I’m the only beat writer in the conference who travels to all the away games. The Dayton Daily News deserves credit for continuing to invest in covering UD basketball. The Flyer Faithful deserve praise for subscribing to the paper and the website and reading our coverage. Every click counts.
I fly everywhere except St. Bonaventure and Duquesne, though I once had to drive home overnight from a game at Virginia Commonwealth to beat a snow storm, and DDN columnist Tom Archdeacon and I once rented a car to get home from the A-10 tournament in Brooklyn, N.Y., when we could find a timely flight.
I’m an explorer at heart. I try to see something new on every trip, whether that’s a chilly beach in the middle of winter in Rhode Island, a famous basketball arena such as the Palestra in Philadelphia, which I visited for the first time this season, or a local restaurant near Loyola Chicago, Patio Beef, where I ate a hot dog without ketchup because that’s what you do in the Windy City.
Like my grandparents’ house on Bigger Road in Centerville, which was another home away from home for my first 17 years on this planet, I could draw all the A-10 arenas from memory, even though a few of them are unremarkable from an architectural standpoint.
I’ve seen Dayton win and lose at every A-10 arena with one exception. Dayton lost at Fordham in 2021, and I missed that game because I wasn’t allowed to travel during the pandemic. Every other time I’ve visited Fordham’s Rose Hill Gym, Dayton has won.
I wrote a book about Dayton’s home — “The Epicenter of College Basketball: A History of UD Arena” — in 2023. No other arena in the A-10 is deserving of a book with the possible exception of Rose Hill Gym because of its age, but the conference’s arenas do deserve this type of piece. I will examine their histories, rank their sizes and ages and put a spotlight on some of their unique features.
Here’s a breakdown of the seven arenas and five centers, plus a gym and a fieldhouse.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Age: Fordham’s Rose Hill Gym opened on Jan. 16, 1925, with a game between Fordham and Boston College. It’s the oldest gym still being used by a Division I team.
According to Fordham’s website, “The Gym was one of the largest on-campus facilities at the time it was built, earning the nickname ‘The Prairie’ because of its large floor space. The original configuration had no end zone stands and a seating capacity of 2,100 but several standing room crowds of 6,000 were reported in the late 1920’s. Since its opening in 1925, the gym has seen numerous renovations, adding new seating, scoreboards and public address systems.”
Kareem Abdul Jabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor, played his final high school game at Rose Hill Gym in 1965.
Here’s a list of when the other A-10 arenas opened:
1949: Saint Joseph’s Michael J. Hagan ’85 Arena.
1966: St. Bonaventure’s Reilly Center.
1969: University of Dayton Arena.
1972: Richmond’s Robins Center.
1975: George Washington’s Charles E. Smith Center.
1985: George Mason’s EagleBank Arena.
1988: Duquesne’s UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
1989: Davidson’s John M. Belk Arena.
1996: Loyola Chicago’s Joseph J. Gentile Arena.
1998: La Salle’s John E. Glaser Arena.
1999: VCU’s Stuart C. Siegel Center.
2002: Rhode Island’s Ryan Center.
2008: Saint Louis’ Chaifetz Arena.
Size: UD Arena seats 13,407 fans. It’s the 41st-largest arena in Division I, according to KenPom.com. It ranks between Alabama’s Coleman Coliseum (13,474) and LSU’s Maravich Assembly Center (13,215).
Not only does UD Arena have the most seasons, it’s always sold out these days — the sellout streak will reach 94 games in March — and, more often than not, actual attendance is close to the announced attendance. That’s not always the case at college basketball games. When Dayton lost 67-64 at La Salle in January, there were maybe 500 people in the stands, while the box score listed a crowd of 1,330.
Here’s where the other arenas rank in capacity:
No. 74: Saint Louis’ Chaifetz Arena (10,600).
No. 140: George Mason’s EagleBank Arena (7,860).
No. 142: Rhode Island’s Ryan Center (7,657).
No. 143: VCU’s Siegel Center (7,637).
No. 153: Richmond’s Robins Center (7,203).
No. 207: St. Bonaventure’s Reilly Center (5,480).
No. 217: Davidson’s Belk Arena (5,223).
No. 246: Loyola’s Gentile Arena (4,338).
No. 250: George Washington’s Smith Center (4,338).
No. 253: Saint Joseph’s Hagan Arena (4,200).
No. 280: Duquesne’s UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse (3,500).
No. 292: Fordham’s Rose Hill Gym (3,200).
