Williams Arena, Minneapolis

No basketball pilgrimage in Minneapolis is complete without paying homage to “The Barn.” Rich with history and tradition, the University of Minnesota’s Williams Arena has been standing tall since 1928, making it one of the country’s oldest athletic venues. Its most iconic feature? A raised court perched two feet above the benches and scorer’s table. Today, it’s the home turf for the Golden Gopher men’s and women’s basketball teams, but its story stretches well beyond hoops.

In its early years, The Barn was a multi-sport marvel. After basketball season, the floor was cleared out to make way for tennis courts and an indoor track. A 1950 overhaul gave the arena a split personality: hockey rink on one end, basketball court on the other. With 18,025 seats, it was the largest collegiate basketball arena in the country until 1971. Renovations, fire-code updates, and accessibility improvements have since brought the capacity down to 14,625. When Mariucci Arena opened across the street in 1993, the old hockey rink at Williams transformed into the Maturi Sports Pavilion.

Over the decades, Williams Arena has seen some of the game’s greatest players leave their mark-legends like Kevin McHale and Amir Coffey on the men’s side, and Linda Roberts or Lindsay Whalen on the women’s. Few gyms can match The Barn’s aura. When the Gopher faithful fill the stands, the mystique of this historic venue delivers a home-court advantage that’s hard to beat.