Tonight’s men’s basketball exhibition game against Washburn at 7 is the first opportunity for students to camp out in the halls of Allen Fieldhouse for the best seats in the student section.

One camping group started a Facebook group to help new camping groups understand camping procedures.

“I think it is a fair way for students to get better seats if they are dedicated enough to camp,” said Doug Tetreault, Herndon, Va., senior and a member of the camping group “Markieff Morris’ Sharpshooters.” “I’ve been camping for a few years now, and there have been some changes here and there, but nothing drastic.”

The only change to the camping process will be the door that students use to enter the fieldhouse. Because of construction, students must enter the door that says “Kansas Athletics Receiving” at the northeast corner of the fieldhouse.

The camping process begins the morning after the previous game. Students form groups with up to 30 students. The group is given a draw for each five members present at the fieldhouse for the 6 a.m. lottery. After the group order has been established, group names are posted on the door near where students camp at the north end of the fieldhouse. Groups that miss the lottery can list their name at the bottom of the list and begin camping any time leading up to three hours before tipoff on game day.

The first lottery happens Wednesday morning.

Each camping group must have one person camping from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. each weeknight and from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. on weekends. If a student “calls roll,” groups go down the list and take each group’s attendance. Any group not present is crossed off the list and must start from the bottom if they wish to start camping again for that game.

“Sometimes they will only call roll at 6 a.m. when we start and at 10 p.m. when we’re done,” Tetreault said. “Sometimes they will call them like every hour. It just depends. There are usually more roll calls for bigger games because people try to knock off other groups.”

The random roll call can create problems. Dru Walstrom, Kansas City, Mo., senior, said random time for roll calls could confuse campers and often caused them to leave early and get sent to the end of the line.

“The problem we had last year was people would call roll call at 9:45 and wouldn’t say final roll call,” Walstrom said. “But since it was close to the end, people would assume it was the last one of the night and leave. Then they would call another one at 10 and get groups crossed off. We had a big problem with that last year.”

To help with the problems, Walstrom, a member of the long-standing camping group “Phog Phanatics” that has been around since 1996, created a Facebook group to try and help freshmen and those not familiar with the rules. The group “KU Men’s Basketball Camping HQ” will allow students to post ideas for ways to improve the camping system. Updated for upcoming games and ticket distributions will also be posted.

“Anybody that wants to camp or wants information about camping can go there and get it,” Walstrom said. “We can send out messages as far as when the lottery is and just getting the rules out there so everybody knows what they are so we have less problems with groups getting crossed out and stuff.”

On average, 25 groups attend the 6 a.m. lottery, but far more groups are signed up by game time, Walstrom said. Regardless of how many groups are signed up, they all enter the fieldhouse before the regular student line is admitted. As many as 15 students per group are allowed to enter through the camping line, and each member is allowed to each save a seat for 15 other members of their group who have to enter through the regular line.

Some schools, such as Duke, force campers to camp outside in tents 24 hours a day. The decision was made years ago for KU students to camp inside and to suspend the camping at 10 p.m. for safety reasons and because the building has wireless Internet available for campers.

“I think the amount of camping groups would decline if camping were outside,” Tetreault said. “I’m not saying that the fans here aren’t as hardcore, but Duke is in North Carolina, and it’s a different climate compared to here. Plus, being inside is good for the students because it allows us to get things done while we are camping.”

— — Edited by Lauren Keith