'Line' gives Men's Hoops fans first shot at tickets

Though Andy Toole will not officially get the chance to feed an alley-oop to Ugonna Onyekwe until the Nov. 23 showdown with Penn State, for Quakers' hoops fans, the season officially starts this weekend.

In what has become an annual rite of passage for Quakers' fans, on Friday night and Saturday, the athletic department will host its eighth annual "The Line" for student season tickets.

In order to reserve spots in the line, fans will need to collect a bracelet with their group at a time and place that will be announced by www.PennAthletics.com sometime during the coming week -- the athletic department is keeping the place secret until then. The first to reach this undisclosed location will get the first choice of seats at the Palestra on Saturday night.

Last year's event drew only 75 fans, but after an Ivy League Championship and trip to the Big Dance, Bilsky expects a significantly larger turnout this year.

"It's a good schedule," Bilsky said. "We were able to put the Villanova game [at the First Union Center] on the student ticket package, and I know that they put in some more activities in 'The Line.' "

Over the summer, the athletic department wrote to freshman parents giving them the option to purchase season tickets before the season started.

And although these freshmen will have to claim a spot in "The Line" in order to have their pick of Palestra seats, the athletic department has already sold 425 student season tickets to freshmen alone.

"We were hoping to get 20," athletic department spokesperson Carla Schultzberg said.

Both freshmen and upperclassmen will also have the opportunity to purchase season tickets on Monday morning at the Franklin Field box office.

Beginning in 1994, the Penn athletic department began organizing the line for tickets. Where before, students slept in tents outside of the ticket office without supervision, the athletic department has recently welcomed students to sleep in the Palestra. In 2001, students stayed in Hutchinson Gymnasium because of construction being done on the Palestra.

"When I was here the line would be as long as five or six days long," Bilksy said. "And I remember going to practice every day and going through tent city."

As part of the festivities, the athletic department will host "Hoops Madness" on Saturday. The event will feature a series of basketball-related contests, and scrimmages by both the men's and women's teams.

The Red and Blue Crew -- Penn's student-led basketball fan organization -- will also host a three-on-three contest on Saturday afternoon, and will hand out "Red and Blue Crew" t-shirts during "The Line."

"We're creating our own brand of Cameron [indoor stadium]," executive board member of the Red and Blue Crew, John Lubin said.

The Ivy League returns 19 of 20 starters from its top four finishers from last year -- Penn, Princeton, Yale and Harvard.

And while Penn returns its top-10 players from last year's squad -- including preseason Naismith canididate Onyekwe -- the Ivy League could be one of the most tightly contested conferences in the country.

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