Last semester we went to the opening night for UNA basketball; it was a great night for both teams as they both won their home openers. They were successful at routing a team we’d never heard of and now can’t even remember the name of. While we were attending our first basketball game as UNA students, we realized we were missing what we had grown up seeing on ESPN or at Alabama games: an active student section.

The games are free, and why wouldn’t someone want to go see something that’s free? That night the arena was nearly empty as only 1,216 fans filled the stands that can hold 4,000. We realized that one thing that would help the basketball program, school and our experience as students is to have a student section at the games. Duke has the “Cameron Crazies,” Kansas has students singing “Rock Chalk Jayhawk” and New Mexico has “The Pit.”

One of the best student sections can be found in Chapel Hill, N.C., as the University of North Carolina fans rock the Dean Smith Center.    

The men’s head basketball coach Bobby Champagne said in a previous interview that the loudest Flowers Hall was last year was when University of Alabama-Huntsville brought about 1,500 fans with them. He also later said that he felt like the type of basketball the Lions play is a style that is exciting to watch and would be really easy to cheer for.

UNA doesn’t have a much storied basketball tradition. Some might see this as a downer or a negative, but it’s an opportunity to start some traditions.

We do not really have any traditions besides the tradition of not going to games. We as students and as a university should challenge ourselves to develop rich basketball traditions.

And that is what is so beautiful about this opportunity — we can do whatever we want. We can establish something and make a deep impact not only on UNA basketball but the culture on campus as a whole.

With such a small arena, we can make the arena very loud very easily. We may not be as loud as those Division I schools, but in a few years we are going to be one of them, and we need to be ready. Our part as fans in the transition is going to make sure Flowers Hall is impossible to win in unless you are wearing purple and gold.

First things first, we need to establish the student section behind the visiting team’s bench. Nothing would be more distracting than to be sitting in front of a crazy, concentrated horde of screaming students.

Secondly, we just need to do things and see what sticks. Why not hand out cowbells and go to town? Being in SEC country, we all know how annoying the Mississippi State cowbells can be. Why not be those guys? It would be fun to be “those guys”.  Also this gives us the opportunity to play “I NEED MORE COWBELL” over the speakers via sound clip or announcer and to make “I need more cowbell” T-shirts.

Finally, we need to make Flowers Hall jump and make a lot of noise. We could make the stands rock like those Tar Heel fans do or act like the “Cameron Crazies” from Duke who make all kinds of distracting noises when the other team shoots free throws.

We were told when we came to UNA that we would be a part of “history in the making.” This is our chance to make history. This is our chance to make the historic Flowers Hall a place to be feared. We have a chance to make the hall the “Lions’ Den,” where no one comes in and leaves with a victory.