In 2002, the WNBA was struggling, desperate for almost anyone or any place willing to have it. Two franchises folded that offseason -- Miami and Portland. Nobody wanted them. Another, Utah, moved to San Antonio (and later Las Vegas).

The failing Orlando Miracle were facing disbandment, as well, until an unlikely ownership group, the Mohegan Tribal Nation in Connecticut, stepped up with a unique plan. The tribe would bring the WNBA to a 9,000-seat arena attached to its casino in the woods of New England.

Mohegan Sun would be the new home of the Connecticut Sun, a team named after a casino in a gamble on the down-on-its-luck WNBA. Maybe, everyone hoped, some of the passion for the nearby UConn women's team would carry over.

Over the next two-plus decades the plan worked, delivering stabil

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