The recap below submitted by loyal casualty iwillpaytheway!!, whose excellent summary complete with documentation earns him an Otto Porter bobblehead doll.
The banquet started with a speech from Hoop Club President Al Bozzo, who recapped our season perfectly. He said it was a season filled with highs and lows. Awesome. He said it is disappointing that we have had to face injury or illness problems at the worst possible time the last 2 seasons, and that our last 2 opponents this year caught their strides at our expense. Both valid points. He also wanted to make it clear that we won't remember this senior class for their wins or their losses, but for their resilience, and their ability to over come obstacles.
Recap and documentation after The Jump:
After Assistant coaches Brennan and Kirby spoke, thanking several people for their dedication to the program, they played the season highlight video. It was very subpar as compared to years past. It had a brief intro from Rich Chvotkin, followed by cheesy headlines that happened throughout the season. Some good ones were "An Instant Classic" for Missouri, "A clinic in Memphis," "New Jersey road swing" for Rutgers and Seton Hall, "A classic rivalry" for Cuse, and "Let's make it 8" for Marquette. The last game of the season was apparently against Marquette because after that game it started thanking the seniors for their 4 years here. I guess it was too soon to mention losses.
Georgetown President John DeGioia then spoke. He wanted to thank the 177,000 fans that filled Verizon Center this year, the Hoya Hoop Club, Athletic Director Lee Reed for his leadership in his first year, the coaching staff, and the team. He said that this team is the public face of Georgetown, and they have represented the school with integrity and pride, and that they have strengthened our global network. (No mention of the GLOBAL PHENOMENON) He also looks forward to extending our global outreach as the team will be in China for two weeks playing exhibition games, as well as doing charity work in an attempt to continue to strengthen our global community.
Coach Hunter introduced each player individually and gave some comments about each. Here we go.
- Moses Ayegba- Has a bright future with the program, but needs to learn not to foul on every possession.
- Aaron Bowen- Very exceeded to see what he can do with a full and healthy season.
- John Caprio- Nicknamed "Thunder Dan." All that was said was "he may have a chance." A chance at what?
- Nate Lubick- The "Vanilla Gorilla." There is a running tally at practice about who fouls more, him or Moses.
- Markel Starks- Apparently he is a heck of a recruiter, whatever that means. He also has a promising future and million dollar smile.
- Jerrelle Benimon- Has passed up more 2 point jumpers than any other player he has seen before and hopefully next year (if there is a next year for him) he can make some of them. Also he praised his defense.
- Vee Sanford- Has shown incredible growth this year, can be depended on, and has a new swagger about him; especially since he walked to the wrong end of the floor of the Carrier Dome twice last year.
- Hollis Thompson- Hollis thinks he has been held back for the last 2 years, but next year they will let him go, and we have seen glimpses into his greatness that we can expect next year. HOLLYWOOD!!!
- Jason Clark- He gives 100% every time he is on the floor, and they look forward to him being a senior leader as he never misses a practice. He is also tough. He came back from an injury the next day when everyone thought he would be out a few days.
- Henry Sims- Has more nicknames than anybody else on the team. Started with "Almost," then went to "50/50," and then JT3 dubbed him "Juicy."
- Ryan Dougherty- He is a good person, and they want to do whatever they can to keep him around somehow. Also he is nicknamed "Cheddar Bob."
- Julian Vaughn- Has been the most improved player on the team for each of the last 2 years, and works harder than anyone in the gym. He has great hopes for JuJu as a pro, wherever that may be.
- Chris Wright- He is a hard worker with a bright future. He also plays with a lot of emotion, sometimes too much. They call him "the Hulk," and when he is going green it is time to get him out. (Wrecking Ball anyone?)
- Austin Freeman- He is perhaps the slowest walker in the history of the world, but on the floor he produced and got buckets. He was awesome.
After some more thank-yous were thrown out, JT3 took the podium, introducing his 4 seniors for each of their speeches. Dougherty was first, saying he wanted to be brief because he knew Austin had a lot to say. He also wanted to point out that while he didn't play all that often, whenever he did play we won by 20 points. He was by far the best public speaker of the 4 players.
Julian also thanked everyone, and even though he was a transfer, it still seemed like the time went by so fast. He too mentioned the global outreach of the program (again not THE GLOBAL PHENOMENON). He also mentioned Big John's constant influence on the team, saying that he doesn't coach anymore, but he is never afraid to put in his 2 cents, and those two cents often involved a lot of cursing.
Next up was Chris who did not have a speech prepared, but told a story of how he was recruited. He was first approached by JT3 in 10th grade, but really wanted nothing to do with Georgetown, but after encouragement from his father he decided to come here. Even though his time here has been filled with ups and downs he said "I am proud to say I'm a Hoya."
Finally Austin took the podium saying "If you don't know, I have done this before. Didn't you all see the Big East media day stuff? They say I am like a young Barack." The resemblance is uncanny.
Then, finally, JT3s speech. It was surprisingly short. He wanted to thank his assistant, Mary Jane Cratty, who is leaving this year. She has been his assistant ever since his first year at Princeton, and he can't imagine being a head coach without her. His speech was short but sweet: "A new era starts now, it starts tomorrow. I'm excited, the team is excited. We are Georgetown."
But how could we forget the most important part of the evening: the food!
We started with salad with fresh spinach, mushrooms, onions, sunflower seeds, and some sort of rasberry or strawberry dressing that was absolutely delicious.
The second course was a sirloin steak, crab cake, mashed potatoes, and asparagus. Again delightful.
For desert we had a delectable piece of cheese cake, and the presentation should be praised. All in all, a great meal.
