Basketball was not always king at UConn. When I began at UConn, there was no women’s team. One was begun during my sophomore year. The men’s team competed in the Yankee Conference with UMass, URI, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Of course, Julius Erving played in the YankCon, so it was not all bad.

In those days, it was difficult to keep the great Connecticut players home. Tommy Roy, for instance, went off to Maryland, one of only two places in the country where he could not start. A trip to the NIT was a big year for the Huskies. In 1973, 32 buses of us went down to New York to see UConn blow a 15 point lead and lose on a last second shot to Boston College in the second round.

Things began to progress when Coach Dee Rowe was able to entice home state stars like Mike McKay, Corny Thompson, and Tony Hansen to stay home. If UConn had a good season, then a trip to the ECAC playoffs could be at the end of the rainbow. A victory in that four team tournament would mean an NCAA berth. Those tournaments always occurred during Spring break. So, Ed and I would get permission to stay in the dorms surreptitiously and then go up to Springfield the next morning. UConn twice made the NCAA tournament during my undergraduate days, even getting to round two one year. In graduate school, UConn made the NCAA one year, losing a close game to Louie and Bouie when they played for Syracuse.

When UConn joined the Big East and hired Jim Calhoun, the prospects for success were not good. Calhoun had done a great job at little Northeastern, taking Reggie Lewis and the Huskies to the NCAA. But winning with these Huskies was another matter altogether. In the mid-eighties, the Big East was ruled by Georgetown and Patrick Ewing, miracle Villanova, and St. John’s with Chris Mullins. In one season, three of the Final Four teams were from the Big East. In addition to these schools, there was perennial power Syracuse and Providence with Rick Pitino. UConn seemed consigned to second class status.

Calhoun took UConn to the NIT and even won the tournament in 1988. This was a big deal at UConn and the chances of an NCAA Final Four looked like an impossible dream at that point. And Calhoun upgraded recruiting significantly, keeping Bridgeport’s Chris Smith and super athlete Scott Burrell from Hamden at home, getting Cliff Robinson from New York.

Within a few years, UConn was competitive in the Big East, even winning the title. UConn would be invited to the NCAA tournament and even win a game or two.

And then the unlikely happened. UConn won the Big East title in 1989-90. Led by Nadav Henefeld, one of the best basketball palyers to ever play at UConn, the Huskies had a great season. Perhaps the greatest moment in Connecticut sports history (to that point) came when Scott Burrell threw a perfect inbound pass to Tate George who hit a fall away jumper to send UConn to the Elite Eight with a one point win over Clemson. What many people forget is that the Huskies were dominating Clemson through the first 25 minutes of the game. But they blew a 20 point lead, forcing the miracle at the Meadowlands. Audiences at the Schubert Theatre in New Haven interrupted the play when the audience members with earphones tuned to the game erupted. The euphoria was short lived. All that stood in UConn’s way was the formidable Duke Blue Devils. UConn stayed with them and forced an overtime. With seconds remaining UConn lead by a point. Duke had the ball and, of course, Christian Laetner hit the game winning shot as time expired to deny the Huskies a trip to the Final Four. What made it particularly difficult was that seconds before Tate George had broken up the inbound pass, but he could not control the ball and it went out of bounds. Had he gotten control, the game would have ended with a UConn victory.

There was further pain in 1994. Fenton and I drove down to Miami to see Indiana play Boston College and Connecticut take on Florida. In the first game, Indiana played poorly and lost to Boston College, who had upset Dean Smith to open up the region. In the nightcap, UConn did not play well, but with seconds left, the game was tied and Donyell Marshall, the star, was fouled going for the game winning shot. He needed to make just one of two to insure a victory and a trip to the Elite Eight and a rematch with Boston College. But Marshall, a 75 percent free throw shooter, missed them both and UConn predictably lost in overtime.

With Ray Allen (below), Doron Sheffer, and Kevin Ollie, the Huskies were highly regarded. In Allen’s sophomore, they lost to eventual champ UCLA in the Elite Eight. The following year, UConn, Beasts of the East again, were a number 1 seed. But they lost to Mississippi State in the Sweet Sixteen game. With Allen, the greatest UConn player gone, the Final Four seemed remote.

Calhoun continued to recruit top players getting Khalid El Amin, Richard Hamilton, and Jake Voskuhl. The Huskies were a preseason number 1 team in 1997-98, but stumbled badly, finishing with the most losses for a preseason number one team.

The Huskies won an exciting game in that tournament when Hamilton hit a jumper that bounced high and found its way into the basket to defeat Washington.

