Ticket Information | UVM's Championship Central
Vermont NCAA Quotes | Worcester NCAA Info
BURLINGTON, Vt. - -- Making its third straight appearance in the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship, the America East champion Vermont Catamounts (24-6) earned the 13th seed in the Austin Regional and will face the fourth-seeded Syracuse Orange (27-6) in a first round match-up Friday, March 18th, at the DCU Center in Worcester, Mass. Game time is at 7:10pm and the game will be televised on CBS (check local listings) with Gus Johnson and Len Elmore on the call. UVM ticket info will be announced on Monday. The winner of the Vermont-Syracuse game will meet the winner of the first round game between #5 Michigan State and #12 Old Dominion in the second round on Sunday. Second round winners will advance to the regional semifinals in Austin, Texas the following weekend. Also at the DCU Center this weekend will be first and second round games of the Syracuse Regional. #2 Connecticut will take on #15 Central Florida and #7 Charlotte and #10 North Carolina State. All NCAA tournament games will be aired on CBS. "Playing in the East, especially Worcester is real special for us and our fans," commented Vermont coach Tom Brennan. "It's the closest draw we could get and we are thrilled to be in Worcester. We knew we would be " I thought we might be better than a #13 seed, but after the last two years, we are happy to take what we get. We knew we'd be playing a tough team no matter who we drew. It's a challenge to play a team that won the national title two years ago." It marks the second straight season the Catamounts will face the BIG EAST champion in the first round. Last year Vermont lost to eventual national champion Connecticut, 70-53, in the opening round. The Orange, ranked 16th last week in the Associated Press National Top 25, will be the third ranked team UVM has faced this season. Vermont opened the campaign with a narrow loss at then-number one ranked Kansas and in December they lost at fourth-ranked North Carolina. The Vermont-Syracuse game features two of the nation's top players in Taylor Coppenrath (West Barnet, Vt.) and Hakim Warrick. The two 6-foot-nine forwards are finalists for the Wooden Award as national player of the year and the Bayer Advantage Senior CLASS Award as the nation's top senior men's basketball player. "They are a very good team. But, you look at the 12 and 13 seeds, and they are all good teams, commented Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim on www.suathletics.com. "Vermont is a very good basketball team. Its RPI was in the top 30 all year, it has experienced players and it's just a good basketball team. They had Kansas beat at Kansas earlier in the year.." Vermont earned the America East's automatic bid by defeating Northeastern, 80-57, Saturday at Patrick Gym in the conference title game. Coppenrath, the nation's second-leading scorer (25.7 ppg), led the Catamounts with 37 points as they won their third straight conference championship.
Vermont NCAA Quotes | Worcester NCAA Info
BURLINGTON, Vt. - -- Making its third straight appearance in the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship, the America East champion Vermont Catamounts (24-6) earned the 13th seed in the Austin Regional and will face the fourth-seeded Syracuse Orange (27-6) in a first round match-up Friday, March 18th, at the DCU Center in Worcester, Mass. Game time is at 7:10pm and the game will be televised on CBS (check local listings) with Gus Johnson and Len Elmore on the call. UVM ticket info will be announced on Monday. The winner of the Vermont-Syracuse game will meet the winner of the first round game between #5 Michigan State and #12 Old Dominion in the second round on Sunday. Second round winners will advance to the regional semifinals in Austin, Texas the following weekend. Also at the DCU Center this weekend will be first and second round games of the Syracuse Regional. #2 Connecticut will take on #15 Central Florida and #7 Charlotte and #10 North Carolina State. All NCAA tournament games will be aired on CBS. "Playing in the East, especially Worcester is real special for us and our fans," commented Vermont coach Tom Brennan. "It's the closest draw we could get and we are thrilled to be in Worcester. We knew we would be " I thought we might be better than a #13 seed, but after the last two years, we are happy to take what we get. We knew we'd be playing a tough team no matter who we drew. It's a challenge to play a team that won the national title two years ago." It marks the second straight season the Catamounts will face the BIG EAST champion in the first round. Last year Vermont lost to eventual national champion Connecticut, 70-53, in the opening round. The Orange, ranked 16th last week in the Associated Press National Top 25, will be the third ranked team UVM has faced this season. Vermont opened the campaign with a narrow loss at then-number one ranked Kansas and in December they lost at fourth-ranked North Carolina. The Vermont-Syracuse game features two of the nation's top players in Taylor Coppenrath (West Barnet, Vt.) and Hakim Warrick. The two 6-foot-nine forwards are finalists for the Wooden Award as national player of the year and the Bayer Advantage Senior CLASS Award as the nation's top senior men's basketball player. "They are a very good team. But, you look at the 12 and 13 seeds, and they are all good teams, commented Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim on www.suathletics.com. "Vermont is a very good basketball team. Its RPI was in the top 30 all year, it has experienced players and it's just a good basketball team. They had Kansas beat at Kansas earlier in the year.." Vermont earned the America East's automatic bid by defeating Northeastern, 80-57, Saturday at Patrick Gym in the conference title game. Coppenrath, the nation's second-leading scorer (25.7 ppg), led the Catamounts with 37 points as they won their third straight conference championship.