April 13, 2005
Notre Dame, Ind. – Senior Chris Thomas (Indianapolis, Ind.) was honored with the Notre Dame Monogram Club MVP Award for the second consecutive year, while teammate Dennis Latimore (Halstead, Kansas) was the recipient of the Notre Dame Club of St. Joseph Valley Rockne Student-Athlete Award at the annual Men’s Basketball Banquet on April 13, 2005.
The banquet honored the 2004-05 Irish team, as well as seniors Chris Thomas, Jordan Cornette (Cincinnati, Ohio), and Greg Bosl (Syosset, New York).
The Irish finished the season 17-12 overall and 9-7 in the BIG EAST and advanced to postseason competition for the fifth straight year under head coach Mike Brey. Wins over Boston College, previously undefeated and ranked fourth at the time, and Connecticut highlighted the historic 100th season of Irish hoops.
Thomas, a four-time BIG EAST Conference selection and BIG EAST Rookie of the Year in 2002, finished his career with a 17.1 career scoring average. Rounding out his career with 2,195 total points, he is the third all-time leading scorer in Irish history. One of only three players in NCAA history to tally over 2,000 points and 800 assists, Thomas is the holder of nine career records at Notre Dame Notre Dame career leader in three-point field goals made (302), three-point field goals attempted (833), assists (833), assist average (6.5), steals (244), steals average (1.9), free-throw percentage (.868), games started and consecutive games started (128). Thomas started more games in an Irish uniform than any other player and concludes his career third on the in career games played.
In honor of the 100th season of Irish basketball, Thomas was named to the All-Century team as one of Notre Dame’s 25 greatest players of all time.
Thomas carries over a 3.1 cumulative grade point average and will graduate in May with a degree in economics from the College of Arts and Letters.
Latimore, after sitting out last season following his transfer from Arizona in June of’03, started 14 of 29 games and averaged 4.0 points and 3.3 rebounds. Adding valuable depth to the Irish lineup, he netted double figures in 11 contests and registered two double-doubles against IPFW and Villanova. Latimore was credited with 14 blocks and 21 assists for the 2004-05 campaign.
Latimore is enrolled in the College of College of Arts and Letters and will graduate in May with a degree in English and Afro-American Studies.