Ever since I was little, I've been going to college basketball games. It made me a homer from day one. But I can't cheer on the Lobos from here and have them actually hear me (I probably could have when I was in college, but my voice is out of practice). Lucky for me, we live right around the corner from another Division I school -- the University of Central Florida.

Of course, basketball is of minimal importance in Florida, unless you're a damn Gator. We went to several UCF games last year in this dank little gym that couldn't have been much bigger than the one at my high school.¹ The men actually went 22-8 and broke several attendance records last season, all the while still failing to sell out the joint. Meanwhile, the football team was still drawing 35,000 during their 17-loss streak.

This year, the Golden Knights² are playing in a brand new 10,000-seat arena, and tonight the women's team christened it against Texas Tech. And since tickets are still only $5, I figured why not?

Big shock: They're charging for parking! At a women's basketball game! They have never sold more than a thousand tickets in the history of UCF women's hoops, and they're trying to make me pay for parking? When there are like 30,000 parking spots on the campus? Um, no. (I learned later that there was also a soccer game and what looked like a homecoming dance near the event garage. Still.) I parked in the free lot maybe 20 feet behind the garage instead.

The band looked huge in the new joint. Maybe because they have more room to spread out, or maybe because they've taken advantage of the fact that they have more room to add personnel. They played a lot of the classic stand tunes -- Hey Baby, Carry On My Wayward Son -- but had some unusual book selections. Carried over from last year, the apparent signature tune is Yellowcard's "Ocean Avenue." They also played "Lump" and (I wanted to shake the hand of whoever arranged this one, because it was just so bizarre) Alice In Chains' "Man In the Box."

I expected Tech to run away with this one -- they're a perennial tournament team, and the Lobos-Red Raiders³ game is a battle right down the stretch every year, while the Knights have a new coach, nine freshmen, and two returning letter-winners (who played a combined total of one minute, eight seconds, all during garbage time). So I was surprised when UCF was on top at the half, 33-26. Most of the Knights' points came on up-and-under circus shots, because (as was their problem last year) they dribble too friggin' much and find themselves out of position to pass. Their luck ran out in the second half, though. Tech started playing a smarter zone, packing the lane so UCF couldn't get down there and basically forcing them to pass, which I guess they don't practice. So the Knights were throwing the ball away on every other possession, leading to an easy Raiders fast-break lay-up.

Texas Tech's lead was about 18 when one of the referees had a meltdown with 1:31 left. This guy was calling traveling so much I thought he worked for Southwest. The teeniest little contact or dragged pivot foot would set him off; this game probably would have been 15 minutes shorter without him. Here, he just randomly decided to stop the clock in the middle of Tech bringing the ball down so three subs could check in. Then they had to stop play while he walked over to the scorer's table and made them adjust the game and shot clocks, which took forever of course, this being the first game in the arena and all. It went from 00 to 24 (where it was) to 45 back to 00 to 26 (where he wanted it) over the course of about five minutes. Six seconds later, the shot clock was still all tchwecka⁴, so they just turned it off for the remainder of the game.

Final score: Texas Tech 72, UCF 57. But the Knights showed some promise out there. Once they learn to pass, they could be pretty good. (About halfway through the second half, I got to thinking that Joi Williams should penalize any player who dribbles more than ten times on a possession -- one lap for every excessive dribble.) I'd go back.

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1. Official capacity: 5,108.
2. I'm not being snarky for once; they dropped the "Golden" from their team name this year.
3. Glad someone's not afraid of adjectives.
4. It's a technical term; don't worry if you don't understand.