How did you become a huskie fan? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

How did you become a huskie fan?

In terms of the women’s team it was a way to get inside Gampel. First game I attended was the senior night game (actually in the afternoon) the year before the first championship. Colleen Healy and another player were the honorees. You could see it was a great team even then…
 
MLK Jr. Day in 1995. Then through the NCAA title in 1995 and then the 2002-2004 teams but mostly because of DT. Then Maya but the 4 titles in a row with Breanna solidified it and I was totally hooked. I brought in my daughter to the fold who played college basketball, my wife, her sister, her husband, my daughter's husband and so on. At the Seton Hall game in South Orange, I brought 3 friends, two of whom played men's D1, who had never been to a women's game before in person. Their favorite players? Nika and Aaliyah. We had pizza before the game and ice cream after. What's better than that?
 
Purchase1 said:
I was in 6th grade and my moms boss gave her his season tickets and the first game we went to was against UHart Maya’s Freshman year! The rest is history!
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That was my first in person game too! My kids were with me and they were right around your age at the time. My son caught a tshirt and Mel Thomas (who was signing copies of her book) signed the shirt. Little did I know that years later my son would attend Uhart while Jen Rizzotti was still coaching there :) As I recall, Geno benched Maya for most of the game...
 
Sue Bird's locker.

I was a speaker at tech conference adjacent to the arena where the Storm played, sometime back in the early 2000s. The organizers chose the Storm locker room as the green room. So I picked a locker at random to stash my stuff in, and another speaker walked up and said "Of course you chose Sue Bird. Fine, I'll take Lauren Jackson." I asked her, "who's Sue Bird?" and that's when my indoctrination into WBB started. I started following Sue and the Storm, and pulled that thread back to the beginning to UConn.
 
I was 10 when I started playing on a real team in school. I saw Sue Bird and knew THAT'S who i wanted to be like. The Huskies were my team ever since and point guard is where I always played all thru school. So you see why i have a great fondness for Huskie point guards and Nika is fantastic.
 
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Steve UConn72 said:
You were a couple years ahead of me at UConn ('68-72 for me). Actually, in 1965, there were only 16 teams in the NCAA's. (Went to 32 teams in 1975.) The 1968-69 season was Burr Carlson's second (and last) season, How does 5-19 sound? No women's basketball team that I recall. I think the first teams might have played (or maybe practiced) in the old Hawley Armory.

UConn was barely $1000 a year my first three years - room, board, student activity fee and NO tuition. They started charging tuition my senior year. I lived off campus that year, so the bill was about the same. Imagine - four years at UConn for less than $5K total.
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We were contemporaries at UConn. I can’t recall exactly what the tuition, room & board costs were back then but they were very close to the costs you quoted. The only cost I remember accurately was the price of beer at a bar in Norwich - two drafts for 25 cents. Watched my first women’s bb game around 1994 and became an instant fan.
 
My earliest college basketball recollection was the 1957 NCAA championship game, when North Carolina (with Lenny Rosenbluth) upset Kansas (with Wilt Chamberlain) in triple OT. (For you trivia buffs, the second OT was scoreless.) In those days, you could only get those games on the radio. Then I became a big Jerry Lucas (Ohio State) fan, and then Bill Bradley at Princeton. Saw Bradley in a game at Cornell -- their last loss of the season until they lost to Michigan in the national semi-finals. He had 10 points in the first half, and they trailed by 17 at the break. In the second half, he scored 30, and Princeton took the lead, but lost on a shot with 2 seconds to go. When I was in the service in California, I got to see a lot of Lew Alcindor/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at UCLA. I was at the NCAA finals his junior year, and was at his final game at Pauley Pavilion in the western regional final his senior year.

My interest in women's BB started when I was flipping the channels and saw Bird/Taurasi. Fell in love with Geno's program and his coaching philosophy. Started watching a lot of the archived games. Hooked ever since. Try to get to see them in person at least once a year -- at Rutgers, Temple, MSG, USF, South Carolina, Seton Hall and Gampel. My wife is not a big sports fan, but we never miss a UConn game. And thanks to HuskyNan, we're able to watch all the games "live" even while snowbirding here in Florida.
 
I'm from western MA, and I shared an office with a guy who lived in Storrs. He asked me if I followed the UConn men. I said no, and then I started to follow them. In the meantime, I was following a local kid from Southwick MA, Ms. Lobo, who was going to UConn and started following the women. I have been a loyal fan ever since, and also follow men's hockey, football, and baseball.
Yesterday, I was killing time, and was looking to see if there was a women's game on in the afternoon. Stopped at SNY, and they were rebroadcasting the special on the UConn women, 1995, Birth of a Dynasty. I've seen it countless times, but was of course glued to the program. I actually had tears in my eyes watching the national championship run. I guess I'm hooked!
 
