University of North Carolina Athletics
Brewer: Thoughts On Tickets, Rupp Award, 1,000-Point Scorers
February 15, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 15, 2005
I got an e-mail from a fan last week wanting to know how to obtain tickets to any of Carolina's remaining home basketball games.
Along with just about everyone else in the athletic department, I get a lot of questions about available tickets for games in the Smith Center. Rarely can anyone offer any help.
All the tickets are gone before they are even printed. After a large supply is set aside for students, the rest are purchased by Rams Club members. It was the Rams Club that raised the money to construct the Smith Center. So members get the first chance to buy tickets. All of them are purchased by that group of people. There is no public sale of tickets.
Still, there is an occasional opportunity for the public to see games here. That's especially true in December around the exam break. Students sometimes do not take all that are available to them. They may be preparing for exams or gone home for the holidays. The extra tickets are then put up for sale.
Sometimes opportunities even arise for Atlantic Coast Conference games. Ticket holders might have to miss games starting at 9 p.m. Fans from Charlotte, Wilmington or from some other distance occasionally can't afford to attend those games because they can't get home until very late. They decide to watch the games on television. Those people usually let the ticket office know in advance so their seats can be sold to others.
Early-season 7 p.m. starts can cause a different problem--people can't leave work early enough to get to Chapel Hill. But, once conference play begins, ticket holders always manage to work out that problem. And, of course, weekend games are not a problem for anyone.
That's why this week's games with Virginia and Clemson have been two of the toughest tickets of the season.
"We've simply been swamped with requests in the last few days," says Clint Gwaltney, head of ticket operations. "It's been our busiest week of the basketball season."
Adding to the interest is probably the fact Carolina hasn't played at the Smith Center in two weeks. Plus, the season is winding down with only two home games remaining after this weekend.
But, back to the question about tickets which may be available. Notes are sometimes posted on the athletic department website (tarheelblue.com) if a number of seats are for sale. The best bet is for fans to check with the ticket office a few days prior to mid-December games in case there are a few seats remaining for sale.
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Finalists for the Rupp Award will probably be announced this weekend or early next week. This is one of the top National Player of the Year awards.
The pre-season check list of 20 players was announced earlier in the year. Carolina and Oklahoma State were the only schools to have more than one player selected. The Tar Heels on that list were Raymond Felton, Sean May and Rashad McCants. Joey Graham and John Lucas were the Oklahoma State players. That gave the two schools one-fourth of all the candidates.
The Rupp Award is chosen by a group of media members, coaches and college administrators.
That original list of 20 players will be cut to 10 finalists. While it's great to know that so many people are aware of these Carolina players' ability, that likely will work against them when the finalists are announced. They could cancel out each other's votes.
While all three have had great seasons, voters will probably cast ballots for only one of them. That could end up in a division of votes that likely will eliminate at least one and maybe more of the three. There are simply too many other talented players across the country.
The Rupp Award will be presented at the Final Four in St. Louis.
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Sometime in the next few games, Sean May should become the 57th Carolina player to reach the 1,000-point mark for his career. He will join teammates Rashad McCants Jawad Williams and Raymond Felton on the 1,000-point list.
This will be of the few times in Carolina history that the Tar Heels will have four players each with 1,000 points on the same team.
There have been a number of instances when Carolina has had more players who either had or would eventually reach the 1,000-point mark. But, this would be the first time there were four teammates playing together, each with 1,000 points.
The 1994 team featured six players who would end their careers with at least 1,000 points-- Eric Montross, Brian Reese, Donald Williams, Dante Calabria, Jerry Stackhouse and Jeff McInnis.
The same was true in 1984 with Sam Perkins, Matt Doherty, Michael Jordan, Kenny Smith and Brad Daugherty.
However, the 1987 team had seven players who are now on the 1,000-point list--Kenny Smith, Kevin Madden, Jeff Lebo, Joe Wolf, J.R. Reid, Scott Williams and Pete Chilcutt.
But, this will be the first time four Carolina players, each with 1,000 points will be on the court at the same time.