In 1998-99, the Huskies came together, finishing as a number 1 seed. They moved through the first three games of the tournament, surviving a very close call with Gonzaga. For the first time, the Huskies made the Final Four. UConn had reached the ultimate stage. Duke was the prohibitive favorite. This was a Duke team that was considered one of the greatest in the history of basketball. The real test was for me: UConn was to play Ohio State in the first semifinal. Analysts referred to this as the junior varsity game, while Michigan State and Duke was the real game, the virtual finals. Surely the winner would whip the Huskies or the Buckeyes. I had tried to get tickets, but the $2000 per ticket was just a little outside my range.

So who should I root for? UConn or Ohio State? I decided Ohio State had enough success, a national championship in basketball in the early sixties and some trips to the finals. And there was always OSU football. So, even though I changed shirts at halftime, my allegiance was to the Huskies.

I remember watching the final game with Duke. I was just so happy that UConn had made it that far. I had no illusions that they would win the game, I just wanted it to be close, so they were not embarrassed. Duke jumped out to a big early lead. William Avery hit a shot early in the game and it was the best thing that could have happened. It convinced him to shoot more (he ended up 3 for 12). UConn was able to neutralize Elton Brand inside with Jake Voskuhl and Souleymane Wane. Trajan Langdon did significant damage. Meanwhile at the offensive end, Rickey Moore rattled off 10 points in just minutes, all while playing the stifling defense that earned him the nickname “the glove” and saw him named college defensive player of the year. Moore ended up with 8 rebounds as did Kevin Freeman. UConn outrebounded Duke. They would shoot 53 percent for the game. UConn was staying close.

It was a two point game at halftime 39-37 Duke. UConn trailed by 5 early in the second half. With just under 5:00 to play it was tied 66-66. I had what I wanted a close game. Every few seconds, I remember saying to myself, win or lose they did the job. I was proud. But suddenly the unthinkable happened: UConn led by 5 with 3:30 left to go when Rip Hamilton hit a three from the corner. Could this be happening? Was it too much to hope that they could win? Remember, they were 9½ point underhuskies. This was a Duke team that was going to be remembered as one of the best of all-time. With 2:15 left, UConn had the ball and a four point lead, but El-Amin traveled. Langdon hit a three, it was a one point game. El-Amin hit a tough shot and with a minute to go UConn led by 3. And for the first time, I thought UConn might win this game. But a stupid foul led to two free throws and it was 75-74. Duke cleared out for Langdon. But he traveled. UConn had the ball with 5.4 seconds left. El-Amin calmly sank two free throws. Duke got off a wild shot at the buzzer, but it was short and UConn was the national champions. I cried. It was beyond my wildest dreams.

The game raised the profile of the University (endowments and legislative support went way up) and the basketball program, although it did not pay immediate dividends in recruiting. It also raised the pressure. No longer was a berth in the NCAA tournament enough, or a visit to the Sweet Sixteen. The stakes had gotten higher.

For the next few years, UConn could not get back to the Final Four. There was a tough loss to eventual national champion Maryland despite the heroic efforts of Caron Butler (below), and a 2003 loss to Texas. In both instances, the better team won. The Huskies beat Syracuse, who would win the national championship, twice.

For the 2003-04 season, the pressure was on. Minutes after Syracuse won the 2003 national title, Dick Vitale proclaimed UConn the preseason #1 for 2003-04. And when Charlie Villaneuva announced his intention to attend UConn, the hype increased. Emeka Okafor shared the cover of Sports Illustrated and ESPN: The Magazine with Diana Taurasi: twin numbers 1.

In the preseason NIT, the Huskies did not look like the best team in Connecticut, yet alone the nation. They struggled to beat Yale. Then struggled mightily with Nevada (a team that would go to the Sweet Sixteen). Then Georgia Tech destroyed them. Okafor was hurt, UConn shot 10 for 30 from the free throw line. Taliek Brown was erratic, Villaneuva was not yet eligible.

There were times when they seemed to fulfill their destiny. They ran Utah out of the Garden in the consolation game in the NIT. They obliterated Oklahoma on national television. But Oklahoma was in the midst of falling apart. They ran Syracuse off the floor 84-56, but the Orange embarrassed them later in the season, outhustling the Huskies at every turn. They killed Pitt and then the Panthers exacted revenge. It seemed like a physical team could push them around.

