Winning brings in the fans: The LSU men’s basketball team posted the third-largest increase in average attendance from the previous year in figures released by the NCAA. The Tigers, who rose to 37th in the country in average attendance at 10,373 and one of just 43 Division I schools to average at least 10,000 fans, showed an increase of 1,808 in paid attendance this past year from the season before. LSU averaged 8,565 during the 2008 basketball season. LSU posted a 27-8 record and a SEC championship mark of 13-3, advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to eventual national champion North Carolina. In the eight home league games, LSU’s paid attendance average was 12,034.
Still recovering: A curbside survey by the University of New Orleans found that 59% of businesses have reopened in the parts of in Orleans and St. Bernard parishes that suffered the heaviest flooding from Hurricane Katrina. A group of geography students found that more than 70% of businesses were back on such major streets as the Interstate 10 service road in New Orleans East, Carrollton and Elysian Fields avenues. But less than half of businesses had returned to St. Bernard, St. Claude, Bullard, Crowder and Lake Forest avenues in New Orleans.
