Students gear up for big game against Nebraska

Nassau Coliseum officials say tickets for Thursday's NCAA first round basketball game against the University of Nebraska are sold out. And University Athletic Department officials say students with season's tickets are most likely the only ones who will be able to obtain the approximately 300 tickets available through the University. But many students are not allowing these difficulties to stop them from attending, or at least watching, the game, which pits the sixth-seeded Nebraska squad against the 11th-seeded Quakers. Students all over campus are reveling in the Quakers' past successes and predicting future ones in the tournament. "I am excited about [the tournament]," College senior Alexandra Schein said last night. "It's my last year here and my last chance at seeing Penn basketball." Schein added that she is surprised by the seed the basketball team received in the eastern conference of the tournament, saying she was "hoping we would have been a seven or eight." Other students also said they expected the Quakers to be seeded higher in the conference. "I think we deserved to get a lower number seed," College sophomore David Eisenberg said. "But if we had been an eight or nine seed, we would have had to play North Carolina in the second round." Eisenberg added that he thinks the Quakers have a "very good chance" of reaching the Sweet Sixteen, a feat achieved only if they win two tournament games. "They are capable of beating Nebraska and Florida," he said. If the Quakers win their game against Nebraska, they will face the winner of the University of Florida and James Madison University match-up. Engineering freshman Frank Migliori said he is "hoping for the best." "I think they can pull a couple of upsets and make it to the top sixteen," he added. But Schein has bigger dreams for the Pennsylvania Quakers. "I would love to see a 1979 repeat or, better yet, a 1920 repeat," she said. In 1979, the men's basketball team reached the Final Four, losing to the eventual national champion Michigan State Spartans. In 1920, before the NCAA tournament was established, the Quakers won the national championship. Both Eisenberg and Schein said they will probably not attend Thursday's game because of the low availability of tickets, as well as other factors. "I have too much work," said Eisenberg, who is a season ticket holder. "But I like watching it on national TV too." Schein said she is not a season tickets holder but "would have loved to go? especially because it was a commutable distance." She added that she will "definitely watch the game." Even those who have not attended basketball games during the regular season plan on watching and following the team in the tournament. "I haven't really followed them but I know some stuff," Migliori said. "I think Maloney is a lot stronger of a player than the Nebraska players and I wish the best for Penn." He added that he will not attend the game because he has four midterms this week, but does hope to watch it on television. College freshman Miranda Salomon said she has not been able to attend again because she has not have time. "But I think I will watch the game on Thursday as long as nothing comes up," she said. The Quakers will play their first round game at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island. The game will be televised on CBS and broadcast on WXPN radio.