Orange Basketball Tickets Go On Sale

Season and individual tickets for the 2008-09 Syracuse men's basketball season went on sale Wednesday, drawing a crowd of nearly 100 people to the box office at the Carrier Dome.

The line extended from Gate B about 75 yards, and if you were in the back of the line, the wait was nearly an hour to get to the box office. It shouldn't come as a surprise, given the team's expectations for this year.

"I would expect there's a lot of preseason high expectations for this team," said Pat Campbell, the associate director of athletics, "and that will translate into better-than-usual ticket sales, I'm hoping."

Those who showed up in nearly freezing temperatures expressed their hopes for the Orange. "Let's try to get to the NCAA [tournament]", said Fred Straud, who bought tickets for all Big East games. "I want to compete for the Big East crown, and just see some good basketball."

"I think the team is starting to gel together," said Don DeGiovine, who will be going to six or seven games this year. "They've got two guys coming back [Andy Rautins and Eric Devendorf], and I think they'll be strong even though they lost [Donte'] Greene."

Campbell said the recent national economic downturn has not and can not affect ticket prices, since they have been set since the spring.

"There's a limit we can price our basketball product at, and we're at it. It's consistent to what we've done in previous years."

Campbell said prices for most Big East games are $30, but that a few selected games will go as high as $33, depending on the prestige of the school. Campbell said that if business expectations are met, there should be at least a couple games this year that exceed 30,000 people in attendance.