STORRS — Seeking one last opportunity to cheer on the UConn women’s basketball team and encourage the Huskies to bring home the program’s 12th national championship, fans lined up 10 rows deep outside Gampel Pavilion on Wednesday to send the team off to the Spokane (Wash.) Regional in style.
Hundreds of fans clad in UConn T-shirts, hoodies and jerseys began lining up behind barriers set up outside the north end of Gampel near the Jonathan mascot statue to wish the Huskies well as they boarded the team bus to head to Bradley International Airport.
Fans started lining up an hour and a half before the send-off just to get one last glimpse of the Huskies, and hopefully an autograph, a selfie or a quick video of the players. Many of them had Sharpies in hand and jerseys of Paige Bueckers, Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd neatly folded hoping a player would stop and sign them.
One fan, UConn senior Justine Pearlman from Wakefield, Mass., even brought her stuffed sloth hoping Bueckers would take a picture with it.
Freshman year I started this thing where everyone who came into my dorm I would have them take a picture with him,” Pearlman said. “I am currently at 283 pictures. Since freshman year, I have wanted to have Paige take a picture, and now I feel the urgency to do that is on overdrive. I already have Azzi Fudd, Aubrey Griffin, KK Arnold and Chris Dailey.”
The team’s cheerleaders stood inside the barriers creating the makeshift shoot the players walked through, and fans had their own blue and white pom poms to shake. Music played, and the Tower 122 Fire Engine parked across the street and extended its ladder over the shoot with a banner that read, “Good Luck UConn.”
KK Arnold took a microphone in hand, thanked everyone for showing up and encouraged them to make some noise and have fun. The entire send-off, from the time the bus arrived at 12:35 p.m. until the players walked through the shoot, interacted with fans and boarded only took four minutes.
It didn’t matter to the fans, who were there to show their support. There were homemade “Bleed Blue” posters and one that read, “Natty 2025 Coming.”
Mary Kate Neumuth, a senior from Storrs, took down a UConn banner with the old Jonathan logo off her dorm wall to add some old school spirit to the atmosphere.
“Basketball is what really brings all the students together,” Neumuth said. “It is a great source of school spirit for all of us. It makes me really proud to be a UConn student when we do great things like winning the championships. It unites all the students, and we wanted to let them know how much we love them.
“They need the student support to know how excited we are for all of them. I also wanted to celebrate Paige. She is leaving after five great years, and she is amazing.”
As always, Bueckers stopped to sign autographs and take selfies with her fans. She has been very genuine about how much the UConn fans have meant to her. As a sign of her appreciation, she bought 1,500 tickets for Monday’s second-round game against South Dakota State and gave them to UConn students.
“It’s been a dream to play here, a dream to wear this uniform, a dream to play in this environment,” Bueckers said after Monday’s win. “You just take every single chance you have and never take it for granted.
“(I’m) obviously just extremely grateful, and you can’t really put into words how much this place has meant to me. I’m forever indebted and it’s become my second home.”
Monday was UConn’s last home game of the season. The No. 3-ranked Huskies (33-3) are now headed off to their 31st consecutive NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 appearance, and they did so at the encouragement many who have adored them and their predecessors for years.
“I feel like basketball is such a big part of UConn, and cheering on the team is a big part of being a UConn student,” said Nicole Cretella, a junior from Rhode Island. “Even when I was younger, I would hear my mom talking about the basketball team here and how good the program was.
“So, coming here and actually being able to go to the games and support the women and the men is really huge. How big basketball is for the campus is a really unifying thing here.”
Madeline Wash, a freshman from Saratoga Springs, N.Y. said that because the players provide so much joy for everyone at the school, it is important for students to show their appreciation when they can at events like the send-off.
“It is important to be there and support the players as much as you can,” Walsh said. “It makes a difference in their game and the overall atmosphere here at UConn. It makes it a home for everyone.
“Both basketball teams are like the heart of the school. They do so much for the community here and provide opportunities for our students. They give the school our name and our reputation.”
Walsh said the women’s team is tremendous for more than just giving UConn a great reputation.
“So, it is important for us to support them because they are important for the next generation. We are their peers. Yeah, everyone adores them here, but it is the next generation that looks up to them that they are impacting even more. They go out of their way to do what they think is right.”