Fan Buses Will Take Students to Game Against BU

Undergraduates looking to show their support for the still undefeated Harvard men’s basketball team can take a free bus ride to the game against Boston University on Dec. 10.

Unable to secure enough tickets to justify sending fan buses to the game at the University of Connecticut on Dec. 8, the Athletics Department and the People of the Crimson—an official fan organization—instead plan to sponsor buses to the BU game.

One hundred and fifty tickets to the game will be made available to Harvard undergraduates at the ticket office in the Murr Center beginning 9 a.m. on Dec. 6. The free tickets will cover the cost of food before the game, transportation to and from the game, and entrance into the game at BU’s Case Gymnasium.

“I know there is that inner-city rivalry, so it should be a good game,” People of the Crimson President Hugh D. Archibald ’12 said. “People are really excited to come out and get involved.”

Archibald originally met with Harvard athletics officials on Tuesday to discuss organizing fan buses to the UConn game. However, the Athletics Department discovered that due to the small size of the venue, UConn’s Athletics Department did not reserve a block of tickets for visiting Harvard students and fans.

UConn uses two stadiums for their home games and plans to play Harvard in the smaller stadium on campus, according to Harvard officials.

There is heightened interest about the game against UConn, the defending NCAA national champions, because the Huskies are the only ranked team on Harvard’s schedule this season. It is also likely to be the only game during the regular season in which Harvard is not favored to win.

“That’s a bummer that [Harvard students] won’t be able to come to the UConn game because it’s going to be a pretty big game,” Harvard men’s basketball co-captain Keith A. Wright ’12 said. “Getting the chance to see your team play a team that won a national championship, a team that’s in a big conference—of course, fans would be excited for that.”

But due to the logistical issues presented by the game at UConn, an alternative trip to the BU game was proposed.

“The road trip [to BU] made a lot of sense because the game will be televised on the New England Sports Network, and we can get a block of tickets because they are playing in a big arena,” said Associate Director of Athletics Susan D. Byrne. “It will be a tough match up and the basketball team will appreciate the student support. We will try to take away the home court advantage from BU.”

After their meeting on Tuesday, the Harvard Athletics Department and the People of the Crimson gauged student interest in fan buses to BU, eventually deciding late this week there would be enough interest to justify the initiative.

Although the game against BU is not as highly anticipated as the one against UConn, Archibald is confident students will still be excited for this opportunity.

“With how well the team is playing and the turn out we had for the MIT game—we filled up the student section without any publicity—I think that will hold,” Archibald said. “People were really excited to come out and get involved. I think a lot of people will be interested in this too.”

—Staff writer Patrick Galvin can be reached at pgalvin@college.harvard.edu.