NCAA TICKETS MAY BE HARD TO COME BY

Southeast Missouri State University basketball fans may find few tickets available to the school's first appearance ever in the Division I NCAA Tournament next week.

Like the other schools in the Big Dance, the university is guaranteed only 450 tickets for the first- and second-round games combined.

Each participating school automatically gets 350 tickets and can obtain another 100 tickets if it requests them. But many of those tickets are reserved for players' families, university officials and school boosters.

Of 350 tickets, perhaps 100 to 150 tickets might be available to the general public, said Don Kaverman, Southeast's athletics director.

Kaverman said Thursday that the university won't request the additional 100 tickets until it learns where the team will play. First- and second-round games will be played next week at eight sites: Buffalo, N.Y.; Winston-Salem, N.C.; Cleveland, Ohio; Minneapolis, Minn.; Nashville, Tenn.; Birmingham, Ala.; Tucson, Ariz.; and Salt Lake City, Utah.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association reported that the games in Buffalo, Winston-Salem and Cleveland are sold out. The basketball finals at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis have been sold out since last July, the NCAA said.

Kaverman said the various basketball arenas where the games will be played have been selling tickets for some time. Many of the ticketholders are simply basketball fans who want to see NCAA tournament games regardless of which teams are competing.

Southeast will play a first-round game either Thursday or Friday. If the Indians win, they would advance to a second-round game on Saturday or Sunday.

Kaverman said tickets are sold as a package for the first- and second-round games. The cost is $120 a seat.

Single-day tickets can be purchased the day before the game if any seats remain. Kaverman said fans would be taking a gamble that an arena won't be sold out.

Kaverman expects a higher ticket demand among Southeast fans if the team is assigned to play at some of the closer sites such as Nashville or Birmingham.

From Southeast's perspective, the ideal site would be the Gaylord Entertainment Center at Nashville. That was the site of the OVC post-season tournament, which attracted about 2,000 Southeast fans. The Gaylord Center seats 18,000. Kaverman said about 3,000 tickets remained by midweek.

Fans can buy tickets directly from the arenas, he said.

Southeast's ticket office has fielded calls from fans looking for tickets. "We are putting their names on a list so we can establish some sort of priority," said Kaverman.

About 80 fans currently have their names on the list, said Southeast ticket office manager Joyce Penny.

If demand exceeds the university's allotment of tickets, the school may resort to a lottery, she said.

If the tournament site is close and likely to draw a sizable contingent of Southeast fans, the university may reserve a block of tickets to assure there will be tickets for the fans when they call that arena, Penny said.

But ticket demand won't be known until the tournament brackets are announced by the NCAA on Sunday, she said.

Ticket information

Southeast Missouri State University Indians fans who want to buy NCAA tournament tickets can call the school's athletics ticket office at 651-2113. The names will be placed on a waiting list.

The cost of a ticket is $120 for the first- and second-round package of games.

Southeast's allotment of 350 to 450 tickets won't be available until next week.