Curry Hicks Cage

[TruBluMaroon]

Not sure where to put this….
This weekend there is a Pioneer Valley Tip-off for basketball being held at the Mullins Center. This has been previously held at the beloved Cage. Western Mass Basketball semi-finals and Finals have also been a staple of the Cage. A few years ago when the format for HS post-season basketball was changed , work spread that since this was the only steady use of the Cage, the Cage would be gone. Now I hear rumblings that our Dear Old Cage is going to be torn down. None of this info I have heard has come on official UM stationary, so I am reaching out to anyone here who has achieved “mole” status and can share any off-the-record info on the future of the Cage.
Thanks!

[InnervisionsUMASS]

That would be terrible.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

Not sure where to put this….
This weekend there is a Pioneer Valley Tip-off for basketball being held at the Mullins Center. This has been previously held at the beloved Cage. Western Mass Basketball semi-finals and Finals have also been a staple of the Cage. A few years ago when the format for HS post-season basketball was changed , work spread that since this was the only steady use of the Cage, the Cage would be gone. Now I hear rumblings that our Dear Old Cage is going to be torn down. None of this info I have heard has come on official UM stationary, so I am reaching out to anyone here who has achieved “mole” status and can share any off-the-record info on the future of the Cage.
Thanks!

I got it on pretty good authority today that this is nothing more than a rumor. That's good news!

[TruBluMaroon]

^ Yes it is!
But if they aren’t playing HS basketball there anymore, what are the plans for it? I was on campus a few weeks ago and I saw that the offices are being used by another department, can’t remember which.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

^ Yes it is!
But if they aren’t playing HS basketball there anymore, what are the plans for it? I was on campus a few weeks ago and I saw that the offices are being used by another department, can’t remember which.

The most recent scuttlebutt has to do with an indoor Track & Field workout space and offices, but that was before the pandemic... no idea where things stand now. I just know from the word I got today that there is no plans to take it down.

[McKinney]

Interesting that Bartlett Hall (next door to the Cage) is also scheduled for demolition. That was made public back in 2017.

There've been opinion pieces about how UMass needs more housing. Perhaps plans to expand the honors college?

[Berkman]

If they tear down the cage what ha pends to the attached pool which the swim and diving team uses. I know when they built the REC center there was room for a new Olympic style pool but it was never funded so it was not built. Would be nice if somehow they got funding to build it.

[Old Cage]

^ I believe that the swim teams use the pool in Boyden.

[TruBluMaroon]

Based on memory, the pool at Hicks has no diving board and is very small.

[philosopher]

Boyden was home to swimming, diving, and water polo 40 years ago.

[LS71]

^ Still is the home for swimming and diving.

[Quann]

I really wish we could play 3-4 home games per year at the Cage. Lappas made another great point about the Bill in the podcast interview. They built it at a height of UMass basketball popularity that will likely never be reached again in UMass history. He gave comparisons to Nova which only plays in a 6500 seat arena and they are a perennial NCAA team each year. The Bill is truly too big, a 6K arena for basketball would have been perfect.

[TruBluMaroon]

^
FYI - Villanova plays three (3) games this season at the Wells Fargo Center, which seats north of 20,000, and I imagine that this is a typical year, perhaps more when needed.

[Quann]

^
I get that but most of their home games are on campus. They are also in the national title talk every couple years.

[philosopher]

^ Still is the home for swimming and diving.

Good! Spent many hours trying to become competitive in the water. Alas.