Looking to get to the Sprint Center for the Jayhawks' first two games of the NCAA men's basketball tournament?
It'll cost you.
On Tuesday morning, tickets for the first two rounds were going for an average of $500 a ticket, according to SeatGeek, a ticket brokerage business that monitors ticket prices. Those hot tickets include the Jayhawks' opening match-up against Western Kentucky, the Villanova vs. North Carolina game and the Sunday game matching up the two winners.
In fact, tickets to KU's first two games are the most expensive seats — by $60 — in the opening rounds of the tournament, said Will Flaherty, a spokesman for SeatGeek.
But if you're looking to save a few bucks, wait a day or two.
"Generally, we see the prices decline as the day gets closer," he said.
Fans can buy tickets for single games, or the entire set of games, known as a "strip," in a regional. Buyers can get tickets through the NCAA's official ticket distributor, Prime Sport, but many fans buy tickets on ticket websites such as SeatGeek.com and StubHub.com.
Flaherty's general advice for the first set of games in Kansas City is to buy the entire strip.
But, if you really hate the Tar Heels, and expect them to lose in their first round match-up, you could buy tickets to KU's first game for about $160, and hope to get a good deal from a sulking Tar Heel fan exiting the Sprint Center after a loss to Villanova.
It's a roll of the dice, though, Flaherty said, as single-game seats to a potential match-up between UNC and KU are currently the most expensive single game ticket in the openings rounds, about $233.
Jayhawk optimists also might want to get in early for the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games in Arlington, Texas, as prices are pretty low right now, Flaherty said, averaging about $225 a ticket.
LJW
For the opening weekend at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., each team receives 350 tickets with the option of ordering 200 more tickets. Marchiony says KU picks up that option immediately.
KU can’t sell all 550 of those tickets, though, as those seats include a block that is reserved for players’ and coaches’ friends and family. Typically, Marchiony said, that number is over 100.
Those 550 tickets also include a 20-percent block that is reserved for students. That decreases the total by an additional 110.
The remaining tickets are sold based on the level of donorship. The KU donors in the highest club level get the first crack at the tickets before KU goes on down the line.
Using that system, KU has sold out of its allotment in Kansas City for this weekend’s games.
KU also prepares itself in advance. Earlier in the season, the athletic department asks donors if they are interested in tickets at each of the possible NCAA sites.
“Obviously Kansas City is very, very high demand,” Marchiony said. “We get that information ahead of time so we know what we’re dealing with.”
The tickets KU receives are only for the sessions that KU plays. That means those tickets, which are sold at face value, will not allow those KU fans to get into the afternoon session Friday when fourth-seeded Kansas State and fifth-seeded Wisconsin play their opening games.
Marchiony said KU usually receives a few calls from fans this time of year wondering if tickets are still available through the school.
“Our donors are pretty experienced at this whole process. They know the drill,” Marchiony said. “(Fans wanting tickets) is a great problem. It obviously speaks to the success that the program has had for so long that the tickets are in such demand.”
KU’s allotment of tickets will increase to 1,250 if the Jayhawks make it to next week’s regional in Arlington, Texas. Marchiony said those tickets through the school also are sold out and have already been assigned should the Jayhawks advance.
LJW
"Yes, we are playing the #1 seed, which is unfortunate, but it is also an opportunity to make history," said Junior Perez Carothers, who was traveling to the game on a fan bus.
"I am not that impressed with Kansas," he added. "I am rooting for my team."
While some are going by bus, others are traveling by plane.
Freshman Lexus Miller planned to travel with fellow band member Lankford and others headed to the game in Missouri.
"I am a freshman, actually, so it is an honor to go on this trip. It's mostly upper-classmen," said Miller. "I play the alto saxophone and have been playing for eight years. I'm from Lexington, and I should probably be for the Cats, but go Tops!"
It's the Tops' fourth NCAA tourney appearance in the last six seasons.
"It is great that the Tops have gotten this far along to represent Kentucky and U of L too," Miller said. "It is sad UK hasn't made it, but still, this is our school. This is our time to shine."
All the WKU students we spoke with said they have faith in their team.
Heather Boyan, a sophomore on the volleyball team, said she believed it was all up in the air, but she's rooting for the Hilltoppers.
"If they work hard, you never know what can happen. Even though they're against the #1 seed, I think anything is possible," Boyan said.
The fan bus is open to alumni and anyone interested. They still have spots open for the second charter bus, which leaves Friday morning.
WDRB
“I’m trying to watch as little film as I can,” Harper said Tuesday morning during a teleconference with out-of-town media. “It makes it hard to sleep at night.”
Although the 16th-seeded Hilltoppers (20-15) figure to have dissected plenty of game film on the Jayhawks by the time tipoff rolls around, the second-year WKU head coach sounded more interested in emphasizing what his team must do to compete than anything else.
