We were having trouble filling Gampel prior to the tourney ban and JC retiring, so that excuse is getting old. Back in the 90's you couldn't get a ticket to UConn basketball no matter who or where they played. The fanbase was rabid. But like everything else in this state, once the novelty wore off people found something better to do and spend their money on.
I won't disagree with you on this phenomena and can't explain it myself. I do, however, think that in a small part the men's hoops program was deserted in part by the success of the women's team. How so? Let me count some of the ways:
1.) Almost immediately after "turning the corner" in the early 90s, the women had a non-stop, steady parade of the very best of the best in terms of recruits. Geno is that program and watch out if and when he leaves.
2). The crowd for UConn women was quite a bit different than for the men's team. They tended to be more along the lines of Brownie Troups and Senior Citizens. They tended to embrace the players - who didn't want to take Rebecca Lobo or Jen Rizzotti home for dinner or (in the case of the Brownies) for a birthday party? Not quite the same reaction to the men's team (what laptops?) even among the more fervant loyalists.
3.) The women's program never had to face early defections to the NBA (one, two or three at a time) or academic ineligibility. So when the '07 team, for example, struggled with a bunch of freshman and one or two sophs, people seemed to abandon the men and jump over to the women. Everyone loves a winner.
4.) The women's fans - at least the noveau fans - just had no concept of how different the mens' game is from the womens'. Heck, it was nothing for Tennessee and Uconn each to sign 3 or 4 of the top 10 rated high school players each season (very different from the men's bb teams who are happy to get 1 from the top 10 and 2 from the top 20, etc). It's also different in that there is little pariety in women's hoops. UConn regularly blew out their closest competition (in poll ratings) by double digits (sometimes 20+). Just doesn't happen often in men's hoops.
5. The apparent phenomena that 10 baskets are used at a time between 20 players from each team on the floor at the same time. UConn and Tennesse and the elite programs continue not only to get the top players each year, but the top players in mini-vanfuls. Doesn't matter that not all of these girls can play at once their OK being cheerleaders for their team. So different from men, where often times the decision of where a kid will go depends on who the program is returning and who else they've recruited. "If I ain't playin' right off, I'm headed somewhere else. I gotta get me to the NBA, tick-tock". In any event it insures that the women's team will be in the mix for National Championships for year to come.
6.) And finally (and for me admittedly), the game for the women is more like the basketball we knew. Passing, team oriented (none of this, I gotta get mine cuz I'm going to the NBA), far more self-less - rewarding layups, foul shooting and jump shots and far less emphasis on "the dunk" (look what I can do, I'm 6'9"), the block, and the "posterizing".
