Hopson Killed US!

#27
#27
SGMVols said:
Vincent Yarbrough was a McDonald's All-American who came to UT in the late '90s and turned out to be an epic bust. Now you see where I'm going with this?
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By "epic bust," I assume you mean averaged 18 ppg, 1st team all-conference, and selected with the 32nd pick in the NBA draft.
 
#29
#29
It is not Hopson on offense that bothers me. His defense was terrible and always has been. Until he realizes you play both ends of the floor equally hard the NBA will not be on the horizon as early as he might think. Tough loss, but Purdue is a great team. Too many unforced mistakes costs against a good team. It should be a game the team can learn from and be better because of it.
 
#31
#31
JWVol said:
Hopson disappears against tougher competition. As good as he looks at times, he is not anywhere close to being NBA ready. He might be there by his Senior year.
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B-I-N-G-O. When Hopson plays teams who are in the same ball park athletically and will play a little defense, he folds up like a $3 lawn chair from Wal Mart. Based on what I have seen from him in 1.1 years, he has been extremely over-hyped. I'm not saying it's his fault, nor am I saying he can't be a good player, but Allan Houston he ain't.
 
#35
#35
SGMVols said:
Vincent Yarbrough was a McDonald's All-American who came to UT in the late '90s and turned out to be an epic bust. Now you see where I'm going with this?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say Vincent was an "epic bust," but he never came close to fulfilling his potential, and Hopson may well be heading down the same path.
 
#36
#36
DowntownVol said:
I wouldn't say Vincent was an "epic bust," but he never came close to fulfilling his potential, and Hopson may well be heading down the same path.
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Yeah, epic was too strong of a word there. My bad. Still, I think people get the point that Hopson is nowhere close to the player most expected at this point.
 
#37
#37
cotton said:
By "epic bust," I assume you mean averaged 18 ppg, 1st team all-conference, and selected with the 32nd pick in the NBA draft.
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That's exactly what I was thinking...Vincent Yarbrough was far from being an "epic bust." Some people just don't get it evidently. Scotty will get there just give him some time. If he ends up as strong a contributor as VY, I think we'd be pleased.
 
#38
#38
If anything positive can be taken from this game, it's the fact that we played like absolute garbage, yet still had a very good chance to beat the #6 team in the country in the closing seconds. Yeah, Purdue did force some of our bad play, but they had nothing to do with the horrible passes and shot selection early in the shot-clock that were ultimately the result of terrible decisions. We also are, without a doubt, the most undisciplined team in the top-10, and more than likely the top-25. I love CBP to death, but he has GOT to get his team playing under control, within themselves, and making smart decisions. If/when he can do that, the Baller-Vols will be able to beat anyone in the country.

As for Hopson, unless he makes an unprecedented improvement over the course of this season, I highly doubt we'll see him in the NBA after this year. I'm a huge fan of his, and he's arguably the most talented on the team, but he's got to get his head in the right place. Hopson put himself in bad situations tonight time after time. It seemed like 5 or 6 times Hopson would try to drive, and when seeing that his defender was playing him well, instead of backing it out and giving it back to Maze or Goins to setup the offense again, he would force the issue and either throw up a horrible shot or throw the ball away. He's go to learn how to play within himself, and that's CBP's job to make sure Hopson understands that before he plays again. Hopson hurt us tonight, and that's a shame because he has the skillset to be one of the best players in the country. Also, I could be totally wrong, but I get the feeling that Hopson gets down on himself when he misses consecutive shots. If this is the case, he'll never be a consistent threat until he becomes mentally tough. Again, this is just my opinion from an outsider looking in; I certainly hope that I am dead-wrong on this assessment, because low-confidence will affect a player way more than any defender ever will.

