WKU Basketball: Reviewing the Diddle Arena Renovations
After filling out end-of-season surveys for several years and multitudes of tweets later, WKU has finally heard our cries and made a lot of…
After filling out end-of-season surveys for several years and multitudes of tweets later, WKU has finally heard our cries and made a lot of upgrades to our beloved E.A. Diddle Arena and John Oldham Court. But do the upgrades live up to the hype? Let’s find out as I rate the new features!
Video Boards
We could all agree that the old video boards were outdated and were hard to see due to the amount of ads on the sides so this is definitely a refreshing and modern look. The graphics look fantastic and the WKU volleyball hype video looked great on it. Glad the ads are on the top/bottom and not the sides.
RATING: 9/10
Sound System
As someone that is musically inclined and has experience working with sound, this is something I’ve complained about for YEARS! The old system was extremely hard to understand what was coming out of the speakers. I’ll never forget my high school graduation in Diddle in 2012 when I was sitting on the court toward the back and not understanding anything the superintendent and principal said the whole time. Not only will this new sound system benefit WKU but will also benefit the community as well.
The speakers sound great and I literally felt the bass as I entered through the doors of Diddle so having that thick bass response will make the pregame hype videos more intense. The system still picks up all the high end sounds including the emcees mic so it’s easier to understand what people are saying now. Some things, however, still get lost in the environment of Diddle mostly because its acoustics aren’t the best but overall, it’s WAY better than it used to be.
RATING: 9.5/10
John Oldham Court
The court the volleyball and both basketball teams share got a little facelift this off-season. The size of the towel has shrunk tremendously and the three-point line was changed from black to red. Also a lot of the black accents in the design were changed to white (such as the C-USA logo). The last noticeable difference besides the font of the word “Hilltoppers” on the baselines is the court itself. It has a more natural and beautiful woodgrain texture to it now. I think it looks stylish and fits the current era of WKU sports we’re in.
RATING: 9/10
Other Additions/Student Section
One of the other super noticeable things is the student section. This is what the student section area will look like now during volleyball and Lady Topper basketball games, according to a WKU event staffer I was able to talk to. The men’s games should still see its more traditional layout but I’m still not entirely sure if it will be with the chairs that were there last year or will be replaced with bleachers like the 2013–2014 season and before once had. I couldn’t clearly understand everything she told me (cause it was LOUD in there) so I wouldn’t jump to conclusions yet.
Either way, not entirely sure how I feel about this layout which looks more like it would be at a neutral court location than a home game.
Another nice touch was the simple scoreboard above the tunnels that are on the same side as the giant scoreboards.
RATING: 7/10
Overall, I’m really happy with the renovations that have been made. The athletic department listened and made a lot of the changes most of us had been hoping for to make Diddle Arena an even more premiere venue for college sports.
OVERALL RATING: 8.5/10