Once again after a riveting victory, we're handing out some hardware to those most deserving. Buckle up.
Ladies and gents, The Casual Awards: Temple.
Fan-Friendly Award:
Verizon Center. $7.50 for beers and cutting off alcohol sales at the 15 MINUTE MARK of the 2nd half! True fans were so incensed that they were driven to drink LONG ISLAND ICED TEAS after the game. Thanks a lot, gimps. I'd rather the Hoyas play outside on the streets.
Hoyas cheerleaders earn a solid 2 on the 5 pom-pom scale, elevated from the usual 1 due to the presence of the male cheerleader. If anyone knows this male cheerleader please have him contact us, as a legendary one-on-one with Casual Hoya has to happen before the season is lost (read: before the Savannah State game).
Stay Hot Award:
Tie: Henry Sims and Julian Vaughn. This was an awful game for the Hoyas big men. Sims threw all the noted progress he displayed at the Tulane game out the window, getting constantly beat on defense and looking confused on offense. Zero points and 3 fouls in 10 minutes. Vaughn was 0 for 4 from the field and 0 for 2 from the line. Also, if he takes one more 3 this season he should be quarantined. This is going to be a very long season if these guys can't contribute. Stay hot, guys. Stay hot.
DaJuan Summers Memorial Post-Office Award:
Greg Monroe. Could a 'surefire lottery pick' possibly have mailed one in worse than Greg in this one? Since attendance was in the teens I doubt many scouts were on hand to witness that effort, but aside from saving our season with the game-winner, Monroe was outplayed by Temple's LaVoy Allen all game.
Craig Esherick Award:
Once again the award for bonehead coaching move goes to JT3 for inserting Nikita into the game. In his 2 minutes on the court with 6 minutes left in the 1st half, the Hoyas managed not to lose any ground to the Owls (they didn't increase a tenuous lead either), though Nikita did give the fans what they paid to see: his infamous patented dribble the ball through traffic in the lane off the knee out of bounds while falling down move. There's just no telling how much some third tier league in Macedonia is going to pay to giftwrap that thing for its fan base for years to come. Nikita nearly entered that hallowed halls of 'club trillion', though the above-mentioned turnover prevented it. I'm really enjoying this Nikita era.
Honorable mention (for different reasons): Fran Dunphy - the mustache is worthy of 80s skin flicks.
Jack Lalanne Award:
Memo to the Hoyas coaching staff: there are guys on the team who need to start lifting weights. Sims and Hollis in particular. Is this not obvious to anyone involved with the team on a daily basis? Drink your milkshake! DRINK IT UP!
Princeton Offense Award:
16 turnovers and 7 assists. No further comment.
'Ill Communication' Award:
Assistant Coach Kenya Hunter who screamed repeatedly to Hollis Thompson to watch for that fat 3 point shooter Craig Williams on a baseline out of bounds play - of course, Thompson couldn't hear over the deafening crowd noise and Williams dropped the 3. For a team that spends so much time tweeting about in-class updates and the movies they enjoy watching, these guys are mutes on the court.
William Wallace Braveheart Award:
Solidly unclaimed as the Gtown team struggles to find any form of leadership: Monroe, the best player, doesn't demand the ball; Chris Wright, the point guard, clearly doesn't have the support of the team; and Austin Freeman, arguably the most steady player, is so quiet and non-demonstrative that it seems the team forgets about him for stretches of the game.
Interestingly, Chris Wright was dangerously close to the feared Michael Scott Award for Inept Leadership due to ill timed heatchecks and reckless drives to the basket but the season's young and he can still earn it.
Jack Nicholson Award for Celebrity Fan of the Game:
Jeff Green's mom - still going strong. (Note: Even though we're in DC, we aren't giving this award to whoever was on Meet The Press or has a carricature at the Palm - we're talking real celebs. Umm, yeah, like Jeff Green's mom.) Worth noting that Ms. Green's Mom's seats are getting progressively worse, as now she's in one of the corner sections. One would think that a certain member of the OKC Thunder would spring for some casual courtsiders.
The Georgetown Hoyas are still an undefeated nationally ranked powerhouse.
Casually.