The Casual Awards – A Happy Hoya New Year!

Read the Awards as you watch the NYE ball drop

Hello. Happy Christmukkah. If you’re still looking for a last-minute gift for your college ex-girlfriend, here you go:

So, yeah. It’s been a minute, Hoya fam. But then again, it has been a minute since Georgetown basketball was relevant.

There’s no need to recap the years of terribleness and misery. It’s been over three years since the last version of these Awards – and not surprisingly, that occurred shortly after our last victory against Syracuse. And now – following a cute little four game winning streak, which has featured a smooth road win at the Dome, a massive home victory against Creighton, a frustratingly tight win in Newark, and a blowout against Coppin State, we appear to be going streaking.

But before we go up through the quad to the gymnasium with our pants off and open the Year 2025 with a home tilt against the Musketeers, we here at the GLOBAL PHENOMENON felt that now was a fitting time to come out of retirement and hand out some hardware to those most deserving.

So, without delay, we give you a long overdue (and first during the Cooley era) edition of THE CASUAL AWARDS. Away we go….

The Chris Wright/Jagan Mosely Heart of a Champion Award:

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All of us.

It’s been so long since last we cared. Let’s not even address the fact that we’ve only had one NCAA Tourney appearance in the last decade. Or the legions of mediocre teams who trounced us. Just gonna gloss over that.

But to put things in (recent perspective), let’s focus on the last few years. You know – everything since our unexpected march through the Covid-tinged Big East Tourney of 2021. As the country has recovered, the state of Georgetown basketball has not.

Quick recap:

In the 2021-22 season, we went 0-20 in the Big East.

In the 2022-23 season, we went 2-19 in the Big East (wins were home against DePaul and at Butler).

In the 2023-24 season, we went 2-19 in the Big East (wins were home and away against DePaul).

Now, we were not math majors. Most SFS kids don’t understand numbers. But according to our calculations, after our glorious 2021 Big East championship run, which featured four wins in four days, your BARKING BULLDOGS then proceeded to go 4 and 58 against Big East opponents. That’s four wins in three years. And three of those wins came against DePaul. Four wins, 58 losses. Spread out over Ewing’s final two seasons and Cooley’s first.
4-58

We here at the Awards don’t have a research budget but we would venture to guess that this is the worst stretch of conference play mediocrity by any major conference program in the history of college basketball.

Which makes the little fun run we’re on even more exhilarating. Sure, it’s only four wins. Nobody needs a parade for that. But in the context of 4-58, it’s at least worth acknowledging….

Beating ‘Cuse on the road is ALWAYS worth a shout. Blowing out Creighton by 24 (our first victory against those guys since the 2021 championship) is also eye-opening.

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

A tight win against a hapless Seton Hall squad is kind of meh, except when you consider we hadn’t won in Newark in a decade. And yes, a 30-point smackdown of Coppin State during winter break is ho-hum…. until you remember that two years ago, we needed overtime just to win that game.

So, cheers to us. For sticking around this mess for three long and painful seasons of blood-coming-out-of-your-eyes badness. If people wanna know why our arena is still mostly empty, there’s your explanation. But enough sadness, kids. Because we are 2-0 in the Big East, it’s unseasonably mild in our nation’s capital, and things are looking up….

Quick aside: Speaking of bad math, can anyone make these numbers make sense?

The John Thompson Jr. Award for Closing Manley Field House and Declaring Victory Award:

Ed Cooley.

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Congrats to Ed for popping his Georgetown-‘Cuse cherry and beating the hated Orange on their home court. After last season’s home loss to Syracuse, Cooley declared “I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to this goddamn game next year.”

And his team did not disappoint. Even when the refs tried to mettle – at one point, the free throw disparity was 25-6 in favor of ‘Cuse – we held on down the stretch.

Whether in good times or down years, there is nothing better – NOTHING – than winning at the Dome. So, thanks for that, Ed.

The Dikembe Mutombo Award for Being a Dominant Georgetown Big Man Award:

Photo by Garrett W. Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images

Thomas Sorber.

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If you need a reason to tune into Georgetown games, look no further than Sorber. He’s big and strong. He’s unselfish and reads the court well. And even though he’s only a freshman, he just looks so SMOOTH out there.

Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

We haven’t had a big man perform this well at such a young age since Mike Sweetney.

Photo by Chris Covatta/NBAE via Getty Images

And do not forget the smooth passing of Greg Monroe. Young Sorber has 33 assists through 13 games which would match Monroe’s 2.5 dimes per game his freshman year.

Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

Against the Hall, Sorber had 19 points, eight rebounds and four blocks. Against Coppin State, he had 22 points and 12 boards. If he can keep up this pace, he will be a leading contender for Big East Freshman of the Year.

And yes, he still has work to do. The free throw shooting could be better. His outside shot needs more consistency. And most importantly, the turnovers need to come down (he had a whopping EIGHT against Coppin State). But this kid is incredibly fun to watch. And we hope he stays on the Hilltop for a long, long time….

The Dante Harris “Designated Hero” Award for Being a Solid Georgetown Point Guard Award:

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Malik Mack.

We see you, young fella. On a team in frequent need of ball handling, the Harvard transfer has steadied the ship at the point. Against ‘Cuse, he played an impressive 39 minutes and chipped in nine points, eight assists, six rebounds, and three steals. And against Coppin State, he had 15 points and 11 assists.

When the team needs scoring, he can score. But he’s also a heady guy who can facilitate things and get the ball down low to our bigs. He still needs to play more under control at times, and figure out when to push pace and slow things down, but he’s off to a terrific start.

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Some have suggested it is better for us defensively to have bigger guys on the perimeter, and that playing Mack and Epps simultaneously could hurt us defensively against bigger guards during conference play. There may be some truth to that, but it’s too soon to tell. And we definitely need both guys on the court for their scoring and distributing. Epps is a better player when he plays off the ball.

And, not for nothing – Mack is from Mike Sweetney’s hometown and went to the same high school as Chris Wright, so we love his pedigree….

The Liam Neeson in “Taken” Award for Murdering Things:

Eddie Lampkin Jr.
If you watched the Syracuse game, you may have noticed the color commentator compare Eddie Lampkin to Liam Neeson in the movie “Taken”. No explanation was provided. It made zero sense.

Photo by Bryan Bennett/Getty Images

Until the last few minutes of the game, when Lampkin’s play on the court MURDERED HIS TEAM’S CHANCES OF WINNING.

Thank you, Eddie. You found your victim. And it was your team.

And speaking of our guy Eddie….

The “White Men Can’t Jump” Award for Resembling a Dude from “White Men Can’t Jump”:
Eddie Lampkin Jr., again.

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You guys remember when Sidney Deane and Billy Hoyle hustled that guy Raymond (played by Marques Johnson) and a bunch of other chumps? Every time we saw Eddie Lampkin raise his arms to complain, we couldn’t help but think that Eddie is Raymond. Raymond is Eddie.

Keep complaining, Eddie.

The 2013 Florida Gulf Coast Dunk City Award:

Your Georgetown Hoyas?

In that blissful game against Creighton, we had SEVEN DUNKS. We’re old enough to remember when our bigs didn’t attack the rim and settled instead for backdoor layups. So, seven dunks feels nice.

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(And we’re sorry if this reference is triggering for some of you. In hindsight, that win by FGCU was so laughably absurd that you just need to shake your head and move on. What an awful, awful day in the history of our program. You’re welcome for bringing back the old memories. Sometimes it’s good to feel anger again while watching this team. Which is better than how most of us have felt in the last eight years…which is feeling nothing at all.)

The Lee Corso “Not So Fast, My Friend….” Award:

Your Georgetown Hoyas.
Four straight wins! A big victory at the ‘Cuse! A dominant home win against Creighton! First place in the conference at the start of 2025!

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Slow your roll, fam. All of this is good news, and it feels like a REVELATION given the last several years of mediocrity. But before you dream about the possibility of a gallant March run to glory, we’re here to point out a few inconvenient truths:

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Inconvenient Truth #1: We have the third worst non-conference strength of schedule of any power conference school in the country (behind only Minnesota and Boston College).

Look, we get it. We’re young and our program is rebuilding. After multiple losing seasons in the last decade (it’s probably like NINE but we’re too lazy to confirm), there is definitely an impetus to play winnable games.

