DMN: For SMU's Hopkins, the future is now
Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 5:01 pmFor SMU's Hopkins, the future is now
Senior guard at SMU knows the time has come for him to show what he has learned
02:50 PM CST on Monday, December 19, 2005
By CALVIN WATKINS / The Dallas Morning News
UNIVERSITY PARK – Bryan Hopkins is at the end of the tunnel. The light he sees is a senior season he wasn't sure he would reach.
Tonight, Hopkins makes his 2005-06 debut for SMU as the Mustangs (4-3) host Savannah State (1-10) at Moody Coliseum.
It would appear SMU needs Hopkins. Since his arrival, the Mustangs have gone 42-41 with him and 5-7 without him.
"Does he make us better?" coach Jimmy Tubbs said. "Yes."
Hopkins, SMU's leading scorer last season, was declared academically ineligible for the first semester because he had not passed the NCAA-mandated six credit hours last spring.Hopkins said he was distracted after declaring for the NBA draft. "I'm not embarrassed by what happened. I've never had a problem with academics. I didn't go to class. I had to pay for the decisions I made last summer."
Hopkins was first-team all-area as a senior at Lincoln and considered one of the top players in the country. Several top schools offered him scholarships. He made an oral commitment to Texas but then backed out and chose to go to SMU.
Great expectations
He arrived at SMU with high expectations, a player who could turn the program around. His freshman season, however, was injury-filled. He missed summer workouts while recovering from toe surgery, and he suffered a hip flexor during the year. Yet he was named the Western Athletic Conference freshman of the year after averaging 13.1 points.
His sophomore season was fraught with personal disappointment. Hopkins and his girlfriend, Heather Ray Mortland, lost a newborn son at the start of the 2003-04 season. Hopkins said his mother, Paula, offered the couple tremendous support.
The coach to whom Hopkins had committed, Mike Dement, was fired late in the season. Hopkins wasn't named all-WAC despite averaging 17.7 points.
Last season, under Tubbs, Hopkins was asked to cut down on turnovers. He averaged a career-best 17.9 points and led the WAC in steals (2.36) and minutes (36.7). He finished with 97 assists and 93 turnovers and was named second-team all-WAC. Hopkins missed three games because of a sprained right wrist, and said he also was bothered by a fracture in his right foot.
Hopkins declared for the draft after the season, saying he had the talent to be a guard in the NBA. He also became a father again (his daughter, Khamryn Hopkins, is 11 months old). The desire to take care of his family financially was key to his decision.
Teammate Dez Willingham, who has known Hopkins since elementary school, said friends questioned Hopkins' choice.
"Everybody has something to say on the outside looking in, but they don't know what he's going through," he said. "He came to SMU and became a man. He's one of the reasons I'm here."
Blessing in disguise?
NBA scouts and coaches told Tubbs the guard wasn't ready. But as Hopkins was thinking about entering the league, he stopped going to class and passed only three credit hours. In May he returned to school on the advice of Tubbs and some scouts, but the damage had been done.
If anything, missing the first seven games of this season helped Hopkins to refocus his energies on class and get healthy. He's playing with a pin in his foot, and his wrist is recovered.
Tubbs said he will move Hopkins from point guard to shooting guard this season to try to maximize his scoring ability.
Now, all that's left is to make this final season a strong one.
"I'm still getting NBA looks, but let's be honest: I will get my degree," said Hopkins, 15 credit hours shy of an economics degree. "You have to take the pressures on you in stride and not worry about it. I bear the weight of turning the program around, but I knew it would be difficult."
E-mail [email protected]
Senior guard at SMU knows the time has come for him to show what he has learned
02:50 PM CST on Monday, December 19, 2005
By CALVIN WATKINS / The Dallas Morning News
UNIVERSITY PARK – Bryan Hopkins is at the end of the tunnel. The light he sees is a senior season he wasn't sure he would reach.
Tonight, Hopkins makes his 2005-06 debut for SMU as the Mustangs (4-3) host Savannah State (1-10) at Moody Coliseum.
It would appear SMU needs Hopkins. Since his arrival, the Mustangs have gone 42-41 with him and 5-7 without him.
"Does he make us better?" coach Jimmy Tubbs said. "Yes."
Hopkins, SMU's leading scorer last season, was declared academically ineligible for the first semester because he had not passed the NCAA-mandated six credit hours last spring.Hopkins said he was distracted after declaring for the NBA draft. "I'm not embarrassed by what happened. I've never had a problem with academics. I didn't go to class. I had to pay for the decisions I made last summer."
Hopkins was first-team all-area as a senior at Lincoln and considered one of the top players in the country. Several top schools offered him scholarships. He made an oral commitment to Texas but then backed out and chose to go to SMU.
Great expectations
He arrived at SMU with high expectations, a player who could turn the program around. His freshman season, however, was injury-filled. He missed summer workouts while recovering from toe surgery, and he suffered a hip flexor during the year. Yet he was named the Western Athletic Conference freshman of the year after averaging 13.1 points.
His sophomore season was fraught with personal disappointment. Hopkins and his girlfriend, Heather Ray Mortland, lost a newborn son at the start of the 2003-04 season. Hopkins said his mother, Paula, offered the couple tremendous support.
The coach to whom Hopkins had committed, Mike Dement, was fired late in the season. Hopkins wasn't named all-WAC despite averaging 17.7 points.
Last season, under Tubbs, Hopkins was asked to cut down on turnovers. He averaged a career-best 17.9 points and led the WAC in steals (2.36) and minutes (36.7). He finished with 97 assists and 93 turnovers and was named second-team all-WAC. Hopkins missed three games because of a sprained right wrist, and said he also was bothered by a fracture in his right foot.
Hopkins declared for the draft after the season, saying he had the talent to be a guard in the NBA. He also became a father again (his daughter, Khamryn Hopkins, is 11 months old). The desire to take care of his family financially was key to his decision.
Teammate Dez Willingham, who has known Hopkins since elementary school, said friends questioned Hopkins' choice.
"Everybody has something to say on the outside looking in, but they don't know what he's going through," he said. "He came to SMU and became a man. He's one of the reasons I'm here."
Blessing in disguise?
NBA scouts and coaches told Tubbs the guard wasn't ready. But as Hopkins was thinking about entering the league, he stopped going to class and passed only three credit hours. In May he returned to school on the advice of Tubbs and some scouts, but the damage had been done.
If anything, missing the first seven games of this season helped Hopkins to refocus his energies on class and get healthy. He's playing with a pin in his foot, and his wrist is recovered.
Tubbs said he will move Hopkins from point guard to shooting guard this season to try to maximize his scoring ability.
Now, all that's left is to make this final season a strong one.
"I'm still getting NBA looks, but let's be honest: I will get my degree," said Hopkins, 15 credit hours shy of an economics degree. "You have to take the pressures on you in stride and not worry about it. I bear the weight of turning the program around, but I knew it would be difficult."
E-mail [email protected]