The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Bobcats have earned respect
Cinderella run has brought long overdue attention to program
The Quinnipiac women’s basketball team and many of its fans gathered in TD Bank Sports Center about 10 days ago to watch ESPN’s broadcast of the NCAA tournament selection show on the big screen.
Everyone went bonkers when they saw the name ‘Quinnipiac’ appear on the video board for a firstround matchup with Marquette. Except they could only see their name. They never actually heard it, because the team was never mentioned on the broadcast.
“They didn’t even say our name,” coach Tricia Fabbri recalled. “They went right to Marquette, the homecoming (of Marquette coach Carolyn Kieger to Miami). I get all that, it’s good talk, it’s interesting. But they didn’t even say, ‘They’re back in the tournament, three out of five years.’ Not even our name. ‘They won the MAAC tournament, now they’re gonna see Marquette.’ Just … nothing.”
That wasn’t the end of the disrespect Quinnipiac received that night. While speaking with reporters in Milwaukee, Marquette guard Natisha Hiedeman was asked how she felt about playing Quinnipiac.
“I don’t know what that is,” she responded.
That flippant remark helped inspire the Bobcats in their firstround upset of the Golden Eagles on Saturday. They kept the momentum going on Monday night, besting fourth-seeded Miami on its own home floor and earning a trip to the Sweet Sixteen.
Indeed, if Quinnipiac was ever going to earn some respect and some publicity, it was going to have to do it on its own. And that’s exactly what the Bobcats are doing.
“This is the best thing we can do – win on the big stage,” said ath-
letic director Greg Amodio. “From an institutional standpoint, athletics is ultimately the front porch of the university. This is all about serving the university by giving positive exposure, helping with the institutional branding. Any time we can put the institution on a national stage, before a national television audience, we’re doing our job.”
It’s not always easy for Quinnipiac. If the entire women’s college basketball world plays in the very large shadow cast by UConn, imagine how a team just 60 miles down the road must feel.
The Bobcats have to share a very small state with a team that’s won 108 games and four national championships in a row, and 11 national titles overall.
“I think every team’s gonna be in their shadow,” said senior guard Adily Martucci. “Obviously, they’re a great program and Geno (Auriemma’s) done an amazing job with his group of girls. It’s kind of hard to compete with that. They have loyal fans coming to every game, I’m sure those games are sold-out every night. It’s kind of hard to compete.”
But Fabbri, Quinnipiac’s 22nd-year head coach, isn’t bothered by how her program gets swamped in publicity by the Huskies.
“They’re the best thing ever,” she said. “They’re like the Yankees. No, not at all (bothered).”
In fact, it was a recent exchange on ESPN — the station that wouldn’t even say Quinnipiac’s name on the selection show — after the Bobcats’ win over Marquette on Saturday that made Fabbri feel that, for at least the past week or so, her program has been on a similar level as the Huskies.
“When Rebecca Lobo goes on and says, ‘Two schools from Connecticut went 2-0 today,’ that’s a pretty big deal,” said Fabbri, who added that she received a congratulatory text from UConn associate head coach Chris Dailey. “The more we keep handling our business ... we keep increasing our profile by handling our business. That’s just what UConn did.”
No doubt, Quinnipiac has been doing a good job of that lately.