Ahead of last year’s matchup between Arizona and Utah, fans took it upon themselves to get the best seats in the Huntsman Center. They’re doing the same thing this year, as Krystkowiakville is gearing up for round 2.
Members of the MUSS started camping outside of the Huntsman late Thursday night, immediately after the Utes took care of business against ASU, beating them 81-44. One student who was ready to embrace a couple of cold nights is Mike Behan, a junior who is double-majoring in acting and economics.
Behan camped out last year, and just like then, he is one of the the first people in line.
“I think that there’s a lot of hype going into the game, and they’re building a pretty solid head of steam,” Behan said. “Why not get a head-start?
Behan and his brother decided to ignite this tradition of camping out because they both have an endless amount of support for their school and the Runnin’ Utes. As the Utah basketball programs seems to garner more and more attention every year, they figured this would be a great way to get the fans more involved.
“My brother [Matt] actually started this last year ” Behan said. “There was a lot of hype for the Utah-Arizona game, and it’s gearing up to be another big game this year. It’s cool because other schools that have big basketball programs have traditions like this, and as we’re sort of transitioning to being a powerhouse in the Pac-12. It’d be cool to get some sports traditions going at this campus, too.”
Samantha Stuck, a junior majoring in musical theatre, is camping out with Behan and a few other people. She wouldn’t necessarily call herself a sports fanatic, but she sees this as a great way to hang out with her friends, and she is also looking forward to the game itself.
She went to the matchup last season and expecting to have the same amount of fun, if not more, showing her support for the team. She had a class to get to on Friday, but other than that she was pretty sure she was just going to be hanging around the Huntsman.
“I’m more just along for the ride,” Stuck said. “I’m just excited to go with the homies. This isn’t my specialty, but it’ll be fun.”
While the excitement is present in the atmosphere just as much as it was last season, there are a couple of difference this go-around, one being the weather. When they were getting ready to go into the arena last year, it started to snow. This time it doesn’t seem like snow will play any sort of factor.
Behan says the weather is noticeably nicer than when he camped out last year, so that will certainly make things a lot more enjoyable. Another thing he hopes will be different is the spelling of Krystkowiak’s name.
Last year the fans dubbed the temporary camping grounds Krystkowiakville, but there was a problem. They spelled his last name wrong, forgetting the ‘W’ in his name.
“Last year the sign was misspelled, so hopefully we’ll get the spellcheck going. Maybe not spellcheck, spellcheck might mess it up, but we’ll get it right,” Behan said.
Something else Stuck and Behan hope will be different is the end result. Utah dropped the game to Arizona last season 63-57, much to the disappointment of all the fans who had camped out.
This year, Behan is confident the Utes will pull out their first-ever win against Arizona since joining the Pac-12 and predicts Utah will win 70-63.
“That’s the big thing, if they can come out with a big win,” Behan said. “Last year they didn’t, unfortunately, but if they got one this year that would be fun.”
@kbrenneisen