But this approach to scheduling has more or less guaranteed that for like the eighth straight year, Georgetown’s chances of making the NCAA Tourney basically ended before the month of December even began. Sure, we haven’t lost to any “really bad” teams so far. But playing Lehigh, Fairfield, Mount Saint Mary’s, St. Francis, Coppin State, Wagner, UMBC, and Albany IN THE SAME SEASON is not a recipe for SOS success. If we want butts in seats, we need better competition. And we need to play in pre-season tournaments.

Inconvenient Truth #2: We have the worst three-point shooting team in the Big East (31.8%, 241st in the country).

In the last two weeks, we have seen contributions from Caleb and Curtis Williams and others to keep these numbers respectable. But at some point, this is going to kill us unless we can knock down perimeter shots at a better clip. In today’s game, you need to hit threes.

Inconvenient Truth #3: We have the youngest roster in the Big East and one of the ten youngest rosters in the country.

In today’s game, where some teams have 25- and 26-year-old players, it’s not ideal for us to have a team full of mostly freshmen and sophomores. Guys transfer every season. As much as we love having the same players for four or five years and watching them develop, that simply doesn’t happen anymore in this WILD WEST era of college sports. We love the guys on our team, and yet it feels like the age disparity may come back to haunt us. And if we don’t get a second year with Sorber and Peavy playing together…umm, let’s just move on to something rosier….

The Glass Half Full Award for Rejecting Everything We Just Said and Focusing on Positive Vibes:
Your Georgetown Hoyas.

Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

At some point in the second half of our win against UMBC, we started to squint really hard at the TV screen because something seemed different to us. What could it be? What could we possibly discover during a meaningless win against a bad team?

And then it occurred to us: our team was playing defense for the first time since 2015. And OMG — that’s what team defense looks like!

We don’t mean to be glib here, but SO MANY PEOPLE NOTICED THE SAME THING. The communication on defense, the rotations, and the overall confidence on the defensive side of the ball. It would prove to be a harbinger of things to come, as the Hoyas have looked pretty solid since then.

If you want to see some numbers to back up this assertion, challenge accepted.

Our team defensive stats have been horrendous for years. Under Ewing, our opponents’ three-point field goal %, three-pointers made per game, the % of points from three-pointers, field goals attempted per game, and points per game were some of the worst numbers among power conference programs in the country. You can find more details here: How to Explain the Last Eight Years of Georgetown Hoyas Basketball – Casual Hoya.

These numbers have improved under Cooley’s watch. And during this season, we are currently 20th in the country in opponents’ points per game, 14th in the country in opponents’ three-point shooting percentage, and 19th in opponents’ effective field goal percentage. These numbers make us happy. It’s fun to root for an actual defense again.

Side note: do college basketball teams take charges anymore? Is that even a thing? If not, why not? We miss those subjective, game-turning moments when Greg Paulus takes a dive and looks silly.

The Spike Lee Award for Directorial Genius Award:

RaMell Ross.

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Dude. RaMell Ross, a former Hoya from the early 2000s, just directed NICKEL BOYS, an adaptation of the Colson Whitehead novel of the same name, and it’s supposed to be a banger. In his Oscar speech, what are the odds he thanks Craig Esherick and Gerald Riley for helping him learn the importance of overcoming adversity?

Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

The Jay Bilas Award for Being a Top-Notch Color Commentator Award:

Roy Hibbert!

Anybody else see Big Roy announcing our game a few weeks ago? Love to see it.

Rule #1 of being a successful color commentator? Self-deprecation. If it works for our guy Bilas, it’ll work for you, Roy. And Roy did not disappoint, as he casually noted that his play as a freshman paled in comparison to what OUR LATEST DOMINANT HOYA BIG MAN Thomas Sorber is doing down low. It was both amusing and accurate. Get in those broadcasting reps, Roy. We love it.

And speaking of announcing….

The Father McFadden Award for Being a Classy Floor Announcer Award:

Not the Seton Hall guy.

If you didn’t attend our win in Newark, you really missed a show, as the Seton Hall floor announcer tossed in as much commentary as is allowable by a guy who is only meant to announce baskets, fouls, and timeouts for ticketholders in the arena.

