PROSPECT — The “Basketball Capital of the World” isn’t just a slogan for Geno Auriemma, or merely words to greet motorists crossing over the state line. He puts in his time, and spins his odometer to support basketball in all corners of Connecticut.
That’s part of the reason he took his national champion UConn women’s basketball team to Sacred Heart in Fairfield for an open practice last Sunday, part of why he drove to Waterbury’s outskirts to help raise money for Southern Connecticut’s Division II programs on Wednesday night.
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“Let’s take the show on the road to people who wouldn’t generally come up our way,” Auriemma said. “We talk a lot about Connecticut being the ‘basketball capital of the world’ and rightly so, and (UConn) basketball has done as much as anything you could point to in raising the profile of our state and our state university. You drive into other states, they’ll have what the state bird is, what the state motto is on their signage when you come in. So if we’re going to be the basketball capital, it’s important for people to realize we’re not the only two basketball programs in the state, we just happen to get all the attention, but there are other schools not playing in the spotlight we’re playing in that are really, really good.”
UConn will play Southern in an exhibition game Oct. 26. About 500 came out Wednesday, as proceeds from Southern Hoops Tip-off Talk are to go directly to its men’s and women’s basketball programs in New Haven, potentially a significant bump for their budgets.
The Constitution-Nutmeg Land of Steady Habits’ long love affair with basketball, particularly women’s basketball, comes into play as forces align to take Connecticut’s WNBA franchise, the Sun, elsewhere. Auriemma, to be clear, is not invested or involved in the $300 million-plus efforts to buy the team from the Mohegan Tribe and keep it in the state, in Hartford, in the casino in Uncasville or some combination therein, but from the saga’s periphery he offered his thoughts before appearing with Bill Raftery, Donny Marshall, Maria Conlan, joining SCSU coaches Scott Burrell and Kate Lynch, for the panel discussion at Aria in Prospect.
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“I’m sure whatever you read, there’s an underlying story,” Auriemma said. “The Mohegan experiment to bring a professional team to Connecticut has worked out incredibly well over the years. They’ve had an incredible amount of success. It hasn’t resulted in a world championship, but they’ve come about as close as you can. They have a passionate following, so it would be natural that if the team wants to move, or if the team is for sale, I can see why there’d be a push to keep the team in Connecticut. I can see why. Whether or not that jives with what the WNBA or NBA philosophy is, I can’t speak to, but it has been a great experiment, and it’s worked.”
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How does one interpret the word-antipasto? You might count Auriemma as a supporter, but a realist. The WNBA and NBA are positioning themselves to block efforts to move the team to Hartford or Boston and maneuver it to Houston, or another western city that came up short in the recent expansion bidding. State political leaders are positioning for a potential court challenge based on anti-trust laws. Gov. Ned Lamont is working on a plan for the state to buy a significant stake in the team using pension funds, despite opposition.
Meanwhile, the Sun, after making the playoffs six straight years, the finals twice, lost all of its starters after last season and dropped to the bottom of the standings in 2025. They are selling season tickets for 2026 at Mohegan Sun Arena, but it could be a lame-duck season. And the franchise has long had trouble attracting top players in the open market, adding ammunition for those who want to relocate.
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“I understand the challenges, too, they have in trying to attract players to come and stay,” Auriemma said. “And I’ve talked to (Sun president) Jen Rizzotti a lot about what they can do, ticket-wise, promotion-wise, relative to some of the big city teams. So there’s a lot of challenges over there, but they’ve made it work somehow, they’ve certainly delivered on their promise.”
The Mohegan Tribe bought the failing Orlando franchise for $10 million in 2003 and became the first team in the WNBA to turn a profit beginning in 2010. The values of franchises have skyrocketed in recent years, with the league’s increased popularity, but whether it’s the beginning of a long, steady rise in value, making it a solid investment, or a bubble soon to burst remains to be seen. NBA commissioner Adam Silver appears determined to revert to The W’s original business model, where teams are owned by NBA owners and play in NBA arenas. The notion the league has outgrown Connecticut and the 8,000-seat arena at Mohegan is fashionable, even if women’s basketball became fashionable here before most other places.
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“There’s a feeling like, UConn women’s basketball had a lot to do with the Connecticut Sun becoming the Connecticut Sun,” Auriemma said. “But those are two separate entities now. There is college basketball and there is professional basketball, so it’s complicated. And when things are complicated, it doesn’t usually go well — for one side, especially.”
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Meanwhile, Auriemma, who just ushered two of his former players, Sue Bird and Maya Moore, into the Naismith Hall of Fame, is drilling down on his 41st season at UConn and the pursuit of a 13th national championship. He lost his centerpiece star, WNBA rookie of the year Paige Bueckers, but has two more, Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong, and a deep supporting cast. First practice is Monday, back to the business of chasing championships.
“We have five new players, we lost the national player of the year,” Auriemma said. “It’s a lot to put together. As the days go on and leaders start to emerge and people start to assert themselves, it’ll be fun to see how it grows.”
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