Some believe that “If you build it, they will come.” Sac State officials happen to believe that if you build it better, they will come back. The Sac State men’s basketball team, since 1996, has played its home games in downtown Memorial Auditorium.

Hardly a home court, the school was renting out the arena and having the team make the trip to downtown Sacramento. So much for home field advantage.

They will be playing in Memorial Auditorium no longer thanks to 300 thousand dollars worth of renovations to improve Hornet Gym. Besides the noticeable upgrades, the school hopes to create an atmosphere and generate much excitement among the home crowd. “We want to get the campus excited about basketball. We have a huge football following and want to do the same for basketball,” said David Gull, Director of Ticket Sales.

To generate more excitement among the fans, there are several noticeable upgrades to Hornet Gym. There will be new and improved lighting. Fans and photographers now will be witnessing a lighting system that is comparable to that of Arco Arena. New chair back bleachers have also been added. There will be less seating under this new structure, however, the seating should be sufficient for the program’s backers. A new sound system also has been installed for better quality, with the public address system and music broadcasts.

The previously modeled baskets which were dropped from the ceiling will be lowered no longer as the gym now has new free-standing baskets.

So what do all these upgrades bring to the team and the fans? Gull believes the real test will come in early February after everyone has returned from Christmas vacation and the Spring semester is in full swing.

“Students will begin to show up and fill the place,” Gull said. The women’s team also has found the gym to be to their liking. “Playing in Hornet Gym is great,” said women’s basketball head coach Carolyn Jenkins.

The gym is actually old hat for the women’s team which has always played its home games there. So far this season, Jenkins has been satisfied with the following by the Hornet fans.

“We have had great crowds for our exhibition games,” said Jenkins, who intends to make the nest even more deadly. “We want to make our opponents dread coming into Sacramento and playing in Hornet Gym.”

With the goal here being to get the campus as excited about basketball as they are with football, the school has decided to use the same policy toward allowing students to enter with their student OneCards. Students can enter the gym using the breezeway toward Solano Hall. The teams now have a facility that is conducive to the fans as facilities are the name of the game this year.

The next step is up to the teams to continue builiding the programs that warrant sellout crowds of Sac State students.