The Palestra
223 South 33rd St., Philadelphia
The Palestra, located on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, opened its doors for the first time on Jan. 1, 1927. Penn beat Yale 26-15 in that first game. A crowd of 10,000 filled the arena to capacity and at the time was the largest attendance ever for a college basketball game.
The Palestra is the home of Penn’s men’s and women’s basketball teams. It also hosts many games of Philadelphia’s Big Five: Temple, Villanova, Penn, LaSalle and St. Joseph’s. The arena has hosted more college basketball games and more NCAA tournament games than any other facility. Fifty-two NCAA tournament games have been played here beginning in 1939. It also hosted the first ever Ivy League championship tournament in 2017.
Penn and Princeton have played each other 240 times beginning in 1903. Penn has won 126 of those games. Between the two they have won 26 Ivy League titles. Each team has been to the NCAA tournament 24 times. That’s more than schools like Wisconsin, Virginia and Florida. Each has made it to a Final Four. This year Princeton won both games, including a 62-53 victory at the Palestra when these photos were taken.
off the leash 
I didn’t know that Ewing and Mullin are coaching their college teams. That’s loyalty! And it’s appropriate.
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I watched the St. John’s-Georgetown game on TV. Felt like 1985.
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Memories—I was a radical college basketball fan growing up in North Carolina near Wake Forest, Chapel Hill (UNC), Duke and NC State. But the Big 5 were always the toughest competition. Thanks!
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I saw the “English Beat” there eons ago and the sound was ghastly, but the band was awesome. Not a great concert venue.
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I’m so out of the loop when it comes to sports. However, I do enjoy reading about sports and have recently been critiquing a memoir where sports play a huge role in the author’s coming-of-age tale. I suppose as with most things in life, a good story is always what draws me in when I can’t relate to the topic matter personally. I ran track because its rules were the easiest to follow 😉
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Good stuff I learn something new also if you into the NBA I follow it. Show love if your interested.
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Good stuff man. Think about 10,000 people back then though. That must’ve been insane!
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Great post. Thank you.
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