College Park -- Crammed side by side on the cement floor, they wait.
Some pass the time playing cards, video games or a cramped style of Twister. Others prefer the rowdier alternatives of jamming along until 5 in the morning with a couple of guys who brought guitars or cheering for a streaker wearing only a backpack while running across the basketball court.
Welcome to the Cole Field House Camp-Out, which transforms the Terrapins' home arena into an all-night dorm party. Nearly 2,300 lined up inside Cole on Thursday night to guarantee themselves one or two of the 4,000 general-admission tickets -- available to the university's 30,000 students -- that would be distributed the next morning for tomorrow's North Carolina game.
Because each student can pick up an extra ticket with another student's registration card, campus police sealed Cole about 1 a.m. to ensure that everyone sleeping inside would get a ticket. It was the largest crowd to wait for Maryland basketball game tickets and the biggest turnout for tickets for any campus event since the Penn State football game in 1985, according to ticket manager Jack Zane.
"In years past, we've had people line up for games early in the morning, but never sleep over at Cole," said Curt Callahan, director of facilities at Maryland for seven years.
As recently as last year, students could get their tickets for Atlantic Coast Conference games up until tip-off. The ticket supply for tomorrow's game at 14,500-seat Cole lasted 2 hours, 40 minutes after distribution began, and the line started to form at 7:30 a.m. Thursday. All Maryland's home games have been sold out.
"We know we're insane," said Paul Chen, a freshman from Potomac who received the first ticket after 23 hours of waiting. "This [camp-out] separates the boys from the men, those willing to be psychotic and those who choose not."
And those who chose to come were prepared. Students wrapped themselves in blankets and sleeping bags, munching on delivered pizza and drinking anything with caffeine.
With the North Carolina-Duke game played that night, many students huddled around portable televisions to root for the upset.
"It's become a social event," said Jenna Beitrand, a freshman from Syracuse, N.Y. "You talk to the people around you and get to know them pretty well. It's like a party without the alcohol."
Although the festivities proved diverting, no one forgot the main goal -- a seat to see Maryland and North Carolina, the top two teams in the ACC.
"With what UNC and Maryland is ranked, it's a once-in-a-lifetime event," said Walter Kong, a sophomore from Timonium. "My friends and I had to be here to see the biggest game since Len Bias died. Even if we lose, it'll be worth it to be here."
With a packed crowd inside Cole by midnight, many felt it was worth sacrificing their Thursday nights, a big party night in College Park.
"You only get to see North Carolina once a year," said David Jones, a senior from College Park who arrived at Cole at noon. "Beer is here year-round."
When campus police closed off Cole, nearly 100 students remained outside in 30-degree weather. After some students lighted a fire inside a Dumpster to keep warm, campus police allowed them just inside the doors, but couldn't promise them tickets.
Nelu Modali, a senior from Bowie, got to Cole at 1:30 a.m. and stood outside for 1 1/2 hours before getting inside.
Outside Cole
"I really didn't know what to think standing out in the cold," Modali said. "I was going to go home after 30 minutes outside and went all the way back to my car. But I decided to stick it out. I didn't know I was going to get a ticket until I had them in my hands [at 8:30 a.m.]."
All the students let in at 3 a.m. received tickets, but a group of more than 600 formed outside at 6 a.m. Those students had to stand for three hours before hearing that the game was sold out.
Only 75 of that 6 a.m. group nabbed tickets. A graduate student who called in sick to her student-teaching job at an elementary school grabbed the last two tickets at 9 a.m.
"We were dying out there," said the student, who asked not to be identified. "It was so cold. But I have tickets now, so I really don't care anymore."
But the students who waited and did not get tickets had some problems with the ticket system.
"I feel absolutely miserable," said Brian Levin, a senior from Baltimore who joined the 600 waiting outside. "Every time we asked, they said there were still tickets inside. I wished that they would have told us there were only a hundred left, and most of us could have gone an hour ago.
"It's ridiculous, and I won't hear the end of it. My roommate slept inside last night, and he's going to the game and I'll be watching it on TV."
Evolution of the camp-out
The most famous camp-outs have taken place at Duke, where students have camped out in tents for days waiting for student tickets.
The first Cole Camp-Out occurred because of the 1,500 student tickets available for the Massachusetts game at the Baltimore Arena. Campus police were not prepared for 1,000 students camping out.
Students brought couches and chairs, trashing the inside of Cole, a campus policeman said.
"We weren't ready for the volume of the first one," said Lt. Larry Volz, commander of the special events unit. "We now have made adjustments."
A sign outside the field house says that alcohol, drugs, furniture, mattresses and other bulky items are prohibited. Large TVs and VCRs fall into the "bulky items" category.
"We never had so many problems of people bringing all that stuff and butting in line," Callahan said. "But we had a meeting and straightened the system out."
The camp-out returned at the ticket distributions for the Duke and Virginia games. However, for 4,000 student tickets, 1,200 camped out for Duke and 700 for Virginia, and ticket supplies lasted until 1 p.m. for both games.
Andy Childs, a sophomore from Chicago, camped out for Virginia at 11:30 the night before.
"It's not worth sleeping out here," he said after getting his tickets the next morning. "It was really pathetic last night."
Camp-out, Part II
The Friday ticket distribution guaranteed admission only and not specific seating. For that reason, several students said that they plan to arrive at Cole for tomorrow's 9 p.m. game between noon and 3 p.m.
But campus officials expect to follow their policy of allowing students inside two hours before game time.
"Right now, there is no way we can allow students inside," Callahan said. "There would be no way to control them once they're inside. The situation is that they have their tickets now and there are really no bad seats at Cole. So I expect only a hundred students will line up that early."
ACC STANDINGS
%
Conference Overall
.. .. .. .. .. W .. L .. .. Pct .. .. W .. L .. .. Pct
UNC . .. .. .. 8 .. 1 .. . .889 .. . 18 .. 1 .. . .947
Maryland .. .. 7 .. 2 .. . .778 .. . 17 .. 4 .. . .810
Ga. Tech .. .. 6 .. 3 .. . .667 .. . 15 .. 6 .. . .714
Virginia .. .. 6 .. 3 .. . .667 .. . 13 .. 6 .. . .684
W. Forest . .. 5 .. 3 .. . .625 .. . 14 .. 4 .. . .778
Clemson ... .. 3 .. 6 .. . .333 .. . 12 .. 6 .. . .667
Fla. St. .. .. 3 .. 6 .. . .333 .. . 10 .. 8 .. . .556
N.C. State ... 2 .. 7 .. . .222 .. . 10 .. 9 .. . .526
Duke ... .. .. 0 .. 9 .. . .000 .. . 10 . 11 .. . .476
Saturday's results
Ga. Tech 100, Maryland 91
Clemson 51, Duke 44
W. Forest 68, Winthrop 54
Virginia 76, Fla. St. 63, OT
N. Carolina 82, N.C. State 63
Tomorrow's game
N. Carolina at Maryland, 9 p.m.