The Seattle Times: Sports: NCAA blog: Hoopapalooza at the Key

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Thursday, March 18, 2004 - Page updated at 08:22 P.M.

NCAA blog: Hoopapalooza at the Key

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Where's the love?

The spontaneous chuckle burst from John Hickman's mouth.

He didn't mean to laugh. Yet, it was hard for the UW alum not to be amused by Stanford's mini slump to start the second half of their first round game against Texas-San Antonio yesterday. Hickman, class of 1973, was among the trail of Husky fans wearing purple and dog hats in the corner sections near the NBA's visitor's tunnel.

"What's shocking to me is I've always thought you should have loyalty to your conference, and this is a partisan crowd against the Cardinal," said Hickman of fans getting rowdy at witnessing their fellow Pac-10 team seeing its 14-point halftime lead chopped to 44-38 with about 10 minutes remaining.

The crowd rocked to UTSA's band's funky beats and even chanted U-T-S-A while imitating the Roadrunners' quasi "hang loose" hand symbol. UTSA ended up losing.

"I guess it's the underdog Husky contingent that's here," said Hickman, who's an attorney in Tacoma.

Posted by Jayda Evans at 8:18 PM

Counting mix-up

If you were at the game today looking for your seat in the lower bowl, you would have been mixed up.

There was a number sequence error in the sections around KeyArena's lower bowl. The sections were labeled in order as 117, 113, 114, 115, 111, 110. Apparently Sections 115 and 113 were swapped because of ticket printing problem, causing a minor disorder for those trying to follow the signs to their seats. Ushers repeated the phrase, "your section is two doors down," so much, they accidentally sent people the same way for bathroom breaks.

Seattle Center said the problem steamed from host-school Washington, while the UW folks wouldn't comment about the snafu. The problem supposedly will be fixed for tomorrow's games, but just in case, learn to count like a Husky.

Posted by Jayda Evans at 4:07 PM

Adding spice

They didn't graduate from Alabama and they couldn't tell you what a Saluki is, but Todd Laughery, 31, and his two buddies know how to make the tournament interesting.

"Put $20 on the game and you're the biggest Alabama fan in the world," he said.

Seattleites Laughery, Corey Marx, 27, and Chris Wandell, 26, ditched work and spent the day at KeyArena making sure their bracket turned out as predicted. Marx bought the tickets last spring for $150 for six games in the last row of the upper level.

"I'm not addicted to gambling, just addicted to the NCAA tournament," said Marx, sounding like he should be on Rick Neuheisel's defense team. "Gambling is a byproduct of the tournament."

(Oh, and if you didn't know: A Saluki is a breed of Egyptian dog known for its hunting skills and speed.)

Posted by Jayda Evans at 3:42 PM

Whose court is this?

Here at the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, the first things local fans have noticed is that the normal KeyArena court is different that the one normally here for the Sonics.

Instead, a court from Everett Events Center is being used.

The Sonics' two-toned court has the NBA three-point line that's filled in with a different shade. The NCAA planners ruled that adding the college three-point arch inside the painted semicircle would be too confusing. The process was completed Monday and was part of the tournament cost set about a year ago.

When the tournament was here in 1999, the NCAA used the defunct Seattle Reign court.

It'll be a quick change back to NBA standards, though. The NCAA departs Saturday night and the Sonics return to host the Orlando Magic at KeyArena on Sunday.

Posted by Jayda Evans at 3:14 PM

Scalper's special

Anybody think of buying tickets online or through the popular Total Ticket Service?

While those companies were hawking tickets for today's sessions at prices ranging from $225 for the Gonzaga game to the halftime-slashed price of $50 for the first session, scalpers outside KeyArena were practically giving away front row seats to the opening two games for $20.

So maybe that is the upset special!

Posted by Jayda Evans at 2:46 PM

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