I would really like to see Bruce change up their half-court flex offense. When I was playing high school ball, we ran almost the exact same variation of the flex that CBP runs, and while it's good in theory, it's also one of the more predictable offenses there is, which is evidenced by the fact that we very seldom get good, open shots as a result of running it (against good competition, anyway). Opposing coaches that are good at breaking down film can coach their players to anticipate where the ball is going, and they're correct more often than not. It takes a disciplined and patient team for this offense to flourish, and our Vols certainly are not disciplined or patient at this point in the season. When I was playing, teams that had coaches who knew what they were doing would know exactly where we were going, and it made effectively running our offense very difficult. If you pay attention to this during games against legit competition (i.e. tonight against Purdue), you'll notice that the defenders usually know where their men are going and they're cheating to that side, which is ultimately handcuffing the Vols on offense. I see CBP and the Vols dealing with the same problems, and think they would benefit greatly by making a few subtle changes in the setup and execution of the offense, which would (in theory) keep opposing teams off-balance and result in wide-open looks/dunks when the defense cheats to 1 side or the other.

One other thing (sorry for the length): Am I the only one who, considering the Vols' deep bench, wishes CBP would run their full-court press more often? The fact that we don't always force a lot of turnovers by pressing doesn't necessarily mean it's not effective. There are no more than a handful of teams in the country whose benches are as deep and talented as ours. That being the case, we could use the press to wear down teams to the point where they have very little left in the tank in the final 5-10 minutes of the game. I also think it can give us an indirect advantage by putting teams in foul trouble, as tired players tend to play sloppy defense, resulting in more fouls (at least, that's the idea).

Sorry for the length, but after watching tonight's game, and being convinced it took a couple of years off my life (just by having to witness all those turnovers and absurd shot-selection, if nothing else), I had a lot on my mind.
 
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#39
#39
ljeller said:
That's exactly what I was thinking...Vincent Yarbrough was far from being an "epic bust." Some people just don't get it evidently. Scotty will get there just give him some time. If he ends up as strong a contributor as VY, I think we'd be pleased.
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I'm no Hopson hater, but it's his 2nd year in the same system...correct? It's not ridiculous to be expecting better results from him on the court against solid teams, especially considering how everyone hypes him up.
 
#41
#41
vol4eva said:
He literally gave Purdue 7 points near the end of the first half. Very frustrating to watch.
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Woolridge is and will continue to be a BUST as long as he's "Swiperboy" instead of #0.

Since when did we give scholarships to recording artists? He's shown me nothing to prove he deserves the scholly. Sad too because I was really excited about hi commitment but he's a bust.
 
#42
#42
Hopson needs to get stronger and adjust to physical play. Good teams take him out of the offense and he does not play well against pressure defense. He is good at the three if left completely ungaurded, but good teams play defense. He also has to be more mature and make better decisions. He is very talented and will eventually be a great player. Talk of the NBA is very immature at this point.
 
#43
#43
UT's#1Fan said:
Woolridge is and will continue to be a BUST as long as he's "Swiperboy" instead of #0.

Since when did we give scholarships to recording artists? He's shown me nothing to prove he deserves the scholly. Sad too because I was really excited about hi commitment but he's a bust.
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Agreed. His constant rapping/twittering has him completely disconnected from focusing on basketball. He's absolutely atrocious. Probably worse than last year.
 
#44
#44
lylsmorr said:
I'm no Hopson hater, but it's his 2nd year in the same system...correct? It's not ridiculous to be expecting better results from him on the court against solid teams, especially considering how everyone hypes him up.
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I never said not to expect better results. I just think it is ridiculous to start calling him an 'epic bust.' It is still very early in the season, so is it not reasonable to think he will improve as the season wears on?
 
#45
#45
Its pretty ridiculous to think that the only reason Renaldo sucks is because he raps. Do you know him personally? Do you know for a fact that he puts his music before basketball? There's a million other things that could factor into why he's not playing well. Kobe Bryant put out a rap album too. So did Shaq. It hasn't seemed to get in the way of their basketball careers.

