Lavietes Pavilion

I went here to see the Harvard men’s basketball team play Columbia here. I’m not sure if this is because the team was doing well this year, but the game was surprisingly sold out well in advance, which I thought was pretty impressive until I entered the gym and found it was about the same size as the one in my high school (~2000 capacity).
Overall the atmosphere for a sold-​out, in-​conference Division I basketball game was pretty poor. The pep band was about the size of a normal jazz band and I couldn’t ever hear the student section. The majority of the spectators were alum or people who were affiliated with the team and sadly the support felt very half-​hearted. I understand that Harvard is not a basketball school but this is a team that at the time was still in contention to make the NCAA tourney and given the lackluster spirit of the fans, it seems like playing at home for them was not as advantageous compared to other arenas.
Unfortunately there was also only one concession stand and based on the fact that only 2 people were staffed, I’m assuming that the games are usually not sold out. The line for food at our game was so long that one of my friends basically missed an entire quarter so he could get a popcorn and coke.
One very good aspect of this place is that all the seats are very close to the court and only cost $ 12. It’s great to watch D1 players play when you’re only sitting 10 feet away from the court, as it’s hard to appreciate how quick and athletic these guys really are when watching from far away or on tv.
Overall a game at Harvard is obviously not going to be the same experience as one at a larger school, but has more of a high school atmosphere with a higher quality game.