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Blue Devils encourage students to get tickets

Friday, November 9, 2007
(Updated Saturday, July 19, 2008 - 11:48 pm)

Duke has set up a ticket reservation system to encourage students to attend home games.

Even though the students are known as Cameron Crazies for their antics at Cameron Indoor Stadium, some games have been sparsely attended.

"The attendance last year was pathetic in terms of fan support, and that's something we're trying to rectify this year," said Roberto Bazzani, a Duke senior who serves as head line monitor.

The ticketing system allows students to reserve seats online. Student attendance has been slipping in the past five years, and when the team finished 22-11 last season, more than half the home games were played before empty seats in the student sections.

"It was minimal at first, and then last year, it was a dramatic decrease," Bazzani said. "Last year, you could walk in 15 minutes after tip-off and still get great seats."

Coach Mike Krzyzewski has noticed the empty seats.

"I get letters from people saying, 'How can I get in?' I said, 'Well, just come,' " Krzyzewski said. "I'm sure there are a lot of undergrads who feel they can't get in. So how do we tackle that?"

The arena seats 9,314, and 1,200 tickets are reserved for students.

Last season, some games drew as few as 900 students, Bazzani said.

"I'm not going to say our record was miserable; it wasn't," Bazzani said. "But Duke fans, we've been spoiled a little bit."

FLORIDA STATE: Coach Leonard Hamilton has received a two-year contract extension through the 2011-2012 season. Hamilton, in his sixth season, has an 87-71 record at FSU.

FORDHAM: Coach Dereck Whittenburg agreed to a contract extension through the 2012-13 season. Whittenburg, who played on N.C. State's 1983 national championship team and later was a Wolfpack assistant, went 18-12 last season, 10-6 in the Atlantic 10.

TENNESSEE: Sophomore guard J.P. Prince had arthroscopic shoulder surgery and is expected to be out for four to six weeks. Prince, who transferred from Arizona last December, won't be eligible under transfer rules until Dec. 15, when the Vols play Western Kentucky.

MICHIGAN: Junior point guard Jerret Smith, who averaged 5.7 points and 3.4 assists last season, was suspended for tonight's season opener against Radford for violating a team policy regarding class attendance.

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