Cooley: ‘Embarassment on’ coaches for Sorber award snub
Mar 12, 2025, 11:44 PM ET NEW YORK– Georgetown coach Ed Cooley had a cold message for his Big East counterparts Wednesday night: Shame on you.After the Hoyas
were removed by DePaul in the first round of the conference tournament, Cooley removed on a tangent and called out his brethren who was accountable for awarding UConn forward Liam McNeeley the league’s Freshman of the Year prize over Georgetown big guy Thomas Sorber.”Truly dissatisfied that the right thing wasn’t done for a kid who more than earned it, “Cooley said at Madison Square Garden.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated” If a kid is the Big East rookie of the
week 7 times
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kid is the Big East novice of the week seven times, and they played about the same quantity of games, one person had simply as much production if not more, but had a major impact, not in the Big East, nationally– nationally– and he’s not acknowledged like that, shame on our coaches for not recognizing that,” Cooley said. “Seriously, embarassment on the coaches since that kid more than earned it, more than deserved it.”
The 6-foot-10 Sorber had season-ending surgical treatment after hurting his left foot Feb. 15 in a loss at Butler. He was the Hoyas’ second-leading scorer and leading rebounder, balancing 14.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks over 24 games.Georgetown went 8-12 in
Big East bet a seventh-place surface, then was up to 17-15 general with a 71-67 loss to 10th-seeded DePaul at MSG.McNeeley missed 8 conference games with a high ankle sprain, but returned in early February. He balanced 14.7 points and a team-best 6.2 rebounds in 23 games for the third-place Huskies (22-9, 14-6).
The promoted hire from Texas scored a season-high 38 points in a Feb. 11 triumph at Creighton, a Big East record for a UConn novice. He became the 2nd consecutive Huskies player to win the freshman prize, following Stephon Castle last year.Big East head coaches elect the league’s significant private awards and are not allowed to select their own players. McNeeley existed with his prize Wednesday afternoon throughout a ceremony inside MSG a number of hours before the competition started. The refs weren’t the only ones Ed Cooley was upset at Wednesday night. The Hoyas coach took his Big East counterparts to job for disappointing Georgetown freshman Thomas Sorber more love in end-of-season awards voting. Sarah Stier/Getty Images Cooley’s tirade was available in response to a postgame question about whether an eight-win
enhancement this season left him comfy with the rate of Georgetown’s progress in his 2 years at the helm.After stating he was” actually happy”of the Hoyas for conquering numerous injuries this
season, he mentioned that in his “humble opinion,” Sorber”bare minimum ought to have been the rookie of the year in this league.” “His impact for us takes nothing away from McNeeley. Nothing at all,”
Cooley stated. “His impact, the reality that these coaches didn’t recognize that, I pray that kid comes back. I hope he comes back. He will be the Big East Gamer of the Year. He will be a first-team All-American. He will be a lottery game pick, and we will be cutting webs down next year in this structure at this time come Saturday. That’s precisely the method I feel.”Cooley wasn’t done, either.He completed by stating: “Once again, I’m hoping my huge young boy comes back, due to the fact that if he
does, this room will look blue and gray. “Then he pounded the table, got up and left.