It's 7p.m.Do you know where your basketball tickets are?

For the first time, there is a 2,000-seat student section at basketball games, but after three exhinitions, students aren't claiming their tickets. What's the problem?

By Zack Walton

Duke, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Syracuse—these are programs that Fresno State coach Ray Lopes mentions when he envisions the student section at the Save Mart Center during Bulldogs basketball games.

Lopes hopes to see students covered in body paint and crazy-colored wigs in a sea of red, poised to harass opposing players and coaches.

Through three exhibition games, what he has seen is a section where three out of every four seats have been empty.

As of Thursday night, there were 200 tickets left for Friday’s home opener against Arkansas-Monticello and 241 left for Saturday’s game—after a surge of students made last-day ticket claims.

“ We have tickets. We need students,” Lopes said. “Get that in the paper.”

Besides asking for support from the school newspaper, Lopes has been visiting fraternities, sororities and dorms over the past month in an attempt to develop a fan base.

Students haven’t been picking up their tickets, and the administration points toward exhibitions as the reason for the poor turnout. However, many students contribute the difficulty of being able to sit with friends, unless tickets are all picked up together, as a reason for not watching games.

The Bulldog Basketball Extravaganza drew the highest number of students when 642 were in the seats.

In the next two exhibitions, 423 students watched the game against the EA Sports All-Stars and 450 came to see the Bulldogs play the Gearhog All-Stars.

Those totals are far from filling the 2,000 tickets given away to students for each home game. But Russell Hayden, director of Bulldog ticket operations, is unconcerned.

“ Ticket sales may not be as high as wanted, but that doesn’t show any problems,” Hayden said. “It shows lack of interest.”

University Student Union director Diane Milutinovich said several factors have led to the apparent lack of interest students have shown in Fresno State men’s basketball.

“ I think it’s because they haven’t been real games,” Milutinovich said, referring to the exhibitions. “Students were still into football, but now its getting cold, and it’s getting into basketball season.”

With no home football games remaining on the schedule and regular season basketball games approaching, Milutinovich said she expects students to start picking up their tickets.

Another problem the committee is facing when attempting to fill the student section, is the increase in seats from 531 in Selland Arena to 2,000 in the Save Mart Center.

In years past, season tickets were given away to students in a lottery.

Tickets for this season are given away on a week-by-week basis, and as word spreads about the availability of free tickets, Milutinovich expects more students to attend games.

The USU has been attempting to further publicize the free tickets by passing out 8,000 flyers around campus and at the Nov. 21 football game against Boise State.

Window art on the USU pavilion and posters located around campus also show that tickets are available.

The tickets are there—but the students haven’t been.

“ People need to get used to the fact there are free tickets and that they can go to the games,” Milutinovich said.

One problem students have expressed with the distribution of tickets has been the inability to sit with friends unless everyone in the group gets tickets together.

“ If you want to go with your friends, you have to get everyone together to wait in line,” Fresno State junior Brian O’Rourke said. “It’s difficult when you have conflicting schedules.”

The USU has not expressed any interest in changi

ng the way tickets are distributed at this time.

“ That’s the point with having such a wide variety of hours the [USU Information Booth] is open giving out tickets,” USU board member Ben Lewis said.

The tickets are available at the USU Information Center on a first-come, first-serve basis starting at 1 p.m. on each Friday prior to weeks in which there are home games. According to the ticket distribution plan, tickets are available with a valid student ID through Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. for games on Thursday and until Friday at noon for games on Saturday or the following Monday.

Students have said that one reason they haven’t attended games can be directly linked to the teams that Fresno State has hosted at the Save Mart Center.

“ I haven’t gone to any games yet because there haven’t been any games that I have wanted to see,” Fresno State junior Crystal Twedt said.

Regular season games will start on Friday with Fresno State taking on Arkansas-Monticello in the McCaffrey Classic.

The Bulldogs second game in the tournament is against Princeton on Saturday.

“ This weekend we have the first regular season games and I think people will start coming out,” Milutinovich said.

According to the USU ticket committee, more students are expected to be in attendance for the McCaffrey Classic and officials don’t see a problem with the distribution of tickets.