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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 10, 2009DeJuan BlairBruce DunbarGreg MonroeAlex RuoffHasheem ThabeetMichael TrangheseJay WrightNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK JOHN PAQUETTE: We appreciate your attendance and would like to introduce Mike Tranghese, Commissioner of the Big East. Mike? COMMISSIONER MIKE TRANGHESE: Thank you and good evening. Thank you for coming. This, in my opinion is a very, very important session because it recognizes the accomplishments of what has been arguably the most difficult and exciting regular season that I've seen in my 30 years affiliated with the Big East Conference. I can't remember a year in which we've had competition at such a high level and the quality of the games and the quality of the coaching in this league I think is unmatched. Our first award this evening will be for our scholar athlete. Alex Ruoff has been on the Dean's List every semester that he's been enrolled at West Virginia University. Earlier this week we announced him as the winner of the Sportsmanship Award. He's an honorable mention All Conference selection and Alex was with John Beilein for two years and then Bob came and I think the transformation that Alex made personally typified the change at West Virginia University as a teammate and as a result they've had a tremendous season and as all of us expected following this, they'll be receiving an invitation to participate in the NCAA tournament which is a great accomplishment. The winner of this year's Scholar Athlete of the Year award from the University of West Virginia, Alex Ruoff. Alex, congratulations. ALEX RUOFF: Thank you. I just want to thank the Big East for this award. You know, it's a great honor. You know, it's just a great honor to play in this great conference. I've had a great four years at West Virginia and, you know, very proud to be here and to accept this and bring attention to the university is great. So, thank you. COMMISSIONER MIKE TRANGHESE: If you go back in the annals of the conference and you take a look at the kinds of players who have been Rookie of the Year in this league, it's a who's who of greatness and I think this year we had our first introduction to Greg Monroe, the starting center at Georgetown University joining an illustrious group of players as the winner of the Big East freshman of the Year from Georgetown University, Greg Monroe. GREG MONROE: Hi. I just want to thank the coaches of the Big East, my coaching staff and my teammates. Without them, I would not be a success. Thank you. COMMISSIONER MIKE TRANGHESE: We've had some very close voting in the past for the Defensive Player of the Year. Needless to say, I don't have to tell you it was close this year. I think the performance on the defense I have seen by Hasheem Thabeet this year ranks with some of the performances we've seen in the past when we've had great shot-blocking centers going back to Patrick Ewing and Dikembe Mutumbo and Alonzo Mourning and so many others. We add to that list and it's a real privilege for me to introduce to you our Defensive Player of the Year from the University of Connecticut, Hasheem Thabeet. HASHEEM THABEET: I just want to say thank you for all the coaches and for this and I just feel honored to be out here and hopefully I'll get another chance to win this for third year in a row and congratulations to all the award winners. Thank you. COMMISSIONER MIKE TRANGHESE: I think senility is setting in because John reminded me we already announced Hasheem as the Defensive Player of the Year. I think the third or fourth time in our history we've had co-players of the year. We never divulge our votes for a variety of reasons. You probably disagree with that but that just goes with the territory when you run a dictatorship. We had five different players get first place votes this year for our Players of the Year. It's the closest, and in my opinion, the most difficult vote we've ever had for our Player of the Year. Could have gone to one of any five players. As a result, we came up with a tie and it's an incredible, incredible accomplishment, two young players from two of our programs that are ranked second and fourth in the country. Our Co-Players of the Year, first of all, recognizing again Hasheem Thabeet, and from the University of Pittsburgh, Dejuan Blair. DEJUAN BLAIR: I would like to thank the Big East for this award and thanking my coach and my teammates, man, because if -- they wouldn't have got me the ball, you know, if I wouldn't have played the way I did, I wouldn't be standing here among y'all right now and it's an honor to be a Co-Big East Player of the Year with Hasheem. I know he's a great player, and thank you anyway. Thank you. All the coaches, too. HASHEEM THABEET: I just want to say thank you for the coaches. My teammates make me the player who I am today and without them, I wouldn't be here and thank you, all of you for all the coverage. Thank you. JOHN PAQUETTE: Our final award is the Oppenheimer Funds Big East Coach of the Year, and for some brief remarks we have Bruce Dunbar, Senior Vice President, Director of Corporate Communications for Oppenheimer Funds. BRUCE DUNBAR: Thank you, John. It's an honor to be here on behalf of Oppenheimer Funds to help present this Oppenheimer Funds Big East Coach of the Year award. Before I go any further with this, this is obviously an award that is about leadership and helping an organization achieve its full potential. I would be remiss if I didn't congratulate Mike Tranghese