There were potholes, they escaped with a one point win over a game Rutgers team. It took two great plays to subdue Villanova in overtime. They fell apart against North Carolina and were embarrassed by Notre Dame who pounded them on the boards. Providence, led by Connecticut native Ryan Gomes, beat them easily. Over a four week (four weak) period, they were 5-4, losing to good and bad teams. They hardly looked like the best team in the nation. They blew the chance to put away the Big East regular season title. They were injured, Villaneuva had been exposed on defense, Gordon was not consistent, Brown was having troubles at the point, and Marcus Williams was ineligible. It seemed that the preseason number one was a curse, again.

But suddenly, Ben Gordon stepped up. The team began to win and look good in doing so. They repaid Notre Dame with two big defeats. They went into the Big East tournament beaten up (Okafor still hurting), but with the rotation coming around, with more consistent outside threats (Gordon and Rashad Anderson or Denham Brown), with Josh Boone and Villaneuva taking up the slack inside, and with Taliek Brown cutting back on mistakes. They won 5 in a row before finishing on a down note with a desultory performance against Syracuse.

In the Big East tournament, they beat Notre Dame and killed Villanova on the way to a rubber match with Pittsburgh. The game went back and forth and Pitt seemed to have the game in hand, when Gordon erupted at the end and carried UConn to a 61-58 victory.

The victory had an enormous benefit: UConn got place in the weak Phoenix regional with #1 seed Stanford, a slow team, #3 seed North Carolina State, wildly inconsistent, and #4 and #5 seeds Syracuse and Maryland, the last two champs, who were getting by more on reputation than performance. Pitt meanwhile was a third seed in a bracket with St. Joseph's and Oklahoma State.

Well, if the bracket committee did not do UConn enough favors, the lower seeds did. Stanford and NC State went out rather quickly. UConn fell behind Vermont 7-0 before waking up and ending the Catamounts hopes 70-53. Then they met former assistant Dave Lieto and DePaul, who shoots free throws worse than UConn. DePaul was completely out of its element. They looked nervous and UConn buried them quickly and painlessly. The 72-55 final was not indicative of the dominance. Instead of meeting NC State, it was Vanderbilt, a bubble team that awaited UConn in the Sweet Sixteen. Vandy was too slow and their star, Matt Freije (3 for 18), could not get around Josh Boone. UConn buried them in the first half and just ran the clock out in the second, winning 73-53. Suddenly everyone was talking about UConn again. And would it be a rubber match with the defending champs, the Orange? No, Alabama beat Syracuse to earn the right to block UConn's attempt to reach the Final Four. Alabama ran into the full force of the team that people picked to be number one. Playing its best half of the season, UConn sprinted to a 53-29 halftime lead. And the game was not that close. They dominated the inside with Okafor and Gordon and Anderson were redhot. In the second half, UConn played out the time, winning 87-71 and setting up a rematch with Duke.

The Duke game started off great. UConn looked unstoppable, running out to a double digit lead, 15-4 with 14 minutes to go in the first half. But the referees took over the game calling small fouls on the big men and sending Okafor and Shelden Williams to the bench. Coach K decide to press fate and Williams picked up his third. In the next four minutes, Shavlik Randolph took over and Duke went on a 15-1 run to take the lead. When J.J. Redick hit a three just after the 4:00 timeout, the Duke lead was 10 and it looked like the season was rushing to an end. Still, Calhoun kept Okafor on the bench. Denham Brown hit a three to cut the lead to 7. UConn got a stop and Gordon hit two free throws, it was 36-31.  But Duke got a free throw and followed a miss with a basket to pump it back to 8. With 7 seconds left Josh Boone hit a shot to send the game to the half 41-34.

For the first two plus minutes, UConn could not score. Duke got two baskets and pushed the lead to 11. But UConn scored five quick points to cut the lead to 6. But then Okafor picked up his third foul and went to the bench yet again. He would not be there long. UConn hit a three to cut the lead to 46-42, the closest they had been for a while. The under 16:00 minute timeout came when Williams picked up his fourth foul. Okafor began to get into the offense, hitting a pair of shots. But Duke answered each time. Daniel Ewing, a rather mediocre player, was doing real damage. Rather than attack the UConn defense, Duke spread the floor and attacked the guards, mostly Gordon one-on-one, turning the corner and beating them to the basket for layups or fouls. On the offensive end, Okafor continued to work inside. The game stayed at about a 6 point spread until the 11:00 minute mark when Reddick nailed a three to make it 59-50.

