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Terp tickets are sold out in two days

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 28, 2001

Maryland fans Tuesday snapped up all of the 4,500 Final Four tickets allotted to the school and scrambled to arrange travel this weekend to Minneapolis, site of the event.

"It's been an absolute madhouse. When we started at 8 a.m., we had long lines at both the general ticket office and the Terrapin Club office waiting for us," Terrapin Club executive director Andrew Plenn told the Washington Times. "The Georgetown game (last week) was great, but it doesn't compare to this. We've broken through finally, and the fans are responding."

Of the 4,500 tickets Maryland (and every Final Four team) receives, about 3,000 will go to members of the Terrapin Club, which funds athletic scholarships. Students will receive 450 tickets, and the rest will be held for team and university officials, band members and other internal uses.

More than 100 students camped out overnight to make sure they bought tickets. The student allotment wasn't the quickest to be sold, however, largely because tickets cost $140 or $160 each and hotel and airfare push a trip's minimum cost beyond $1,000, out of reach for most students.

With the Terps in the semifinals, top prices among local brokers in the secondary market soared from $7,500 to $10,000. Most broker sales, however, have been for seats costing between $750 and $2,000. Each ticket is good for all three Final Four games.

MEMORY LANE: He married his wife in Minneapolis. They had three of their children there. Arizona coach Lute Olson hopes to win his second championship there.

"Minneapolis has a lot of fond memories for me," Olson, 66, said.

The return also will be a tough reminder. Olson's wife, Bobbi, died of ovarian cancer Jan. 1.

"They need to warm it up between now and Saturday," he said. "It's a beautiful city when the weather is right."

If Arizona goes the distance, Olson would become the oldest coach to win a title.

CBS HAPPY: Although a meeting between No. 1 seeds Duke and Stanford in the national semifinals had the potential for big ratings, CBS executives are happy with both of Saturday's matchups.

Victories by Michigan State and Arizona on Sunday mean the Midwest and West Coast will be represented, and the Duke-Maryland matchup will pit two ACC teams. The Blue Devils-Terrapins game will be played in prime time, after the Spartans-Wildcats.

"We are elated with the field," said Mike Aresco, senior vice president of programing at CBS Sports. "It has everything you would want. It has regional balance, great teams and what looks like incredibly competitive matchups."

Overall, the tournament's ratings are averaging 5.8 with a 13 share, a decrease of 2 percent from last year's 5.9/13. Each rating point represents about 1-million TV homes. Share represents the percentage of television sets in use tuned to the show.

The 2000 tournament finished with the worst overall rating since CBS started airing the event in 1982.

ARENAS GETS RESPECT: Gilbert Arenas' game appears almost choreographed, filled with feints and jukes, deft dunks, arching jumpers, slashing cuts, crossovers and catlike steals.

His performance continues to draw accolades -- from teammates and coaches.

The praises are piling up for the Arizona sophomore, a shooting guard whose 18-point first-half surge helped propel the Wildcats past Illinois 87-81 and into the Final Four.

His backcourt mate, point guard Jason Gardner, said Arenas, 19, is beginning to live up to others' expectations.

"He's been having a great season," Gardner said. "Toward the end of the season, he's been one of the main reasons why this team has been doing what we are doing."

Arenas' 21 points in Sunday's Midwest Region final earned him the Most Outstanding Player award.

"I think Gilbert can be as good as Gilbert wants to be," Olson said. "Offensively, he was just unbelievable in that first half (against Illinois)."

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