College Basketball

Huskymania

Last March, a few days before Connecticut was bounced out of the NCAA women's basketball tournament by North Carolina, UConn center Rebecca Lobo attended Mass at St. Bridget Church in Manchester, Conn. At one point during the service the congregation rose to give Lobo a standing ovation. Later a nun came up to her and said, "You caused more commotion than if Jesus Christ had walked in here himself."

There is plenty of commotion on the Storrs campus this winter. The Husky men's team has soared to No. 2 (page 58), and on Monday afternoon Lobo and her teammates defeated top-ranked Tennessee 77-66 before an SRO crowd of 8,241 in UConn's Gampel Pavilion to become No. 1 for the first time. "I know I've never had an experience anything like this game," said Lobo, who scored 13 points despite playing with a fractured right pinkie and being hampered by foul trouble for much of the game.

Lobo, one of the top five players in the nation, was averaging 15.6 points and 10.9 rebounds after Monday's game. She says she plans to head to Europe next year, where she hopes to play professional basketball, but first she would like to help the Huskies achieve a few more milestones. After defeating the Lady Volunteers, UConn had won 43 of its last 46 games and gained credibility as a national power. Some had questioned the Huskies' strength of schedule after they won their first 12 games this season by an average margin of 42.4 points, but by handing the Vols (16-1) their first loss, UConn (13-0) established itself as a strong contender for the NCAA title.

Fifteen minutes after their big win the Husky women were still on the court enjoying a curtain call. The sound of Aretha Franklin's signature song blasted over the P.A. system, and the crowd began serenading its team. "I could never imagine this day would happen," Lobo said. "Eight thousand people singing Respect, even though most of them don't know the words."

They're learning.

High-Flying Frog

Unless your name is Emmitt Smith, last week was a lousy time to look for sympathy around the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. When TCU coach Billy Tubbs spotted his star center, Kurt Thomas, hooked up to a muscle stimulator just like the one strapped to Smith's hamstring, his reaction was, "What's wrong with you, Thomas? How come you don't have reporters following you to the shower to see if you're limping? Aren't you a star, too?"

Forgive the journalistic bloodhounds if they are uninterested in Thomas's injuries. That's old news around Dallas. He has suffered four fractures to various parts of his anatomy in his five years with the Horned Frogs. But he's still racking up imposing numbers, despite tissue damage in his foot and the enduring effects of a broken left thumb he suffered last season. At week's end he was averaging 28.4 points and 13.9 boards a game, putting him second in the nation in scoring and first in rebounding. With any luck he could join Wichita State's Xavier McDaniel (1984-85) and the late Hank Gathers of Loyola Marymount ('88-89) as the only players ever to lead both categories in a season.

But then luck hasn't been Thomas's middle name. After redshirting for the entire 1992-93 season because of a fractured tibia, he broke his thumb against Oklahoma State in TCU's fourth game last year. It happened in the first half, yet he still played 19 minutes in the second half and finished with 30 points and 13 rebounds against Cowboy 7-footer Bryant Reeves. Three games later, with the thumb in a cast, he scored 38 points against Indiana. So far this season Thomas has two games with more than 40 points and seven with more than 30.