Hopkins still hasn't matured

[rich_alum]

I can recall discussing this for the past two seasons and here we are midway through Hopkins junior year and still no signs of improved play.

61 assists and 54 turnovers is unacceptable for a PG. Hopkins still hasn't matured as a player and is way too inconsistent to become the player we all thought he would.

There is no disputing his talent and I imagine poor coaching from Dement and Tubbs has contributed to his lack of developement.

At this point in time, Hopkins is not as good as Sasser or Ross. Had Hopkins gone somewhere else, I imagine better coaching would have helped his game tremendously.

[Ponymon]

Hopkins severely sprained his wrist several games ago and it appears to be getting worse. That might have some effect on his play!

[50's PONY]

You imagine poor coaching from Jimmy Tubbs -- why don't you go to practice some time and then tell us he is getting poor coaching from Jimmy Tubbs!

[rich_alum]

Practice doesn't mean squat. (not to sound like Allen Iverson) Its about the games and bringing out the best in your players.

All I'm saying is....Hopkins is one of the best recruits we have ever had and I don't feel like any of the coaches have helped him develop. He has not developed all that much since his Freshman year. His shooting has improved, but his decision making has not. His assist to turnover ratio is about as lousy as it was when he was a freshman.

Its a shame to see his talents go to waste.

[Boston Pony]

Dear Rich Alum
Rookie of the Year as a Freshmen (although injuried), All Conference last year.. picked all conference this year (I believe he has been a leading scorer as well). I don't know what you expected, but he has played well in his career despite being injury prone. In fact the key issue is that he has had nicks & bruises that limited his play. The turnover/assist issue has to do as much with whom he is playing with as is his forcing the issue.

[SoCal_Pony]

He is one of our most highly recruited BB players ever, but at this pace, no way does he go down as one of our all-time great players. No Way.

I suspect over his 2 ½ year career here he has committed more turnovers than assists. Besides the turnovers, what disappoints me is his lousy FG%.

He is hardly a bust, but so far I would classify him a disappointment. Some of this is obviously due to injuries, but I suspect it is not the main reason.

The people who should respond to this thread are LA Mustang, Hoop Fan and XtC.

[jtstang]

Hopkins has not developed in my opinion, not due to talent or coaching, but because good point guards should not have to carry a team. He has to carry this team because the cast around him is not very talented, and that has stunted his growth as a good college point guard.

[Johnny Rock]

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Unfortuneately, Hopkins is one of are only good players. He is the only player on the team that is capable of scoring 20 plus points in a game. Teams mainly focus on shutting him down. He also has been hurt. The problem is Dement was unable to recruit talent around him. We have several players on the team that are not that good. We have no depth either. Why? Dement failed to recruit the players needed to win at the Division 1-A level. Is it all his fault. No. SMU has failed to commit to winning. Our facilities are sub-par when compared to our competition. We have more restrictive admission requirements. We also have an athletic director that over reached on Dement by giving him a contract extension.

[Dooby]

Well, there is certainly room for criticism somewhere.

This is a kid we are basically giving two scholarships to. One to him and one to his brother who has played a total of 19 minutes in two years. Frankly, his brother did not deserve a scholarship at the time and still doesn't.

We are basically giving Bryan Hopkins double what we gave to Sasser, Q, and any other player in SMU basketball history. Maybe that is a lot to live up to, but those are the facts.

I had real reservations about this three years ago and made my concerns clear. A couple of the sunshiners tried to convince me that Ryan actually deserved a scholarship even though he barely played for Lincoln in HS, which was bunch of BS. My position then, as it is now, is that if one player is worth two scholarships, then fine, but he better show it on the court.

[OldPony]

Todd Blackledge was taken before Dan Marino in the great QB draft of '83(?).
Hop obviously looked a lot better in HS than he is when he was surrounded by good players and had a future pro on his team. Dement's recruiting had little to do with the lack of surrounding players either as far as making Hop look good or bad. People knew they had to stop Sass and Q but they performed better than Hop so far.
We should quit bashing him though. I think he tries hard and just because he was overhyped doesn't mean he is no good. He is a solid all WAC type player who will never be a pro. That isn't bad, it's just that we thought we had another TJ Ford. We didn't but we got a good player (even if it cost 2 schollies). Maybe Tubbs can recruit better than Dement. I don't know. It is too early to tell but my suspicion is that any improvement will be small. You have to be such a great saleman to talk a kid into playing in front of no one and no TV with no alums or students who care.
Now, OP will go into hibernation again.

