THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2014
PAGE 5B
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NATIONAL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Connecticut students celebrate their team's 60-54 victory over Kentucky in the NCAA Final Four tournament college basketball championship game Monday in Storrs, Conn.
UConn hopes to profit from championships
ASSOCIATED PRESS
STORRS, Conn. — Campus celebrations are winding down after two nights of championship parties, yet the off-court excitement could be just beginning at the University of Connecticut.
With students, faculty and alumni beaming with pride following the men's and women's basketball team's national titles, the university administration is looking far beyond the Gampel Pavilion sports arena for a payoff.
The teams' accomplishments led national news and sports broadcasts and appeared on news or sports pages of newspapers across the world.
"It's amazing. It lets everyone know we're special here," said Danielle Deschene, an 18-year-old freshman from Norwich, Conn., who was sporting a Huskies sweatshirt while picking up a UConn T-shirt for her dad at a campus bookstore.
This isn't the first time the Huskies have pulled off the men's and women's NCAA basketball sweep: UConn is the only school to ever win Division I men's and women's titles in the same year, a feat also accomplished in 2004.
That's the kind of publicity money can't buy any college or university. And, the result is an expected boost financially, in admissions applications and recruiting.
UConn President Susan Herbst said it is hard to quantify the effect the titles will have on donations and student applications, but she's sure they'll increase.
"They get the attention, they win, and then I take that attention and turn it toward the academic mission," Herbst said Tuesday. "People are thinking about UConn and when they get to me with congratulations, then, I have to talk about our health center, our excellence in education, our student success."
Brian Otis, vice president of development at the University of Connecticut Foundation, said the national titles have contributed to a major hike in fundraising from less than $20 million annually in the 1990s to $63 million last year.
"The success has raised the bar of excellence across the university," Otis said. "There was a period where mediocrity was the acceptable level of performance. That's no longer the case. Being competitive on a national, international level is the standard."
The main campus at Storrs, Conn., was quiet with light pedestrian traffic Wednesday morning after thousands of students celebrated the previous two nights. Blue and white balloons honoring the Huskies' colors were tied to mailboxes leading to campus and TV news trucks were parked outside Gampel
"People are thinking about UConn and when they get
to me with congratulations, then, I have to talk about our health center, our excellence in education, our student success."
SUSAN HERBST UConn president
Pavilion.
The UConn women's team was expected to return home Wednesday afternoon and celebrate with a "victory lap" around campus in an openair, double-decker bus and speeches near the Student Union. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced that a parade for both teams will be held Sunday in Hartford.
The NCAA basketball titles a record ninth for the women and fourth for the men deliver a boost to the UConn brand, Herbst said.
The school's image took a hit in 2013 because the men's
team was banned from the NCAA tournament over academic performance issues. The school also is facing a Title IX lawsuit over its response to sexual assault allegations on campus. Those headlines have been replaced by stories about men and women performing at a high level on and off the court and the school celebrating both championships.
"We're still top dogs," UConn men's coach Kevin Ollie said. "When you doubt us, that's when we fight our hardest. We're still on top, we didn't go nowhere."
UConn expects the titles to help recruiting. The Huskies already were among the nation's elite in attracting basketball talent. But Ollie says winning another a year after the ban sends a message to potential student athletes that the program isn't on the decline.
The championships also provide a financial windfall.
provide a financial windfall.
Checkout lines snaked around the inside of the UConn Co-op bookstore Tuesday as fans purchased championship gear. The school is planning several new designs to honor both the men's and the women's teams.
Kyle Muncy, who is in charge of licensing and branding for the athletic department, said it's hard to predict how much of an effect the wins will have on licensing revenue. But, he said, the two biggest periods in the school's licensing royalty history were in 2004-2005 and 1999-2000. That corresponds with the dual titles in 2004 and the first men's title in 1999.
A typical year for the school results in over $500,000 in net licensing revenue, he said. A men's basketball championship increases that number to anywhere from $750,000 (2011) to $1.2 million (2004). The titles combined with a new Husky logo could shatter that mark. He said the 2004 mark was well within reach.
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Reds defeat Cardinals 4-0, avoid sweep
MLB
ST. LOUIS — Billy Hamilton had three hits and his first two steals, and scored easily after tagging up on a shallow outfield pop fly to support a strong outing from Mike Leake in the Cincinnati Reds' 4-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.
Leake (1-1) allowed four hits and a walk in eight scoreless innings and Devin Mesoraco hit a two-run home run for the Reds, who avoided a three-game sweep after dropping their ninth series in their last 10 in St. Louis. They're 2-4 against the Cardinals, their NL Central rival, and wrapped up a 2-4 trip.
Cardinals pitcher Shelby Miller (0-2) allowed his fourth homer in two starts and faced trouble most of his six innings but held
the Reds hitless in nine at-bats with runners in scoring position. Mesoraco hit his first homer in the fourth after doubling twice Tuesday in his first start after coming off the 15-day disabled list.
Hamilton entered batting .091 with two hits and seven strikeouts in 22 at-bats and left town batting .192. He reached safely his first three trips beginning with a triple to open the game when left fielder Matt Holliday missed on a diving catch in the gap.
After singling to start the fifth he put on a show with his legs, stealing second without a throw, going to third on a flyout to shallow right and scoring easily to beat Jon Jay's' relay on Bruce's pop fly to even shallower right and put the Reds up 3-0.
out single to make it 4-0.
Hamilton bunted for a hit in the ninth against Pat Neshek and stole second, then scored without a throw on Brandon Phillips' one-
Leake retired nine of the first 10 hitters and benefited from three double-play balls, two of them in a run of five straight three-up, three-down innings from the second through sixth. Leake was 0-2 in three starts last year against St. Louis while allowing 15 earned runs in 16 1-3 innings and defeated them for the first time since Aug. 25, 2012.
Miller's best work came in the first when he struck out Brandon Phillips and Joey Votto and got Jay Bruce on a groundout to strand Hamilton at third. He gave up three runs on seven hits.
Associated Press
Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter made an outstanding diving stop on Leake's ground down the line in the third.