ACT I: OPENING NIGHT
Sun-Fever game a sell-out, but Connecticut is preparing for bigger things to come
TMohegan here is something mystical about the arena the night before The Big Game. Everything still shiny and in its place. And yet with almost eerie expectancy, the realization that somewhere in the next 24 hours or so, the world will be watching all of it.
This was Monday at Mohegan Sun Arena, where the final polish was applied to a house that will house a home opener like no other in the Connecticut Sun lore and legend. Not even with this franchise's venerable history — twice a gnat's eyelash away from a championship — has there been global anticipation of a game.
Of course, the Sun probably have less to do with that than their opponent, the Indiana Fever, whose recent first-round draft choice has become a pop culture icon.
It is the good fortune of the Sun franchise and now sellout crowd that Mohegan Sun Arena is the venue for Caitlin Clark's first WNBA game. Indiana/Connecticut begins at 7:30 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN2.
“It's exciting because of the movement that we're in and where the game is going,” Sun coach Stephanie White said. “The eyeballs that are on the game for those of us who have been around since almost the beginning — to see this this kind of excitement is awesome.”
Indeed, tickets on the secondary market were selling for around $100 apiece in the upper reaches of the arena to as much as $900 for courtside. White and her players acknowledge that the circus is in town, but that tomorrow has this habit of showing up, too.
“We've also got to keep it in perspective,” White said. “Like this is one game in a long season. And our goal is to win a championship. This is the first step for us in our goal. Yes, it's going to be awesome to play before a sold-out crowd. Many of our veterans have been in exciting atmospheres. But we've got to keep the main thing the main thing. This is the first game and the first step toward our ultimate goal of winning a championship.”
The Sun have seven players (of
“It's another season. First game. We're excited in that aspect, but at the same time, we get a playoff atmosphere and that's something we love to play in. We approach everything the same.”
ALYSSA THOMAS, CONNECTICUT SUN FORWARD
11) with at least six seasons of WNBA experience. There's nothing most of them haven't seen, felt or experienced, increasing the likelihood that Tuesday night's hype will be a dull ache — if that — for the Connecticut players. Perennial all-stars Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner lead a team with, as White said, championship aspirations.
“Another game for us,” Thomas said. “It's another season. First game. We're excited in that aspect, but at the same time, we get a playoff atmosphere and that's something we love to play in. We approach everything the same.”
Still, the significance of the women's basketball revolution isn't lost on White, who knows that while all the eyeballs may begin on Clark, there's plenty of room to watch all the others, too.
“I've been going to every Final Four since I was 8 years old,” White said. “Being in this game for so long and understanding and knowing the greatness … I was watching back when the Dawn Staleys and Lisa Leslies and Tina Thompsons were playing. … I think back to some of the players I played with as a rookie — our players don't even know who they were. But those players sacrificed playing years and years and years overseas so that the WNBA could exist.”
And its grandest stage yet hits this corner of the world Tuesday night.