Courtesy of the Connecticut College Alumni Association
On March 16, Connecticut College alumni flocked to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the third ‘Camels Connect’ congregation in the stadium. Camels Connect is a series of events where former Conn students can come together and build a strong global network. Thus far, events have been hosted in cities like Boston, Providence, Atlanta, and London, amongst others. The city with the most events has been New York City, most of which have occurred in the city’s most populous borough, Brooklyn. Conn’s connection to the borough is remarkably tight. Two members of the college’s Alumni Association Board of Directors, Betty Fluegelman Kahn ‘68 and Denise L. Wheeless ‘80, are from Brooklyn. A member of the Board of Trustees, Marisa Fariña ‘93, is chair of the Brooklyn Book Festival Board and Development Committee Chair and Board Member of the Brooklyn Bridge Park conservancy, as well as the Executive Director of the NBA Foundation, Ruth Jurgensen ‘95, being a proud resident of the borough. A massive share of Conn Coll alum reside in the NYC metropolitan area, with the largest share of that group being in Brooklyn. Outside of the basketball games, the Alumni Association also hosted a private tour of the Brooklyn Museum in December of 2024 for the museum’s 200th anniversary.
Titled “Camels Connect at the Brooklyn Nets,” it was almost an exact replica of last year’s gathering as in both years, alumni and their families were able to watch the hometown Nets take on the Atlanta Hawks. For only $50 a ticket, attendees were provided admission to the Baseline Club, two hours worth of food, and two non-alcoholic drinks. The ticket also seems to come with a guaranteed victory for Brooklyn, with each game the past three years coming with a Nets win. A 102-86 victory over the Charlotte Hornets in 2023, a 114-102 point win over the Atlanta Hawks in 2024, and a 122-114 point upset over the Hawks this year. With an average margin of victory of 12 points, having the Camels in attendance not only leads to victory, but to the domination of the opposition.
The 2025 season has not been kind to the Nets, an unfortunate reality NBA fans expected going into the season. During the preseason, Brooklyn was tagged with the lowest projected win total since the 2014-2015 Philadelphia 76ers at 19.5 wins. Having traded away most of their major pieces, the whole NBA knew this would be a rebuilding year for Brooklyn. While they have performed beyond expectations, victories have seldom come by for the team. The matchup versus Atlanta looked to be a steep task as the Hawks, up until that point, had gone 5-2 in the month of March.
The game started with Brooklyn taking an early lead that they held onto for most of the half. With two minutes before the break, Atlanta went on a 10-0 run to take a six-point advantage before the half. It appeared to viewers that Brooklyn’s inability to finish games would be exposed once again and lead to another disappointing loss. This theme held true as the Hawks sustained their thinning edge for the entire third quarter. While Atlanta was in the lead for the entire quarter, Brooklyn had been slowly crawling back to where the first bucket of the fourth quarter was enough to put them back into the lead. The final regulation period saw the Nets regain their first-half momentum, holding their advantage firm and massively extending it with their own 10-0 run in the middle of the period. This was enough to earn Brooklyn the win and extend the Nets record with a Conn event in attendance to 3-0. The Hawks put up a strong performance, especially from young center Onyeka Okongwu and perennial All-Star guard Trae Young. However, they struggled from the three-point line with a 29.7% hit rate, while the Nets excelled from behind the arc, hitting an impressive 48.6% with a majority of scoring coming from forward Cameron Johnson and guard Keon Johnson.
Camels at the Brooklyn Nets has been an undoubted success for the Alumni Association as dozens of Conn alumni and their families are able to connect intergenerationally and enjoy a thrilling basketball game. It is a space for Camels to show off their Conn gear and take photos with generations of Camels past, present, and future. As Conn continues to foster its relationship with the Brooklyn Nets, the Barclays Center will become familiar with Camels roaming around games for years to come.