“The key for us will be real simple,” Harper said. “Take care of the basketball and eliminate silly turnovers. Every time you turn it over it’s an opportunity you don’t have to score, and we need to get it up on the rim as many times as possible Friday night.”
One reason Harper believes that is possible is the re-emergence of sophomore guard T.J. Price — last year’s third leading scorer — who missed three games this season because of injury.
“We missed him so much when he was injured,” said Harper, noting that Price was averaging 15 points and six assists per game at the time he went down.
The Hilltoppers were 1-2 without Price this season and 1-3 in games in which he played less than 10 minutes. After easing his way back into action, the 6-foot-4, 208-pound guard has been on fire down the stretch and appears well equipped to handle the scoring burden.
“The thing with T.J., he’s a very talented kid and he’s really matured in the last year-and-a-half,” Harper said. “Before, when things weren’t going well, the maturity level would get him, but he can play through those things now.”
Never was that more evident than during last weekend’s Sun Belt Conference tournament, where Price was named Most Outstanding Player after averaging 18 points and four rebounds per game while topping 22 points in two games.
LJW
ESPN: How No. 1 Will Fall: Kansas edition
3/19/13, 3:02 PM
#kubball reaches Championship Game of Inside Higher Ed's academic championship
3/19/13, 2:43 PM
https://twitter.com/jmarchiony
LJW: Self 7th in Big 12 in dollars/win
AP: Jayhawks rely on strength coach Andrea Hudy, high-tech weight room to give them an edge
LA Daily News: When in doubt, go with defense: Go with Kansas
The inventor of basketball, Dr. James Naismith, who was also the University of Kansas first men’s basketball coach, will be one of five Laureates inducted into the Kansas Hall of Fame on Friday, June 21, 2013, at the Great Overland Station in Topeka, it was announced Thursday by the Great Overland Station.
Naismith will be joined by Clark Kent/Superman, KANSAS, the band, Drs. C.F., Karl and Will Menninger and the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry. CBS newsman, Kansan, University of Kansas graduate, and Washburn law school graduate Bill Kurtis will serve as master of ceremonies at the event.
WIBW
3/19/13, 8:22 PM
Tyshawn Taylor (@tyshawntaylor) vs. Bayhawks: 30 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 4 steals.
https://twitter.com/crabdribbles
Marcus and Markieff Morris had their first noticeable Suns twincident last week.
Denver's Corey Brewer made a 3-pointer against Marcus, and Markieff was under the basket. Five seconds later, Marcus was dunking alone at the other end on a football feed from Markieff, who had grabbed the ball, lifted one foot while stepping out with the other and hurled the ball to the twin he never saw was running until he was throwing the pass.
"You're going to see a lot more of that," Marcus said. "We don't even have to say anything to each other. I just know what he's thinking and what he's going to do before he does it."
USA Today
KUAD: WBB opens NCAA Saturday at Colorado pre game notes
Are you aware that Jon Hamm has pretended to be you?
Pretends he's me? In what way?
At a charity golf tournament at the University of Missouri, a journalist friend of mine witnessed Jon Hamm say, "Paul Rudd." when asked his name by an unknowing photographer for the caption. Hamm did confirm this.
[Laughs] Well, you know, Jon and I were roommates. Jon and I go back since we were teenagers. But I went to Kansas and he went to Missouri, so I wonder if that had more to do with any kind of an MU connection and to put me in there just to, you know. He's never told me that.
I'm a fan of that story.
Yeah, that's a good one. "Paul Rudd," he just said me. I don't think it would work the other way around if they asked me who I was and I said, "Jon Hamm." No one would believe it. "Oh, yeah. OK, sure. And how tall are you?"
I think you're right. He wanted it to read "Mizzou alumnus Paul Rudd."
Yeah, that's what that was all about. It had to have been, right? I'm surprised he didn't say, "Yeah, my name is Paul Rudd and also if you could just put in there 'KU Sucks.'" I always tell people, in Columbia, Mo., where Mizzou is -- as you know and for the people reading this -- there's a place called Guns, Liquor & Ammo.
Q&A with Paul Rudd
VOTE for Kansas players, team, and moment in NCAA 75th Anniversary of March Madness (Vote for Wilt, Clyde, Danny, 51-52 Kansas, Mario's Miracle)
Big 12/College News
Then, as the Wildcats warmed up, Toole noticed something else. The Kentucky players weren't as big as he thought. Their arms didn't ripple with muscles. Aside from 7-foot center Willie Cauley-Stein, his players were just as big, maybe even bigger.
Suddenly the Rocky analogy wasn't a locker room story told on a whim – he too believed his team could win.
…The ensuing few minutes were college basketball at its core. The Robert Morris players danced. The fans swarmed them on the court. And from the locker room appeared Lucky Jones, who ran into the stands and hugged his mother Vicki.