Steve UConn72 said:
You were a couple years ahead of me at UConn ('68-72 for me). Actually, in 1965, there were only 16 teams in the NCAA's. (Went to 32 teams in 1975.) The 1968-69 season was Burr Carlson's second (and last) season, How does 5-19 sound? No women's basketball team that I recall. I think the first teams might have played (or maybe practiced) in the old Hawley Armory.

UConn was barely $1000 a year my first three years - room, board, student activity fee and NO tuition. They started charging tuition my senior year. I lived off campus that year, so the bill was about the same. Imagine - four years at UConn for less than $5K total.
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Actually, we both misremembered. If you look it up, "The 1965 NCAA tournament had two fewer teams, 23, than the previous year's tournament, which featured 25 schools."
 
I’m a Johnny-come-lately. I began following UConn in 2008, right after I retired. I did not have the time to watch TV or follow sports while I was working 10-12 hour days 6 days a week. Maya Moore was a sophomore I believe when I saw UConn on TV. I liked what I saw, and began following them.

I had to subscribe to CPTV to be be to watch them on-line. The picture quality was terrible, but it was that or nothing. Didn’t know about any fan chat rooms until 2014. I‘ve heard about the star players before 2008, but I don’t have an appreciation for them because I didn’t see them play.
 
Yukon said:
That was my first in person game too! My kids were with me and they were right around your age at the time. My son caught a tshirt and Mel Thomas (who was signing copies of her book) signed the shirt. Little did I know that years later my son would attend Uhart while Jen Rizzotti was still coaching there :) As I recall, Geno benched Maya for most of the game...
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Hahaha funnily enough I too attended Uhart!
 
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Aluminny69 said:
I went to the same High School as Tommy Penders. He was two years ahead of me. As a sophomore, he was starting point guard ( I don't think they called it that back then). The 64 -65 team went something like 25 and 2, made the NCAA tourney which only had 32 teams back then. Toby Kimball and Wes Bialosuknia were stars of the team. Then I went to UConn, as it was the only college I could afford. I think it was $1500 a semester back then. There were no Women's teams in any sports back then.
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Similar story; my cousin was attending UConn and mentioned they had a pretty good men’s team. Tony and Wes were on the team. I’ve missed very few games over the years, watching on TV, listening on radio or in the stands. I started following the Women’s team in the early 90’s, first in the Courant, then on TV when they played in their first Final Four (I didn’t know what quality of play I’d be watching, but damn, those girls were terrifically talented; I was hooked).
 
Steve UConn72 said:
You were a couple years ahead of me at UConn ('68-72 for me). Actually, in 1965, there were only 16 teams in the NCAA's. (Went to 32 teams in 1975.) The 1968-69 season was Burr Carlson's second (and last) season, How does 5-19 sound? No women's basketball team that I recall. I think the first teams might have played (or maybe practiced) in the old Hawley Armory.

UConn was barely $1000 a year my first three years - room, board, student activity fee and NO tuition. They started charging tuition my senior year. I lived off campus that year, so the bill was about the same. Imagine - four years at UConn for less than $5K total.
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I can go you one better. My first semester at Los Angeles City College, the total cost was $6.50 whether you took 1 class or 6. Books of course were extra. I only bought used books that were already highlighted. I had to buy a new book once for $18. I thought that was absurd. :mad:
 
I attended UConn during the mid- to late-70's, but never really followed the sports teams at the time. Maybe 15 years later, after I moved to FL, my dad, who played basketball for Trinity College, recommended that I start watching the UConn men on TV, as they were getting pretty good and were fun to watch. So I did, and became a fan. Then, in 1995, he and I were discussing basketball, and he said, you know, the girls are pretty good too -- in fact, they're playing for the national championship -- you should watch. So I did, and was hooked.

Aggravating at times, but my dad is always right! ;)
 
Started following the guys on and off 91 on and Lobo was talked about in a televised game. Hey I gotta check this out. Turned out I liked the girls game more than the guys. Cementing the deal a daughter went to UConn in 1995. Been loving it ever since.
 
I arrived late to the party. I have no ties to UConn and can't remember exactly when I became a fan. I do know it was during the Stewie era and am pretty sure it was during the 2015-16 season that I really became a "gotta watch these games" fan. I think before 2015-16, I only watched the ESPN games and the Championship games as I didn't know that there was a way to watch every game. So sometime in the 2015 season, I discovered that SNY televised their games and SNY was in my DirecTV package. I started watching and really, really appreciated the way that they played. Then sometime during the season I somehow found The Boneyard and became a lurker, finally joining in March 2016. Then I discovered UCONNHUSKYGAMES and spent the offseasons watching replays of prior season games.
 
