Syracuse, NY (CSTV U-WIRE) -- The Connecticut men's basketball team has two families. The reserved one resides in the city of Hartford and the raucous one lives on campus in Storrs. The school is one of a handful to divide its home games between two arenas.

Joe Flanagan, director of marketing for the Hartford Civic Center, said the crowds between his home building and Gampel Pavilion are different because of the location of the two arenas.

The Hartford Civic Center, which hosts 11 games this season, seats almost 17,000 people and is located in downtown Hartford. Gampel Pavilion is located on campus in Storrs and only holds about 10,000. While each arena is usually sold out, the ambience between the two places is what sets them apart.

"It's all a bunch of moms, dads and kids at the Civic Center," said Frank Di Poi, a junior at UConn who attends games. "At Gampel, it's all students and rowdy as hell."

While nobody connected with the UConn program would say playing in Hartford was a disadvantage, some people believed playing at Gampel simply was a more exciting place to watch a game.

"Hartford has more corporate types (in the stands)." UConn play-by-play man Joe D'Ambrosio said. "At Gampel the students are closer to the floor ... it is much louder."

So why not play all the games in Gampel?

"The UConn men and women are (like) the state's professional teams," D'Ambrosio said.

"It's not that easy to get to campus on a Tuesday night for people in the suburban areas of Hartford," Flanagan said.

There are separate ticket packages sold for games in Hartford and Storrs. Flanagan said some of the same people attend every game, but others might argue it's hard to secure tickets for either venue. There is also another overriding factor in the decision to split the games.

"We have a $50 million budget; we gotta pay the bills," said Mike Enright, the associate director of communications at UConn.

The extra capacity at the Civic Center pumps more revenue into the school. And while students like Di Poi aren't always happy that all the games aren't played at Gampel, it is something they have come to understand.

"People live with it by now," Di Poi said, "because (UConn) is a successful program."

In a recent poll taken on the Hartford Courant's Web site, the question asked fans to pick which venue gives UConn the biggest home-court advantage. Seventy-eight percent of the people polled believed Gampel Pavilion gave the Huskies the biggest edge. Only 5 percent of the people believed the Civic Center gave UConn the edge. The other 17 percent believed that it doesn't matter where the Huskies play. That is something which is echoed by former players.

"The fan support may have been a little bit better in Storrs," former UConn and current Washington Wizards guard Caron Butler said in an e-mail. "But we still took the mentality in Hartford that this is our court."

Steve Pikell, former UConn captain and current head coach at Stony Brook University, echoed Butler's sentiments.

"There is a comfort about (Gampel), you don't get at the Civic Center," Pikell said. "I really believe if you practice every day in the same place you play, you have a huge advantage."

Pikell said he can still vividly recall memories from the first game ever played in Gampel Pavilion - when the Huskies came back to beat St. John's.

"I remember the student excitement," Pikell said.

Di Poi says the student's excitement is still the same as it has always been, especially at Gampel.

"I remember one game against Miami (a few years ago)," Di Poi said. "Everyone was on Darius Rice's ass and it was completely demoralizing Miami's team ... there's a lot more heckling at Gampel."

While there are student sections at both places, Di Poi says the one at Gampel is always more crowded because kids can get out of bed and walk to the game instead of driving for 45 minutes.

While many Huskies fans will travel anywhere to see their team play, Butler hopes that one day his UConn family in Hartford can act more like the one in Gampel.

"I think the fans are probably a lot louder in Storrs," former UConn guard Butler said. "I'd like to see the Hartford crowd create that same environment."

(C) 2006 Daily Orange via CSTV U-WIRE