For the first time in three years, the UCLA men’s
basketball team is participating in March Madness. And for the
first time in three years, Bruin fans will have something to cheer
for come tournament time, whether they do it from the seats in the
McKale Center, where the Bruins will face Texas Tech in their first
round game, or from the couches in the comfort of their own
home.
While it would appear UCLA’s tournament draw, which ships
them to nearby Tucson, Ariz., is quite suitable for the Bruin
faithful to follow their team on the road, many Bruin fans,
especially students, are having trouble factoring a trip to the
tournament into their busy schedules.
With the tournament landing on the same week as finals, students
are forced into a gut-wrenching decision: Hit the books or hit the
road?
“I’d like to go, but I’ve got a Friday
final,” said first-year political science student Brandon
Young. “If they’d gotten to 20 wins, I’d think
about it, but they laid an egg in the Pac-10 Tournament so I
don’t really want to possibly screw up on my final just to
see them lose in the first round.”
But even students and fans who planned on making the trip have
encountered difficulties in scheduling a mini-vacation to
Tucson.
As of Tuesday afternoon, all of Southwest Airlines’
flights to Tucson on the day of the game had been booked, forcing
many to travel into Phoenix and make the 90-minute drive to the
University of Arizona’s McKale Center. And in bracing for the
expected influx of basketball fans, hotels in Tucson have
drastically raised their nightly rates.
Still, the opportunity to watch UCLA compete in March Madness at
the closest-possible venue is reason enough to make the trip.
“I have no finals, so I don’t have to worry about
that,” said fourth-year sociology student Don Barr, who is
traveling to Tucson to see the game. “The team’s
finally doing well this year.”
Barr said that he would not go to any more games after Tucson,
but his traveling companion Ben Cramer, a fourth-year history
student, said he’d be there if the Bruins were to make it to
St. Louis for the Final Four.
“It’s my senior year, and this is the first time in
a while that we’ve been to the tournament,” Cramer
said. “And I also just want to see (Texas Tech coach) Bobby
Knight. Maybe he’ll throw a chair.”
“My finals are on Tuesday and Wednesday, so I don’t
have to worry about that. And I don’t really care about them
anyway; it’s just school.”
Though a lot more underclassmen have expressed interest in
going, most don’t have the means or impetus to follow the
Bruins through the tournament.
“I don’t have the money to go,” said
first-year undeclared student Pablo Rojas. “And with finals
coming up, I don’t really have the time either.”