Students are scrambling to get their hands on tickets for Saturday's men's basketball Final Four game in St. Louis.

Interested Izzone members can go to the MSU Spartans Web site to register for tickets to the game until 6 p.m. today. If more than 600 students sign up for the $140 seats, there will be a lottery to randomly select who will get them.

Some students are upset by the online ordering policy after getting an e-mail saying they could get tickets from the Student Alumni Foundation office Monday on a first-come, first-served basis.

Because of the e-mail, some students camped out on the Union lawn early Monday morning to secure tickets

that they never received. Later that day, they learned they had waited for nothing, due to the ticket policy.

"I'm pissed - apparently it's school policy you can't wait outside for tickets, but I still got the e-mail," journalism freshman Evan Schwartz said.

Schwartz said he set up camp outside the Union at about 3:30 a.m. after receiving the e-mail Sunday from Izzone co-directors

Schwartz and some friends joined a crowd of about 40 other students. After waiting on the Union lawn in sleeping bags, the group was allowed into the building at 7 a.m.

MSU police told the crowd they could not wait inside, citing fire hazards. The students received numbered wristbands to mark their place in the line, which reformed outside of the building, he said.

At about 12:30 p.m., the crowd was handed flyers by Izzone co-directors informing them that the MSU Athletic Ticket Office policy for Final Four games requires students to apply online. The wristbands would no longer guarantee students' seats at the game.

"I'm furious," Schwartz said. "Why was the e-mail sent out if no tickets were going to be available?"

Izzone Co-Director Aaron King said he did not know about the Final Four ticket policy until he received the notice Monday morning.

"We sent out the e-mail because we wanted the people who got there first to get the best seats," King said. He also said this was the policy the group had followed all year.

"At this point, we have to go with what the ticket office said," King said. "We're no longer doing the sale."

Ross Ramsey, vice president of operations for the Student Alumni Foundation, said the organization had talked with the ticket office last week about securing a first-come, first-served sale. Based on this meeting, the foundation sent out the e-mail to its Izzone members.

"There was obviously some miscommunication," Ramsey said.

He said the foundation did not fully understand the ticket policy before sending the e-mail.

"We take responsibility for sending out the wrong information," Ramsey said.

He said there was nothing the foundation could do for the students who waited in line to get tickets Monday - they would have to take their chances applying for tickets online.

"I'm hoping they'll get tickets," Ramsey said. "We don't want this to overshadow the excitement we feel about the men's team playing in the Final Four."

Juan Ibanes, a telecommunication, information studies and media junior, also waited for tickets outside the Union. He said the event reflected the problems he felt the Izzone has suffered this season.

"This year, they've twisted everything around," Ibanes said. "I'm tired of them screwing up like this."

Ibanes said he wouldn't be so upset if the Izzone leaders would have told the students about the lottery in the first place. He said the e-mail should never have been sent.

"I just hope next year there's a lot of changes," Ibanes said.

Staff writer Chris Meagher contributed to this report.

Josh Jarman can be reached at jarmanjo@msu.edu.