[LA_Mustang]

I agree with jt but injuries are the major reason Hop’s game hasn't developed. Perhaps it’s something genetic because the Hopkins brothers (Bryan and Leonard) have proven to be injury prone and very slow to heal. Leonard (5th year senior at NT) has had two serious injuries. Towards the end of his sophomore season at Lincoln he was considered one of the top sophomores in the country and a sure-fire blue chip recruit but he suffered a very serious leg injury at the end of the season and was unable to play high school basketball again. As you would expect, most schools backed off and he ended up at NT. After getting a medical redshirt in his freshman year he returned to basketball in 01-02 and averaged 11 pts for NT. Several games into his sophomore year he seriously injured his foot and missed the remainder of the 02-03 season. He played injury free his junior year and this year was the pre-season pick as Sunbelt POY. That just shows you how resilient and determined this young man is. Most kids would have given basketball up a long time ago. Bryan has had similar injury problems, but thankfully, not to the degree of Leonard. One thing is for sure, neither of these quality young men have ever used injuries as an excuse or would admit they are the reason for any shortcomings, but there is no doubt they have hampered their basketball careers. I will say it again, we are very lucky to have Bryan at SMU.

[Hoop Fan]

good stuff, LA. Leonard's story is really the definition of perseverance. Bryan is not the same athletically as he was in high school. Its ironic that the people who probably never saw him play in high school are the ones most negative about the fact that he is not an All-American in his junior year. Those of us who saw him play know there is a physical difference. The guy has played through pain throughout his career here, almost all of his freshman season and now the wrist. Even so, he is All- WAC and a good citizen. You'd think more fans would respect that, instead we pile on that its not enough even though he carries this team quite often. Something else alot of you should realize. Hop was a great high school player, when Hop, Bracey Wright, Deron Williams and Bosh were on the floor, all eyes were on Hop back then. Still, he was the lowest rated recruit of the 4, something like #28 on Rivals. Thats a great player, especially for SMU lately, but there were 27 that were supposed to be better that year. That means there are at least 100+ guys in college right now who should be better than Hop according to ratings. I'd say Hop is a top 100 national player, especially when his wrist isn't badly sprained.

[OldPony]

As I said above, I respect what he has done and people should quit bagging on him. He is a very good college player. I don't know why he hasn't been as good as we hoped but he is probably 3rd best player signed by Dement. That is no slouch.
The hyperbole, though, sometimes gets out of hand on this board but ususally not from you HF. He is not in the Top 100 college players in the country in anyone's rankings at this point. Do you believe that if he declared for the draft that he would be taken? Mentioned? Offered a tryout with someone without him doing the calling?-- maybe.

[Stallion]

about how many games would we win without Hopkins? About 2? He may not be the answer but he damn sure ain't the problem either. You want to know the real underacheivers why don't you look at guys touted by Ponyboy and his cheerleader friends-Dontas Raskaskas who I was assured was a Top 15 Center in America despite not getting another scholarship offer. How about Ike Obufuque who disquised the fact that he was no better than the No. 62 player in Texas High Schools with one average season at a low level CC to be touted as a saviour. How about Patrick Simpson that cheerleaders touted as the greatest Forward recruit in SMU history. How about the other 8 players on the team-I'll give Castro a break since based on limited skills he's probably accomplished all that could be expected. HOW ABOUT SOME OF YOU GETTING A CLUE about the actual talent level at SMU.

[jtstang]

HOW ABOUT SOME OF YOU GETTING A CLUE about the actual talent level at SMU.

Thanks, but see my post above re: his having to carry the team. I already said that.

And you're right, without him we'd be hard pressed to be competitive at all, but the fact remains that as a rule great point guards are not asked to be the guys that carry their teams. And LA's right, he does play with injuries, which does not help him achieve all he should be as a point guard.