March 13, 2003
Notre Dame, Ind. –
University of Notre Dame men’s basketball coach Mike Brey has been named the District 10 Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. The third year Irish mentor guided the Irish 22 wins during the regular season, the most since the 1986-87 campaign.
Under Brey, Notre Dame defeated four top 10 opponents for just the second time in school history and helped the Irish to a top 10 ranking 11 weeks during the regular season. His squad defeated an unprecedented three top10 teams (No, 10 Marquette, No. 8 Maryland and No. 2) Texas in a six-day stretch during the month of December which marked the first time in school history a Notre Dame team beat three consecutive ranked opponents.
Notre Dame is currently 22-9 and finished tied for third in the final BIG EAST Conference regular season standings. The Irish are the only conference team to win 10-plus league games each of the last three seasons as Brey has guided the Irish to a 31-7 (.646) mark.
Brey owns a 64-30 mark (,681) record with the Irish and is the only coach in school history to guide his team to three consecutive 20-win campaigns in his first three seasons as well as consecutive NCAA tournament bids in his first two seasons.
Carroll, a first team all-BIG EAST selection, leads the team in scoring with a 20.6 scoring average. He has scored in double figures in all 31 games this season and in 37 straight contests dating back to the final six games of the 2001-02 campaign. Carroll tied a Notre Dame school record by playing in his 130th game on Wednesday in the Irish’s first round matchup against St. John’s at the BIG EAST Championship. In addition, he owns ranks as the school’s all-time career three-point field goal leader (295) and has started more games (122) than any player in the 98-year history of the program.
Thomas owns an 18.5 scoring average and leads the team with a 7.2 assist average. A second team all-BIG EAST honoree, he is the only player in Notre Dame history who has dished off 200 or more assists in consecutive seasons. As a freshman last season, Thomas set the Notre Dame single-season mark with 252, followed by his 223 this season. He has registered four double double this season and has scored in double figures in all but three games.