Saturday's blowout win over Lance 'Born Ready' Stephenson and the Bearcats was just the kind of medicine that the Hoyas (and THE GLOBAL PHENOMEMON) needed to help us get ready for the postseason. Since the Oscars once again failed to deliver, it's up to once again show the world how to run a casual Awards presentation.

Chris Wright Heart of a Champion Award:
Austin Freeman. If there will ever be an opportunity to rename this award, that would have been it. But Lumpy gets to keep the title, Austin gets the prize. It speaks for itself. AUSTIN FREEMAN IS AWESOME.

John Thompson III Award for Classy Move:
John Thompson III.  Excellent job allowing the fans to properly acknowledge Austin Freeman before the game.  I was wondering if Thompson would keep Freeman out of the starting lineup and then bring him in off the bench immediately, so the crowd could give the lad a proper standing ovation.  But instead, you decided to recognize that Austin Freeman joined the 1,000 point club before the national anthem!  Brilliant Thompson, brilliant.

The Steve Martin - Alec Baldwin Most Entertaining In-Game Thread Award:
I actually liked the Martin/Baldwin schtick.  Their opener had a few casual one-liners (always fun to call out the celebs in the crowd) and the duo kept things light on an otherwise heavily burdensome evening.  Bunk Moreland takes the award during the regular season finale for this one:

gottlieb on espn said

one of frees finishes was so sweet it gave him an insulin spike

by bunk moreland on Mar 6, 2010 1:30 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

(Casual Note: Doug Gottlieb is not casual.)

More 'Awards' after The Jump:

Fan Friendly Award:
Verizon Center.  This may only be true of my section, but the ushers did not let people walk to their seats while Freeman was being honored at halfcourt, and since the presentation was before the starting lineups, the arena was half-empty.  Glad Freeman got a louder cheer when he exited the game.  The ushers also refused to allow the fans into the game once the game started until there was a stoppage in play, but the problem was that the first whistle didn't occur until 7 minutes into the game.  The Verizon Center sucks. 

The "Give The Guy a Break He's Had a Rough Week" Award:
Austin Freeman.  There was a play in the 1st half  (may have been the 2nd half - too many beers to recall) in which he saved the ball from going out of bounds and heaved it down court to an all-alone Hollis Thompson ready for a monster dunk, but the ref called it back because Freeman had apparently stepped on the sideline.  COME ON REF!  Give the guy a break.

The Aren't You Scottie Reynolds? Award:
Scottie Reynolds. Senior Day in Philadephia. Overtime. Down by two to West Virginia.  Standing alone in the corner.  Here comes the ball.  Scottie Reynolds TO WIN THE GAME.  Clang.  How does he miss that shot?  I was expecting the earth to be torn asunder and a direct portal to hell to open up in the Irish Channel.

The "It Takes a Real Man To Show Your Face in Here" Award:
JeffGreen'sDad for his bold appearance at The Irish Channel just weeks after being summarily dismissed from said establishment.

Carrot Top Award for Being Able to Take a Joke:
There is no reason for this award being named after Carrot Top other than the fact that I wanted to link to this picture.  Lance Stephenson is the winner of this award for laughing at my pathetic attempt to ridicule the college freshman for his nickname, "Born Ready."  After exclaiming to the young chap that he should go back into the womb because he is not ready, Lance calmly lifted his head and smiled.  You are far more mature than I am, Lance, and you will be vastly more wealthy than me in one year.  Actually, he's probably already more wealthy than I am.

Indiana Jones Award for Great Find:
Whoever took my jacket at Gin and Tonic.  Not only was it a sweet black North Face (very rare), it also had Casual Headbands in the pockets.  Pure upside.

via media.zoomcinema.fr

Irish Channel Best Pregame Bar:
Irish Channel.  Good job blog followers, we successfully filled the bar up before the game, which led to ONE free drink for yours truly (Hire Esherick) for being an incredible promoter.

Best Opposing Fans Award:
Cincinnati.  Thanks for not coming to the game and making Austin Freeman and Stay in School Day a resounding success.

Syracuse Sucks Award:
We won, we got a first round bye, but special thanks to Syracuse for ruining everything.  Did you really have to lose?  That loss pushed us into the morning half of the bracket for the BET - and now I have to sneak out to a bar at lunch to watch the damn games.  Well, I guess that isn't a bad thing.  And you know what else won't be a bad thing?  Beating Syracuse on Thursday. 

Gil Renard Award:

via 2.bp.blogspot.com

Shocking threeway tie between RepublicansWearNikes2, SirHoya, and JahidiLikesPie. Everyone remembers Bobby DeNiro's cringe inducing performance in the Wesley Snipes vehicle, The Fan. These three best emulated Renard as they powered through with the Global Phenomenon bloggers for the entire day, beginning at the Channel and shutting it down at G&T with some inspired dancing.

Bring It On Award:
Male Cheerleader. Actually, this is more of a career achievement award honoring Male Cheerleader's willingness to give 110% for every game, whether yelling into the megaphone, doing backflips, or grabbing OldHoya's wife for impromptu dances. Unclear whether his dominance will ever be matched and we here at The Global Phenomenon look forward to the sit-down tell-all interview.

Hope for a Reverse Jinx Award:
Our own gambling superstar, Varmint, turns another year older today. Hopefully we'll be able to work some reverse jinx magic and he'll select the upset with Greg Monroe declaring for the draft, which would ensure that Monroe returns to school. Freeman was clearly the heart and soul of the team on Saturday but Monroe hung 19 and 15 on a pretty solid frontline. Those are NBA numbers and it'll be a surprise if he returns to school as the crowd acknowledged with a standing O when he checked out of the game.

The Rudy Award:
We've given this one before but once again, Ryan Dougherty and Stephen Stepka lay claim to it. Those insane cheers you hear while in the game? THE FANS WANT YOU TO SHOOT. Maybe this is more for the walk-ons to come but when you check into a 30 point blowout with 1 minute left, grip it and rip it - who cares if it's an airball? Do you really want a Trillion next to your name?  SHOOT. THE. BALL.

Tin Man Award:
Cincinnati Basketball. Absolutely pathetic performance displaying absolutely no heart. Sure, Born Ready's on his way to the League and was strictly going for his (good luck with that second round status, Lance) but shouldn't some of the other players on the team want to play? Repulsive roll-over by Cincy, but hey, a win is a win.

The Dark Cloud on an Otherwise Beautiful Day Award:
It was a beautiful spring day in DC on Saturday.  The sun was out, the Hoyas were winning, people were drinking, and oh yeah, the bench was still sucking.  2 points and not a single field goal from the Thompson, Benimon, Sanford, and Sims foursome in the blowout win.  Saturday's bench effort was masked by the blowout, but we have said it here before and we will likely say it again in the near future - the Georgetown Hoyas are not going to have postseason success if the bench can't contribute. 

The 'We Have Arrived' Award:
From the successful pregame at Irish Channel to the postgame at Gin & Tonic, it's abundantly clear that Casual Hoya has become a force to be reckoned with, or at least as much of a force that something can become on the lame world of the blogosphere.  We're also happy that Julian Vaughn likes us:

whats your least favorite message board about georgetown
them casual ppl....haha sike im jk i kno they gonna blast me if they see this theyre alright they kinda funny SOMETIMES   

The Georgetown Hoyas are a nationally ranked powerhouse.

The Big East Tournament is NeXt.