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University of Connecticut - Athletics
UConn's sports teams (nicknamed "Huskies") participate in the NCAA's Division I-A and in the Big East Conference, except for hockey, which is not sponsored by the Big East. The men's hockey program competes in Atlantic Hockey and the women's hockey program is a member of Hockey East. The most notable athletic facilities are:
- Gampel Pavilion on the Storrs campus, the regular home for both men's and women's basketball
- Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, the second home for both basketball teams
- Rentschler Field in East Hartford, home to the football team
Approximately 70% of all UConn student-athletes graduate from the university, and almost 50% maintain a 3.0 GPA. The women's lacrosse team had the second-highest team GPA in the country in 2004, and numerous UConn student-athletes, including former basketball star Emeka Okafor, have been named Academic All-Americans.
UConn is best known for having its men's and women's basketball teams consistently ranked in or near the top 10 in the nation in their respective divisions. The men's team won the NCAA Div. I title in 1999 and 2004, and the women won in 1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2004, including undefeated seasons in 1995 and 2002. Emeka Okafor, Richard Hamilton, Ray Allen, Clifford Robinson, Ben Gordon, Caron Butler, Svetlana Abrosimova, Nykesha Sales, Swin Cash, Kara Wolters, Tamika Williams, Diana Taurasi, Asjha Jones, Sue Bird, and Rebecca Lobo are among the list of professional basketball players to achieve success after attending UConn. Top current men's players include Denham Brown, Rashad Anderson and Rudy Gay. Top current women's players include Barbara Turner and Ann Strother.
UConn's women's basketball program, under coach Geno Auriemma, has one of the fiercest rivalries in all of college sports. In the rivalry between UConn and the University of Tennessee, there is no love lost between Auriemma and Tennessee coach Pat Summitt. The two schools have faced each other in the National Championships more times than any other two college basketball teams, and possibly any two schools in any sport in the NCAA. As of January 12, 2005, UConn leads the all-time series, 13-8.
In 2004, UConn became the second school ever, and the first in Division I, to win the men's and women's basketball titles in the same season. It was also the first school to ever have both teams ranked number 1 in the nation at the same time (1994), and has also spent the most weeks by far with both teams holding the number one spot, with Duke University being the only other team ever to achieve the feat, for a short period during the 2003-2004 season.
In addition to its basketball success, UConn is known for its solid soccer teams. The men's team has won two national titles, most recently in 2000, and the women advanced to the title game in 2003. UConn also has the best average attendance in the nation for both men's and women's soccer. Major League Soccer players Chris Gbandi, Damani Ralph, Bobby Rhine, and Shavar Thomas each attended UConn.
UConn football moved up to Division I-A status in 2000, was included in official NCAA Division I-A statistics for the first time in 2002, and became a full Big East member in 2004. UConn has been recognized as having the fastest progression out of I-AA in NCAA history, as it was invited into a BCS conference only two years after becoming a full I-A member, was bowl-eligible in its first season in I-A, and was invited to a bowl game in its first season as a conference member. The Huskies defeated the University of Toledo in the Motor City Bowl by a score of 39-10, with quarterback Dan Orlovsky being named Most Valuable Player. In 2003, the team was also honored for being one of only 7 schools in the U.S. to graduate 90% or better of its members; it was the only public school on the list.
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 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Athletics", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