No. 309: La Salle’s Glaser Arena (3,000).
Now here’s where the schools rank in average attendance, through late January.
1: Dayton (13,407).
2: VCU (7,601).
3: Saint Louis (5,669).
4: Richmond (4,483).
5: George Mason (3,869).
6: Rhode Island (3,500).
7: St. Bonaventure (3,465).
8: Davidson (2,744).
9: Loyola Chicago (2,940).
10: Duquesne (2,202).
11: George Washington (2,058).
12: Saint Joseph’s (2.027).
13: La Salle (1,639).
14: Fordham (1,095).
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Upgrades: Dayton spent $76.2 million on a three-year UD Arena renovation project that started in 2017 and finished in 2019. New seats, expanded concourses, a new scoreboard, etc., added decades of life to a building that turned 56 years old in 2025.
Many of the A-10 arenas have been renovated over the years. Here are a few examples:
• La Salle spent $12 million updating Tom Gola Arena, which became John E. Glaser Arena at the completion of the project in 2024. The biggest change was a “360-degree bowl design” that changed “the court orientation, from east to west instead of north to south.”
• Duquesne spent $45 million and 22 months renovating the A.J. Palumbo Center, now called the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. It reopened in 2021. The “Cooper” in the arena’s name honors Chuck Cooper, a Duquesne star in the 1960s.
• Loyola spent $28 million building the Norville Center for Intercollegiate Athletics and upgrading Gentile Arena. The 2011 renovation of the arena included, according to the school’s website, “new chair back seating for the entire lower bowl of the arena, new concession areas as well as team locker rooms, restrooms, and hospitality areas. New video boards as well as LED scorer’s tables were also added to the mix.”
• Saint Joseph’s spent $25 million renovating its arena from 2008-09.
• George Washington spent $45 million updating the Smith Center from 2008-09.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Names: While University of Dayton Arena, or UD Arena as it’s more commonly known, has had the same title since the start, several arenas have gone by different names.
• George Mason’s Patriot Center became EagleBank Arena in 2015. It cost $16 million to build in 1985.
• Hagan Arena at Saint Joseph’s was known as Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse until alum Michael J. Hagan donated $10 million to a 2009 renovation.
• La Salle’s Glaser Arena was known as Tom Gola Arena until 2024. Gola played for La Salle’s 1954 NCAA championship team and later coached the program for two seasons.
Glaser died in 2013. According to his obituary, he “was the owner of the Stutz Candy Company in Hatboro, Pa., and a fourth-generation candymaker.” He graduated from La Salle in 1962 and was a “generous contributor” to the program.
• St. Bonaventure’s Reilly Center was named the University Center when it opened in 1966. It was renamed for Carroll “Mike” Reilly, a former St. Bonaventure football and basketball coach, in 1974, three years after Reilly died.
Most of the arenas in the A-10 are named after people. Here’s a glance at the other people who have their names on A-10 arenas.
• VCU’s Stuart C. Siegel Center is named after a local businessman who donated $7 million to the construction.
• Richmond’s Robins Center is named after the family of Edwin Claiborne Robins Sr., a chief executive for A.H. Robins Inc., a pharmaceutical company. The arena cost $10 million and, like UD Arena, had a tartan surface when it opened.
• Rhode Island’s Ryan Center is named after Thomas M. Ryan, a 1975 graduate of the university who became CEO of CVS. Rhode Island played at Keaney Gymnasium for 49 years before moving into the new $54 million arena in 2002.
• George Washington’s Charles E. Smith Center is named after a “nationally renowned real estate developer, civic leader, and humanitarian,” according to the GW website. The arena cost $7 million to build in 1975.
• Chaifetz Arena at Saint Louis is named after a 1975 SLU grad, Richard Chaifetz, the founder of the ComPsych Corporation, which is the “world’s largest provider of employee assistance programs, behavioral health and wellness service,” according to the Saint Louis website. He donated $12 million to the university.
• Davidson’s Belk Arena is named for John M. Belk, a 1943 Davidson graduate who was the head of the Belk Inc. department store chain and a four-term mayor of Charlotte.
Trophies: La Salle and Loyola Chicago are the only A-10 programs that have won NCAA championships. La Salle beat Bradley 92-67 in the 1954 championship game. Loyola beat Cincinnati 60-58 in overtime in the 1963 final.
La Salle’s trophy sits in a case at John E. Glaser Arena. It’s titled the “James W. St. Clair Memorial Trophy.” It was named after the former Southern Methodist basketball coach who died in 1945.
