No Hopkins tonight, but Roberts is a serious high flyer...

[Hoop Fan]

Well, I ended up going tonight, but BHop didn't. Not even in the building I dont think. Anybody know why not? I hope he is not injured.

Roberts didnt get alot of playing time but had 6 points that I saw on 3-3 from the floor. He was clearly the best leaper and most dyamic dunker on the floor. You could tell that from warmups. In the game, he had a crowd pleasing hesitation dribble on a fast break, drove to the basket and dunked with his left hand over a defender. He is fairly long on defense for a guard and has good feet. He did miss two free throws, which looked like a lack of concentration. I think he was frustrated by his role on the team. There were a couple guys who werent all that impressive getting more minutes. There wasnt much of a team concept going on though, which will catch up to the US team. China wasnt very good.

Bryon Eaton was the starting point guard and played major minutes. Must have been in place of BHop. Eaton was strong to the goal, very strong, and finished lots of tough shots in traffic. He is clearly a prize recruit.

[PG]

Hop isn't hurt, but he won't be playing again. Roberts really didn't play much tonight. I think the USA coach might be trying to find his best players and best lineup for the tougher games. They destroyed China tonight so he got a long look at just about everybody. Eaton is clearly the most impressive player on the team, if not the entire tournament. Everybody I have talked to loves Roberts and thinks he is going to be a big-time player for us.

[OldPony]

Why won't BHop be playing again? Thanksa for the explanation of the games Prof X.

[Hoop Fan]

PG, can you say why Hop is not playing now? Sounds pretty unusual. Roberts is going to be an exciting player for SMU. I hope he gets to play more as the tournament goes on. Not to pick out one guy, but I couldnt really see why Brent Hackett was getting all the PT at the 2 guard.

[stein000012]

According to the DMN, Hopkins may have broken some collegiate rules by playing in the tournament. Tubbs checked with SMU compliance and the NCAA and it was ruled that Hopkins is not eligible to play in this tournament. Hope it doesn't make him miss any games next season....

[vismatt]

What about all of the other NCAA players on the other teams' rosters? Is it because they are national teams and the USA team in the Global Games is more of an all-star team?

[vismatt]

If anyone is interested, and wants to take a look at the stats from the games, here is the website for the Global Games.

http://www.globalgamesbasketball.com/

[Peruna_Ate_My_Rolex]

What about all of the other NCAA players on the other teams' rosters? Is it because they are national teams and the USA team in the Global Games is more of an all-star team?

According to the roster, it looks as though the rest of the kids on the team are still in HS or will be entering college as freshman this year. I would assume those guys who are entering this year wouldn't be an issue with the NCAA since they are not officially in school as of yet.

[LA_Mustang]

Talk about having basketball cred and respect, Eaton has it. When you take a team full of high school grads going to major D1 schools ((3) Georgia Tech, (2) Oregon, ASU, USC, TCU, SMU) and they all defer to a high school junior, you know your dealing with someone special. I had the feeling that Eaton could score anytime he wanted and he has the ability to create and get the ball to teammates for easy lay-ups. I have seen him play several times in high school but he raised his game to this level of competition. There was no doubt he was the best player on the floor. We better hope that Tubbs and the Hopkins brothers are doing everything they can to get Eaton to the Hilltop. He is big-time.

As for the game, Team USA lost in double overtime to Russia. I have no idea what the coach of Team USA was doing. He took Eaton out of the game twice during the end of regulation and OT??? I know it is hard to coach these teams but he made some very questionable moves. I’m still not sure if he realizes that Derrick Roberts is on his team. He might have played six minutes?? Several times I saw Roberts on the bench looking very frustrated, and I don’t blame him. He should have been on the floor more. The coach kept Hackett (TCU) on the floor most of the game and I’m not sure why? I'm sure the kid is a good player but I didn't see it. The big guy #50 (Dickey) going to GT is a damn good player.

BTW, during warm-ups I noticed Roberts and Eaton talking and joking around a lot. Hopefully, those guys have become friends and maybe Eaton wants to play college ball with Roberts??

[Corso]

According to the DMN, Hopkins may have broken some collegiate rules by playing in the tournament. Tubbs checked with SMU compliance and the NCAA and it was ruled that Hopkins is not eligible to play in this tournament. Hope it doesn't make him miss any games next season....

How did we not know about this in advance? Surely Hop and Rack wouldn't have played had they known this was against NCAA rules. Someone should have said something, right? It will be a shame if the Tubbs era starts with two juniors sitting out a game because of this.

[SCHOOPS]

You don't have to worry about Rack having to sit out a game. He is playing for the Lithuania national team. The difference is B-Hop wasn't playing for the US national team.

[The Q]

Roberts is definitely a flyer! Global Games program says he has a 40-inch vertical. He really got up on some of his dunks in the warm-ups, and had a nice slam on an alley-oop pass from Byron Eaton in the U.S.'s loss tonight against Croatia (which had some really outstanding players). The near-fight at the end was a shame, but it was a somewhat appropriate end to the game. Some observations:

- Ra'Sean Dickey (USA/Georgia Tech) blocked a shot, and could be heard from the stands telling the shooter to "get that [blank] out of here" -- before he even made the block. Unneccessary, to say the least.

- FW native (and Georgia Tech signee) Jeremis Smith threw down a nice slam, swung on the rim and then told the guy he dunked on something about how great he is (at least I hope that's all he said) and was given a T. The ensuing free throws gave a brief U.S. lead back to Croatia, which I believe never trailed again.

- Eaton is awesome. His shot selection needs help -- a lot of help -- but his skill with the ball is amazing. He's listed at 5'10" and if he is, then Bryan Hopkins is 6'6". But regardless of his height, he's unbelievably smooth and poised with the ball. He went behind his back at top speed as he drove the lane through a lot of traffic and was unfazed by all the guys swiping at the ball. It was like he had it on a string.

[Ikus]

Trash talk is nothing new. But it's safe to say you'd never see Patrick Simpson or Quinton Ross or Bryan Hopkins, etc., jawing like that before a block or talking smack after a dunk. And it was a third Georgia Tech guy (Morrow, I think?) who was in the middle of that scrum at the end of the game. Sounds like a classy bunch of kids.

I also thought Eaton forced some silly shots. There were a couple of times when he had to get one up because the shot clock was running down, but he did force a few. However, when he squares up to the basket and gets his legs set under him, three-point range is like a lay-up to him. He hit a couple of threes with almost no effort at all, and he has a nice high arc on his shot (has to because of his height, of course).