Mohegan — Chiney Ogwumike was the first to notice, wandering to press row and wondering aloud, “is there any reason why it’s louder in here tonight?” she asked, alluding to the energy Saturday night inside Mohegan Sun Arena.

Yes, Chiney. There was a reason. Several busloads of reasons, actually. Hundreds of New York Liberty fans made the trip to Neon Uncasville to watch their team. Their playoff-bound first-place team. They made noise, too. Noises that suggested a bunch of New Yorkers must be on property.

“It’s been growing,” New York coach Bill Laimbeer said of the fanbase, after his team, despite playing 24 hours earlier, summoned more energy late than the Sun and pulled away to win 80-66.

“The last two years have been difficult,” Laimbeer said. “They told me to go away (the franchise didn’t renew his contract for a time last offseason) for two weeks, three weeks, whatever it was. But we had a plan. The plan was to get not only players of great character and chemistry for our locker room, but also to get players the fans can follow for long periods of time. Tina (Charles) is only 27, Piph (Epiphanny Prince) is that same age. (Brittany) Boyd, (Kiah) Stokes … We have players on this team the fans are attracted to and they’re going to be around for a long time.”

Indeed. The Liberty will be good for a while. The Sun, although nobody around here is singing arias at the 12-17 record, have a young talent base and will get good sooner or later. Translation: New York vs. Connecticut, always a decent enough rivalry, has a chance to be bigger and better than ever.

And a beacon for the WNBA. This just in: The "W" sells players more than rivalries. That’s because team rivalries — the lifeblood of sports — don’t exist much in this league. There’s no Yankees-Red Sox, Celtics-Lakers. But this has a chance.

Liberty-Sun will have all the trimmings. Location: A dominant team in New York. A villain: Laimbeer, who still gets booed here, recalling the days Robert Parish punched him and Larry Bird called it “an act of public service.” An expatriate: Charles, who left here under unpleasant circumstances. Proximity: a short bus ride so both fanbases can frequent the other’s digs.

Sun fans get the big, bad city and only the best place in the history of the world to watch basketball: Madison Square Garden. Liberty fans get a night at the casino and the best atmosphere in the WNBA: Mohegan Sun Arena. And if someone wakes up the somnambulant New York media and alerts them they have a title contender on their hands, the games will be well dissected. Talk about a way for the game to grow.

Laimbeer should win Coach of the Year walking away, having rebuilt this franchise in an alarmingly short period. With young players. It brings back some of the great old days here when he’d bring Detroit and the Bad Girls in to play the Sun. Laimbeer’s teams always play well here.

“We’ve had good players. We had good players in Detroit, we have good players now,” Laimbeer said. “The players are the game, not the coach. But players do notice that it’s a more intense environment (in Connecticut) with me coaching. They know that have to stand up and protect the situation.”

Sun fans, itching to cheer for something Saturday, were in full throat when their team quickly erased a 10-point halftime deficit. But the Sun aren’t nearly good enough to beat a rampaging team with two unguardable players in Prince and Charles. And they fizzled.

But they’ll be better. As soon as next season. Schedule-makers should make Liberty-Sun the opener for both teams.

“Our fans, we are bringing in more and more,” Laimbeer said. “Celebrities are coming to our games. That’s cool. The Players' Tribune (Derek Jeter’s website dedicated to telling players’ stories) is following us around. There’s 20 cameras in our locker room and our players are embracing that. They’re enjoying it.”

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.

Twitter: @BCgenius