03-01-2012, 06:56 PM
As I recall, the story running around was that Lobo was forced on Tara in place of some more deserving players, Val Whiting among them, because USA Basketball wanted the publicity carry-over from ESPN's relentless promotion of the UConn women during their undefeated 94-95 season. I've always thought that period was really critical, when ESPN being part of the UConn media market combined with Tara's absence from Stanford really enabled the growth of the Evil Empire (Blue Edition). The thing people forget is that the Huskies were really not much of a national championship factor from 1996 to 2000, losing in the semis in 96, Elite Eight in 97 and 98 and Sweet Sixteen in 99. But ESPN still played a ton of their games, and the loss of the Hartford Whalers in 1997 left no major league professional teams in the state. And that publicity enabled UConn's historic signing class in 1998. I'll always wonder what could've been if Machinguana had been called for the foul on Jamila in the semi in 97.
Having grown up in Hartford, I can testify, there is nothing else to do during the winter but follow UConn basketball.
VG
Having grown up in Hartford, I can testify, there is nothing else to do during the winter but follow UConn basketball.
VG