Dom Amore’s Sunday Read: UConn basketball’s Ads of March; Hall lacrosse to honor teammate, and more

STORRS — March in Connecticut has always belonged to UConn basketball, but this year the Huskies are commanding the spotlight long before the opening tip. From I-91 billboards to prime-time commercials, the men’s and women’s programs have turned the state into a living storyboard for name-image-likeness deals that few universities can match.

Since Selection Sunday, television audiences have seen Solo Ball calm a taxpayer’s nerves for TurboTax, Geno Auriemma diagram breakfast plays for a hotel chain, and guards KK Arnold and Silas Demary Jr. coax viewers into a new Nissan Pathfinder. Sarah Strong and Malachi Smith appear as good-neighbor agents for State Farm, while Azzi Fudd’s Geico spots remind fans that even aliens would feel at home with the Huskies’ marketing reach.

“Everybody in America knows our starting five,” Auriemma said. “We have more sponsorships and NIL opportunities with Fortune 500 companies than anyone else in the country, men or women.”

The ads are more than 30-second cameos. A January shoot for Ball’s TurboTax spot filled Gampel Pavilion with 100 student extras for 14 hours. Invesco QQQ turned the program’s new volleyball arena—once the old hockey rink—into a three-court production lot for 18 hours across three days, complete with a live goat cameo from the Yard Goats staff. Nissan filmed Arnold and Demary cruising through February snow on campus; State Farm’s “Stanchion to Stanchion” series demanded half-court makes from Strong (on the first take, teammates swear) and Smith.

Behind the scenes, UConn’s NIL office, Learfield’s production crews, and third-party broker CampusOne coordinate everything from location access to post-production. An Overtime-branded content studio is now under construction inside Gampel, promising even faster turnaround between buzzer-beaters and brand rollouts.

“They’re naturals behind the camera,” said Dominic Godi, UConn’s associate AD for strategic initiatives. “The bigger the stage, the higher the NIL value climbs, and that momentum feeds future deals.”

While the Huskies chase banners, another Connecticut team will open its season under far heavier hearts. Hall-West Hartford boys lacrosse takes the field April 4 without senior Camden Siegal, who died two days after being shot outside PeoplesBank Arena on Feb. 22. Siegal, a midfielder and two-sport athlete, will serve as honorary captain; the team will wear No. 23 decals and warmup shirts bearing his name. The opening game will feature 23 seconds of silence and a memorial fund to support local academic and sports scholarships.

Quick hits from around the state: Jada Habisch, one of UConn women’s hockey’s all-time leading scorers, has debuted with Seattle in the PWHL; lefty reliever Josh Simpson, traded from Miami to Seattle, could surface in the Mariners’ bullpen this summer; slugging outfield prospect Max Belyeu, the 2025 second-round pick and former Big 12 Player of the Year, is headed to Double-A Hartford; and Jim Calhoun insists European kids shoot better because they learn on eight-foot rims, not 10.

As the NCAA Tournament tips off, UConn’s players already look like seasoned pitchmen—ready to sell victories and Volkswagens in equal measure.