Robert Weygand: “I rise this afternoon with great pride, because the smallest State in the country, Rhode Island, has one of the greatest…”

“I rise this afternoon with great pride, because the smallest State in the country, Rhode Island, has one of the greatest basketball teams in the country, the University of Rhode Island. It won its game just two days ago against one of the powerhouses of this country, the University of Kansas, in an outstanding game that pitted a very small, some people would say even very slow, untalented basketball team against one of the giants. A team like Kansas, that had two first-team all-Americans, was unbeatable by the critics' viewpoint. Rhode Island did not have a chance. As a matter of fact, most of them did not think they had a chance against a smaller team called Murray State. But Rhode Island proved them wrong. They proved their critics wrong. More importantly, what they brought to our small State was great pride. I am here this morning because as an alum of the University of Rhode Island, my daughter also an alumnus and my son a freshman, we could not be more happy. All of the people in the State of Rhode Island, all 1 million people, are ecstatic about what has happened. We have proven that small schools are still alive and doing well in the NCAA. We have proven that no matter what the odds may be, no matter how big the task may be, no matter how big the obstacle, even a small team in a small State can overcome those. We are extremely proud of our university, of all the things that they have become, but more importantly of their future.”