BPS fully rocking is an incredible experience in its own right though. The pair of Texas HoCo games and Bedlam 2021 were special.
1 Like
Both can be special and I have a ton of great football memories. But again, as someone who has experienced both, it’s GIA by a country mile.
4 Likes
Yeah GIA packed and loud is literally my favorite thing ever.
3 Likes
Thank goodness basketball was great during the Bob Simmons years of football
1 Like
I don’t think even OSU fans realize how respected our hoops program was in the 90’s. I was a Tarheel in NC and we all respected it.
1 Like
I remember the year before I enrolled my best friend who is a Duke guy came with me to just check out GIA.
2 Likes
This place better be packed today. See y’all on the other side.
3 Likes
The only place I ever sat was in the 3rd row from the top. We were looking down on the scoreboards at mid court. Those were my bosses season tickets & I only got them a couple of times. 
It was deafening.
We watched Doug Gottlieb, Desmond Mason, Andre Williams, Nate Fleming, Victor Williams, Ivan McFarland.
Seeing those guys off campus was like actually seeing Justin Timberlake at a party. I can’t explain how strange it was. The football team was regular. But the basketball team was famous.
6 Likes
So who is allowed to be in the student section? Anybody?
2 Likes
Anybody with a ticket to get in the door. I’ll be up in the 300s
2 Likes
Are you gonna streak down Hall of Fame to get there? Make it a full student experience.
4 Likes
Victor Williams was more or less the most “accessible”. He and Jonzen also, to an extent.
2 Likes
I’ve been to many loud sporting events in my life. GIA holds like 8 of the top 10 for me. Only two that hold a candle to it are OKC-LAL in their first playoff year game 3, and far and away the loudest sporting event I’ve ever been to was KC-Hou div round game in 2020 at arrowhead. But Arrowhead is on record as the loudest venue in sports. GIA wasn’t far away from that in its prime.
2 Likes
I remember in 2013 or 2014 against KU when we were down 9 or so, and we had that smart to brown ally oop followed by a Nash and-1 dunk and cut it to 1 or 2, it was so loud in there that it went silent. I know that doesn’t make sense, but if you’ve experienced it you know exactly what I mean.
3 Likes
I think the feeling was exaggerated because I am 5’ flat too. So my physical perspective was really diminutive…
3 Likes
Waiting outside the GIA doors! Go Pokes!
3 Likes
Be there in 30! Got a late start. Maybe it’s just me but I-35 does seem a tad bit busier than I expected it. Few cars of orange here and there.
Lol, I remember working the gates one year, and when we played OU, everyone was crammed, waiting to be let in. So I started to chant with them, and my boss looked at me and shook his head. But it was awesome! Those were the fun times.
Also, mocking the A&M guys at halftime. 
3 Likes
I grew up in Lexington, Kentucky. My Dad was on the faculty at the University of Kentucky and always had season basketball tickets. So, I spent some time watching the wildcats at Rupp Arena. That place could get loud, and I remember many times it did, but nothing like GIA.
I once heard Nolan Richardson say GIA was the toughest place his teams ever played. He said it was so loud that “you could put 50 people in there and it would sound like a crowd of 10.000.”
In the end, people can talk all they want about Cameron Indoor Stadium and the other great venues in college basketball, but nothing compares to GIA.
2 Likes
Texas basketball stayed at a hotel with no water. COULD impact things lol
3 Likes