..Across the gym, in a room three stories off the floor, Calipari looked a mixture of disgusted and relieved. As much as he loved last year's version of the Wildcats, filled with a lineup of players off to the NBA, he seemed to despise this one just as much.
"The program got hijacked," he said. "I can't believe the stuff I had to put up with."
…Then he was off to greet old friends and neighbors, sign autographs and laugh in the hallway. He dropped names. He seemed glad to be rid of the team that never came together. Outside, in the cold, the motor of the team's motor coach churned. His players, just thrown by him under a proverbial bus, headed slowly to the real one.
Yahoo
“I don’t mind telling you I was stunned,” said Williams, the former Kansas University coach, who is staring at a possible third-round match-up with KU on Sunday in Sprint Center if the Heels beat Villanova and the No. 1-seeded Jayhawks stop Western Kentucky on Friday night.
“When I saw North Carolina and the No. 8, I was stunned. It took me a couple seconds ... ‘Hey, that’s us. It’s not somebody else, that’s us.’ I was disappointed for our league (ACC) — two 2s (Duke, Miami) and two 8s (UNC and N.C. State). I don’t think that was good for our league. I don’t think it was necessarily fair for our league, but you’ve heard me say this 100 times. It is what it is, so we’ve got to go play,” Williams added.
As far as possibly playing KU ... “It’s the same thing. You say ‘Wow,’” Williams said in a news conference Tuesday in Chapel Hill, N.C. “But I’m thinking about Villanova. I really am. It was a surprise being No. 8. It was a little surprise going to play (KU) in Kansas City if we win one game, but if you start thinking about playing Kansas in Kansas City you forget about the biggest duty and that’s to win a game to even get there.”
Williams was asked if he “buys” the NCAA Tournament committee’s assertion it does not set match-ups or potential match-ups like KU-UNC for TV.
“I am not much of a buyer right now, guys,” Williams told the media. “They can say anything they want to say and they’ve got numbers to substantiate it. You can sit right across the table from them and substantiate with some other numbers. I will say this ... they didn’t put North Carolina in Kansas City to fill the arena. The arena is going to be filled anyway if Kansas plays Slippery Rock. I don’t know what goes through their mind. It was a confusing (selection) show and I’m still confused and I’m a fairly intelligent person.”
LJW
Final Four picks: Michigan State, Ohio State, Kansas, and those boys in South Beach. -@RealJayWilliams
https://twitter.com/@RealJayWilliams
We’ve heard that a lot from all of the experts all season. Just three days ago, this column promised us there was massive parity in the game, with quotes from the top coaches. Jim Boeheim says there would be ten different winners if we played the tourney ten times!
So which wacky teams did the experts pick to win it all? Well, for starters, not a single person picked Duke (despite Goodman’s piece proclaiming them the favorites two weeks ago). Just three of the 34 experts picked a non-one seed and in each case it was a two-seed. And 27 of the 34 picked Louisville. Here’s a complete rundown of picks posted at ESPN.com, CBSSports.com, USAToday.com, SI.com, and Yahoo.com.
Alaa Abdelnaby: Louisville
Greg Anthony: Louisville
Nicole Auerbach: Louisville
Jay Bilas: Louisville
Jeff Borzello: Louisville
Mateen Cleaves: Louisville
Seth Davis: Louisville
Dennis Dodd: Louisville
Gregg Doyel: Ohio State
Jeff Eisenberg: Louisville
Brad Evans: Louisville
Pat Forde: Louisville
John Gasaway: Louisville
Pete Gillen: Miami
Scott Gleeson: Kansas
Jeff Goodman: Louisville
Doug Gottlieb: Louisville
Seth Greenberg: Louisville
Mike Lopresti: Louisville
Joe Lunardi: Louisville
Stewart Mandel: Louisville
Matt Norlander: Louisville
Jerry Palm: Louisville
Gary Parrish: Louisville
Digger Phelps: Miami
Eric Prisbell: Louisville
Jon Rothstein: Louisville
Wally Szczerbiak: Gonzaga
Pete Thamel: Louisville
Peter Tiernan: Louisville
Dick Vitale: Louisville
Dan Wetzel: Indiana
Jay Williams: Ohio State
Luke Winn: Louisville
kenpom.com
Best printable bracket w/times & locations
ESPN Bracket Guide
RPI and SOS Team Comparison Calculator
NCAA March Madness on Demand will provide live streaming video of every game of the new 68-team tournament as they are broadcast by CBS Sports and Turner Sports.
All times ET.
