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Sports

Thousands Turn Out for UConn Parade

An estimated 40,000 people flooded the streets of Hartford Sunday to celebrate with the 2011 National Champions.

The University of Connecticut’s Men’s Basketball team, and about 40,000 of their fans, celebrated the team’s 2011 victory in a parade through the streets of Hartford Sunday.

The championship team and Coach Jim Calhoun, who rode with his granddaughters, circled the downtown area in a double-decker bus as thousands upon thousands of fans cheered from the street sides. The UConn cheerleading squad and pep band, Jonathan the Husky Mascot, and a number of local organizations and supporters marched alongside the guests of honor. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal were among the political dignitaries who marched in the parade.

After the parade, a rally was held on the steps of the state Capitol to celebrate the team’s national championship, the third in school history for the men’s team, all under Calhoun.

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Malloy called the 2011 Huskies “the greatest basketball team we’ve ever had,” although the Democratic governor was greeted by more than his fair share of jeers from the crowd as he took the podium.

“This team proved that talent combined with teamwork combined with perseverance combined with good hearts, and strong hearts, and the desire to win will come through every time,” Malloy said.

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Point guard Kemba Walker thanked the Husky’s fans for supporting the team throughout the season, and through the historic tournament run, which saw the UConn men win 11 straight postseason games in less than a month.

“Without you guys we wouldn’t be champions, and we really appreciate it,” said Walker, the All-American junior who announced earlier this week that he was leaving school early to enter the NBA Draft.

When it was his turn to address the capacity crowd, Calhoun was greeted with a standing ovation. He said that although it was his third such rally on the steps of the state Capitol, celebrating a national championship “doesn’t get old.”  The men’s team won the NCAA champions in 1999 and 2004 as well.

Calhoun said he never coached a team that worked as hard or listened as well as the 2011 iteration of the Huskies.

“I can’t make promises, but the promise I will make to you is that the basketball team at UConn will give everything, it’s heart and soul, to try and make sure that we have another rally next year,” Calhoun told the crowd.

And with that, the throng of Huskies faithful let out a deafening cheer.

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