Calvin’s Van Noord Arena a Finalist to Host Division III Final Four

D3hoops.com unveiled the NCAA’s list of finalist locations for the 2014-2018 Division III basketball championships (both men’s and women’s), and Calvin’s Van Noord Arena is on both lists. Here’s the link to the story.

Men's basketball:Salem Civic Center (Salem, Va.)
Van Noord Arena (Calvin College campus)

Women's basketball:
Banker's Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis
Van Noord Arena
Salem Civic Center
Mayo Civic Center (Rochester, Minn.)

The D3hoops folks note that The VNA is the smallest of the four locations listed on the women’s side. That makes for a curious list as the women’s Final Four drew in the 1,000-1,300 neighborhood last year when it was hosted at Hope’s DeVos Fieldhouse. Van Noord’s 4,600 capacity (or whatever it really is) would be far larger than anything the women would conceivably need (save a Calvin or Hope Final Four run). Their (i.e. D3hoops / probably Pat Coleman’s) guess, which is a good one, is that we might be headed for a combined men’s/women’s Final Four weekend.

Also on both lists, however, is Salem, Virginia’s Civic Center which has hosted the men’s Final Four quite successfully for what I will lazily describe as ‘several’ years (except last year when they hosted the Elite Eight and Final Four rounds with the championship moving to Atlanta). It would be amazing fun to have the Final Four right in our back yard (almost quite literally for some of us), but I’m betting heavily on the NCAA to go the safe and boring route with Salem. Because the NCAA.

I would bet that Van Noord Arena would draw very well compared to Salem for the men’s Final Four. Just looking at the current Top 15 – a good sample of prennially strong teams – nine are obviously more drivable to Grand Rapids (particularly the CCIW and WIAC schools), two to four are so far away from either that it doesn’t matter, and maybe two or three are obviously closer to Salem. Maybe that means bigger crowds (which makes for a better atmosphere).

Potentially more motivation for the home teams too. Would be a huge boost to play for a title in front of a friendly crowd.

Van Noord Arena Gets A New Paint Job

The wife, child, and I often stop at Van Noord Arena for a bathroom break (or just to take a look at the arena) during our walks around the Calvin campus*. Yesterday I discovered a surprise: the three-foot restricted area arc had been painted on the main basketball court. (Sorry for the terrible quality of the picture. It was pretty dark in the gym and all I had was my cell phone. I had to use a picture editor to get it to show up brighter.)

*Our house is a stone's throw away from the Gainey Athletic Field/Calvin Cross Country course area so we often stroll around the college campus for our evening walks. Anyway, we told our two year-old daughter that we were going to walk to "Calvin". As we approached the Fieldhouse (after walking through the rest of the campus to get there), she pointed to it and exclaimed "There it is! Calvin!" That's my girl.

Anyway. I snuck down a level to inspect the new lines (they weren't there the last time we came through). The lines don't appear to be taped, but they are raised against the finish of the court like it was painted on top.

D2's and D3's aren't required to have the arc painted for this upcoming season, but it appears that Calvin wanted to at least get used to having the lines on the floor this year. I'm not sure if this is going to be the permanent solution, or if it's a "for now" fix.

Passing Through the VNA

I live pretty close to the Calvin campus, so the wife and I often make the college a destination for our walks. We were passing through last week and decided to stop inside the Spoelhof Fieldhouse Complex. We happened to have our camera handy, and I couldn't resist the opportunity to snap a few shots of Division III's best arena.

First: is the signage above the cafe and spirit shop new, or did I just not notice it last year?

Next: it's dark, but still awesome.

Only, what, 53 days until the home opener?