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Notre Dame Basketball: Three potential venues for Irish and Wildcats

By Ben Belden

GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 11: Head coach Mike Brey of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish reacts following a play during their game against the Boston College Eagles in the second round of the 2020 Men's ACC Basketball Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum on March 11, 2020 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 11: Head coach Mike Brey of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish reacts following a play during their game against the Boston College Eagles in the second round of the 2020 Men's ACC Basketball Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum on March 11, 2020 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /
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Rocket Mortgage Field House – Cleveland, Ohio

CLEVELAND, OH – AUGUST 04: General view of the exterior of Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse which is seen prior to a game between the Cleveland Indians and Los Angeles Angels at Progressive Field on August 4, 2019 in Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland won 6-2. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH – AUGUST 04: General view of the exterior of Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse which is seen prior to a game between the Cleveland Indians and Los Angeles Angels at Progressive Field on August 4, 2019 in Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland won 6-2. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

As mentioned, the last time the Irish and Wildcats met on the hardwood, it was in Cleveland, Ohio at Quicken Loans Arena, home of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Since that time, the arena has gotten a face lift to be considered one of the premier venues for events of this magnitude. In fact, the NBA All-Star Game is scheduled to be played at this venue in February of 2022.

For old times’ sake, Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse would be a tremendous fit for this game.

Geographically, playing in Cleveland makes a good amount of sense for both schools. Notre Dame’s campus is a little more than 250 miles from Cleveland (roughly 4 hours’ driving time straight over I-80), and for Kentucky, the commute would be about 330 miles (roughly 5 hours of driving time) from Lexington. With as well as these teams’ fans travel, that certainly is no big deal for either party.

And finally there is the whole “this would be fun for old time’s sake” aspect. The last time these teams played in this arena, it was an absolute instant classic. Who doesn’t want to try to duplicate that in as many ways as possible?

Cleveland is a great distance away from both campuses to be a fair draw in terms of neutrality and would provide a fun atmosphere in an arena that has been updated to host games just like this one. You simply can’t go wrong picking Cleveland here.