Edit: By the way, i'm pretty sure UTs #1 Fan lost all his credibility when he was constantly campaigning to start Stephens over Crompton earlier in the year.
 
#46
#46
Strange, on page 2 Hopson is called a "lottery pick" and everyone is swinging on his nugget pouch. Its a long,long season. Hopson and UT will be fine. I thought we UK fans were bad after a loss:shaking2:
 
#47
#47
ChattanoogaVols said:
If anything positive can be taken from this game, it's the fact that we played like absolute garbage, yet still had a very good chance to beat the #6 team in the country in the closing seconds. Yeah, Purdue did force some of our bad play, but they had nothing to do with the horrible passes and shot selection early in the shot-clock that were ultimately the result of terrible decisions. We also are, without a doubt, the most undisciplined team in the top-10, and more than likely the top-25. I love CBP to death, but he has GOT to get his team playing under control, within themselves, and making smart decisions. If/when he can do that, the Baller-Vols will be able to beat anyone in the country.

As for Hopson, unless he makes an unprecedented improvement over the course of this season, I highly doubt we'll see him in the NBA after this year. I'm a huge fan of his, and he's arguably the most talented on the team, but he's got to get his head in the right place. Hopson put himself in bad situations tonight time after time. It seemed like 5 or 6 times Hopson would try to drive, and when seeing that his defender was playing him well, instead of backing it out and giving it back to Maze or Goins to setup the offense again, he would force the issue and either throw up a horrible shot or throw the ball away. He's go to learn how to play within himself, and that's CBP's job to make sure Hopson understands that before he plays again. Hopson hurt us tonight, and that's a shame because he has the skillset to be one of the best players in the country. Also, I could be totally wrong, but I get the feeling that Hopson gets down on himself when he misses consecutive shots. If this is the case, he'll never be a consistent threat until he becomes mentally tough. Again, this is just my opinion from an outsider looking in; I certainly hope that I am dead-wrong on this assessment, because low-confidence will affect a player way more than any defender ever will.

I would really like to see Bruce change up their half-court flex offense. When I was playing high school ball, we ran almost the exact same variation of the flex that CBP runs, and while it's good in theory, it's also one of the more predictable offenses there is, which is evidenced by the fact that we very seldom get good, open shots as a result of running it (against good competition, anyway). Opposing coaches that are good at breaking down film can coach their players to anticipate where the ball is going, and they're correct more often than not. It takes a disciplined and patient team for this offense to flourish, and our Vols certainly are not disciplined or patient at this point in the season. When I was playing, teams that had coaches who knew what they were doing would know exactly where we were going, and it made effectively running our offense very difficult. If you pay attention to this during games against legit competition (i.e. tonight against Purdue), you'll notice that the defenders usually know where their men are going and they're cheating to that side, which is ultimately handcuffing the Vols on offense. I see CBP and the Vols dealing with the same problems, and think they would benefit greatly by making a few subtle changes in the setup and execution of the offense, which would (in theory) keep opposing teams off-balance and result in wide-open looks/dunks when the defense cheats to 1 side or the other.

One other thing (sorry for the length): Am I the only one who, considering the Vols' deep bench, wishes CBP would run their full-court press more often? The fact that we don't always force a lot of turnovers by pressing doesn't necessarily mean it's not effective. There are no more than a handful of teams in the country whose benches are as deep and talented as ours. That being the case, we could use the press to wear down teams to the point where they have very little left in the tank in the final 5-10 minutes of the game. I also think it can give us an indirect advantage by putting teams in foul trouble, as tired players tend to play sloppy defense, resulting in more fouls (at least, that's the idea).

Sorry for the length, but after watching tonight's game, and being convinced it took a couple of years off my life (just by having to witness all those turnovers and absurd shot-selection, if nothing else), I had a lot on my mind.
Click to expand...

Excellent post. It would be nice to see some changes to his Flex but I just don't see it. He's been doing this for years and year.
 
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