DAYTON, OHIO — Jennifer Aytes was looking forward to some sweet, warm weather to go along with some Sweet 16 basketball this week in San Antonio, Tex.
"It'd be a better spring break destination than Dayton," the Kansas University sophomore said.
Aytes and five friends were among a handful of KU students who watched the Jayhawks defeat Syracuse 87-58 Sunday during the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
"I thought it'd be a lot closer than it was," Aytes said. "But I knew if we played the way we were capable of playing, we'd be all right."
Aytes and her friends landed San Antonio tickets through a lottery for KU students. In all, 1,250 tickets were issued to KU for distribution for the San Antonio games compared with only 350 for first- and second-round games in Dayton.
Those 1,250 tickets are spoken for by players' and coaches' families, alumni, faculty and students. Faculty and students who won the ticket lottery should call the ticket office at 864-3141 to confirm that they want their tickets, said Rodney Jones, who manages ticket operations for the athletics department.
But fans still wanting tickets aren't out of luck. Tickets were still available through the Alamo Dome Sunday afternoon. The dome's box office number is 800/884-DOME.
And, Jones said, some of KU's reserved tickets might not be used. Fans can call the KU ticket office to check on ticket availability, he said.
Jones said he expected a good KU following in San Antonio.
"I think our student interest will be up a little bit," he said.
Few students made the trip to Dayton, but the KU crowd which was concentrated behind the bench during both Jayhawk games still managed to be vocal.
"We got going pretty good," said Adam Reuter, a Lawrence resident. "The crowd was pretty good. We were really getting upset with the officials, though."
Dave Collison, father of KU player Nick Collison, was one of the Jayhawk fans planning a trip to the Lone Star State.
"It'll be a good trip," he said. "Hopefully, we'll stay there the whole weekend."
He said Sunday's solid win should give the team momentum going into the next round of competition.
"Awesome game," he said. "They played it like it was their last chance to play."
Jack Leatherman, a Lawrence resident and 1959 KU graduate, also was looking forward to a San Antonio trip.
"It's a lovely town," he said. "Dayton's been good to us, though. It'll be fun, win or lose."
Leatherman said he'd been to Final Four games that didn't involve KU. But he was hoping to cheer on the Jayhawks this time around.
"It's almost easier when your team's not there, because you can sit back and watch other people make fools of themselves," he said.
"But," he added, "I'm ready to make a fool of myself."
Staff writer Terry Rombeck can be reached at 832-7145.
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