The Casual Awards: Senior Day 2015

The Casual Awards

While you were purchasing your Brandon Marshall jerseys and cleaning the dust out of your eyes from Jabril’s senior day intro, we were toiling away at one final regular season edition of The Casual Awards.  In advance of a killer Thursday night Big East Tourney showdown against DePaul or Creighton, we once again celebrate and vilify all of those most deserving.  Away we go….

Tyler Adams Heart of a Champion Award:

Tyler Adams.

We can’t possibly tell this story as eloquently as The Washington Post did in Saturday’s excellent cover story, so to pay tribute to this incredible young man, we have given him a Casual Award in his own namesake this week.

Until we cut down the nets in Indianapolis, Tyler’s dunk will be the high point of the season.  Hats off to Seton Hall for giving him his Moonlight Graham moment.

"Hey Rookie. You were good."

The miJ mieheoB Award for Being the Opposite of Jim Boeheim:

Kevin Willard.

Taken from our blog friends over at South Orange Juice:

"I talked to John, I said ‘I'll let the kid shoot a layup and you just give us a layup' he said ‘Nah don't do that.'  I'm sitting there watching and this kid gets an NCAA waiver, Senior Night, everyone you talk to [says] he's just a great young man.  I think we have a bigger responsibility in life sometimes than the game of basketball. I told our kids in the locker room ‘We're going to lose the tip and we're going to give them a bucket.' We haven't been getting off to great starts, not the greatest way to start but I think it's important to reward good people.  Everything I've heard about this young man, what he's had to fight through, has had to battle. In my mind, I think kids should be rewarded if they're good people and to me that was the only decision to make."

From all of us here at this lunch documentation blog, thanks to Coach Willard, his staff, and players for an incredible act of kindness.  We’re sorry Jabril dunked at the end there.

{JTIII should have called timeout so that the seniors on the floor could get an ovation at the end of the game.  But whatever, it's all good.}

The Jabril Trawick Award for Being Tough as Nails Award:

Jabril Trawick.

Just when we thought everything that needed to be said about Jabril was already said, he goes out and plays a team-high 35 minutes, scores a career-high 19 points, dishes out four assists and makes grown men across the country adjust their contact lenses during the pregame introductions.  His transition three in the second half was such a Jabril shot.  And it was glorious.

I said it before, but I’ll say it again.  You can celebrate Jabril’s toughness and fire all you want.  For me, I’m loving all of the "Brilly being Brilly" moments, but I’m also celebrating the jump he’s made in his senior year.  In his first two seasons, Jabril was a battering ram on both sides of the court.  And now, he’s a polished veteran: his outside shot has improved significantly, he is a much better passer, and he no longer commits two fouls in the first five minutes of every game.  In fact, he committed two fouls in 35 minutes of game time on Saturday.  We can’t exactly say that Jabril "became a man" in his four years on the Hilltop, because he’s been a man since Day One; but Jabril has become a leader, and for that, we love him.  Now go punch someone, Brilly.

The NHL ‘94 Award for Lower Body Injuries Award:

DSR.

It wouldn’t be a Georgetown game without some last-second news to upend your pregame festivities.  Our resident Simon Phoenix was unable to unleash hell against Seton Hall with a vague injury reserved for the NHL.  It's unclear what happened, but the word is he won't be out long, so we've got that going for us, which is nice.  

Get better soon, DSR.  We will need you.

The Sade Award for Being a Smooth Operator:

Not the Georgetown scoreboard operator.

You, my dude, were not a smooth scoreboard operator at all.  It seemed like every time we looked up at the scoreboard, there was some kind of mistake.  You messed up at least five times.  Way to save your best for last.  Good thing there are no more home games left.  No more time for shenanigans.

Toyota Peak Performer Award:

Tre Campbell.

A freshman almost stole the show on senior day.  The YOUNG MAN had a pretty casual 13 points, two assists, two rebounds and two steals.  With DSR on the bench, Campbell gave us a glimpse of the future and put in the type of performance we knew he could.  He deftly brought the ball up the court, used his speed to break the press, calmly hit jumpers, and provided the steadying hand this team needed down the stretch.  In the JTIII era, there have only been two guys who have been able to single-handedly break a press.  Chris Wright is one.  Tre Campbell is the other.

Remember when Chris Wright came back from injury towards the end of his freshman season, and we were all really excited about how he’d contribute in the postseason? (He was awesome in the BET quarterfinals and in our game against Davidson, by the way.)  I’m kind of feeling the same way about Tre.  The YOUNG MAN is only scratching the surface.  I’m excited to see what he can do in the next few years, but I’m also pretty excited to see what he can do in the next few weeks.

