The Casual Awards: Hoyas Dominate Butler

Oh, hello. Nice to see you again. While you were ushering in another terrible year, we were counting down the seconds until we could burn this godforsaken lunch documentation blog to the ground. Without further ado, please welcome your first (and potentially last) edition of the 2019 CASUAL AWARDS. Away we go….

The Chris Wright Heart of a Champion Award:

Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

Greg Malinowski.

My word. In easily the best game of his career, Malinowski racked up a career high 26 points (on 10-12 shooting), seven rebounds and four assists.

From the start, Greg was straight-up balling, at one point going crossover, between the legs, step back, into his shooting motion for a clean trey. It made us wish they would flash to the huddle for this:

When he wasn’t spotting up for smooth strokes from the perimeter, he was creating space in the lane and finding open shooters, or pulling down much needed boards (during a game in which we desperately needed them).

It’s hard to really put this performance into perspective. Malinowski has often been the most fundamentally sound player on the team, but he’s more or less been a complementary piece. In Game 1 of the Big East, however, he put on a clinic. When he’s clicking on all cylinders...look out.

Hats off to Greg. He became Georgetown’s sixth different player to lead the team in scoring.

In the words of whoever did the color commentary for MASN, “this cat is hot”. MEOW?

The Joey Tribbiani Award for Always Being There for You:

Mike Granse-USA TODAY Sports

Matt Josh LeBlanc.

Man, we love this kid. And by “we”, we mean every single freaking person who cares about Georgetown basketball. LeBlanc is like every one of your favorite “Friends” characters because he’s always there for you. Even when the rain starts to pour. Even if your job’s a joke, you’re broke, or your love life’s DOA.

The freshman from Louisiana has been a revelation. The length. The hustle. The rebounds. The intensity. After dropping a career high 22 points and 11 rebounds against Howard last week, he chipped in with a LeCasual 12 points, three rebounds, three blocks, two assists and two steals against Butler. We’ll overlook the dreadful free throw shooting (2-9) because, 1, he’s a normally solid FT shooter, and 2, hey, we won the game. But in the future, hit more of your free throws, my dude. They’re free!

LeBlanc is already a pretty complete player, and this freshmen class is the best to set foot on the Hilltop in a minute.

The Mac McClung Award for Having a Sprained Ankle Award:

Mac McClung.

MAC McCLUNG HAS A SPRAINED ANKLE, YOU GUYS. JUST RELAX.

Unless it’s a high ankle sprain, in which case, still relax, but also

The Big Man U Award for Being a Dominant Georgetown Big Man:

Thomas J. Russo-USA TODAY Sports

Jessie Govan.

At this point we really just take Jessie for granted because he’s so silky smooth. His defensive woes aside (OMG, how did that Mark Eaton lookin’ dude Joey Brunk score 11 points against Jessie?), Govan has been relatively automatic. His perimeter shooting, face-up game, conditioning and overall court vision have improved by leaps and bounds. Look at this extra pass in a tight space!

Let’s not overlook Jessie out there. He’s probably the best big man in the conference. Against Butler, he casually chipped in with 17 points, six rebounds and three blocks. He’s pretty money.

Hopefully high school big men are taking notice of his development.

The Cole Anthony Award for Shocking the World and Leading Georgetown to a National Championship:

Cole Anthony.

We have been told that apparently this website has a lot of sway and that it is a GLOBAL PHENOMENON that is trusted by the masses. If Cole Anthony is reading this, he should know that the writers of these awards are salivating about the possibility of handing out hardware to you on a biweekly basis.

The pieces are coming together. We have a young and hungry team. Notre Dame is terrible and North Carolina is just asking to be suspended. Come to the Hilltop, young fella. You will be treated like royalty.

Unless you sprain your ankle.

The Jagan Mosely Award for Drawing Exactly One Charge:

Jagan Mosely.

He’s always good for drawing a charge. Against Butler, his backwards plunge came at a useful time and led to Kamar Baldwin picking up his third foul. Keep diving, Jiggy.

Also, with our guy Jamorko Pickett’s game still pulling an Ozzie Smith…

Mosely and Jahvon Blair combined for 11 points (on five shots), six rebounds, two steals, and two assists in 36 minutes. We’ll need similar bench contributions while Jamorko plays his way out of his sophomore slump.

The DeAndre Jordan Award for Being Lousy at Free Throws Award:

Your Georgetown Hoyas.

Umm, what just happened? On an otherwise exciting night, Georgetown somehow put up an egg at the charity stripe, connecting on only 18 of 32 throws for a dreadful 56%. Free throw shooting hasn’t really been an issue up until this point, but in Indianapolis our guys seemed to have a case of the yips.

And not just LeBlanc. Everyone -- Akinjo, Govan, Malinowski and Mosely -- missed foul shots. On any other night, we’d probably win this game by over 20, but alas, we just couldn’t buy a hoop from the foul line.

The only Hoya to have a perfect night from the line? Kaleb Johnson, who was a lovely 2 for 2. Think about that. Kaleb, who has often been one of our worst free throw shooters, was the only perfect one out there. Basketball is so fun, and terrible.

The Hinkle Fieldhouse Award for Being a Dominant Home Court:

Not Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Butler was 9-0 at home and hadn’t lost a game at Hinkle since February 2018 (thanks to your Hoyas). Georgetown, for whatever reason, has owned Butler on the road. It makes no sense, but we’ll take it. Time to rename the place HINKLE HOYA FIELDHOUSE. Boom! Roasted.

Sometimes we’re so creative with words it’s disgusting.

The Dork Nowitzki Award for Being a Doofy Big Man Who Takes One Legged Stepback Jumpers:

Joey Brunk.

Who is Joey Brunk? Where did he come from? Why did he have 11 points and six rebounds? Why did he seem to give Govan fits with a series of silky smooth up-and-under moves? How did he pull down so many offensive boards? He looked like the evolutionary successor to Greg Ostertag.

If I was 7 feet tall...I’d hit my head on doorways more. And I’d probably be the Joey Brunk of my rec league.

The SNAJPER Award for Sharp Shooting:

Greg Malinowski.

Sorry, but this man deserves two awards. Any time you knock down six of seven threes, you’re entitled to more love than usual. The Polish word for “sharp-shooter” is, not surprisingly, SNAJPER. Greg was shooting from distance on Wednesday night and hitting everything. Aim small, miss small, my dude. We wouldn’t want to play you in Goldeneye for the N64 if you shoot like that AND use Oddjob (which is cheap as hell, bro).

So, 2019 is here. And your Hoyas are undefeated in the conference. Georgetown will now take its unblemished record back home in a marquee matchup against the hated Johnnies. Time to sack up and see what this group of Baby Hoyas can handle. If you didn’t know that Chris Mullin and Patrick Ewing are NBA hall of famers who used to play against each other in the mid-80s, OMG YOU WILL TOTALLY HEAR ABOUT IT ON SATURDAY LIKE 17 TIMES.

No time to get cocky, Hoyas. Let’s keep the good times rolling….

Let’s Go Hoyas. Beat St. John’s.