To wit: with a few minutes left in the game, Georgetown called a timeout and this floor announcer was like “I guess the Hoyas have had enough, folks. Time out, Hoyas!!!” Stick to the baskets and fouls, buddy.

Side note: It actually would’ve been helpful for the floor announcer to pay attention to the fouls because the refs lost count TWICE in the second half within a matter of two minutes (forgetting whether it was a bonus or double bonus situation).

The Stacey Augmon Award for Being a Versatile Defensive Juggernaut:

Photo by: Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

Micah Peavy.

To be honest, we’re not even sure who the comp for Micah is. Augmon (AKA “the Plastic Man”) was a do-everything forward on the Runnin’ Rebels team in the early 90s that won a title. He was a first-class defender who gave that UNLV squad everything it needed in between Greg Anthony’s ball handling and Larry Johnson’s power. He won national defensive player of the year and then went on to play 15 years in the Association before most recently coaching in Korea.

Micah Peavy isn’t quite on that level, but his defensive prowess is right up there with former Cooley standouts like Kris Dunn. If you haven’t closely watched Peavy play yet, just watch highlights of the Creighton game. His stat line: 20 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 7 steals. During one five-minute stretch in the second half, he picked the pocket of the lead guard near midcourt and went the distance for a dunk at least three times. It was like watching a varsity player go up against middle schoolers.

If Peavy had run into Creighton players in the real world, this is what he’d be like:

Now, don’t get us wrong. Peavy has a long way to go. He still commits too many turnovers and his shot selection isn’t always the best. But if he keeps up the defensive intensity and figures out a way to consistently knock down open threes while filling in the seams on offense, the sky is the limit.

Every time he got one of those backcourt steals and dunks (the equivalent of a “pick six” in football), we just wanted to scream “Alright, PETIE!” (or in this case, “PEAVY!”) as though we were Gerry Bertier at T.C. Williams High School in “Remember the Titans”.

Love Peavy’s intensity. Keep grinding. And speaking of Peavy….

The Marcus Derrickson Award for Step-Back One-Legged Jump Shots Award:

Micah Peavy.

Photo by Bryan Bennett/Getty Images

We see you, Micah. Not saying it’s the best shot in the world, but you certainly like to take it. In case you’re wondering what Patrick Ewing thinks…

Side note: We hate the “Inside the Huddle” segment when the TV gods divulge what coaches are telling their players during timeouts. But truth be told, we don’t mind it as much under Cooley’s watch.

The “Face Off” Award:

Caleb Williams and Caleb Williams.

Caleb Williams is a professional quarterback on the Bears who has thrown six interceptions.

Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

But Caleb Williams is also a Georgetown wing who has committed six turnovers all season.

NFL Caleb Williams has more touchdown passes than our Caleb Williams, but Georgetown’s Caleb Williams has hit more threes and played over 30 minutes against Seton Hall and Creighton.

Names are fun. And we like our Caleb Williams because, unlike NFL Caleb, our guy seems to play heady defense and has a decent shot. He also sets picks without throwing picks.

That’s the end of this bit. You’re welcome.

The DSR Award for Being a Consistently Good Georgetown Basketball Scorer Award:

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Jayden Epps.

Photo by Timothy Nwachukwu/Getty Images

Jayden Epps is the best scorer on our team. It’s unquestionable. Against Syracuse, he had 27 points (on 11 of 15 shooting) and four assists. He was the player of the game, and he is probably our best shooter.

And yet, he’s an enigma, and he remains one of the most frustrating good players we can remember. To be fair, it may be a holdover feeling we kept with us from last season, when our roster was so bereft of talent that we needed Epps to do the lion’s share of scoring just to remain competitive. His hero ball mentality last year often led to poor shot selection and decision-making. We’ve seen flashes of the same this year too, but we’ve also noticed recently that as his trust level with others on the team increases, our overall team performance has really improved.

And let’s be honest — he was SO GOOD against the Orange. And when he sprained his ankle at the end of the Seton Hall game, we all had this feeling like we had no chance to win without Epps on the court (in part because Mack was also injured and Peavy was in foul trouble).

The best version of Jayden is when he plays off the ball and plays in the rhythm of the offense, hitting open jumpers and finding seams in the defense, when necessary. For that to happen, we probably need Mack or Peavy to help at the point.

