Spring Athletics: Men's Basketball at UA

I grew up as a huge football fan (as you may have noticed), so going to home football games as a freshman was a very natural thing for me to do. I didn't follow too many sports outside of college football, though, so when spring came I was out of luck.

Or so I thought. As I progressed through my freshman year, I realized that were actually several viable athletic alternatives to football. To be fair, football certainly has its own special place (read: ridiculousness) at UA, but spring sports can certainly be a ton of fun to attend.

Men's Basketball is one of the biggest spring sports at UA (yeah yeah, I know it starts in the fall). (At most schools, men's basketball is certainly the biggest spring sport, but gymnastics gives basketball a run for its money in Tuscaloosa.) In fact, you actually picked a pretty good time to be a freshman at UA as far as men's basketball is concerned. After a shaky start to the season, our team is currently sitting at a 15-7 record...with a 7-1 record in the SEC! We have an outside shot at invitation to the annual NCAA "March Madness" tournament, which is better than our situation has been during the past few years. Head Coach Anthony Grant (in only his second year) certainly has this team headed in the right direction.

So...your interested in checking out a men's basketball game on campus. Don't know where to start? Let's walk through this together:

• First of all, every home game is free to all UA students. The only thing you'll need to get into a game is your ACT card.
• As you probably know, all UA home games are played in Coleman Coliseum. As you may not know (at least, I did not know this as a freshman), the student gate is located on the right-hand side of the building if you are looking at the main entrance.
• You will have two choices for seating at a basketball game: the regular student section or the bleachers. In the regular student section, you'll have a seat. On the bleachers, you'll stand the whole time, but you'll also be right on the court...which can be a ton of fun. One of the ticket attendants will stamp your hand on your way into the game if you wish to stand on the bleachers.
• I would recommend getting to the Coliseum about an hour before the game.
• The atmosphere is a lot of fun at a basketball game! A pep band is usually present...and we sing Rammer Jammer when we win.

Our next basketball home game is this Saturday (Feb 12) against Ole Miss. This will be a big game as far as our tournament hopes are concerned. Also, we're playing tonight at Vanderbilt at 8:00pm. The game will be on ESPN2.

Come out to support the basketball team! Roll Tide!