Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 28, 1992 TAG: 9203280153
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
While a young team that surely belonged in the NCAA's 64-team field has played impressively in the NIT, the Cavaliers have learned something they couldn't have with a first-round NCAA defeat.
You can derisively label the NIT the Nobody's Interested Tournament, but you can't prove it by the Cavaliers. For UVa, the NIT has been FANtastic.
In recent seasons, a growing number of empty seats at University Hall - the ACC's smallest arena - have brought concerns about the apathetic atmosphere surrounding coach Jeff Jones' program.
The antidote came Monday night, when 8,551 spectators not only nearly packed U-Hall, but also filled it with noise for an NIT win over Tennessee. The support was reaffirmed Friday night in the Richmond Coliseum, where a loud sellout crowd of 11,092 watched UVa win its way to Madison Square Garden over New Mexico.
It took only 13 hours of Richmond ticket-window time to sell out, 70 miles from the UVa campus against a team two time zones away. Now, the challenge for UVa athletic director Jim Copeland is to help Jones' program wake up the echoes in U-Hall - as the top-ranked Virginia women do regularly.
The problem is simple; a solution is not. Among those Virginia Student Aid Foundation members who buy U-Hall's 5,500 season tickets, there regularly are too many no-shows. The challenge will be for UVa to find a way to put others in those seats without alienating long-time donors.
"I am hoping we can get things done to improve the atmosphere at our home games," Jones said Thursday. "Maybe there can be a way that some who want to be rowdy and raise a little hell can be down closer to the action."
Jones said the din at Monday's victory and Friday's quick sellout "sent a reminder to our players, coaches and hopefully our administrators that there's a lot of support for our program. If tickets are made available and those people can have more access to tickets, I think we would have very enthusiastic crowds."
UVa has scheduled 15 U-Hall games next season, and Jones said he will "voice some opinions and hopefully we can find some middle ground . . . to improve the home-court atmosphere."
Jones mentioned a potential proposal to keep some games out of the season-ticket package, for general admission sale only. That can be touchy. Can ACC games be taken away from big-bucks boosters? And will those on the outside wanting in be willing to buy a ticket to see Charleston Southern?
The VSAF has a policy for contributors to sell tickets they don't want to use, with the student aid organization making a waiting-list of those who want to see a game, and then matching sellers to buyers.
"Obviously, that doesn't work as well as we'd like it to," said VSAF executive director Lawson Drinkard. "We encourage members to call our office if they're not going to use their tickets, but obviously, you can tell everybody doesn't call."
Drinkard said the VSAF plans to poll other ACC schools to see how they handle unused tickets in a league where capacity crowds are a staple.
"What's happened has been inspiring and eye-opening, and gives us some new food for thought," Drinkard said. "It would be great if we could have a full house every night."
If Copeland thought hiring a basketball coach two years ago was tough, wait until he tells some Wahoos they can't be so cavalier about their support.
by CNB