A new America East Conference rule could rob the UMass Lowell Men’s Basketball program of their home court advantage.
At its June meeting, the Division 1 Conference changed it’s bylaws to require any school facility hosting a league finals or semi-finals matchup to have a minimum 1,500 seat capacity.
UML just so happens to be the only America East team to play its games at an arena that doesn’t meet that requirement.
The Costello Athletic Center, which underwent a major renovation in 2019, is listed as only having a capacity of 957. That means that should the River Hawks make the America East semi-finals and finals, which they’ve done each of the last two years, they’d be forced to host those games at the Tsongas Center.
And that’s where the home court disadvantage kicks in.
The “cozy” confines at Costello creates a tremendous atmosphere for the home team, as fans are almost literally on top of the action and the noise level can get challenging for visiting squads.
By contrast, the 5,000+ seat Tsongas Center will be hard-pressed to get anywhere near capacity and be able to re-create the raucous atmosphere home team players feed off of.
Compounding the “disadvantage” is the fact the Tsongas Center is used by the River Hawks Hockey program during the same months, so finding practice time for the hoops team is virtually impossible.
As anyone who has ever played the sport can attest, each building has a different backdrop. Unfamiliarity with that backdrop often negatively affects shooting. Hence, why a home court advantage is so important in a game between equally matched teams, or even underdogs vying for an upset.
The River Hawks would basically have to hold almost all of their practices at Costello, while then having to scramble to find any practice time before potentially playing their most important games of the season come tournament time.
What led America East to adopt the seating requirement is unknown. Commissioner Brad Walker did not respond to our email requesting more information. The league’s website refers to “raising host standards for the men’s and women’s basketball playoffs,” but never explains why or how the process played out. (more below)
New UMass Lowell Athletic Director, Lynne Coutts, wasn’t named to the post until this past July 11th, the month after the change was made. Neither she or UML Men’s Basketball coach Pat Duquette responded to our efforts to reach out.
Meanwhile, others close to the men’s basketball program speculate on two potential reasons for the switch, the first being rival teams complained about not being able to secure tickets for their traveling fans at such a small venue as Costello Gym during the 2023 and 2024 conference semis.
The other school of thought is that America East is trying to force UMass Lowell to use the Tsongas Center more often, as the then newly renovated facility was used as a selling point for the River Hawks program to make the leap from Division 2 to Division 1 in 2013.
However, a source familiar with the process back then told InsideLowell that “while playing games at the Tsongas Center was certainly part of UMass Lowell’s pitch to the conference, admittance to America East was never contingent upon the River Hawks playing all of their games there.” They went on to add that “America East officials at the time knew UMass Lowell played hockey games there and didn’t have a practice rink to relocate the hockey team so the hoop team could play and practice at least one day prior to a game.”
Of course, a lot has changed since 2013. America East has a new commissioner, UMass Lowell has a new Athletic Director and a new Chancellor.
As we reported back in March, there is a renewed effort to build a practice hockey rink behind the Tsongas Arena, which would go a long way toward alleviating scheduling conflicts for both hockey and basketball.
Given the improvement in the basketball team’s performance and the fact they’ve made the conference finals two consecutive seasons, the need for a practice facility has taken on added importance.
