ESPN is in Bristol CT, 50 miles from UCONN. The school has been known as UCONN since at least the ‘50’s
I was generalizing to make a point, and you’ll shame yourself if you try and deny a couple of things. Both Bristol and Storrs are part of Greater Hartford - and there was no doubt that both the Hartford Whalers and Connecticut were sort of the “hometown teams” of the early ESPN staff. The culture of UCONN and ESPN are intertwined. That’s undeniable.
As far as the 50’s, nobody outside of the area knew about the moniker UCONN until ESPN made it famous in the 80s. To say otherwise is absurd.