I drove 22 hours round trip to Columbus, Ohio, to watch the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team lose to Notre Dame in the NCAA’s Final Four tournament held at the end of March.

But I’m glad I did, because to understand the opposition, sometimes you have cavort with the enemy.

For the second year in a row, Connecticut’s dream team couldn’t make it to the championship game.

That night in Nationwide Arena, it was readily apparent that at this level of competition, the fans are part of the game, and intimidation of the opposing team is a viable strategy.

It struck me that the UConn women have been so good for so long, we’ve forgotten how to truly support them. Sure, we clap and cheer but we politely refrain from attacking the other team.

After yet another season of Gampel Pavilion love fests and blowout games, we’ve become like marshmallows in the stands, soon staring into our cell phones as their shooting practice drones on.

Unless you travel to enemy territory, it’s easy to lose perspective. By the way, other regions hate us.

Columbus was no love fest. I found myself surrounded by UConn haters. Not mere dislikers, but haters. Our seats, in a lower section, put us behind enemy lines.

We were surrounded by Notre Dame and Mississippi State fans, with a whole section of Louisville Cardinals next door, all united against UConn.

Emotions ran high. The Notre Dame lady in front of me just about pulled her hair out on every play, grabbing fistfuls and tugging as she jumped up and down. Vocal haters exploded around us.

Thousands wanted us destroyed, screaming and celebrating with pure primal joy at every little mistake UConn made, from the first buzzer to the last.

The haters were out of their seats, throwing punches in mid-air, screaming, veins popping, arteries just this side of bursting, eyes bulging, egging each other on, screaming at referees. They attacked relentlessly.

They were as much against UConn as they were for Notre Dame, a brilliant strategy.

I have lived among serious sports fans in the Bermuda Triangle of college sports in North Carolina, between Duke University, the University of North Carolina, and North Carolina State.

You’d better know your neighbors and have fresh batteries in your smoke alarms before you hang a team flag on your house.

College sports are king in the south, more important than eating and sleeping. Northern fans don’t come close to the intensity of the South or Midwest.

In Columbus, fanatical anti-UConn fans employed the killer instinct and it worked.

They know it’s not enough to politely root for your team. You need to destroy the opposing team. Good fans exploit and ridicule their every mistake at the top of their lungs.

I’m sure the UConn women felt it that night in Columbus, as they did during last year’s loss.

When the clock ran out, confirming UConn’s loss, that huge arena exploded in an ear-piercing victory celebration, as though this was the championship game. Green confetti blasted from cannons in salute to Notre Dame.

Goliath had been defeated. Two years in a row now. The haters had won.

Other regions know that the audience is part of the offense. Husky fans need to get in the game.

John Steward lives in Waterford. He can be reached at tossinglines@gmail.com. Read more at www.johnsteward.online.