This arena loves Marina, ND background and all

October 4, 2024, 5:00 p.m. • Last updated: October 4, 2024, 5:15 p.m

Connecticut Sun guard Marina Mabrey (left) is guarded by Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark during the second half of a WNBA first-round playoff game on Sept. 25 at Mohegan Sun Arena. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Mohegan – Cheers, cheers for old Notre Dame? Here in Connecticut? During a women’s basketball game? That’s why libraries have fiction sections, right?

Ah, but then there’s Mohegan Sun Arena, where the latest fan favorite is one of… them. You know. Them. A golden Domer. Here. In the sanctuary of Genoville.

“It’s a little strange, but I love them,” Connecticut Sun and Notre Dame graduate Marina Mabrey said Thursday after practice, a day before the Sun plays the Lynx in the WNBA semifinals. “They were great fans. They welcomed me with open arms. And every time I shoot a three-pointer, it feels like the place is about to explode. That’s why I’m glad we have this momentum.”

Mabrey, a member of Ireland’s last national championship team (2018), hasn’t gone all soft on her alma mater. She proudly sports a tattoo of the Notre Dame logo on the middle finger of her right hand. Yes that is correct. The finger. And if you know Mabrey at all, you know that no other digits would apply. That’s how she plays. And why they love her here now.

“I didn’t want anyone to think I was giving the middle finger to the cameras, but my other fingers are too small,” Mabrey said. “I had to do it. Obviously, Notre Dame and UConn have been the biggest rivalry in women’s basketball, and honestly, I’m grateful for that. It brought a lot more fans to the game. I still tune in every time Notre Dame plays UConn. I’m still “Go Irish.” Excuse me. But yeah, I’m glad the fans here welcomed me, even though they may not have loved me at Notre Dame.”

There’s nothing here that they really like about Notre Dame, as evidenced by Geno Auriemma occasionally referring to the Irish as “Robinhood.” They take from the rich and give to Notre Dame.”

But there’s always room for a gamer. And Mabrey is all of that. The Sun, perhaps benefiting from a three-martini lunch from Chicago Sky ownership, brought Mabrey here for Moriah Jefferson and Rachel Banham, a heist that rivals Lufthansa and Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi.

“I don’t remember where I was when I heard we might get her. “I just remember saying ‘yes,'” Sun coach Stephanie White said. “The competitive spirit, the competitive fire. She fits the mentality of this team, this franchise. She is a competitor. She has a lot of self-confidence.”

Mabrey is one of those “you love her on your team but hate her on another” deals. Its edge is angular. Nothing has changed since she was in college.

“She’s not out to get anyone to like her. In fact, if you don’t, she’s fine,” former Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw told ESPN.com. “I thought she was the reason we won the championship because she would hold her teammates accountable if she thought for one minute they were slacking off.”

Mabrey brought his three-point shooting ability here, the Sun needed more than a lung. Certainly there is the ability to make shots. But then there is a difficult shooting ability.

“It’s about having a championship pedigree, understanding what it takes to win at an elite level – and then understanding what it takes to win at an elite level when you’re under pressure,” said White. “Your back is against the wall. Expectations. Every year she was at Notre Dame, they had these expectations. It’s really important to have a championship pedigree and a winning mentality.”

And now Mabrey’s appearance is even more important for the Sun, which has come within a whisker of the WNBA title more than once in its checkered history. It’s clear that the Lynx understand Mabrey’s influence.

“I wanted to bring playmaking and scoring and just another aspect of winning – like discipline, championship mentality and competitiveness,” Mabrey said. “I compete and play as hard as I can. I don’t think I’ve brought as much energy to this series as I did last year. But you know, it’s a change, like they’re being more physical with me.

“Instead of waiting for calls from the referees and getting upset and pushing back – I don’t really want to push back, that’s not really my game. “I want to kind of slip out of things and make them come after me. I got into a battle of physicality, so to speak, and I don’t know if that’s really my advantage in this duel.”

There is now a new basketball player to admire in this corner of the world. Awaken the echoes that cheer her name.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro