[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6419-6420]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            NCAA TOURNAMENT

 Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, for the past few days my friends and 
fellow Senators have repeatedly been asking me one question: What in 
the world is a catamount? Today I am delighted to answer that question 
by explaining what a catamount is, what it takes to be a catamount and 
why it is so fitting that the University of Vermont chose the catamount 
as its mascot.
  On Saturday, March 15, the 2003 University of Vermont men's 
basketball team defined ``catamount'' for college basketball fans 
throughout the great State of Vermont and the Nation. These determined 
young men, from four different countries and nine states, including 
Vermont, took victory Saturday afternoon against No. 1-seeded Boston 
University in a close 56-to-55 game, becoming the 2003 American East 
Conference Men's Basketball Champions and earning themselves a chance 
to play in the national championship tournament--the ``big dance,'' 
March Madness--the 2003 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship 
Tournament. This is the first time the UVM men's basketball team has 
taken the title and made it to the national tournament in the program's 
103-year history.
  It is only appropriate that the catamount, a type of cougar known for 
its athletic ability, including its speed and its ability to jump, is 
the emblem of these hard-working and talented young men. The catamount 
was once thought to be extinct from the Green Mountains of Vermont. 
Like the division title for men's basketball, it had not been seen in 
Vermont for more than 100 years. But within the last decade, the people 
of Vermont have started seeing the mountain cat in our beautiful 
mountains. And it was only a little over a decade ago that the fans of 
UVM basketball saw the UVM Catamounts come within one game of the 
division title. One of my former staffers, Bill Bright, played on the 
team from 1987 to 1991 and was at that game on March 10, 1990. But the 
title eluded Vermont and Bill Bright.
  Last Saturday, the UVM squad proved that catamounts do exist. Their 
dramatic victory came on a last-second shot by sophomore David Hehn at 
Boston University's Case Gymnasium. The Burlington Free Press quoted 
David Hehn after the game as saying: ``For all the guys in this room, 
this is our dream.'' Vermont was the only team in the Nation this year 
to win a conference title on their opponent's home court.
  Members of my staff, including a senior counsel on the Senate 
Judiciary Committee and a member of the Catamount's 1981 through 1985 
squads, Ed Pagano, gathered last weekend to watch the game on ESPN, and 
you can be sure we will be watching again Thursday as they play their 
first game in the NCAA tournament. Many Vermonters, including my good 
friend Mary Anne Gucciardi--known by many on the UVM squad as ``Momma 
Gooch''--will be clearing their schedules Thursday to watch history in 
the making in the first round of the tournament.
  Coach Tom Brennan, who is in his 17th season with UVM, led these 
young men to victory. I have had many conversations with Coach Brennan, 
both personal and professional. He is the co-host of a popular radio 
show in Vermont. In a Burlington Free Press interview he said, ``I just 
kept believing this day would come, I have been treated so wonderfully 
at Vermont. . . . To be able to give that back and say `Here, this is 
for you' it's the most incredible feeling that I've had in a long, long 
time.''
  I find it fitting that the two Vermonters on this year's team were so 
instrumental in the team's championship run. Sophomore Taylor 
Coppenrath of West Barnet was given the Reggie Lewis Award for being 
the America East Player of the Year, and junior Matt Sheftic of Essex 
Junction won the Kevin Roberson Most Valuable Player Award for his 
exceptional performance in the America East Tournament.
  The conference title means the University of Vermont has secured its 
first-ever berth in the NCAA Tournament in the competition's 64-year 
history or, as the Free Press called it, UVM's ``First Dance.'' On 
Thursday, March 20, they will travel to the University of Utah in Salt 
Lake City to face the University of Arizona Wildcats. The Wildcats are 
this year's Pac-10 regular-season champion, and this will be their 19th 
consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. Like Ethan Allen and the Green 
Mountain Boys fighting for our freedom, the Catamounts know the 
Wildcats are well-groomed for the match, but they are

[[Page 6420]]

determined to play their best against the goliath Wildcats.
  I called Coach Brennan and the team to wish them luck before 
Saturday's game and again Sunday as they found out who they would be 
facing in the tournament. The team is excited and energized for their 
trip to Utah and to face one of the Nation''s top-ranked teams. Coach 
Brennan says, ``We're going to do the very best we can, we're going to 
enjoy it.''
  I would like to add that the entire State of Vermont is going to 
enjoy it. And I would like to thank Coach Brennan, the Athletic 
Department at UVM, our student-athletes and their families for giving 
so much to the State and to the fans of Catamount Basketball.

                          ____________________