on all the work he's done over the years for the Big East. I think it's safe to say the equality of play is only matched by the quality of the organization and we appreciate all of his work on behalf of the corporate sponsors and partners as well as the student athletes and the fans. This is our second year as the title sponsors of this award and our fourth year of a very important partnership for us with the Big East. I think it's well -- while our industry is going through the equivalent of a winless season, we know that the organizations that are well coached, will find a way to win eventually and we look forward to having many more great seasons with the Big East. All of us at Oppenheimer Funds and the financial advisers that represent us understand that great coaching really helps individuals achieve their goals and maximize their potential, whether that's in athletics or in their personal finances. So with that it's really our pleasure to help present this award to the Oppenheimer Funds Big East Coach of the Year. Thank you. COMMISSIONER MIKE TRANGHESE: You know, I thought about what I could tell you about our Coach of the Year Award. Let me tell you about the people who didn't win because when I tell you about the people who didn't win you'll recognize the accomplishments of our winner, Jay Wright. Thirty years ago when this league formed, Dave Gavitt told me on the day the league formed in the Providence Civic Center, this is going to be a coaches' league and clearly under Dave's leadership and hopefully under mine we've never wavered from that. I think we have the best group of coaches in the country. That's why we've had so much success. You watch our games and the level of coaching in this league, it just blows me away and I've had the privilege joining it, but think about this: This year Jim Calhoun, Hall of Fame Coach became one of very few coaches in this country who has won 800 or more games. Jimmy Boeheim, won 20 or more games for the 31st time in a Hall of Fame illustrious career. Jamie Dixon inherited a program from Ben Howland and together they have led Pittsburgh to the finals of this tournament six times in the last seven years. Sometimes we forget about that in addition to leading Pitt twice during this season to the number one ranking. Rick Pittino led Louisville to a 16-2 record in this league. If you told me somebody was going to get through this league with only two losses at the beginning of the year I would have told you were crazy. In my humble opinion, I think Rick Pittino will be the next coach from this league that will be and should be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Buzz Williams came into the league, inherited a senior team but they were Tom Crean's players. Buzz took that team and made subtle changes and Marquette had an incredible win and they've suffered a terrible loss in Dominic James as Connecticut has with Jerome Dyson, but if you know the kids from Marquette, they're going to be a tough out not only in this tournament but in the NCAA. Then I turn to Cincinnati, what Mike Cronin did this year. He loses his starting point guard, he's got three freshmen in his rotation, and basically people counted him out but they come to play hard every night. They're well coached and disciplined and they're on the verge of going to the NCAA tournament. So with that, the winner of our Coach of the Year, a long time friend for the last 20 years, from Villanova University, Jay Wright. JAY WRIGHT: Bruce, thank you to you and Oppenheimer for supporting the Big East and this award. This is obviously an honor and Michael, to do this in your last year, do I get a picture with you? COMMISSIONER MIKE TRANGHESE: If you have enough money. JAY WRIGHT: It will be nice to be with you on your last year and thank you for everything you've done for the coaches, all of us even before we were in the league, you've been great to us. You know, in this league, I think I speak for all the coaches, we're all honored just to be a part of part of it and most of us, almost us in this league came up learning from Lou Carnesecca, John Thompson, Rollie Massimino, P.J. Carlesimo, all those guys. That's where we learned. And the funny thing is all of us also learned from going to clinics and listening to Jim Calhoun and Rick Pittino and Jim Boeheim, the guys that are coaching now, really treasure the opportunity to be on court with those guys. You know Jim is here and I want to congratulate Jamie (Dixon) on an incredible year. I kind of wonder what I'm doing here looking at you guys what you did this season, but in this conference, we all have great respect for one another and to be the Coach of the Year and to be voted by these coaches means the world to me because I just have such great respect for the coaches in this league, what they do with their teams but also what kind of men they are. We really go at each other in recruiting and on the court but we have a great amount of respect for each other. I think Michael sets that standard and we all respect it. So, as everyone knows, if you have a good team, you've got great players and we do, and on behalf of our players, our assistant coaches, we have an outstanding staff that I'm extremely proud of and, of course, my wife, Patty, who is here today. I accept this award on behalf of all those people who make this possible. This is a great honor. Thank you. JOHN PAQUETTE: Thank you everyone. The award winners will be available informally. Next game starts at 7:00. End of FastScripts |
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