UConn students dressed as bananas being resourceful to attend the men's Final Four

If you want to watch UConn in the Final Four, it’s going to cost you quite a bit. Thousands of dollars, in fact, but that’s not deterring some passionate UConn students dressed in banana suits.

There’s a lot of Husky pride for the UConn Bananas. It’s a group of several students dressed in banana suits, cheering on the school’s basketball teams. They say it started as a joke and turned into something much bigger.

“It really shows the community that’s built here,” Jacob Gilson, a UConn junior, said.

With autographs all over their suits, they’re showing love for the men…

“We got one from Jaylin Stewart here. We got two Dan Hurleys here,” Nolan Busalacchi, a UConn sophomore, said.

And the women…

“I see Azzi Fudd down here. I believe this is Kelis Fisher,” Bella Tomaino, a UConn junior, said.

With both teams making it to the Final Four, the Bananas are planning to go to Indianapolis to cheer on the men’s team and will drive there to save money, staying at a cheap Airbnb an hour from the stadium. They also raised $3,500 through crowdfunding.

“We’re taking my 2015 Honda Pilot. Got 150,000 miles and we’re stuffing seven people like sardines and we’re booking it for 13 and a half hours,” Busalacchi said.

If you’re going to be going to the men’s Final Four, be prepared to pay a pretty penny for a ticket. The average price this year is about $706, according to TickPick, compared to $464 last year. That’s about a 52% increase in one year.

The women’s Final Four tickets in Phoenix are also seeing a 50% increase in average prices.

“You look at the secondary market right now, prices are as high as it gets for any type of ticket,” Tomaino said.

Hotels in Phoenix are at a minimum of $500 a night, and in Indianapolis, you can find prices as cheap as $120. It’s still a lot of money for students, like the Bananas, who said going to Phoenix was too expensive.  But to go to Indianapolis, UConn sold Final Four tickets to students for just $40.

“It can be hard. Sometimes you’re pinching pennies, and to be able to get them at that price is great,” Tomaino said.

Great for them to be cheering on their beloved Huskies.

“This is why you come to UConn. You come here because it is the Basketball Capital of the World,” Tomaino said.

Source Link