For one weekend only, Houston becomes a Huskies town with UConn men’s basketball in the Final Four – Hartford Courant

HOUSTON — Houston is a Huskies town. For this weekend, at least.

Fans from Hartford to Hebron descended on Space City to watch the UConn men’s basketball team try to reach an orbit only five other programs have ever achieved — a fifth national championship.

Plenty of UConn supporters could be found, in old-school Khalid El-Amin and Caron Butler jerseys, in T-shirts with the old logo from the ’50s where the Husky looks confused and unsure of what’s going on, and in shirts with the state silhouette proclaiming Storrs the “Basketball Capital of the World.”

There were also Sanogo and Hawkins jerseys, Ray Allen jerseys, and plenty of people wearing gear from past Final Four trips — the only retro Final Four gear you’ll see from fans of teams involved this season, as Miami, Florida Atlantic and San Diego State are all making their first-ever appearances on this stage.

Many of the Huskies faithful could be found at the Fan Fest in downtown Houston hours ahead of Saturday night’s game.

“I’ve been a season ticket holder for about 40 years,” said Chris Beale, of Wallingford, who has traveled with a group of friends to watch UConn in the Final Four in Tampa, Detroit and San Antonio. Asked for his favorite UConn memory over the years, he said: “Could be tonight.”

UConn fans were confident, and it’s hard not to be after watching the team roll through its first four games in the NCAA Tournament with an average margin of victory of 22.5 points. Everyone of course, picked UConn, it was mostly just a matter of how much they thought the Huskies would win by.

“Hopefully they keep doing what they’re doing. It’s too good to be true, ” said Brian Bomberger, of Bethel, who’s attending his third UConn Final Four. “They’ve had such a big lead these past couple of games, hopefully they can just continue what’s been working.”

“Hopefully big,” said Michael Rosen, of Greenwich, a UConn graduate who came to the Final Four with his son Benjamin. “I’m nervous though, I don’t want to say anything to jinx it.”

“High-scoring game, I think we’ll pull it out. We’ve got the height advantage so I think that’ll carry,” said Owen Kennelly, of Cheshire, who was there with his friends and fellow Class of 2020 graduates Sam Markelon of Burlington and Andy Guo of North Haven.

“We’ve got to slow down their guards,…