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The 94 - 95 season for me. Channel surfing and found a UConn game on CPTV. When one of the announcers said Jen Rizzotti, I said I know that name. Again announcer said she played at New Fairfield High School. That sealed it.

I was teaching at New Fairfield Middle School/ High School when she played. I was good friends with her high school coach. Had a few of the girls from the team in my chorus.

Our second son graduated from UConn in the early 2000's.
 
I went to Stanford for my undergrad during the Starbird, Wideman, Folkl era and was a fan. Just a casual fan though because I followed the men's team more at the time. A HS girlfriend (who later became an ex-wife) from my hometown went to Uconn and was a HUGE Huskies fan. During one of our breaks we met up and a Uconn game was on TV so we started watching and I was instantly fascinated with the style of play by Rizzotti and the rest of the '94-'95 team. I've been hooked ever since.
 
Lots of UConn alums here.
 
Went to Uconn. Was on campus and went to the celebration of the 1st National Title at Gampel. Had a small class with Rebecca Lobo. Walked next to Kara Wolters on campus and felt petite (I'm 5'10'', so that doesn't happen very often!) Also attended several men's games in the family seats since my roommate was dating one of the managers. Clearly been hooked ever since!
 
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My older sister and I were talking back in 1995 and she said to me you should watch the uconn women play basketball My response at the time was” your killing me watch women play basketball come On !!” Well the end of the story is watched them play and watch every game since 95. Go Uconn❤️
 
dcheng021 said:
For me, it was after the UCONN - South Carolina game 2 years ago when Paige hit that crazy 3 pointer in overtime. I was a huge Michael Jordan fan growing up, and then a huge Dirk Nowitzki/Dallas Mavericks fan, and after Dirk retired, I completely lost interest in basketball. Then, just randomly the TV was on in the background at a friend's house, and there was buzz around some Paige Bueckers and how she scored 30 points in an OT win in a battle between the top two teams in the country. That piques my interest so later that day, I decide to youtube some highlights from the South Carolina game. My observations were 1) Paige was very good and 2) UCONN played really good team basketball and shared the ball well, but what really stole my attention was #10 celebrating with fist pumps, screams, chest bumps, and floor slapping at the end of each highlight, so I looked her up and found out she was Nika Muhl, a freshman from Croatia. I ended up finding MJL243's channel and re-watched the entire SC game, and then ended up watching the Marquette and St Johns games and I've been hooked on UCONN women's basketball ever since. To sum it up, I came because of Paige Bueckers, but stayed for Nika Muhl. Will admit I was a little despondent at the beginning of last season when Nika was barely playing and then got injured, but this season she's been playing over 30+ minutes every game and I've been happy as a clam. Also SO SO glad that conveniently UCONN happened to have the best discussion forum of any women's basketball team in the nation. Was curious if other teams had anything similar to the boneyard and was pretty shocked at how little activity there was on the Stanford and South Carolina forums considering all the success those teams have had.

Would love to hear other folks share stories about how they became UCONN fans.
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Casual fan from birth really …my dad was a fan of all things UConn…then Cathy Bochain starred at my high school and later UConn…i followed her career and totally fell in love with the huskies!
 
Followed UCMBB since early-mid 60s (maybe 1962). Started school there in 68. Won draft lottery and left. Longtime follower of many sports, and started reading articles and checking boxscores for UCWBB in mid 80s, probably when Geno was hired. First actually game was vs Virginia in 1991 FF. Loved the way they played and have seen nearly every tv game since.
 
January 16, 1995 - UConn vs the Lady Vols

Had the day off work and tuned in the game, mainly because Dennis and RuthAnn Lobo taught in our school. (Aside: RuthAnn Lobo was my younger daughter's counselor her freshman year of high school and literally changed my D's life.)

I was hooked. Rebecca, Jen, Precious (Nykesha), Janelle, The Big Girl (Kara), Bam Bam (Stacy Hansmeyer), TASSK Force and then came Taurasi.

What a memorable ride it's been.
 
I knew very little about WBB until Angel McCoughtry arrived at Louisville. Of course, I knew about Tennessee and Pat Summitt, and I knew that UConn was really good. But when I really started following the sport I realized just what the UConn program is. I quickly became a fan and UConn has been my second-favorite team ever since.
 
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