The last 400 student tickets -- lower-level ones, it turns out -- are to be distributed at the Sun Dome at 5 p.m. today, but the line was already about 120 fans deep at noon, when USF officials had said students should start lining up. No companion tickets will be sold, no holding places for friends, nothing but one ticket for each student with ID.

The smart fans have umbrellas and lawn chairs to help them survive the afternoon, laptops and decks of cards to pass time. Some are even digging beach umbrellas into the grass on the Sun Dome's east side. It's one last boost of exposure and excitement for USF, with at least two TV trucks lined up for live reports from the hottest ticket in town.

The cynic in me thinks it's a little cruel to schedule hundreds of kids to line up in direct 90-degree heat for a few hours, especially when they're doing so directly outside a climate-controlled arena with several thousand empty seats, but then again, the tickets are free, after all.

The secondary market for tickets continues to be strong, with pairs of tickets selling on eBay.com in the $160 range this morning, at least double face value. Cheapest on there in the past 24 hours has been $66 for a single student ticket.