Regardless of whether the Bulls are improved or whether they're sitting on 30 losses by the time their 39th game arrives on Jan. 19, one thing seems certain: Standing-room customers will be in the house at the United Center that Saturday night.

That's when the Washington Jordans, er, Wizards, will visit the House that Michael Built. Suddenly a midseason meeting between two struggling teams becomes the hottest ticket of the season.

"We usually limit standing-room tickets to about 300," said Bulls executive vice president for business operations Steve Schanwald, not that such a move has been necessary much lately. "I'd guess we'd go a little higher for those [Jordan] games."