Before the Game

The buildup to a college basketball game is a large part of the overall experience.  At UCLA, as well as many other schools, the student seating is all unreserved, so students line up hours or even days before the game to get the choice seats.

They let you into the arena an hour before game time, which leaves plenty of time to discuss the last game, and this game, and the players, and where they'll go in the tournament, etc. etc..  When they finally let the students in an hour before game time, there's a mad dash to get to the best seats.

Once in your seats, you get to watch warmups for most of an hour.  This is a great time for crowd-watching, and also for dissing the players for the opposing team, and perhaps buying some snacks or souveniers . 

About 5 minutes before the game, the teams leave the floor and go back to the locker rooms briefly, and then the Bruins come rushing back out through a tunnel made of cheerleaders and students.  After this, a guy known as Frisbee leads the students in a call-and-response cheer.

The final pre-game activity is the player introductions. The starting lineups for each team are introduced. Each UCLA player gets a spirited roar from the crowd, particularly if they've been playing well recently. A special cheer is reserved for the introductions of the opposing team's players.