University of Virginia Library

From The Sidelines

A
Midwinters'
Night's Dream

By Tom Bell

TWO YEARS AGO THIS MONTH, the Cavaliers began to
show signs that the future of basketball at the University
would be bright. After ten consecutive conference losses, the
young team, whom many had thought would not win a
conference game all year, knocked off Maryland and Clemson
in University Hall to climb out of the ACC cellar. Then came
the game which really began the team's climb from the depths
of the ACC to national prominence and a top ten ranking-a
61-57 upset over powerful Duke.

Few thought the Cavaliers had a chance against the Blue
Devils, particularly without the services of standout Chip Case,
who was ineligible for the game because he had played against
Duke the previous year before being injured and redshirted.
To combat the Devil team, led by the much publicized Randy
Denton and Dick Devenzio, Coach Bill Gibson sent four
inexperienced second-yearmen and a single third-yearman. Bill
Gerry, Tim Rash, Chip Miller, Frank DeWitt, and Scott
McCandlish played the entire game without relief and came
away with their biggest win of the regular season, to be topped
only weeks later by a tournament win over North Carolina.
The story after that is familiar.

THE CROWD FOR THAT UPSET WIN OVER DUKE was
3350, less than half the capacity of University Hall. Anyone
wanting to go would have been welcomed five minutes before
game time and offered a choice of any type of seat in the
student section. In addition, the student could have brought as
many dates and other guests as he could possibly have wanted,
with not a worry in the world about getting tickets. The
athletic department would have been more than happy to have
paid-for bodies in the banks of empty seats that surrounded
the playing surface.

How things have changed! In these days of postcards,
Parkhill for President bumper stickers, signs in the U-Hall
rafters Mr. BP is AA and records (2,000 of which, entitled
"Mr. B.P.", are due to arrive any day now). It won't be as easy
to get in to see the Wahoos take on Duke this year, and the
chances of bringing dates and friends are slim to nonexistent.

THE PROSPECT OF A HOME GAME ON MIDWINTERS
WEEKEND brought out large crowds to wait for the several
hundred date tickets which were available for the game.
Hundreds of hopeful fans packed the corridors of Memorial
Gym and University Hall. Only about the first 25 people in the
line had real chances of obtaining tickets for themselves and
their favorite girls, but many more waited, stretched out on
sleeping bags, trying to fight the boredom in the late hours of
the night.

The first group arrived at Memorial Gym at 11 p.m. Tuesday
night, 33 hours before the ticket windows were opened. At
University Hall, the first group did not arrive until 6:30 a.m.
Wednesday to start the long vigil. To get date tickets, one had
to be in line by the early afternoon hours. By 7 p.m.
Wednesday there were 115 people in the Memorial Gym line.
By one a.m., the University Hall line had almost completed a
full circle, and a new line had started. Students had already
begun lining up for the several hundred general admission
tickets which went on sale this morning at 8 a.m.. That line
had started at about 9:30 p.m., some 34 hours before the sale
started.

For the most part, the crowds were good-natured. Some
tried unsuccessfully to sleep or study, others played cards,
board games, or listened to the radio. Some tried to play
basketball on the darkened University Hall floor. Almost
unanimously, they admitted that the long waits are ridiculous,
but no one seemed to leave. They denounced the ticket policy
as absurd, but no one seemed to offer any alternative plans
which did not also involve long waits. Veterans of earlier waits
agreed that this was the longest line of the year.

NO ONE SEEMED TO KNOW WHAT WOULD HAPPEN
IF THEY could get no date ticket and were torn between the
young lady in their lives and their love of Wahoo basketball.
Countless dilemmas will surely arise as the sun sets on
February 19, and young Wahoos are forced to decide whether
the agonizing two hours listening to Chris Cramer
describing the exciting action. One can imagine a bold, and
slightly embarrassed, Cavalier, after buttering up the love of
his life with dinner at a fancy restaurant, saying to his date,
"Gee Whiz, I really do like you, but there's a basketball game
tonight. Don't worry, I'll only be gone a couple of hours..."

For the neglected coeds who complain about never having a
date, the ticket situation should certainly be a benefit, for the
most popular girl on the grounds this Midwinters Weekend
could be the one with her own ticket to see the amazin'
Cavaliers take on Duke in the second anniversary of the game
that really started the basketball fever at the University.