Lobo Does It All For No. 1 Uconn Women -- Huskies' Star All- American On, Off Court

STORRS, Conn. - There was a surprise awaiting Rebecca Lobo, Connecticut's All-America basketball forward, when she went to the hospital in mid-January.

Not that her finger was broken. Just looking at her swollen, discolored pinky, she suspected as much.

But there was this: "The X-ray technician may have been the first person in the state," she said, "who didn't ask me about our game against Tennessee."

Check that technician's driver's license. Or his pulse. These days, it's practically illegal to live in Connecticut and not be a fan of Rebecca Lobo. Besides being the best player on the best team in women's college basketball, Lobo by all accounts is smart, funny, fan-friendly and helps little old men cross the street.

"I'm not as good as they say," she protests with a laugh. "No one can be. It's kind of funny - the first time people find out I did something wrong, it'll be a big deal."

Anonymous no longer

OK, so strike out the part about the little old men. But as a doer of good deeds, these will qualify Lobo for anybody's Eagle badge: She has made women's basketball a happening of unimagined proportions at UConn, and she has helped her mom, Ruth Ann, cope with a crisis capable of buckling the strongest of women.

By the way, no one's asking Lobo about Tennessee anymore. She and the rest of the UConn Huskies answered all questions when they beat Tennessee 77-66 in a nationally televised battle of unbeatens, No. 1 vs. No. 2, the Huskies ascending to the top spot.

Connecticut improved its record to 16-0 with a 92-51 romp over Miami on Tuesday night, the Huskies' 22nd straight Big East win.

The UConn men's team is ranked No. 2 on its side of the gender poll, but there's a difference between their success and that of the women.

The men? There's admiration, but their success is not new and is almost demanded.

The women? There's unconditional love for a team that played in near anonymity until the arrival of Lobo, the 6-4 senior from Southwick, a small town in western Massachusetts that's in danger of being annexed by its grateful neighbor state to the south.

"People are very, very good to us," she said.

"LoboCop" packs them in

That works two ways.

"LoboCop," says the sign hanging from the balcony of Gampel Pavilion, which routinely is packed to its 8,000-plus capacity for women's games. Last weekend, Lobo's picture graced the cover of the Sunday magazine of the Hartford Courant, the biggest newspaper in the state. She does so much TV, she should be a natural for her dream job: serving as co-anchor with Keith Olbermann on ESPN's "SportsCenter."

(Olbermann: "Dan Patrick is fired immediately.")

She receives 400 fan letters a month, and spends more time on the gym floor after a game signing autographs - some on the trading cards bearing her likeness - than she does playing.

"She's just a great, great player," said Seton Hall Coach Phyllis Mangina after UConn beat her team by 44 points, just slightly more than the Huskies' average margin of victory.

"She's a player averaging 16 points and 12 boards a game," Mangina said, "but she could easily be averaging 25 points and more boards. She puts the ball in her teammates' hands, but has the ability to take over a game when she has to."

Versatile and exciting

Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt called Lobo the most versatile post player she's seen this season, and why not? Lobo, who is naturally left-handed, is equally adept with either hand on her inside moves, and buries the three-pointer from outside. She's Connecticut's all-time rebounding leader, and recently against Seton Hall blocked a career-high nine shots, adding to her school-record total.

Beyond the numbers, there's the excitement. Like the no-look touch pass under the basket to teammate Kara Wolters against Seton Hall that sent Gampel into hysterics. Lobo modestly admits that one impressed even her. "I was so pumped up, I ran back up the floor when I was supposed to be guarding the in-bounds pass," she said.

She fouled out against Tennessee and played with her broken finger taped to its neighbor, but still made an impact when it counted most, ripping the ball out of the hands of a Lady Vol player and making a tough stick-back, just when the Volunteers were making a run.

"I could see it in their eyes, their body language, that there started to be a little doubt and apprehension," said UConn Coach Geno Auriemma, who has compared his star to the NBA's Danny Manning. "But when Rebecca got that loose ball and stuck it back up, that stopped their momentum."

Basketball family

Tough? Lobo made it through high school relatively intact, if you overlook the broken wrist she suffered as an eighth-grader. But at UConn, besides the fractured finger, she sprained her left knee and broke her nose twice, once in a pickup game with some of the men's players.

"After breaking her nose the second time, she played the next day with a mask on her face," said her father, Dennis, a 6-foot-5 high-school history teacher.

With his wife, Ruth Ann, who is a middle-school guidance counselor and starred on a state-championship team when women still played six a side - three on offense, three on defense - Dennis has overseen the development of a brood of basketballers: 6-11 Jason, who played at Dartmouth and is now an attorney; 5-10 Rachel, now an assistant coach at Salem (Mass.) State, and Rebecca.

The parents' educational pedigree guaranteed that dinner-table conversation consisted of more than just pass the salt. "We spent most of the time busting each other and laughing all the time," Rebecca said. "We have fun. We laugh a lot."

But there clearly was a time to get serious. The All-America player is also an All-America academically: The political-science major pulled a 4.0 last fall, has a 3.6 average overall, and was considered for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship.

"She's always been very goal-oriented," Ruth Ann Lobo said. "She's one of the most self-disciplined, motivated kids I've ever known."

Humorous, too

Did we mention she was funny? To the mob of reporters pressing her to describe how it felt to be No. 1, she slipped in a sly reminder of how Auriemma was certain to bring the women back to earth: "I'll wake up tomorrow with a smile on my face . . . but in practice I'll go back to being the worst post player in the country."

Asked if this was the biggest women's sporting event ever to touch New England, she didn't miss a beat. "You mean, outside of Tonya and Nancy Kerrigan?" she asked.

In the team's media guide, there's a section where the players are asked to name the five people they'd most like to invite to dinner. Lobo listed Thomas Jefferson, David Robinson, Bruce Springsteen, Robin Williams and Julia Child.

Why Julia Child, one reporter asked. "Someone needs to cook," Lobo said.

"That's the way she is, genuine," her mother said. "She still has to be reminded her room needs picking up, or to put gas in her car maybe, but other than that? She's pretty great.

"She's a very spiritual person, a prayerful person, very sensitive to the needs and feelings of others."

Faith severely tested

The faith of daughter - and mother - has never been more severely tested than it was last winter, when Ruth Ann was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Ruth Ann informed her daughter of her condition after a nationally televised game in which Rebecca had been spectacular: 20 points, 15 rebounds, five blocks.

"She pulled me aside and told me," Rebecca said. "She said, `Don't cry. You do your thing. Take care of what you have to take care of, and I'll take care of this.' "

Even then, neither woman knew the full severity of Ruth Ann's condition until Rebecca accompanied her mother to the specialist who told them the cancer had spread significantly into her lymph nodes. "I just lost it in the doctor's office right there," Rebecca said.

Rebecca returned to school, and worried the night no one was home to take her call. She had cause to be fearful: Her mother had undergone a mastectomy, but the family didn't want Rebecca to know until after she'd finished her finals.

Despite an intense regimen of chemotherapy that caused her to lose her hair and made her frequently nauseous, Ruth Ann did not miss one of her daughter's games.

"Basketball rescued me," she said. "I can't say enough about the support the whole family got from the coaches and team and people at the games. Fans would stop and say they were praying for me. Geno called to see how I was doing.

"Rebecca couldn't have picked a better place to be at a time like this. This was my lifeline."