Monday, January 25, 2010
Bill Self wrote on his new Twitter account Saturday that he expected the best crowd of the year when the Missouri Tigers come to Lawrence on Monday.
If the amount of campers at Allen Fieldhouse is any indication, Self will be proved prophetic.
Kelcee Sachtleben, a freshman from St. Louis, MO, talks to a freshman from Leawood, Austin Trees, while camping out in Allen Field House. The Jayhawks mens basketball team plays Missouri tonight at 7:00 pm.
Jared McPherson, a senior from Olathe, is part of the camping group “Welcome to Lawrence, Bitch”, and said he goes to all the lotteries.
“I’ve been going to the lotteries since freshman year. This is my fourth year,” McPherson said. “I’ve never seen that many people. Maybe with all the hype this season, with being preseason No. 1 and all, had something to do with it.”
McPherson said the head of his group, Kevin Matlage, helped organize the lottery and that the official numbers were around 1500 campers comprising 96 groups at the lottery Thursday morning after the Baylor game — five days in advance of the Border Showdown.
Ian Sadler, who has worked for Kansas Athletics for a year and a half, co-hosts a pregame show called Center Court in Allen Fieldhouse. The show is designed to entertain the student section, allowed into the Fieldhouse in order of their group number about two hours before tipoff, with awards, prizes and celebrity interviews. Sadler said he was expecting a huge crowd, based on the amount of campers he’s seen so far.
“The crowd has been insane,” Sadler said. “This year it’s been ridiculous, the amount of campers. There’s a ton more than we had last year, so we’re expecting a huge crowd for Mizzou.”
Last year’s Missouri crowd was particularly rabid, as the fans had the chance to see the Jayhawks take on a team that defeated them just three weeks previous in Columbia.
This year, there is no intrigue of rematch — the Jayhawks don’t visit Columbia until the last game of the regular season on March 6 — but once-top-ranked Kansas is primed to make a run at the national title, something that was out of the question last season.
“Since KU once again has an elite team, people are going to compete harder for seats as close to the court as possible,” said Nick Jackson, whose group Prestige Worldwide drew the sixth spot at the lottery. “The No. 3 ranking will always bring more pressure and more fan support.”
Jackson and the majority of his group arrived at the lottery at 5:45 a.m Thursday morning. In order to earn a spot in line, campers needed to go to the lottery, which starts at 6 a.m. Each group was allowed to draw a number for every five people in their group, and the lowest number they drew indicated their spot in line. Jackson said his group had 25 people at the lottery.
He said the last time the crowd was so large was when Kansas State’s Michael Beasley came to Allen Fieldhouse.
“The group was, for the most part, excited that we got such a high number, but most of us just wanted to get home and go back to sleep,” said Jackson, a sophomore from Newton. “Now that the game’s just a day away, everyone is really jacked up for it.”
Jackson said part of the appeal was Kansas fans’ reputation as some of the best in the country.
“This year, we’re competing for a national title and Missouri always provides a good test,” he said. “I want to be there to help provide the best home court advantage in all of sports.”
— Edited by Ashley Montgomery
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