{"id":18830,"date":"2019-07-18T12:58:20","date_gmt":"2019-07-18T16:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bellyupsports.com\/?p=18830"},"modified":"2019-07-18T12:58:30","modified_gmt":"2019-07-18T16:58:30","slug":"welcome-home-uconn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bellyupsports.com\/2019\/07\/welcome-home-uconn\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome Home UCONN"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was 10 years old I was introduced to something that still makes me happy and giddy to this day. It has brought me joy and happiness that you can never imagine. It was the sport of college basketball<\/a>. That team was the UCONN Huskies. On that note Welcome Home UCONN. <\/p>

Way back in 1990 UCONN wasn’t exactly a household name the way it might be now. My grandfather was a Huskies fan forever and he got me into watching them.<\/p>

\"Welcome
Gampel Pavillion home of the UCONN Huskies<\/figcaption><\/figure>

By chance, I happened to catch them in the ‘Dream’ season of 1990. No one expected them to do anything. In 1988 they won the NIT and in 1989 lost to UAB in the quarterfinals of the NIT. <\/p>

Anyone in their right mind could have never imagined what was going to happen that year and what had changed my life forever. Growing up in Connecticut we didn’t have much to root for. The Whalers were all we had, and they were dreadful.<\/p>

Coach Jim Calhoun<\/a> took me on the magic carpet ride of my life that I am still riding to this day. I fell in love with the likes of blue-collar kids like Tate George<\/a>, Chris Smith, John Gwynn,<\/a> and Nadav Henefeld. Those aren’t household names, but if you are a fan you know who I’m talking about.<\/p>