January 1, 1999

By Manuel Perez-Rivas
Washington Post Staff Writer

Move over van Gogh. The hottest ticket in town these days is for a show in College Park.

Come Sunday, the University of Maryland's Cole Field House will be packed to the rafters with thousands of basketball-hungry fans out to see the Terrapins -- the only big-name bright spot in an otherwise lackluster local sports season.

With the Redskins finally finished, the Wizards locked out, the Capitals losing more than they're winning and the Hoyas' glory years but a foggy memory, the 13-1 Maryland men's basketball team -- currently ranked No. 4 in the nation -- has become Washington's main sports attraction. And Sunday's game against conference rival Duke, ranked No. 2, will be a big one for the Terrapins.

Last month, thousands of Maryland students camped out all night in line for a chance to grab a ticket to Sunday's game. With the game sold out, a university official said he had heard of people paying more than $1,000 each for tickets with a face value of $23.

"We've been buying and selling Maryland tickets for years, but never have I seen demand like there is today," said Danny Matta, a longtime Terps fan and the owner of Great Seats Inc., a ticket brokering firm just a block from the College Park campus. "It's absolutely off the wall!"

"If I had 300 or 400 tickets, I could have sold them easily," said Bruce Hall, a Reston-based broker of sports tickets. "But these tickets are hard to come by."

Officials, students and other fans say College Park has not seen a season like this one in more than a decade. And Sunday's game could be Maryland's biggest test in a long time; one that could prove, many Terps fans said this week, that this team deserves to be ranked among the very best in the nation. Some even said a victory against Duke would make a good case for a No. 1 ranking.

"If Maryland beats Duke, then it will prove that Maryland is for real," said Don Adam, a junior psychology major who waited in line for 17 hours last month to buy his ticket to the game. Like countless other students, Adam will be returning to campus from winter recess to attend the game.

"Everybody's crazy about this team," he said by telephone from his parents' home in Baltimore. "It's going to be great."

Jack Zane, the university's ticket manager, said he hasn't seen anything like it in his 10 years on the job. Tickets for the 14,500-seat arena, he said, were sold out in just over three hours.

"We've never had this kind of interest since I've been the ticket manager," Zane said. "It's surpassed everything we've ever done, when you look at it as one game."

Zane said he had heard that some people were selling tickets for as much as $1,250. "That's a lot of money," he said. "There's always somebody out there trying to make a buck." He said he heard that even some student tickets, which can be used only with a student ID, have been sold for $250.

Matta, the College Park ticket broker, who will be attending the game, said the lack of a pro basketball season, so far, has helped drive prices up.

"You've got some people who would spend $100 a game to go see four or five Wizards games who are now going to see one Maryland game instead. People want to see basketball, and this is the best game in town." But mainly, he said, it's Terps fans who are buying the tickets. "You go to the games, and you can feel the intensity this year."

The caliber of players such as guard Steve Francis, Matta said, has only added to the fan interest. "They're just very, very exciting to watch. This team plays a great game," Matta said. "Steve Francis, when he becomes airborne, doesn't come down for five minutes."

At R.J. Bentley's on Route 1, owner John Brown is expecting a full house on Sunday. The restaurant has reservations booked all day, starting at 10:30 a.m. Brown, who said he is friends with Terps coach Gary Williams and knows the players, said the team would be getting as much attention this season even if National Basketball Association games were being played.

"These kids are for real. They're not millionaires. They're going out there and giving it their all, and people appreciate that," Brown said. Brown, who has seen teams come and go for 20 years, said he has never before seen the kind of anticipation this game is generating. The whole university community, he said, is coming out for this game. "It's more than just a basketball game. It's tremendous."

Todd Badillo, a College Park sophomore studying kinesiological sciences, is traveling from Connecticut to attend the game with a group of about 15 fraternity brothers and friends. Then he's going back home until classes start later this month. "Last year, Duke just blew us out," Badillo said. "This year, we have a better team, and people really want to see us beat Duke."

Badillo said he is not surprised that people are paying hundreds of dollars for tickets to the game. "But there's not enough money to make me give up my ticket," he said. "It's too precious. Way too precious."