Students hold “Pete Sleepover” before Monday’s game

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An impromptu memo sent to members of the media Sunday from the Pitt Athletic Department indicated a potential photo opportunity at the Petersen Events Center Monday morning, stating a “mass arrival of students” would occur at 8 a.m.

They were wrong.

David Kramp, Ryan Teets and Mike Tammaro — all freshmen — were at the front of the line Monday afternoon, waiting to sprint up the steps of the hallway and lead their gold-clad classmates carrying signs such as one that read “Jabari Parker Listens to Nickelback” into the arena.

They had been waiting since 9 a.m. — not Monday morning, but Sunday.

By the time No. 18 Pitt tipped off against No. 17 Duke Monday night, the trio had waited about 33 hours to watch two teams play 40 minutes of basketball.

“When we’re graduated we can be like, ‘Yeah, I sat out here for 30-plus hours waiting for my time to go sit in the front row at the Duke game,’” Kramp said.

The three freshmen were a part of more than 200 people who spent Sunday night at the Petersen Events Center, according to Oakland Zoo president Jordan Shoup, a senior exercise science major. Those students led the way to a Petersen Events Center record crowd of 12,944.

Shoup said some students spent the night playing games such as Yahtzee and chess, while other students watched television and played video games on sets brought up from their residences.

She added that some even brought up couches, from which students watched “a lot of Grammys,” according to Kramp. Others passed the time cooking bacon, hot dogs and s’mores on a grill outside.

But the “Pete Sleepover” wasn’t organized; rather, it “just happened,” as Shoup explained.

“We didn’t really advertise it just because we didn’t want to promote people missing class,” Shoup said. “We kind of planned to bring doughnuts, to bring pizza, we kind of planned that kind of stuff. But we really didn’t promote or organize.”

Kramp was a little more open with his intentions, saying the overnight stay was a “good excuse to skip class.”

Included in the actual planning was providing the food mentioned by Shoup. Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon helped distribute doughnuts from Dunkin’ Donuts at 9 a.m., and students received pizza at noon courtesy of Chevrolet.

The real prize, though, was the chance for seats as close as possible to the game’s action Monday night, which made sleeping through a cold night in the spacious Pete lobby worth the wait.

“I tried to sleep, which was very challenging,” Kramp said. “It was really cold in here at night.”

But if students were adequately prepared, the night was bearable.

“Inside, it was pretty chilly, but people stopped coming around midnight, so the doors weren’t opening anymore,” Shoup said. “As long as you were on a blanket — the floor is cold, but it was alright.”

Others preferred a night in Litchfield Towers to a night on the floor at the Pete, as another group of freshmen found themselves last in line an hour before the Oakland Zoo opened its doors at 4 p.m.

John D’Alessio, Edwin Mellett, Jim Kearney and Nick Bittner all had different reasons for their belated arrival, from Kearney wanting to sleep in his own bed to Mellett leaving with his floormates simply because they woke him up from his nap.

A little strategy factored into their plans, as well.

“We figured we’d still get a seat,” D’Alessio said. “We still want to be in the upper student section, that was our goal.”

But why spend a night on a floor, let alone show up an hour early to wait in line for a basketball game? Especially when other, more important games have been played at the Pete and will be played in Pittsburgh (see: vs. No. 2 Syracuse, Feb. 12).

“My dad hates Duke,” D’Alessio said. “My sister goes to North Carolina, so we just hate Duke.”

Shoup’s passion, however, is relatively more Pitt-related.

“We’re 9-0 versus the top five teams, we have an impact here,” Shoup said. “We have a great home advantage, so if that’s what works, we might as well keep it going.”