“It’s good to step back and celebrate this,” head coach Mike Brey said. “We had two senior classes in a row that broke the wins record.”
Notre Dame finished the 2010-11 season 27-7, the most wins in the modern era, and its 14-4 Big East record was second in the nation’s toughest conference. Brey was named Big East and AP National Coach of the Year, Ben Hansbrough earned the Big East Player of the Year award and Tim Abromaitis was named the Big East was named the league’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Despite the success and the accolades, the second-seeded Irish were bounced from the NCAA Tournament in the second round.
Not surprisingly, Hansbrough left Wednesday night with the Notre Dame Monogram Club MVP award while Abromaitis took home the Notre Dame Club of St. Joseph Valley Rockne Student-Athlete honor for the second consecutive year.
Hansbrough will leave Notre Dame remembering his teammates and their accomplishments.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be on a team again that’ll match the togetherness that we had,” he said. “Obviously we came up a little short in the NCAA Tournament, but that’s how it is sometimes. You look at the overall success of our season and I think it shows what can truly happen when you believe in each other.
“It was a pleasure playing for Notre Dame and this group of guys and Coach Brey.”
Hansbrough declined an invitation to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament on the advice of Brey and his agent, Jeff Schwartz, but Brey fully expects him to be invited to the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago in June.
Brey isn’t sure if Hansbrough will be drafted, but he has already received positive feedback from NBA evaluators on the guard and is confident Hansbrough will be in the league.
“I don’t know how he’s getting there,” Brey said. “I just really believe he’s going to be on a roster for awhile. There’s too much good stuff there.”
Senior walk-on Tom Kopko was honored with the Team Irish Award; freshman Eric Atkins won the Outstanding Playmaker Award, senior Scott Martin was named Most Improved Player; senior Carleton Scott took home the Best Defensive Player Award and senior Tyrone Nash earned the Captains’ Award.
It was revealed that Scott has entered his name in the NBA Draft, but he said he will not sign with an agent, preserving the option of returning to Notre Dame next season.
Brey admitted this year’s team exceeded even his own expectations and knows it’ll be different next season.
“This group was good fast because of older experience,” he said. “I don’t think next year’s group can be as good early and I have to remind myself, let’s be patient and let’s get some guys older and stronger.
Abromaitis and Martin will definitely be back and Brey will look to Atkins, junior-to-be Jack Cooley and a host of young players to help replace Hansbrough, Nash and possibly Scott.
“I think you’ve got some experience back to build on,” Brey said. “The young guys that haven’t been in there yet know the door swings open and they’ve got some opportunities to go grab it. I just like that I don’t have to ask too many of them to grab it.”
Brey also announced that junior-to-be Tom Knight twisted his ankle playing pickup ball and had to have surgery on Wednesday. Knight will be out until Aug. 1st.
“That’s a setback for him,” Brey said. “This was a big summer for him.”
