Hopkins Snubbed

by **plano_pony** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 12:40 pm

THERE IS NO WAY THAT hOPKINS CAN NOT MAKE ALL CONFERENCE. THERE IS NO EXPLINATION FOR THATANYBODY AGREE.

by **alibaba** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 1:23 pm

Hopkins got snubbed because he is a point guard with a horrible assist to turnover ratio. If your point guard wants to score as bad as Hopkins seems to the rest of your team never improves ie the other guards who really have never developed as they should and your big men are glorified rebounders. As a wing or post player will tell you, nothing is worse than playing with a point guard who does not give you the ball when and where you need it. It is kind of funny becasue Hopkins was a great passer in high school, but I think the coach kept him under control. It is kind of like when John Lucas was at Baylor and he shot first and passed second and they weren't very good and now he is at OSU and he is a pass first point guard and his team is winning. Dement could never control Hopkins maybe because he was afraid he would transfer and it end up costing him his job. Hopefully the new coach will understand that your point guard needs to get everyone involved. Again he got snubbed because SMU was a losing team and if the teams loses the guy who controls who gets the ball usually takes the heat.

by PG » Wed Mar 10, 2004 1:42 pm

Not true at all...in fact, you are wrong on just about all your points. Hopkins scores because he is the most capable scorer on the team. He's about the only player who's been halfway decent over the last month or so. His assist to TO ratio is the most overblown topic on this board. His assists are down because the offense we ran didn't provide for many assists. When he gets it to the open man, they generally miss or get fouled. We almost never ran under Dement (Lineburg has opened things up a little more) so he couldn't get any "easy" assists. He hasn't been turning it over much lately either.

What makes you think Dement couldn't control him? Do you have any facts to back this up? Didn't think so. Complete BS. Hop has been a team player from Day One. He wants his teammates to do well BEFORE he gets concerned with his own stats. He never mentioned the word "transfer" so don't even bring that up. His brother is here because of him. We have a great kid here and a very special player. It pisses me off that people throw out all this made up junk that simply isn't true. If you've even talked to him for one second, you'd know what I mean.

by **LA_Mustang** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 2:08 pm

alibaba,
That may be the most uninformed post I've read in a long time. I dont know where to start to argue that dribble. PG covered it pretty well. I will just leave it at that.

by **Hoop Fan** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 2:32 pm

I'll third what PG and LA said. That post is pretty unfair and probably is 180 degrees off from reality. The point that burns me the most is the one that says Hopkins played on a losing team and therefore is at fault and deserves no recognition. Last I checked, Jason Parker from Tulsa was named all-WAC and Tulsa finished below SMU and lost to SMU 3 times. You might be able to argue that there were other players as worthy as Hopkins, but how anybody can argue the kid wasn't as good as the others on that list is beyond me. For instance, Hopkins is a better player than McKreith at Rice too. Thats just unmistakable. The assist to turnover ratio thing has become a copout. The problem with this squad is rebounding, it ain't Bryan Hopkins performance.

by **alibaba** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 2:32 pm

How do you explain the snub? [deleted] vitale was covering the North Carolina Duke game and he was talking about one of North Carolina players who played point guard last year and he said they had to move him because he had a 1 assist to 1 turnover ratio which does not cut it as a point guard. I am not saying Hopkins is not a great player because he is, but all the kids he played with this year did not have any trouble hitting shots before they got here. How do you explain the face that Hopkins averages more points than Isham and Lowe combined. Maybe it is the coaches fault, I do not know but he was not a good distributer this year and most coaches value that in a point guard. I am not knocking the kid at all, I just think that is the reason he got snubbed. He has great 2 guard numbers, but he is not playing 2 guard.

by **Hoop Fan** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 2:43 pm

Nobody knows the underlying reasons except the individual voters. I believe the snub came alot from the fact that Dement got fired. The coaches are a fraternity, its easy to snub a player when you don't have to look his coach in the eye at the next conference meeting. The coaches probably also hate to see a fellow coach fired and harbor that in their thinking. Same goes for the media, they are influenced I think by a coach's profile. Whatever the reason, Hopkins deserved recognition as much or more than anybody on the second team. I'm glad Lineburg is sticking up for him publicly.

by **Pony_Fan** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 3:10 pm

I think he deserves 2nd team ahead of Parker who he was up against last night.

Who knows why he got snubbed - he is 3rd in the league in scoring and 5th in the league in assists. But he is not in the Top 25 in Assist/TO or FG%.

All year SMU has had trouble scoring and it doesn't help when your teammates miss layups and wide open jumpers. I know he is playing great now but had some tough games in the season where he played very poorly.

Without Hopkins, this team would be pretty bad and have more TO's.

by **alibaba** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 3:33 pm

He was number one in the whole WAC in turnovers per game. His assists were decent if he did not have so many turnovers. You are right though he is more talented, but they base alot of the selections on statistics.

by **LA_Mustang** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 3:50 pm

alibaba,
Again, I disagree. You say "they" base selection on statistics? I think the coaches base it on how the player performs against them. I believe stats and/or turnovers were not a big factor in this. The blowout losses, terrible conference record, and Dement's firing were. It's a similar argument to the baseball MVP, should it go to the best baseball player or the best player on the best team?? I dont think anyone would argue that Hop is one of the five best players in the WAC but based on the Ponies WAC season he probably didnt deserve to be a 1st teamer.

by **cwschamps** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 4:09 pm

Go ahead and say Hopkins deserved 2nd team over Parker but don't try to argue he belongs ahead of McKrieth of Rice. He may have talent but if you were court side at the Rice game in Houston like I was, you would have seen the quit in his eyes 5 minutes into the game. Everytime he came off the court that game (and it was quite a few times since Dement kept trying different lineups), he had a look of apathy and disgust that you only see from NBA guys.

When he's on, he's a great player. But you need to give it your all every night, win or lose, like a Jason McKrieth. Maybe Hopkins will learn that by next year. But until then, he's a marginal pick for all-conference.

by **Lefty** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 4:37 pm

I also was at that game, and you're right, Hopkins looked confused .... at best. Then again, the way Rice played that night and the way SMU played that night, all of the Ponies looked confused .... at best. And I don't want this post to be misconstrued as bashing McKrieth, who is a fine player. But when both have their heads on straight Hopkins is in another league. Personally, I really like McKrieth, and I'd love to have him on my team. But there are players of his level out there. There aren't many out there like a focused Bryan Hopkins. When Rice smoked SMU in Houston, the Ponies were playing at a level at which we would have lost to most teams in the country -- we looked absolutely lost. From the sounds of things, that performance and effort level are things of the past.
Good luck to the Owls (unless they meet up with SMU again, of course!)

by **Hoop Fan** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 4:46 pm

Don't kid yourself, this isn't the Rice board so don't tell me what not to say. McKrieth is a nice player, but nothing so special that warrants Hopkins bowing down to him. Consistency isn't the only measure of a good player. How many times has McKreith scored 30 and carried his team this year? Furthermore, what coach if they are honest with themselves would rather have McKreith on his team than Hopkins? Not many.

by **EastStang** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 4:52 pm

Given the way he played last night, I hope he gets snubbed more often. Would it help if I said that Nevada will use him like an old woman of ill repute? My mother could have scored 30 against Tulsa. He hasn't proved anything. Now if he can do that for three more games, perhaps he might have earned Honorable Mention All-WAC.

by **LA_Mustang** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 5:09 pm

Please, EastStang.

Hopkins Snubbed

Hopkins Snubbed

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