D3 Hoops Bucket List

[Ralph Turner]

I have imagined a trip to all of the gyms at the periphery of D3.

I know across the South, west to east, it would be Sul Ross State, Schreiner, Trinity TX, Texas Lutheran, Louisiana College, Belhaven, Huntingdon, LaGrange for the men, Wesleyan in Macon GA for the women...

You would draw a straight line from one school to the next. Millsaps appears to be just north of the line between Louisiana College and the next D3 school, Belhaven.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I have never been to Finlandia. I find it hard to imagine how I might get up there although I have seen FU play elsewhere.

Oh, c'mon, Pat.  Being in the Twin Cities(?), you're closer to Finlandia than 95+% of D3 posters!  And (lacking a handy map) isn't Finlandia 'over there' (essentially straight east) rather than 'up there'?

(OK. Just checked Bing Maps - Houghton IS about a 45 degree NE from Minneapolis.   I thought they were essentially the same latitude.)

[fantastic50]

If anyone wants to check off one of the big rivalries, come to Wooster's Timken Gym in Saturday night for the Wittenberg game!

[Pat Coleman]

I have never been to Finlandia. I find it hard to imagine how I might get up there although I have seen FU play elsewhere.

Oh, c'mon, Pat.  Being in the Twin Cities(?), you're closer to Finlandia than 95+% of D3 posters!  And (lacking a handy map) isn't Finlandia 'over there' (essentially straight east) rather than 'up there'?

(OK. Just checked Bing Maps - Houghton IS about a 45 degree NE from Minneapolis.   I thought they were essentially the same latitude.)

Agreed. Closer than most, but the weather makes it a really tough sell. I went to their first-ever football game because it was Labor Day and the weather would be "nice" but even that was a long trip.

[Gregory Sager]

I have never been to Finlandia. I find it hard to imagine how I might get up there although I have seen FU play elsewhere.

What cracks me up is that John is a Wheaton native .. but because his visiting D3 gyms was based upon his career as a player for UWSP, he's been to the gym in Finlandia, on the Keweenau Peninsula of the U.P. (which sticks out into Lake Superior; i.e., it's ridiculously far north), yet he's been to fewer than half of the D3 gyms in Chicagoland. Just one of those quirky things, I guess.

I have never been to Finlandia. I find it hard to imagine how I might get up there although I have seen FU play elsewhere.

Oh, c'mon, Pat.  Being in the Twin Cities(?), you're closer to Finlandia than 95+% of D3 posters!  And (lacking a handy map) isn't Finlandia 'over there' (essentially straight east) rather than 'up there'?

(OK. Just checked Bing Maps - Houghton IS about a 45 degree NE from Minneapolis.   I thought they were essentially the same latitude.)

I'd be more surprised if there were D3 gyms in the Twin Cities that Pat hasn't visited.

I have imagined a trip to all of the gyms at the periphery of D3.

I know across the South, west to east, it would be Sul Ross State, Schreiner, Trinity TX, Texas Lutheran, Louisiana College, Belhaven, Huntingdon, LaGrange for the men, Wesleyan in Macon GA for the women...

Have you seen the scores of Wesleyan (GA)'s games this year, Ralph? You'd need to be a little bit of a masochist to make a special trip to see a game there, unless you were related to one of the players.

[hopefan]

So as far as posters go, I guess I can present a pretty diverse list of D3 gyms that I've seen games or played or coached in..
I was connected to RPI from 1967-71 and again 73-77... then Hope 77-87... then Wash U and SLIAC from then on


From RPI days playing and coaching
RPI  (both the old '87 Gym and the Troy RPI Armory)
Union
St. Lawrence
Clarkson
RIT
Rochester
Alfred
Hobart
Albany State  Then D3
Siena  Then College Division
Williams
North Adams St (now Mass Coll LA)
Brandeis
MIT
Stevens
Brooklyn Poly
Upsala  (gone)
Brockport
Oneonta
Plattsburgh
New Paltz
Ithaca
Hartwick
SUNY-Delhi  (just several years ago)
Hamilton
Middlebury
Johns Hopkins
Drexel Tech (then College Division)
Marist (then College Division)
Also played or coached at D1 schools Cornell, Colgate, Vermont, Columbia and West Point and YES  THE GEORGETOWN
CCNY
Rhode Island College
Western New England
How about Canadian Schools too..
Ottawa
Carleton
Loyola Montreal
Mount Allison

