Hopkins Poor Play

[M Street Stang]

You simply cannot have a point guard that turns the ball over 6-7 times a game. That's the equivalent of a running back who fumbled 2-3 times a game. Not worth it. I don't care how many "accolades" Hopkins had in high school. He's just like Sasser and Davis: shows flashes of greatness just to make you think "what if", but most of the time he is inconsistent offensively and average defensively. His defense is just like his offense. He'll make one great steal and follow it with a dumb foul. More often than not he is out of position defensively, even when we are in a zone. Atkins is a much more polished defender.

[Hoop Fan]

Hopkins did have a poor game, but lets not be too critical. I can't prove it, but I'm convinced he is hurt. A guy that could bring the house down 5 times per game in high school barely had the elevation to dunk last night. His legs just aren't there for whatever reason. He is forcing things as a result trying to do the things he used to do routinely. Wake also overplayed the passing lanes and none of our guys adjusted. It took several possession before someone finally made a back cut, but Wake is good, damn good. They forced several turnovers and Hopkins wont be the only guy to turn it over against those guys.

[PG]

There's nothing physically wrong with Hop. He's fine. I don't know why he hasn't regained his high school form. The season is still very early, though. Wake has 2 or 3 guards that are just as good as him. They tried to force the ball out of his hands by trapping and being active defensively, but before we get too caught up on his turnovers, check the box score...Wake had 22, we had 20. Yes, Hop's turnovers become much more obvious because he has the ball in his hands twice as much as any other player. No one seems to rip Isham for his 4, including the really bad one toward the end when we were still in it. Castro and Simpson both had 3. NO ONE was sharp last nigh, with the possible exception of Miller.

As for Hop's defense, he's the best defender on the team. Isham is a close second. Some of those "bad fouls" are from him being aggressive and trying to make a play. Sure, it's frustating that he gets into foul trouble because he has to be on the court for us to be functional. There are no other options that you can trust when he comes out. Sometimes he tries to do a little too much, but I'm certainly not going to blame a loss to the No. 9 team in the nation on him.

[OldPony]

Bhop's defense is good and why he should be playing. If no one is saying that he isn;t 100% physically (BHop or coaches), then it's time to park that excuse. Often great HS players don't pan out to be great college players. When the level of competition is raised in terms of quickness of the other guards and height in the paint, PG's often lose the advantage that they enjoyed in HS.
My main concern re Hopkins is that he continues to shoot. He hasn't had but a few decent shooting games. When you put another o-fer from 3 point and 20% shooting overall into his stats, he is at best a 25% shooter it seems. When will he learn to look first to pass? Offensively, he has been a bust so he needs to get the ball to Isham and Simpson if we are going to dance. The TO's were bad overall last night with everyone sharing the blame but BHop as our point must get that assist to TO ratio in balance. Basketball is a team game and when we distribute the ball well, we do well. Wake is outstanding yet we had a chance to win. Thatbodes well for WAC play and the Ponies can still be very good.

[M Street Stang]

I know Wake is good, and they definitely overplayed the lanes. If they do that in the ACC they will get beat consistently on backdoor cuts. However, Hopkins had several turnovers in the Tech and Baylor games, and they aren't exactly Wake. Stephen Woods was a better point guard than Hopkins at this point in his career, and he was not nearly as highly recruited. He rarely turned the ball over and he played solid, not great defense. My point is that we cannot make the tournament with a turnover-prone point guard. He looks more and more like Sasser-Davis every time I watch him.

[Hoop Fan]

I have no interest in making excuses for Hopkins. The rims are 10 feet high in high school just like they are in college. You don't lose your ability to jump at 20 years old without a reason. Granted, I don't know what the reason is, but its obviously a physical problem or conditioning limitation of some kind. If you actually saw him in play at Lincoln nothing could be more obvious. Speed is hard to evaluate at different levels, but its pretty easy to observe jumping ability and explosion and his is 50% of what it used to be.

[LA_Mustang]

HF,
50% is being generous. I have watched a lot of high school bball and I have never seen an 18 year old with the explosion and quickness that Bryan displayed his senior year at Lincoln. He has not been close to that level since coming to SMU. I’m not a doctor and I have no answers as to why this has happened but there is no doubt something is wrong.

[Pony_Fan]

Agreed - for those of us who saw him in HS you couldn't help but be giddy with excitement watching him play. With that said, he does have IMO, a street ball mentality like Sasser and Davis and does things that might not work at the college level. He still does some nice things but the assist level must rise and the TO's must end and then worry about shooting. However, he did have a good Tech game for the most part.

[OldPony]

If he shoots 40% we win. Unfortunately, he seldom does. I never saw him in HS. In college, he is at best a mediocre point guard. Whatever the reason, he must learn to distribute the ball and shoot as a last resort. His poor shooting drags down the entire team and having a 1 to 1 assit-TO ratio is poor. Those 2 things must be corrected if we are to have a good team.

[gostangs]

His passing is exciting - his turnovers are horrendous, his shooting is spotty, his leaping looks great to me and sounds like it could be greater. Don't think we have a ton of options sitting next to him on the bench - so I say we fix his turnovers and get him to pass faster coming down the court and 50% of his problem is fixed.

Lots of exciting things about the game - think what could have happened if we had been a bit more careful with the ball in the first half. We were averaging a TO a minute through the first half. To do that vs Wake and NOT get blown out by 30 says alot about the athleticism on this team.

The steal/score play by Isham in the second half on Chris Paul was worth the price of admission.

[Pony_Fan]

One more thing and I'll shut up - we look like we can't run a fast break and are completely out of position on transition baskets/steals...even w/ Hopkins running the break.

[Charleston Pony]

Bhop remains one of our top talents, but he's now competing at a different level. This ain't H.S. anymore. Dunk opportunities for point guards are rare. He's only a soph, so I still look for good things this year and the next couple of years from Bhop. Last night, he didn't copare favorably to Wake's freshman point guard, who had 9 assists, 4 turnovers and 6 steals. Granted, he's got a better supporting cast around him, but a true frosh running a top 10 team tells you there are a lot of great players out there. We've got a good one in Bhop...and he will get better. I agree with others who have commented that I'd like to see a better assist:turnover ratio and better shot selection. I'm sure Dement would, too.

[Mike Damone]

I could care less if he can dunk. Let every one else do that. What I do want is less turnovers and stupid stupid plays. He got pickpocketed more times in the Wake game. I know we're talking about a top ten team here, but your point guard - star of your team - consistantly getting the ball knocked out of his hands. Unacceptable.