Bleacher Report Home-Court Advantage: OSU's Value City Arena

The Ohio State Basketball team makes its home at Jerome Schottenstein Center in the Value City Arena. It’s known as the “Schott” by the locals, and it hosts both basketball and hockey, sometimes during the same day.

It’s the largest basketball arena in the Big Ten and was completed in 1998, seating 19,500 fans. It’s state of the art; from its general seating all the way to the luxury suites.

The luxury suites are the crown jewel for the arena. Each suite is complete with plasma TVs, love seats, buffet tables, wet bar, stocked fridge, and gourmet dining with optional hostess service.

For the rest of us, tickets can be purchased for either $22 or $27 for upper bowl or lower bowl seating. This season, the Ohio State Athletic Department has been running a special for upper bowl tickets: buy one get one free.

As with many Ohio State sporting events, a barrage of Coke products can be purchased at your leisure. Donato’s personal pizzas and Bob Evans brats are usually available to accompany your beverage. You can’t go wrong with either choice, as both are deeply rooted Columbus traditions.

A special feature at the Schottenstein Center is the Hall of Fame section of the arena. Fans can walk through and find one of Archie Griffin’s two Heismans. The 1997 Rose Bowl trophy also makes its home here, along with the 1960 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Trophy. This is Ohio State’s lone basketball championship.

The one item that caught my eye while walking through was Jesse Owens's bronzed shoes from the 1935 Big Ten Championship. It reminds you that this university is rich with tradition in so many sports.

The average attendance is around 15,000 a game. It quickly fills up when ranked teams come in, especially if they are Big Ten rivals. It’s an exciting atmosphere and literally turns into a “Nut House” during the games.

Leading the cheers as always is Brutus Buckeye, Ohio State’s famous mascot. He’s easy to find with the large brown fuzzy head bobbling around the court.

He helps Ohio State’s cheerleading squad get the O..H..I..O chant going around the arena right before the team takes the court.

Entertaining at halftime and throughout the game is another Buckeye tradition, Ohio State's Athletic Band, who plays the same role as T.B.D.B.I.N.L. (The Best Damn Band In The Land) does during football games. This band sometimes shares members with its football counterpart, but is a completely separate band.

Opponents don’t expect a docile crowd when entering this scarlet and gray clad arena; they know this is a hostile environment. It’s loud; not as loud as the Horseshoe, but at one-fifth its size, it holds its own.

So far this season that red sea of Buckeye fanatics has only parted while Evan Turner and crew enter the court, and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon.