The Feel-Good Story of College Basketball
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Tom Brennan couldn’t have said it any more concisely to his players before the game.
“You were born to win this championship. You were born to do it. That’s all there is to it.”
Brennan’s Vermont Catamounts blew out Northeastern 80-57 to win their third straight America East tournament championship on Saturday. Based on his team’s performance, the coach certainly knew what he was talking about. The Catamounts were the clearly better team from start to finish in the game, much like they were over the entire season.
But Saturday’s game, as well as the season and the current run of three straight championships, go beyond the final score. This is, after all, the University of Vermont – a school known more for hockey than basketball, a school where the first 101 years of basketball never saw a 20-win season prior to four straight years with at least 21. It’s in a state that has never been known as basketball country by a long shot. But spend some time around this campus and community, and it becomes clear that the current times are just one example of the love affair between the state and this team.
Saturday’s game was also the last game at Patrick Gym for Brennan, who is retiring at the end of the season. He is as much a part of this team’s story as anyone, as his story is a fine example of a late bloomer. For many of his early years, the team struggled and was hardly relevant outside of Burlington. The best thing about Vermont, save for stars like Kevin Roberson and Eddie Benton, was that Brennan was a character and a good guy.
He’s still very much a character and a nice guy, but now he’s more decorated with the sudden success of his team. Success has only made him appreciate what he has, and Saturday brought it all to light.
“People have always taken care of me,” Brennan reflected. “Like I said, when I was broke, when I had nothing, people took me in, and they took care of me, and now that I’m rich, and I’ve won the lottery three times in a row, I’m just able to give it back, give it back, give it back. And I think that’s what makes this place so special and what makes this program so special, and what allows me to take such pride in having been the coach here for 19 years. I just can’t tell you how much it’s meant to me, and I will tell you until the day I die that I will never forget today.”
If there was any doubt that he hasn’t lost his touch with self-deprecating humor, another reflection took that away.
“What people don’t understand is, I’m the all-time leader in wins by one; I’m the all-time leader in losses by a gang,” he quipped.
The Catamounts have been carried by two best friends, seniors Taylor Coppenrath and T.J. Sorrentine, but that’s just where it begins. Classmates David Hehn and Germain Mopa Njila have had a large hand in the three titles, with Hehn getting the winning basket two years ago in the championship game and Mopa Njila making the last two All-Tournament teams. Sophomore forward Martin Klimes, always a solid role player amidst the more heralded players, was the star of the first half on Saturday as he had a career-high 15 points on 7-of-7 shooting in the first half. For good measure, he had five assists.
To watch the Catamounts play is to see enjoyable basketball. Coppenrath has an amazing sense of where he is relative to the basket and is almost automatic finishing close to the hoop. Sorrentine hits three-point shots you wouldn’t advise your kids to take, especially in the clutch. Mopa Njila is always around the ball at either end, and always seems to know when to shoot even though he’s often given space. Hehn makes solid decisions with the ball and will defend anyone he has to.
Off the court, it only gets better. The program has consistently had solid students, and like many who have been at the school, many current players have reflected fondly on the ties the school has to the greater community and the state. Alumni have continued to support the program; one notable example on Saturday was the attendance of Matt Sheftic, who was the Most Outstanding Player in the 2003 America East Tournament. Sheftic’s story has been documented here before, and for those who are wondering, he’s in great spirits and doing well as he has begun his career as an officer in the U.S. Army. His work goes right along with how Brennan has taught his players about giving back to the community, and in Sheftic’s case, serving the country.
The fans and supporters certainly enjoy this team, and they enjoyed and supported this team when they weren’t winning. Patrick Gym was never an easy place for visiting teams to play, but now it’s nearly impossible to win there. Every game this season sold out, and the place always had plenty of energy well before the game started. Indeed, it is college basketball at its finest – an amazing atmosphere with a team worthy of all the love the fans give them. Some might say that Patrick Gym, like a lot of mid-major arenas across the country, is just a glorified high school gym – but so what? The relative size of it, as well as the packed house and the noise the fans generate, make the atmosphere what it is. It wouldn’t be the same otherwise.
The fans didn’t stop showing their love for this team on Saturday. In the final minutes, chants thanking the seniors, Brennan and long-time associate coach Jesse Agel could be heard. They know what this program came from, and like fans of any team that didn’t win for a long time, they appreciate what this team has done perhaps more than if they had been perennial winners.
“It’s neat, it’s really neat,” Brennan said of the chants. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that this is a very special place. What’s happened here is never going to happen again, and it doesn’t happen many places.
“It was very moving, and it’s something that doesn’t happen to a lot of people.”
The Catamounts are the No. 13 seed in the Austin region and will play Syracuse in the first round in Worcester, Mass. It’s not out of the realm of possibilities that they could knock off the Orange, as they match up well with them and run a patient offense that will make them work in their 2-3 zone defense. Such a win would prolong what Brennan calls a “magic carpet ride” and just further write him and the current players into the program’s record books.
