The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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inside michigan athletics How To Make That Happen: "Right now, we just have to do well as a team. We had sort of a rough start, but we have a lot of talent as a group. Mainly, we have to turn this season around and start getting some wins. The goals will come for me. I just have to make sure I'm playing well." His Michigan Experience: "It's truly amazing, especially being an international student. I have learned so much, coming to this school. At first, I thought I was coming here mainly to play soccer. But, looking back at my three years here and seeing how much I have grown as a person, it's incredible. Being far away from home and dealing with everything on my own, taking care of all my responsibilities. If I could go back in time, I would definitely make the same decision. Coming to the University of Michigan was the best decision I have made in my entire life. I'm really blessed to be a student here." — Andy Reid Huge Demand Creates New Basketball Ticket Policy Michigan's surge to the national title game in basketball produced all kinds of positives for the Wolverines. It has also created a tough situation surrounding student tickets for Crisler Center. The fact that U-M sold more than 4,500 student tickets for the upcoming season isn't a negative — except for the fact that they cannot all be accommodated on a game-by-game basis. Crisler's student section allows for roughly 3,000 attendees per game. Michigan has introduced a new student ticket policy for 2013-14 to address the issue for those who have purchased the 17game season ticket package. The season will be broken down into six "pods," or sets of contests, and students must claim the games in them that they want to attend during a 72-hour window before the pod begins. The electronic claims are handled on a first-come, first-served basis. U-M sold 2,750 student tickets last year, and students showed up on average 46.1 percent of the time. Now, they'll be able to pick the games they want, but Michigan will be taking attendance. If students do not attend two or more games in a given pod, they cannot take seats in the succeeding pod of contests. The program is designed to maximize student attendance as well as dealing with an oversold situation. If a game is claimed and a student cannot make it, the ticket can be transferred to another student at no charge, and the original claimant receives attendance credit. Tickets are in high demand already, with the general public clamoring for seats after Michigan's run to the national championship game. That made it impossible, U-M officials insisted, to expand the student section so significantly. Michigan has indicated it will take student attendance in previous games into account when determining ticket avail-