Let’s play a little guessing game.

School No. 1 is an institution with more than 12,000 undergrads and 18,000 students overall. It is a university synonymous with basketball, and holds a prestigious history of the sport.

School No. 2 is a connected middle and high school, with a little over 1,000 students.

Which school has more basketball courts for its pupils?

It’s a tie. Yes, school No. 2, Hastings High School – where I attended middle and high school – has as many available basketball courts for its students as school No. 1, Syracuse University. Here at SU we have a whopping four courts at Archbold Gymnasium for a basketball-crazy school. There are a few opportunities to play basketball at the Women’s Building and the ability to change the Skybarn on South Campus into a court, but those opportunities are few and far between.

The limited amount of courts is tough on any student who likes to play basketball, which is a large population at Syracuse. Three of the Archbold courts are full courts, and the other is separated by a volleyball net at half court. At most times after the usual day of classes is complete, the courts at Archbold are packed.

A few weeks ago on a late Friday afternoon, I laced up my kicks and headed over to the gym to play a few games with a friend. I was starving, but I figured I’d play a few games and then eat dinner after. Turns out that was a horrible choice. We waited for more than an hour just to hop in a game. Thankfully for my clutch shooting and Josh Pace-type runner, my team was able to win a few games and we stayed on the court.

Well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but my wait time wasn’t. Instead of being able to get into a game, or at least warm up, all we could do was run on the court while the game was at the other end, and take a shot or two before having to get off the court before the action returned. The other person I went with, junior Dave Grinberg, plays three times a week. With a packed schedule because of engineering, Grinberg goes in the evening and waits to get into a game almost every time.

So what’s the solution?

Yeah, you could come at another time, say Friday early afternoon when I stopped by to see Mitch Gartenberg, the director of recreation services. But even if you could wake up, would a shirts vs. skins game made up of mostly 50-year-old participants – which was occurring then – really appeal to you?

You can’t blame Gartenberg for the lack of space.

‘Based on feedback I would like to have more courts,’ Gartenberg said. ‘But you cannot simply snap your fingers and make that a reality. Facilities are expensive.’

Shola Amusa, a freshman finance major, said that Syracuse should have more courts. For a temporary solution, Amusa said if the volleyball net wasn’t blocking one court, things would be better.

But the volleyball net is an example of how Gartenberg is working with what he has. He has to juggle numerous club sports, intramurals and students in Archbold, which is in its 56th year of operation. For the given structure, Gartenberg and Recreation Services are actually doing a good job. But for the amount of money each student pays to attend Syracuse, one could expect better facilities. That’s why the onus is on the administration. Gartenberg can only do so much with the resources at hand.

I love college sports and support the building of new facilities for Syracuse athletics. But millions of dollars are constantly being poured into those teams which aren’t exactly thriving. Shouldn’t the university put some money toward helping non-varsity athletes exercise?

Sure, televisions at the gym are a nice little upgrade in amenities. But why is a 56-year-old facility still being used by thousands of students? We should have an upgrade, or new facility overall. It’s not easy considering the lack of space on campus, but a solution needs to be found.

‘For our tuition, the facility is not up to par,’ said Grinberg, not to be confused with Gartenberg of the gym. ‘The school thinks about their athletes too much and not enough about regular students.’

Gartenberg said he has been working with the administration at Syracuse to try and find a solution to the current lack of fitness space at the school. Although he wouldn’t delve into specifics, he said that potential solutions have been raised and that students could see vast changes in the next 10 years.

But unfortunately, I’ll be long gone by then, probably stuck in a 30-year-old and over shirts vs. skins game at a local YMCA.

For those who don’t want to see others go through what we’ve had to, write an administrator a letter, protest, or bounce a basketball outside of Nancy Cantor’s house throughout the night. Heck, I’m not great about bringing about change, I’m just decent at whining about it.