The LSU basketball student section sucks.
No, not you students. Actually, you’ve been great.
From the Texas Tech game to last week’s matchup with South Carolina, you guys have been incredible. I saw a group of you passing around beers during LSU’s win against the Gamecocks, and I’ve never been more proud. You guys not only care, you care enough to sneak in booze. Bravo.
You made it feel like a football game. For the first time, I honestly believed the PMAC could become the “Deaf Dome.”
Last year, I attended the Tennessee game with one of my friends, and we were two of four students at the game. It was during winter break, but it was still a disappointing showing. Now, I can’t find a seat below the top level of the PMAC unless I arrive a half hour early.
Be proud of yourselves.
For years, the basketball student section was the weakest of the big three sports and was almost sad to see. But you guys have put energy back in the building this season. For that, you deserve better than what you have.
Those 200 or so seats you are allotted within yelling distance of the court is weak. If LSU wants a better atmosphere, it needs to get those students down near the court with more seats or a better location.
Directly to the Roar Corps’ left is the band — the most loyal of all LSU fans because they attend every event in the PMAC. But what if they moved back to the 200 level? That simple swap of student section and band adds about 100 seats close to the court.
On the other side, a few of my Reveille colleagues and other media members sit with their laptops tweeting nonsense, or as they call it, “working.” 
I’m sure they get a kick out of reading the “hilarious” things written on the dry erase board and hearing the clever “sit down coach,” but I’m sure it would be easier to do their jobs in press row, which is currently occupied by fans. That’ll be hard to convince the athletic department of because I’m sure it makes a pretty penny off of those seats. 
But regardless of the revenue it brings in, that section’s purpose is for media. Moving them to where they belong would open up approximately an additional 100 seats right next to the court.
Sophomore guard Tim Quarterman said he likes having the students where they are because he wants them near the opponent’s bench. Opening up these sections will get a larger number, and hopefully some more creative, fans closer to the visitors.
On the opposite side of the spectrum is sophomore forward Jarell Martin. He said he wants the students near the Tigers’ bench.
Both players make great points, but why can’t the students have their cake and eat it too?
Put the students behind the benches. If you want more students involved, and if you want them to be more passionate and influential at these games, put the kids who pay for the university to exist on the sideline. Spare me the excuse that those fans pay money to have those seats and it would be rude to move them because once upon a time, sideline seats belonged to the students, and it wasn’t rude to move them.
This is LSU. It’s a school. The players competing are students. They want their friends and classmates close to the action, and the students want to be close to the action, too.
It’s the students that make college sporting events fun. So let’s make the PMAC fun again. 
Duke and Florida, two of the toughest places to play in college basketball, have students within arms’ reach of the court on the sidelines. 
The students are there, and they’re rowdy. LSU should put them where they can truly wreak havoc.
Brian Pellerin is a 20-year-old mass communication junior from Kenner, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter @Pellerin_TDR.