For a NBA fanatic, there are venues which are a must attend in each season. This has also happened when it comes to NCAA. The following are the five venues college basketball fan must attend.

Carrier Dome

The Carrier Dome is one of the anticipated venues to be. The court will have an audience of 40,000 and this may exceed when rival teams such as Georgetown comes for a clash. The venue was constructed and opened in 1980 and has since then played host to a number of teams as well as professional players. The venue has been on top of the game in matters concerning basketball venues for years and is the place to breed orange for a fan.

Hinkle Fieldhouse

The Hinkle Fieldhouse is the home of Butler Bulldogs. The venue has played host to various events including the championship games for the movie ‘Hoosiers’ and is found at the centre of crazy basketballers. The venue produced one of the best college basketball best players Dawg Pound.

The Palestra

The venue has been nicknamed ‘The Cathedral of College Basketball’ and is the home for Penn Quakers. The venue has hosted more college basketball games than any team. It was built in 1927. The venue has played host to top five teams in Philadelphia namely; Villanova, La Salle, Temple, St. Joseph’s and Penn.

McKale Center

The McKale Center was constructed in 1973 and since then it has been home for Arizona Wildcats. Since time in memorial, the home team has scooped the conference championship on five different occasions and has reached the Final Four in four different seasons.

UD Arena

The UD Arena has been famous in hosting various matches. It was the main hosting venue during the NCAA tournament in 2001. This was the initial year for the venue to host such a competition. In essence, all the initial four games of 2001 NCAA Tournament was held at UD Arena. For those fans who like making noise and supporting their team in much vigor, UD Arena is the place to be.

There are your five basketball venues that one has to attend and enjoy basketball.

Hardly weeks have passed since some of basketball players of Tennessee high school were found guilty of sexually abusing one students. The leading prosecutor however claimed that new evidence has shown three other freshmen students were sexually abused in the process. At the same time, the reluctant to report the matter to the authorities found some three officials in hot soup as they were arrested and charged.

Andre Montgomery, the boys’ basketball coach, Karl Williams, an assistant coach and Allard “Jesse” Nayadley, Ooltewah High School’s athletic director and assistant principal were aligned in court on Thursday for failure to notify the police on the incident. They are to be sentenced on a hearing schedule to take place on the 21^st day of January.

The case was opened up after one student was injured to an extent of requiring a surgery. The incident that took place on the 22^nd day of December 2015 at Gatlinburg, Tennessee where the boys’ team was taking part in a tournament saw three juveniles charged with aggravated assault and aggravated rape.

Reports claimed that a 17 year old boy sodomized a 15-year old with a pool stick. Two of the assailants aged 16 years held the victim down. This was according to victim’s grandmother testimony. However, police reports failed to identify the pool stick used to perform the uncouth act. The grandmother also added that no adult was round during the incident.

According to police reports, the coach rushed the victim to Knoxville hospital where surgery was conducted. The victim was after few days released from the hospital and is now recovering at his home. The hearing of the teens’ case is scheduled on the 26^th day of January 2016.

The head coach at Montgomery was shifted to another department of the school where he was curtailed to interact with students as the investigation is underway. This was directive from the Hamilton County Superintendent Rick Smith who claimed that he (coach) should not feel punished but will have to stick to his new role until the investigation is over. This was followed by Smith cancelling the basketball season on 6^th of January with claims that this would give the police ample time and space to conduct their investigation.

Andrew Smith a onetime player with Butler basketball died on Tuesday morning at a tender age of 25. Smith was named the Academic All-American star in between 2010 and 2013. He would later be included in the Bulldog’s line up for the championship in 2010 and 2011. He made 38 appearances during the 2010/2011 season with 32 starts. It was during a game against University of Connecticut that Smith pulled down nine boards. After graduating in Butler, Smith made an appearance in oversee clubs.

Both Butler President James Danko and Butler Vice President/Director of Athletics Barry Collier remembered him not for his skills but for the kind person Andrew was. In a statement, the two claimed that more often than not Smith would care more to those around him more than he cared about a game. He had a human heart that portrayed the inside part of him and for that reason he will always be a Bulldog. The two were on the front line in praising Andrew for his courageous battle with cancer just like he fought hard to achieve his objectives at the court.

