you help us out with this one BearClause, since I'm sure you're more familiar with St. Mary's playing site than many on the board here.

Thanks! [/quote]

Sure. Here's a picture:



McKeon Pavilion supposedly seats 3500 for basketball. Typically the bleachers on the West side (near side of the picture) are folded away for volleyball. It is a very small facility. The roof is low, and I've seen balls come close to buzzing a beam or hitting a speaker. If you walk from the lobby into the seating area, you pass right by the basketball baseline. All sideline seating is wooden benches. A small balcony (left of the picture) hangs over the North end, and contains a few dozen padded chairback seats. There's only one men's room and one women's room. The best way to describe it would be, "this would be a very nice high school gym". There is limited parking near the Pavilion but a sizeable lot by the soccer field. There are no other parking options, and one bus runs past the front entrance of the College. It's only maybe a 10 mile drive from Berkeley, but the campus is still about 5 miles from any freeway.

Haas Pavilion on the Cal campus is a newer and frankly nicer faciity with a capacity of about 12,000. They finished off several locker rooms last season. There's padded seating on both sidelines, although it's benches on the lower East sideline (student basketball sections). There are four concession stands and bathrooms on both levels. I wouldn't discount the importance of the media room, (very nice) club room, or press row (East sideline above the benches). Lot parking is limited, although some on-campus lots are available after hours and there are several private parking garages. It's about a 6 block walk from the Downtown Berkeley BART station, and many bus lines run past Haas.

Here are some pictures:







Sorry about the last one.

[simplycurious]

Thanks for the thorough insight into St. Mary's facility. I'm famliar with Hass and knew what it had to offer (thus had no problems with Cal hosting), but wondered what was up with the Gaels. Again, thanks for sharing your knowledge!