FIRST FOUR GAMES
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20
6:40, truTV, Dayton: LIU Brooklyn vs. James Madison (Nantz/Kellogg/Wolfson)
9:10, truTV, Dayton: Boise State vs. La Salle (Nantz/Kellogg/Wolfson)
ROUND OF 64 GAMES
THURSDAY AFTERNOON, MARCH 21
12:15, CBS, Auburn Hills: No. 3 Michigan State vs. No. 14 Valpo (Lundquist/Raftery/Nichols)
12:40, truTV, Lexington: No. 6 Butler vs. No. 11 Bucknell (Eagle/Spanarkel/LaForce)
1:40, TBS, Salt Lake City: No. 8 Pittsburgh vs. No. 9 Wichita State (Dedes/Gottlieb/Maggio)
2:10, TNT, San Jose: No. 4 Saint Louis vs. No. 13 NM State. (Anderson/Bonner/Snider)
****
2:45, CBS, Auburn Hills: No. 6 Memphis vs. MTSU/SMC winner (Lundquist/Raftery/Nichols)
3:10, truTV, Lexington: No. 3 Marquette vs. No. 14 Davidson (Eagle/Spanarkel/LaForce)
4:10, TBS, Salt Lake City: No. 1 Gonzaga vs. No. 16 Southern (Dedes/Gottlieb/Maggio)
4:40, TNT, San Jose: No. 5 Oklahoma State vs. No. 12 Oregon (Anderson/Bonner/Snider)
THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 21
6:50, TBS, Lexington: No. 1 Louisville vs. NC A&T-Liberty winner
7:15, CBS, Auburn Hills: No. 4 Michigan vs. No. 13 South Dakota State
7:20, TNT, Salt Lake City: No. 6 Arizona vs. No. 11 Belmont
7:27, truTV, San Jose: No. 5 UNLV vs. No. 12 California
****
9:20, TBS, Lexington: No. 8 Colorado State vs. No. 9 Missouri
9:45, CBS, Auburn Hills: No. 5 VCU vs. No. 12 Akron
9:45, TNT, Salt Lake City: No. 3 New Mexico vs. No. 14 Harvard
9:57, truTV, San Jose: No. 4 Syracuse vs. No. 13 Montanta
FRIDAY AFTERNOON, MARCH 22
12:15, CBS, Philadelphia: No. 2 Duke vs. No. 15 Albany (Harlan/Elmore/Miller/Johnson)
12:40, truTV, Kansas City: No. 5 Wisconsin vs. No. 12 Ole Miss (Albert/Kerr/Sager)
1:40, TBS, Dayton: No. 8 NC State vs. No. 9 Temple (Nantz/Kellogg/Wolfson)
2:10, TNT, Austin: No. 2 Miami vs. No. 15 Pacific (Brando/Gminski/Livingston)
****
2:45, CBS, Philadelphia: No. 7 Creighton vs. No. 10 Cincy (Harlan/Elmore/Miller/Johnson)
3:10, truTV, Kansas City: No. 4 K-State vs. Boise State-La Salle winner (Albert/Kerr/Sager)
4:10, TBS, Dayton: No. 1 Indiana vs. LIU Brooklyn-JMU winner (Nantz/Kellogg/Wolfson)
4:40, TNT, Austin: No. 7 Illinois vs. No. 10 Colorado (Brando/Gminski/Livingston)
FRIDAY EVENING, MARCH 22
6:50, TBS, Philly: No. 2 G'town vs. No. 15 Fla. Gulf Coast (Harlan/Elmore/Miller/Johnson)
7:15, CBS, Dayton: No. 2 Ohio State vs. No. 15 Iona (Nantz/Kellogg/Wolfson)
7:20, TNT, Kansas City: No. 8 North Carolina vs. No. 9 Villanova (Albert/Kerr/Sager)
7:27, truTV, Austin: No. 3 Florida vs. No. 14 N'western St. (Brando/Gminski/Livingston)
****
9:20, TBS, Philadelphia: No. 7 San Diego St. vs. No. 10 OU (Harlan/Elmore/Miller/Johnson)
9:45, CBS, Dayton: No. 7 Notre Dame vs. No. 10 Iowa State (Nantz/Kellogg/Wolfson)
9:50, TNT, Kansas City: No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 16 Western Kentucky (Albert/Kerr/Sager)
9:57, truTV, Austin: No. 6 UCLA vs. No. 11 Minnesota (Brando/Gminski/Livingston)
CBS
Recruiting
3/19/13, 9:16 PM
Word of the day: Humility..
Work hard, and stay humble..
https://twitter.com/wayneselden23
Congrats to Wayne!
The NEPSAC Class AA coaches have released their list of award winners for the 2012-13 boys' basketball season, including Player of the Year Senior, Wayne Selden of Tilton School (NH). Portsmouth native and Butler University-bound Andrew Chrabascz along with St. Andrew's Junior, forward Bonzie Colson joined Selden on the All-Class AA first team.
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