Now then... from Hope/Wash U/SLIAC days
Hope
Calvin
Albion
Alma
Olivet
Kalamazoo
Adrian        (nope, Trine and Defiance were after I was in Michigan)
DePauw
Wittenberg
Wheaton
Allegheny
Wisconsin-Stevens Point
Central  (Iowa)
University of Indiana
David Lipscomb then NAIA
Grand Valley State
Aquinas
Nazareth (NAIA Kalamazoo, MI college, not current NY college)
Northwestern (NAIA-Iowa)
Salem Va D3 Final Four
Augustana
Centre
Missouri Baptist
McKendree
Missouri Rolla
Missouri-St Louis
Maryville (Mo.)
Iowa Wesleyan
Eureka
Blackburn
MacMurray
Westminster (Mo.)
Greenville
Principia
Webster
Fontbonne
Wash U
Spalding
Denison
Wabash
Millikin
Illinois Wesleyan
Grinnell
Illinois College
Southern Illinois Edwardsville
Western Illinois
Monmouth
Rhodes
Sewanee (stopped in to see the school on way to Florida)
Emory  (Son's recruiting trip)

and with 50 years and a lot of games to account for, I may be missing a couple

[Greek Tragedy]

Winner winner chicken dinner.

[ronk]

hopefan,
An impressive list; do we have to eliminate any that u were ejected from for overzealous behavior?   

[nescac1]

That's impressive, Hopefan!  I bet Toad could give you a run for your money, he's been to a ton. 

I've only been to Williams, Amherst, Trinity, Randolph-Macon, Dickinson, UChicago, Hamline, Springfield, UMass-Boston, Washington & Lee, Tufts, Rowan, Mary Washington, Marymount, and of course Salem. 

If you are looking at a New England D3 bucket list, the must-sees include Bates (which I've never been to but even on video, it's awesome), Tufts (gorgeous place to watch a game), Springfield (mostly because it's the birthplace of basketball, but also a really quirky gym), and a Williams-Amherst game (and if you go at Williams, check out Lasell, which is a great historic gym).

Mary Washington is easily the most impressive newer facility I've seen.   

[WUPHF]

Tufts (gorgeous place to watch a game), Springfield (mostly because it's the birthplace of basketball, but also a really quirky gym),

Tufts is definitely on my list.

From the pictures and video, that gym is truly one of a kind.

[Smitty Oom]

I've only been to Williams, Amherst, Trinity, Randolph-Macon, Dickinson, UChicago, Hamline, Springfield, UMass-Boston, Washington & Lee, Tufts, Rowan, Mary Washington, Marymount, and of course Salem. 

If you are looking at a New England D3 bucket list, the must-sees include Bates (which I've never been to but even on video, it's awesome), Tufts (gorgeous place to watch a game), Springfield (mostly because it's the birthplace of basketball, but also a really quirky gym), and a Williams-Amherst game (and if you go at Williams, check out Lasell, which is a great historic gym).

Nescac, did you like the Hamline gym? It is my favorite MIAC gym. A lot of character and history. Plus it is always incredibly warm, which was always very nice as a player.

I went to Massachusetts recently and I was able to watch a couple games at Springfield. The outside of the gym looks like a mini NBA arena.



The gym itself was quirky, but a fun place to take in a game. The Hall of Fame was definitely worth it as well.

I walked around Tufts campus but my was not able to watch a game at their gym, although I did walk in and take a look. Awesome gym, so unique and the new court finish looks very nice. Definitely want to go back and watch a game there.

[hopefan]

Here's a bucket list challenge:

While seeing EVERY D3 gym is seemingly unrealistic (but we can dream, can't we)... how about seeing a D3 gym in every state? 
Now then, some states would be eliminated because there are no D3 schools in them..

Florida
Montana
Nevada
Utah
Arizona
New Mexico
South Dakota
North Dakota
Wyoming
Hawaii
Alaska
Kansas
Oklahoma
South Carolina

ok... if my list is correct (please correct me if I've got a wrong state listed or if I missed a state), that's 36 states with D3 schools in them..

Ryan Scott, you are our travel expert... this is a trip I'd love to take!!!!!

[augie77]

I don't believe there are any D3 schools in Idaho.

[hopefan]

I knew I would miss one!! Thanks Augie.
So that makes 35 states to see a D3 school in!!!

[hopefan]

hopefan,
An impressive list; do we have to eliminate any that u were ejected from for overzealous behavior?   

😂😂😂

While certainly having been a bit overzealous as a Player and Coach, I calmed down as a fan and spend my energy rooting for a team as compared to yelling at referees. I was never forced to take the walk of shame to the locker room, I did get T'd up several times.. always for sarcasm ( my wife could have called that one) rather than obscenity. 😇