College Basketball Experience
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The College Basketball Experience featuring the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame is a 41,500 square-foot fan interactive facility located in Kansas City, Missouri. Owned and operated by the National Association of Basketball Coaches Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, it is connected to the Sprint Center within the city's new Power & Light District, and opened on October 10, 2007 at a cost of $24 million. The facility is divided into four sections—The Entry Experience, The Fan Experience, Half Time, and the Hall of Honor—and was designed by both the National Association of Basketball Coaches and New York-based experiential design firm, ESI Design (http://www.esidesign.com).
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[edit] The Entry Experience — "Tip Off Tunnel"
As soon as visitors enter the College Basketball Experience they are surrounded by the frenetic energy and excitement of men’s college basketball. In the “Tip-Off Tunnel” entryway, visitors exit a team’s locker room to be greeted by sounds of the crowd, flashes from the media and the voice of a coach prepping his players for the game.
[edit] The Fan Experience: Center Court & Activity Hubs
Visitors arrive at Center Court, the centerpiece of The Fan Experience. With 20-foot high ceilings, it is a high-energy, interactive area encompassing exciting physical activities and computer-based situations, multi-media, and compelling interactive displays. This area centers on "doing" instead of "looking." The activities in The Fan Experience place a ball in the visitors' hands and provide them with opportunities to role-play as a college basketball player.
[edit] Fan Experience Activities
- Tip Off Tunnel – Begin your game-day transformation by jogging out a team’s locker room. Cheers from the crowd, flashes from the media and chills from the experience await your arrival from the tunnel to the court.
- Center Court – Participate in a shoot-around, a basketball clinic or pick-up game, plus half-court and free throw contests courtesy of a full-size court.
- Throw It Down – Get up and throw down no matter your size or vertical on a basket designed to your specifications. And show off your dazzling dunking display to your friends and family.
- Team Up – Take the outdoor game indoors for a game of 3-on-3. Sign up your team on a posted chalkboard, and get ready to play the winner on a venue dedicated solely to the game of Street Ball.
- Make the Pass – Make precision passes as you race against the clock. Chest passes, bounce passes and alley-oops are needed to find your open man and assist on the game-winning play.
- Call the Highlights – Step into the ESPN broadcast booth and make play-by-play history by calling your own game-winning play. Improvise your own exciting call, or read from a script to recreate classic college b-ball moments.
- Pulse of the Game – Get up-to-minute scores and highlights, and follow the tournament brackets during March Madness on larger-than-life screens on display throughout the Experience.
[edit] Half-Time
The Half-Time area serves as a transition between the high-energy Fan Experience and the quiet, respectful tone of the Hall of Honor. In this area fans get a chance to talk about their favorite college basketball players, coaches, teams and moments. Half Time also dynamically highlights key moments in college basketball history in the Epochs of the Game display. A few artifacts may be included to ground the experience, but Half-Time does not incorporate an artifact-heavy treatment. The components provide a foundation for the Hall of Honor, helping fans to further appreciate the accomplishments of Hall-of-Famers, and providing context for The Fan Experience interactives.
[edit] The Hall of Honor
The Hall of Honor is a quiet, reverential area separate and distinct from other program areas. Within the Hall are the Honor Theater, Mentor’s Circle and Gallery of Honor which offer a counterpoint to the rest of the experience and enable visitors to pay homage the art of coaching and to Hall of Honor inductees: the greatest college coaches, players, teams and contributors of all time. Interactive media, iconic elements, and graphics integrate to provide a rich, engaging experience.
On November 16, 2006, the NABC inducted the 2006 Founding Class of the Hall of Honor, including Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, Dean Smith, John Wooden and the family of Dr. James Naismith. The Founding Class includes 175 individuals who are members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame with roots in college basketball and were automatically included in the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.
On April 2, 2007, the second class was announced. The new members include Lefty Driesell, who led four teams, most notably the University of Maryland, to the NCAA Tournament, Phog Allen of the University of Kansas, Adolph Rupp of the University of Kentucky, Henry Iba of Oklahoma State University, John McLendon of Tennessee State, Guy Lewis of the University of Houston and Norm Stewart of the University of Missouri. The committee also added former Duke coach Vic Bubas for his contributions to the game. Players to be inducted include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Austin Carr, Dick Groat and Dick Barnett.