The "Aaron Bowen is a F*cking Pterodactyl" Award:

Aaron Bowen. He’s a f*cking pterodactyl.  Seriously, look at this photo.

Though he did not hit either of his "signature" high arcing three-point attempts, our resident pterosaur Air Bow turned in a solid effort off the bench, with eight points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals in 23 minutes.

The Air Raid Award:

Tyler Adams, Aaron Bowen, Jabril Trawick, Mikael Hopkins, and Josh Smith

Our seniors got to leave the Verizon Center floor, for the last time as college students, as winners.

Thanks, guys.

{Hopefully none of them acts like O’Banion.  Also, what happened to Mitch Murphy's sister?}

The New York Islanders Fisherman Award for Excellent Throwback Uniforms:

Georgetown.

Our gear from Saturday was fresh, and I am not sure why we don’t wear this style every game, every year.  If they're not going to go the whole nine yards and bring back the Iverson kente cloth jerseys as they were in 1995, let's just roll with these.  Make it happen, Jordan Brand.

Escape From Our Moms’ Basements Award

Casual Hoya Community.

It was great meeting you all at Penn Social.  Come over for meatloaf sometime.  Special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. BenHoya for babysitting TexaHoya after 10pm.  We will pay you in casual red tickets.

The Bud Kilmer Award for Being a Head Coach with No Redeeming Qualities:

Jim Boeheim

"make him eligible. i don't want to hear how it's done."

I mean, seriously?  Over a decade of academic fraud, along with blatant disregard for your own drug testing policy, and you’re complaining about a punishment that allows you to conveniently keep your National Championship AND Final Four that occurred in that window?

I understand that the NCAA lives in a glass house when it comes to morality, but for f*ck’s sake, you cheated for a decade.  Don’t worry about UNC, they’ll get theirs later.  Man up and take your lumps.

And skipping the postgame presser because you didn’t want the end of the year to not be about "the kids"?

Want the end of the year to be about the kids? Then don’t strategically rob them of their postseason in February when they have no options.

— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) March 7, 2015

Here’s how I feel about Jim Boeheim right now:

Where's the Tylenol?

Note to our guy Jay Bilas:

Listen, Jay Bilas, you're our guy.  But you really need to stop bashing  the NCAA's ruling against Syracuse.  Criticizing the NCAA is all well and good; and if you think it's unfair for the NCAA to accuse Boeheim of failing to promote "an atmosphere of compliance" without providing sufficient details, then we're with you.  We would LOVE to learn more details of Syracuse's transgressions!  Give us more, NCAA.  And listen, if you think it's unfair to hold Jim Boeheim personally responsible for all of these violations without going after some of the other higher-ups, then that's fine too.   We're cool with the NCAA going after the athletic director and the president.  Go right ahead!

But when you say things like "if Jim Boeheim is a cheater, then John Wooden is a cheater too" (because Wooden was alleged to have been involved in certain transgressions of his own in the mid-70s, which were later confirmed by his players), your comments aren't helping anyone.

Attacking the NCAA is fine; but defending Boeheim after he and his buddies were caught cheating for over a decade is just plain silly.  This wasn't just a case of sending too many text messages to recruits (a la Kelvin Sampson); in this case, the program was charged with everything from drug use and extra benefits to academic fraud and impermissible booster activity.  In other words, this was not one isolated incident, so stop shedding any tears for Jim B.

Bilas is one of our faves, but in this case we think Bilas needs to condemn Syracuse at least as much as he condemns the NCAA.  We hope he's more than just an advocate for the Power 5 conferences and a mouthpiece for the ACC conference (and the Duke and Syracuse talking heads who rule the roost at that place.)  You're better than that, Jay.

The StatuTe, StatuTe of Limitations Award:

In the last couple of days, you may have asked yourself the following question: if Syracuse's transgressions dated as far back as 2001 and lasted for over a decade, and Syracuse had to forfeit 108 games in the middle of the decade, how come the Orange get to keep that 2003 national championship?

The answer: Syracuse and the NCAA had a little settlement which allowed the Orange to only be held responsible for violations that occurred AFTER May 2003 (conveniently one month after Syracuse won the championship).  Classy move, NCAA.  BUT DON'T WORRY EVERYONE.  Jim Boeheim has been at 'Cuse since 1962 and HE'S NOT GOING ANYWHERE.

At least Gerry Mac's 2006 run through the Big East Tourney NEVER EVEN HAPPENED!!!!

One final award, because we can't end things talking about Jimmy B.

The Kate Upton Award for Doing Kate Upton Things:

Salma Hayek

Let's Go Hoyas.  Do the damn thing and win the Big East Tournament.