Experienced fans get the KU tickets
Zou Crew members have to arrive as early as possible to get tickets.
Published Feb. 9, 2007
The MU-Kansas game will begin at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, but Zou Crew, the student cheering section for basketball games, will begin its preparations at 5 a.m. at the Student Recreation Complex with games and other festivities. Crew members will get the most coveted seats based on how many games they have attended so far this season.
In order to prevent giving students who live off-campus an unfair advantage over those who live on campus, games played when the residence halls are closed do not count toward KU game seating.
There will be poster board at the recreation complex event so crew members can make signs to take to the game. Coordinator Natalie Strobl called the event "our way of having a pep rally."
The event's coordinators said they are happy with the improvement in the Zou Crew for the first season of the Mike Anderson era. Matt Bosky said the crew would only fill two to three rows for some games last season. But this season, students have filled at least seven rows each game. Like other high-profile games, Bosky said he expects them to fill the entire section and then some for the KU game.
Strobl said the crew has been improving this season as the new members get accustomed to the procedure.
"It took us a while at first to get going," she said. "They've seen the dedication from the older fans. They've been a lot better at the last few games."
Strobl said the game will be beyond anything a new student had seen.
"I think they have an idea in their heads of what it's going to be like," she said. "I think they're going to be amazed."
Sophomore Will Palaszczuk sat in the front row last year for the KU game. This year, he said he and his friends are planning to arrive at the recreation complex between 2 and 3 a.m. to make sure they get the best seats possible.
"We're hardcore about that," he said.
Palaszczuk said the increased membership has been negative for the crew, as some people are not as intense but just there to go to the games. Strobl also mentioned that the intensity is not homogenous.
"There is a portion of Zou Crew that is incredibly amazing," she said.
Freshman Ann Oldenburg said the spirit is not what it could have been.
"I think we have been lacking spirit," she said. "I definitely think we could have had more support."
Oldenburg said she will be going to the recreation complex with her church group at 7 p.m. Friday and is considering remaining in the complex's vicinity for the rest of the night. She said she is confident that the KU game will have the support that the previous games did not.
"I think everyone will come to that game because it is one of the biggest rivalry games," she said.
Palaszczuk said he is confident the KU game will be sufficiently better than the rest: "It's always big."