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CUSA Player of the Week:

http://conferenceusa.collegesports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/012306aac.html

Nice to see someone get recognized during our modest two game conference win streak.

Congratulations, Bryan!

Wonder how long it will be before Bamba Fall gets his first? He's not there yet, but he's on the rise.

Yay! Now BHOP can leave with some sort of award to validate his experience here at SMU.

The first of which is a diploma.

He might not be what you expected in some way, but he's played well, scored a hell of a lot of points and won some games FOR US. What say you don't totally dismiss the last four years of his life, huh?

;;;;Geez enough with the BHOP bashing. He's the best we got-understand.

You're exactly right, Stallion.
Taking potshots at BHop is unfair and uncalled for.

I guess it is more unfortunate what BHOP has gone through. Yes he gets a degree, but he could have attended Duke or for that matter any school he wanted to. Yet he came to SMU so his brother could play and so he could stay near home. However, the SMU program hasn't really shown any growth during Hopkin's stay until this year when looking at the potential of Tubb's freshman class. I wonder if Tubbs had been coaching here right after Hopkin's freshman year if he could have acquired more talents from the Dallas area. I feel bad for Brian, his draft status is not much better now than it was when he came out of high school. There are a few criticisms though, including his academic probation this year that certainly hurt SMU's record this year. I would be really suprised if Hopkins ends up in the NBA, but I really feel that if he attended Duke or UNC that might not be the case.

I sort of agree with you, and sort of disagree (how's that for taking a firm stance!) True, the program hasn't made marked improvement. However, if you consider how much worse we would have been the last four years had he not come, his presence definitely has helped immensely. And yes, I think if Coach Tubbs hadn't gone to Norman for a couple of years, he could have sold Hop to some other local players. Who, or how many, we'll never know.

Now I'm hoping he can sell the idea of playing with Bamba Fall. Any player with a sense of logic should want to play with this guy. Fall is just beginning to learn .... I'm hesitant to allow myself to dream about how good this guy could be.

I agree with you that SMU's program would be much worse without Hopkins. What is the deal with SMU's recruiting class? I know we have Malone and Sloan to oral agreements for the 2007 class, but what is the status on the 2006 class?

All I know about is the kid from New Hampshire. I don't know a thing about him. Of course, based on high school stats, I had serious concerns about Bamba Fall, too, and I'd say Jimmy T got a good one there. Hopefully this kid in New Hampshire can play, too.
Any way we can stretch him out to 7-foot-2 between now and next fall?

Congrats on player of the week. Without Hopkins hitting his points, SMU doesn't win. Old Pony would have said differently.

He obviously didn't turn out like we would have liked. He came here hurt right off the bat, and then didn't peform to his high school potential. Still a good player, but nothing like what I would have thought watching him in high school. We'll never know but his career might have been a little better if he had a decent and agressive post player to feed to who could catch the passes. It would have been fun to have him and Bosh during their freshman year.

It still seems like he can make things happen when he wants to and lays back at other times. I wonder if he just became unmotivated during his stay at SMU. But - he had some girlfriend issues and was hurt a lot during his career here. I still don't think he is NBA quality - probably more like European leagues.

Reminder to All Pro-Basketball Experts:

Every year the recruiting services release a National Top 100 and everyone on that list is supposed to turn that program around, get to the NCAA Dance and be a First Round Draft Choice. Only problem is that only about 15 Americans get drafted in the First Round including all Four College Classes and HS Phenoms. Quit defining BHop by Professional Basketball. He has been a highly success college player-among the Top 50 or so in America which is a success. SMU failed BHop a heluva lot more than BHop failed SMU.

Stallion wrote:Reminder to All Pro-Basketball Experts:

Every year the recruiting services release a National Top 100 and everyone on that list is supposed to turn that program around, get to the NCAA Dance and be a First Round Draft Choice. Only problem is that only about 15 Americans get drafted in the First Round including all Four College Classes and HS Phenoms. Quit defining BHop by Professional Basketball. He has been a highly success college player-among the Top 50 or so in America which is a success. SMU failed BHop a heluva lot more than BHop failed SMU.

Who said Bhop was a 1st round draft possibility other than Hopkins himself?

Yes, SMU failed Hopkins by not complementing him with another of his caliber.

Hopkins isn't just a "national top 100" player, he is as SMU puts it on their website, "Arrived as perhaps the most highly-touted recruit in SMU history."

Hopkins was a phenomenal leaper in high school, that was a big part of what made him so special. He sustained a foot injury in the state championship game of his senior year and could never do the same things after that. Maybe there is more to it than the foot injury, body type changed whatever, but for whatever reasons, he just cannot jump anywhere near what he used to. Physical things happen to athletes. Regardless, BHop has been the star of this program for 4 years and has carried more than his share of the load.