MADISON, WIS. ? Tim Bateman had the seat to beat Sunday, up in the second deck, Section 206.

By Allen Fieldhouse standards, it was among the best at Kohl Center.

“Up here, we all stand,” said Bateman, a Lawrence graduate student at KU who was surrounded by loud, fist-pumping Jayhawks fans. “The security guy warned us to sit down. We didn’t. They said they’d call the cops. We didn’t sit. It feels like home.”

The same desire to cheer the Jayhawks left me with one of the less fan-friendly seats in the arena. It sounds like a golden place  directly behind KU’s bench  but it actually had limitations.

I could see well during time-outs or when somebody was shooting a free throw.

But when action got furious, the tallest people in the building  KU’s players  stood up. As they should.

I realized when they bolted, something good was happening. If they jumped up and down, the news was spectacular.

As the clock wound down on the Oregon Ducks, Bateman waved the wheat with his traveling buddy, Ryan Werner of Lawrence.

“This is a great atmosphere,” Bateman said. “I’d never been to the NCAA Tournament before. It’s great to see it all live, instead of on TV.”

 Tim Carpenter