UConn Is Already Locking Down Lamp Posts After Students Used Them To Riot After Its Last National Championship

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There’s only so much you can do to prevent college students from making poor decisions in the heat of an alcohol-fueled moment, but UConn is going out of its way to try to avoid a repeat of the scene that unfolded on its campus after the Huskies won a national championship in 2023 ahead of this year’s Final Four.

The UConn Huskies are certainly no strangers to success on the basketball court thanks to men’s and women’s teams that have brought a combined 16 titles (five and 11, respectively) back to Storrs since securing the first in 1995.

To put that success in perspective, UConn students who enrolled for a four-year degree in 2005 were members of the only class that didn’t have the chance to see at least one of those teams win a national championship at least once during their time at the school in the span of more than two decades.

However, UConn found itself subjected to a comparatively lengthy drought after the Lady Huskies won it all in 2016 (which marked the start of a cold streak Geno Auriemma still hasn’t been able to snap).

Kevin Ollie had initially managed to pick up where Jim Calhoun left off after taking the reins in 2012 but was eventually replaced by Dan Hurley in 2018 in the wake of an NCAA investigation. It took the current skipper of the men’s team a while to find his footing, but he punched his ticket to March Madness in his third season before leading them to a decisive victory over  San Diego State in the 2023 title game.

That win snapped the seven-year championship drought and gave the UConn students back in Storrs a reason to celebrate. Unfortunately, what should have been a jubilant scene turned into an ugly one courtesy of rowdy revelers who caused close to $125,000 in damage—including some guys who decided to turn a lamp post into a battering ram.

UConn still needs to win two games before its students get another excuse to celebrate a national championship, and officials are arguably tempting fate by prematurely taking down the lights that have been securely locked down on the sidewalk five days before the Huskies are slated to face off against Alabama in their Final Four showdown.

As you may know, the city of Philadelphia has taken preventative measures to try to prevent people from climbing up lamp posts only to see some of them conquer the greased-up poles, so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if this approach is a bit more effective.