If Epps can play within himself, cut down on those killer turnovers (which often lead to breakouts), and make smart decisions, he’s basically DSR. And DSR, for those keeping score at home, was fifth all-time in career points and finished with the most threes of any Hoya. So yes, we like Epps….

The Ant Man Award for Looking like Anthony Edwards:
Curtis Williams.

Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

This may be completely wrong, but when we look closely at Curtis Williams’s posture and gait and overall swag, he kind of…when we squint…resembles Anthony Edwards? And no, not the actor Anthony Edwards who played a nerd, a wingman, and an ER doctor. The Ant Man.

And even if this physical comparison makes no sense, we wanna recognize Curtis with an award for providing valuable bench minutes and hitting some clutch threes during a period when so many guys were injured or in foul trouble. Well done.

The “Chubby from Teen Wolf” Award for Random Husky Basketball Player who Improbably Riles Up a Crowd Award:

Gus Yalden (H/T to Sword of Brunner for this one )

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If you watched the Seton Hall game, you know what we mean. Gus Yalden, who mainly saw action in the second half, seems to be a fan favorite. He was physical, threw his weight around, and tried to bully us down the stretch, to surprising effectiveness. His only two points came on an up and under against Sorber. When he scored that basket, it seemed improbable. But he threw his hands up every time down the court and gestured to the crowd like he’d just won the Super Bowl.

Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

For Hoyas fans of a certain age, he reminded us of Chubby from “Teen Wolf”. Sort of. So, it was very fun to see him foul out after only 14 minutes of game time. And then it was even more fun to watch his team go on to lose.

The D2 Mighty Ducks “Bash Brothers” Award:

Drew Fielder and Jordan Burks.

We like Fielder and Burks because they’re long, tough, physical players who work hard, box out, and aren’t afraid to throw elbows and dunk the ball. During the dog days of the JTIII era (and no shade on JTIII – he’s our guy), these were not the type of players who populated our roster. These were the type of guys at Xavier and Cincy and West Virginia and Providence who pushed us around. You could argue that JTIII lost his job, in part, because of guys like these.

Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

So, it feels terrific to have them on our side for a change. They’re both flawed, to be sure, but their upside is very high. Our post pin sets and bully ball tactics down low have made it much harder for weaker opponents to beat us. And when Fielder and Burks are complemented by a stud like Sorber in the paint, it can be a thing of beauty to watch.

Shout out to Fielder who had his best game as a Hoya against Coppin State. He had a cool 20 points (on 6 of 7 shooting) and 13 boards in only 31 minutes.

Quick aside: Seton Hall had 22 offensive rebounds against us. That’s not only on these two guys – it’s on the whole team. We can’t allow that to happen. It was embarrassing.

Going forward, would love to see these two BASH BROTHERS work on their shooting and shot selection. If one of them can hit outside shots with more consistency, it should really open things up for us in the paint. In the meantime, keep bashing…

The Kevin Malone Award for Small Victories:

All of us.

When we last posted these Awards in December 2021, we said it’d been a very long seven years of Georgetown basketball. Well, the last three years have been even longer and more painful and brutal and exhausting.

But the last two weeks have been, dare we say, inspiring? We know the team isn’t going to the Final Four, and we know there will be a lot of bumps and bruises along the way. Heck, we’ll probably still lose more conference games than we win. And yet….

It feels good to feel good about Georgetown basketball again.

So, if nothing else, thanks for that, fellas. My daughter came up to me during the Syracuse game, and again during the Creighton game, and said something like “I’ve never seen you this excited watching Georgetown before. I like seeing your reactions.” She’s eight, so of course she’s never seen me happy watching Georgetown.

And now we’ve won four games in a row. We’re 2-0 in the conference. This is the first time we’ve had a winning Big East record in 2,177 days. Against Creighton, we had our largest margin of victory against a regular season conference opponent since 2017. And then we won at Seton Hall for the first time since 2015.

So, we start 2025 with a bit of mild optimism. Is this the start of something meaningful? We have no idea. For now, let’s just focus on the next damn game, and then the one after that…

Happy New Year, Hoya fam.

Let’s go Hoyas. Beat Xavier.