Others such as his former head coach at Butler Brad Stevens who is the current head coach at Boston Celtics paid Smith a visit last Thursday and he claimed in a statement that he has never seen the tough, kind and special person Andrew was.

His family claimed that Smith would be later be diagnosed with a non-Hodgkin lymphoma two years ago. He immediately initiated chemotherapy in 2014 which proved beneficial as he was able to regain his fitness and returned to work. However, in the summer of 2014, Smith collapsed forcing his heart to stop for almost 20 minutes with paramedics fighting for his life until a pulse was detected. He fell into an induced coma shortly after.

Despite having minimum traces of cancer in September 2014, the full borne disease would resurrect again in 2015 and prompted him to undertake an unsuccessful bone marrow transplant in November 2015.

Many will wish to see the NFL games being played abroad and especially London fans. Well, their dream may come true as in a short distance future, each NFL team will have a chance to participate in abroad match in a season.

The NFL claimed that it has been accorded the privilege of staging three NFL games in three years as from next year at the London’s Twickenham Stadium. This is the main English rugby union for men stadium. This marks an initial beginning with more matches expected to be staged in the stadium in coming years.

This comes barely two week after NFL claimed that it had acquired a deal that would see two matches being played in Wembley Stadium up to 2020. This is however expected to accrue another five years in the deal.

This means that about 31% of the NFL will be played abroad with a game played at the Twickenham in 2018. Jacksonville Jaguars who are owned by Shahid Khan who also owns Championship side Fulham will see their games being played in London up to 2020.

The aspect of expanding the NFL game is not done yet as next year the league will stage a game in Mexico City. Reports from a Spanish sports newspaper AS claim that 2017 and 2018 will see a NFL game being played in the City each season. Roger Goodell also claimed that there is a possibility that a game will be staged in Germany which was considered the first priority market for the league. Elsewhere, Brazil is believed to host the Pro Bowl in 2017.

Among Basketball, Hockey, Baseball and Football which are considered the top four games in the Americans, its only football which has the least exposure in the international level and this explains why the NFL is so aggressive in staging what it has in store at the international level.

The saturated aspect of NFL has showcased that a foreigner can’t be a diehard fan once in the Americans but the league will have to go an extra mile in forcing itself in the international market to win the loyalty of foreign based fans and staging matches abroad is seen as the best way to oversee this.

The British Basketball League (BBL) has announced that it has entered into an integrity deal with Sport Integrity Monitor (SportIM). The deal mandates the SportIM as well as giving it powers to act as watchdog in observing and making thorough analysis to the global gambling markets for the British Basketball League tournaments. The association will also work shoulder to shoulder with the league in eradication and prevention of any malpractices that may include match fixing or any other related scandal.

This association between the two parties gives British Basketball League an opportunity to have an advantage the work done by the SportIM which involves keeping an eye on all systems in more than 35,000 basketball events that take place yearly. The firm will incorporate top class information and statistics from the courts as well as from betting information across the gambling market. The association also claimed to have complicated basketball algorithms that would be crucial in pointing out any indiscretion in odds all over the global betting markets. It will submit its findings under the actual time data which will be directed to the league.

The Chief Operating Officer at the British Basketball League, Andy Webb, claimed that this association between the league and Sport Integrity Monitor will play a big role as they try to safeguard their fans, players and other associates from the problem of match fixing. He was pleased to have never seen such an issue in the past but added that taking preventive and practical measures is fundamental to keep away match fixing catastrophe. This would open up the transparency of the matches being played as they will be free from any misconducts or corruption cases.

At the same time, Mark Locke, Chief Executive Officer of Sport Integrity Monitor added that he was pleased to oversee an association with Basketball League. This is the UK’s premier pro league that for long has showcased its honesty and openness in the sport and in turn has played a good role model to the community at large. H e concluded that they have set out Sports Integrity Monitor that would play a major role in ensuring the honor of basketball in the UK is maintained to the very end.