At this point, UConn could have folded. But instead, the Huskies went on a 8-0 run. Gordon hit a jumper. Ewing missed the front end of a one-and-one and Gordon converted two free throws at the other end. After Luol Deng, brother of former Husky Ajou Ajou Deng, missed a shot, Denham Brown hit a jumper. Okafor blocked a dunk attempt by Deng and converted at the other end. Duke called timeout with 9:17 to go. For the next two minutes, they traded scores, keeing it a one point game. Then Duke countered with a 7-0 run. Ewing and Duhon scored in the run, continuing to drive past Husky defenders. Williams fouled out, but Duke had a 70-62 lead with 5:15 to go. UConn took a timeout.

Okafor converted the two free throws, but the maligned Ewing hit a three to push the lead to 9 with 4:43 left. UConn was unable to get anything done and Duke had a chance to salt the game away, but they turned the ball over and Anderson hit one of the biggest shots of the year, a three to cut the lead to 73-67. For the next minute, the teams traded misses. Duhon took a particularly bad shot. Randolph fouled out, but Okafor missed the front end of the one and one. Duke made some free throws. With under three minutes to play, Duke had the ball and set out to milk the clock. Deng took an ill-advised three and UConnn corraled the rebound. Once again, Anderson struck with another three from the corner and it was 75-70. Duke ran 27 seconds off the clock and Ewing missed a jumper. Duhon fouled Gordon on his drive and Ben hit both free throws. It was 75-72 and just 2:00 minutes were left.

UConn held again, a bad pass turning the ball over. The Huskies called timeout with 1:35 to go. Okafor  hit a short jumper over overmatched Nick Hovarth, the third Duke center. With 1:18 on the clock, Duke 75 UConn 74. Duke ran the clock again and with 46 seconds Deng put up a three. He missed UConn got the rebound and worked the ball into Okafor who missed. There was a scramble. Boone kept the ball alive and Okafor swept it up and dunked it home to give UConn their first lead since early in the first half. Duke, looking for the go ahead basket, turned the ball over when Reddick was stripped in the lane. The Huskies inbounded to Rashad Anderson who was fouled and made both free throws. UConn led by 3 with 12 seconds to go. It was pretty clear what was going to happen: Reddick would look for a three to tie. He got a good look, but it came out. Okafor got the rebound and was fouled. He missed the first to heighten the drama and then hit the second to seal the victory. Duhon's three at the buzzer served only to help those who bet on Duke getting 2 points.

UConn was heading for another national final, this time against Georgia Tech who had so thoroughly beaten them in the semifinals of the NIT. A chance for revenge. Could the Huskies leave the high of the Duke game behind. They had trailed by 8 with 3:15 to go and pulled it out.

The final game was almost a little anticlimatic. As opposed to 1999, UConn was expected to win. Almost four minutes into the game, the two teams were feeling each out. It was 6-4 UConn until Ben Gordon hit a three to make it 9-4. But over the next four minutes, UConn reverted to its ragged form: turnovers and missed shots. Okafor scored the only basket over that time while Georgia Tech got 8 points to take a 12-11 lead. No one knew that would be it for the Yellow Jackets. Okafor hit a jumper to give UConn a lead it would not relinquish. The next 37 seconds would change the game. Georgia Tech missed a three and got the rebound. Luke Schenscher missed a shot and Tech rebounded again. With Okafor contesting each attempt, Tech missed and rebounded yet again. They took a three and msised yet again. The sting went out of the jackets at that point. They had challenged Okafor and came away with nothing for four attempts. On the other end, Schenscher was called for a phantom foul on a three point attempt. Gordon hit all three. The TV timeout was the unofficial end of the game. Boone hit a layup and Gordon a three to cap a 10-0 run that put the Huskies up by 9. Lewis and Schenscher hit baskets to cut the score to 21-16, but Taliek Brown hit a jumper and a twisting layup after a Gordon three to push the lead to 12. UConn went into an offensive drought, making no field goals for over six and a half minutes. They hit some free throws. They also played good defense. Georgia Tech helped matters by missing free throws. When Wil Bynum missed the front end of a one and one, UConn rushed the ball up court and Rashad Anderson hit a jumper (with a toe on the line) to close out the first half. It was UConn 41 Georgia Tech 26. With 6:46 left in the half, UConn led by 14. For the next 6:45, they did not make a field goal and yet they increased their lead by 2 points.

It was over, right? Probably. But UConn fans remember three things: this team did not do anything easily, Coach Calhoun loves to take the air out of the basketball, and there was that Clemson game a few years back when UConn arrived on the national scene, blowing a 20 point lead before having to hit the miracle shot.

After trading basket