Loyola’s trophy, from 1963, has the same name on it. It sits in a display case in the lobby of Gentile Arena. It’s surrounded by photos from that season, a box score and modern-day bobbleheads of some of the players.
Band: Pep bands add atmosphere to A-10 arenas, and the best one, in my opinion, is George Mason’s.
The band, called the Green Machine, is led by Doc Nix (Dr. Michael W. Nickens, a professor of music). The band topped the list of the best bands in the nation put together by the NCAA in 2015.
Dayton’s Flyer Pep Band, led by Dr. Willie Morris, ranks among the best as does VCU’s Peppas.
Advantages: According to KenPom.com, Saint Louis has the best home-court edge in the A-10 and the 11th-best in the nation. That’s based on scores comparing its results at home and away over the last 60 games.
Following Saint Louis in home-court advantage estimates are: No. 15 St. Bonaventure; No. 48 Loyola Chicago; No. 93 Dayton; No. 99 George Mason; No. 100 La Salle; No. 124 Saint Joseph’s; No. 161 George Washington; No. 168 VCU; No. 177 Richmond; No. 194 Duquesne; No. 218 Rhode Island; No. 251 Davidson; and No. 308 Fordham.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Student sections: No students get to sit closer to the action than the students at Saint Joseph’s. At many arenas, like UD Arena, there’s space between the court and the front row of the student section behind the basket. That’s not the case at Hagan Arena, which has more of a high school gym feel with the student section right at the edge of the court.
In 2024, Dayton forward DaRon Holmes II said the Saint Joseph’s students talked more trash than any other student section in the A-10. Then, after a 94-79 victory, Holmes waved goodbye to the students and put his head in his hands, telling them it was time to go to sleep without using any words.
Best celebrity cameos: Former St. Louis Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog sat courtside when Dayton played at Saint Louis in 2023.
Comedian Dave Chappelle, who lives near Dayton in Yellow Springs, sat courtside at UD Arena for a game in 2025.
Best amenities: Two A-10 arenas have basketball courts above swimming pools.
La Salle’s Kirk Pool is in the basement of the TruMark Financial Center, which houses Glaser Arena. George Washington’s swim teams have a home in the basement of the Smith Center.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Statues: Saint Louis has a Billiken statue on a pedestal outside Chaifetz Arena.
The statue has resided at a number of different spots around the Saint Louis campus since 1995.
“Legend has it that if you rub its belly,” a story on the SLU website reads, “it will bring you luck and its stomach, worn shiny by the hands of thousands of Billikens, attests that many SLU students and sports fans are willing to give it a try.”
• There’s a bronze Wildcat statue outside Davidson’s Belk Arena. It weighs 1,500 pounds and was installed in 2001.
• Saint Joseph’s installed a bronze Hawk statue outside Hagan Arena in 2015. It weighs 700 pounds and has a wingspan of eight feet. A plaque at the base of the statue reads, “The Hawk will never die.”
• La Salle installed a statue honoring Gola outside its arena in 2022.
Tributes: UD Arena has giant photos of its most recent All-Americans, Obi Toppin and DaRon Holmes, on the walls of the concourses.
The court at UD Arena is named after the coach who led the program to prominence in the 1950s: Tom Blackburn.
• Davidson named the student section at Belk Arena after the uniform number of its most famous alum, Steph Curry, in 2017.
“To know everyone who goes through Davidson,” Curry said then, “if they come to a game they’ll sit in Section 30 and have a part of the history, that’s pretty crazy to think about.”
• Saint Joseph’s honored the best players on its best team with framed photos on the upper level of Hagan Arena. Jameer Nelson and Delonte West led the Hawks to a 30-2 record in the 2003-04 season.
• Richmond honored one of its most famous coaches, Dick Tarrant, who led the program from 1981-93, by naming a live spider after him in 2015. The court is also named after him.
“We have a unique name here at Richmond,” Tarrant said then. “When you talk about the Spiders, everyone knows you are talking about the Richmond Spiders. And it has been that way for a long time. People associate us with the spiders, and it’s a great thing to have a real spider now.”
• The court at St. Bonaventure is named after Bob Lanier. He led the Bonnies to the Final Four in 1970 and was an eight-time NBA All-Star. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992.
• Davidson named its court after coach Bob McKillop in 2014. McKillop coached the program from 1989-2022. He won 634 games.
About the Author
