Dan Coats: “this is not easy for me to do, but I am going to do it in good grace here. I congratulate my colleague from Connecticut…”

“this is not easy for me to do, but I am going to do it in good grace here. I congratulate my colleague from Connecticut on The University of Connecticut's victory over the University of Notre Dame last night. He watched in joy and exuberance, and I watched in dismay. But I do want to congratulate the Senator and those from Connecticut for the singular achievement of having both men's and women's basketball championships. Those of us in Indiana are deeply immersed in the basketball culture. Statewide, we didn't have the best year or the kind of year we would have liked. But we were very proud of the University of Notre Dame women and the accomplishments they made--in an undefeated season until last evening. It probably is not politic for me to say this, but it is unfortunate that our all-American center, who was one of the keys to the success of the team, unfortunately had a knee injury which prevented her from playing. I am not saying we would have won had she played because I don't want to take anything away from the Huskies. On the other hand, I think it could have been a more contested contest had she been able to be a part of that. Either way, both teams deserve congratulations for the phenomenal seasons they had. It was a joy to watch from Indiana our Notre Dame women do so well, just as it was a joy for Senator Murphy to watch his men and women do so well. So I congratulate him for that.…”