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TUSCALOOSA - University of Alabama students vying for a reserved seat and membership in "Mark's Madness", a student support group for men's basketball, began camping out on Wednesday night to purchase their student tickets on Saturday morning.
The front lawn of Coleman Coliseum is dotted with tents and even furniture as the students sit around waiting for Saturday morning which will also include the basketball team's fan jam. Among those nestled on a couch someone brought and "shooting the breeze" with a group of about 20 students after lunch on Thursday afternoon was Crimson Tide head coach Mark Gottfried.
The doors to Coleman Coliseum will open at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. University of Alabama students, with their UofA student ID, can then register to join "Mark's Madness" and purchase their reserved student ticket. For $10 the students get membership, season tickets and a "Mark's Madness" tee-shirt. The reserved seats for the group's section in Coleman Coliseum are sold in order of arrival in line. The first student who arrived will get the first seat in the first row, and so on. Last year nearly 700 Alabama students joined the group that is the largest student organization on campus.
All Alabama basketball fans will also want to come to Coleman Coliseum on Saturday morning to get the public's first peek at the team that is the preseason favorite to repeat as Southeastern Conference champions and rank among the nation's top ten. Alabama's coaches and players, including All-American Erwin Dudley, will sign autographs from 9:30 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. At 10:15 the players will slip into the locker room and their Alabama uniforms and return to the floor of Coleman Coliseum.
The Alabama women's basketball team and head coach Rick Moody, who led the Tide women to the 1994 NCAA Final Four, will be introduced at 10:30. That will be followed by the introduction of the men's team. The men's team will then run through drills, hold a light five-on-five scrimmage and join in a three-point shooting contest with the Tide women's team's best long shooters. The event will end around 11:30, giving fans plenty of time to get to Bryant-Denny and the 2:30 p.m. Alabama-Ole Miss football game.
Season basketball tickets are on sale now. Call (205) 348-BAMA or log on to www.rolltide.com to order. Alabama's home season schedule includes hosting Kentucky, Providence and Xavier, among others. Alabama will host exhibition games against EA Sports (November 1) and Athletes in Action (November 7) before it officially opens its season in New York at Madison Square Garden against Oklahoma on November 14. The official home opener is Alabama State on Friday, November 22, the eve of the Alabama-Auburn football game.
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