Ticket Madness Is on for NCAA Tournament Games

HP Pavilion wil host six NCAA games this week

March Madness is bouncing into the Bay Area this week with HP Pavilion in San Jose hosting second- and third-round games of the prestigious NCAA basketball tournament.

And with that, the scrum for tickets was on.

Cal, which plays UNLV on Thursday afternoon already unloaded its meager 200-ticket allotment. Tickets were still available on the NCAA’s website and on Ticketmaster.

“We’re down to several hundred tickets remaining for the general public,” said Jeff Tourial, an assistant commissioner with the West Coast Conference which is hosting the local games. “Anyone who’s interested, I would act sooner rather than later.”

The secondary ticket market was in full swing with Stub Hub listing tickets between $19 for the nose bleed stratosphere section, and $600 for the prime courtside seats.

Tourial also suggested fans check visiting team websites like Syracuse and Montana, just in case they have any leftover tickets. Just don’t hold your breath while performing your search.  

San Jose’s HP Pavilion box office was only selling all-session passes which were starting at more than $150. Ruben Ramos stepped up the window after hearing a misguided rumor that he could score $12 tickets.

The attendant quickly set him straight; “It’s best to go online cause we don’t sell them.”       

There are two “sessions” with two games each on Thursday, starting at 11am.  Thursday’s winners square off on Saturday, with those winners heading to the Sweet 16.

Session 1                St. Louis vs. New Mexico
                                   Oklahoma St. v. Oregon
   
Session 2                 UNLV v. Cal
                                    Syracuse v. Montana
   
Saturday’s games are   TBD.
 

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