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[QUOTE="CL82, post: 5121523, member: 44"]
Lol, not really. Connecticut men's basketball already had an established reputation as a regional power, well loved by the state and playing before packed areas.  Heck, the 1995 national championship wasn't even our first. We had men's soccer national championships and the 1981 field hockey national championship, which was the first women's national championship awarded by the NCAA With the championship game actually taking place in  Storrs.

That said, there's no doubt in my mind that the 1995 championship was transformative.  The 1995 team was charismatic, with Lobo and Rizzotti, the charismatic faces for the team.  The 1995 women's championship in the 1999 men's championship fueled the UConn 2000 building boom on campus which seem to empower a decision not to be a competent regional university, but rather a national University.

There are some who profess that athletics are merely a distraction from the academic mission of the university. I would suggest, instead, that they are a critical part of alumni and State engagement, without which UConn does not become the university it is today.
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First name of men's bb coach