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Pete Maravich Assembly Center (13,472)

Just at a time when it appeared the Pete Maravich Assembly Center was past the point of being a first-class basketball building, the LSU Athletics Department stepped in and began a three-year campaign to spruce up the building that has been known since 1988 as the PMAC.

In a year when the building would also become famous worldwide as the site of the largest triage unit in history after Hurricane Katrina, the athletic department was able to finish its renovation in time for the 2005-06 seasons and turn the building back into a showcase for LSU men's basketball.

An interactive concourse are depicting the history of the great players who have starred for LSU in the building, additional restrooms, new seats throughout the arena along with increased court lighting has taken the building to a new level. Now plans have been drawn for a new practice facility and dressing room to be built in the two to three years to continue the Assembly Center's appeal for players and fans for years to come.

The Maravich Assembly Center is, like the other venues LSU basketball has bounced around in through its first 99 years, unique in its own way. Before moving across from Tiger Stadium, the Tigers set up shop in the Pavilion on the old LSU campus, the Huey Long Field House Gym Armory (now the Cox Communications Academic Center) and the John M. Parker Agricultural Center. LSU and SEC fans knew the latter as the "Cow Palace" as it served as the primary home for LSU basketball for three and one-half decades.

But when the LSU Tigers commenced play in the Assembly Center in the 1971-72 season, it marked the beginning of a new era in LSU Roundball. Now, with LSU entering its 37th season in the Assembly Center, the building is about to become the longest running venue in LSU's 100 years of college basketball.

The building opened as the LSU Assembly Center, but during the summer of 1988, then Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer signed legislation changing the official name of the building to the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in honor of the LSU star who had died tragically earlier that same year.

The Maravich Center is also the home for the LSU volleyball, gymnastics and womens basketball teams.

Pete Maravich never go tot play any of his college ball in the Assembly Center, but the plans for the building came while he and the Tigers were packing the "Cow Palace" from 1967-70. So like Yankee Stadium being the "House that (Babe) Ruth Built", the Assembly Cneter can certainly be classified as the "Palace that Pete Built."

It was officially renamed in his honor shortly after his tragic passing in 1988 and now in its fourth decade as the venur for LSU men's basketball, it is a building full of memories and magical moments. Some are distant, some seem like yesterday. From Dale Brown's first win against national-runnerup Memphis State, to wins over No. 1 Kentucky and top-ranked Arizona. From improbably NCAA Tournament wins over Purdue and Memphis to the building's streak of 19 consecutive SEC home wins in the building that ran from March 2004 to January 2007.

Plus think of all the great LSU stars and for that matter, the great stars of college basketball of the 70s to today who played, first on the tartan and then on the protable woof floor of the Assembly Center.

In this decade, the good times returned to the Maravich Center. In 2000, as the Tigers drove for the SC Championship, the atmosphere was against at its height. In 2003, LSU gave everyone a special Christmas present, knocking off the No. 1-ranked Arizona team sending fans flooding onto the floor to celebrate.

More recently, the Tigers have won two SEC Western Division championships (2005, 2006) and an overall league championship (2006) and the fans have continued to improve the paid attendance average each of the last six years. In January 2007, LSU hosted the ESPN Gameday crew on specially built sets in the building as a big crowd watch LSU knock off Connecticut.

This will mark the 37th season of play for the Tigers in the Assembly Center where total paid attendance is just shy of 5.8 million.

The Maravich Center:
Renovated and Rejuvenated

On July 1, 2004, the management of the Pete Maravich Center came under the direction of the LSU Athletics Department. The building has since undergone a multi-million dollar renovation, keeping "Pete's Palace," in its 37th season of hosting men's basketball, as one of the great basketball venues in the South.

More Than Just A Concourse

For years, the upper concourse of the Maravich Assembly Center was just an entranceway and a walk area for people heading to their seats. There were a few pictures, concession stands and a few restrooms, but it wasn't a special place to spend time before the game started.

Thanks to the LSU Athletics Department, all that has changed. Now the concourse is a fan's delight, looking back at the past and present of the four teams whose teams compete in the building -- men's and women's basketball, volleyball and gymnastics.

The concourse is divided into four quadrants: Pete Maravich Pass, The Walk of Champions, Heroes Hall and Midway of Memories.

Of Pete Maravich Pass, LSU athletics director Skip Bertman said, "This building has been named after Maravich for close to 20 years, but there has been little else done in recognition of his many accomplishments. In the Pete Maravich Pass you will see photographs - some of which have never before been seen by the public - you will read about him and you will see video of him in action."

The other three quadrants feature the All-Americans, the championships and the great memories that have occurred in the sports that occupy the building. There is a special kiosk where every "L" Club member is recognized at the touch of a button. There's a new Fan Zone from where the promotions department will initiate more fan friendly events to make a night at the Maravich Center a fast-paced family experience.

It's all part of the work that has made The Maravich Center: Renovated and Rejuvenated.