Saturday, November 27, 2010

Scotty Hopson needs to be the star for Tennessee

NEW YORK - With all due respect to Tobias Harris, Scotty Hopson was the most important recruit that Bruce Pearl has landed at Tennessee.

Hopson was a top 10 player in the class of 2008. He was a McDonald's all-american. He grew up in Kentucky. Every coach in the country wants a player like that.

And he ended up with Bruce Pearl in Knoxville, an up-and-coming coach at an up-and-coming program. Hopson's signing legitimized Pearl's ability as a recruiter. We had already known his ability as a coach, but being a great coach will only get you so far. Great coaches that coach the most talented players are the ones that hang banners.

On Friday night, Tennessee hung their first banner under Bruce Pearl. The Volunteers used a suffocating defense and a balanced offensive attack to knock off Villanova 78-68 in the finals of the Preseason NIT.


The win was a team effort, but the star was none other than Hopson.

The 6'6" wing finished with 18 points for the second straight night, adding three assists and playing a huge role in the struggles of the vaunted Villanova back court.

"I thought Scotty did a great job on Corey Fisher," Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl said after the game. "Scotty's length bothered Corey. And Scotty stayed down and Corey wasn't getting some of the shots he had been getting, he wasn't getting to the rim."

This came a night after Hopson posted a double-double, going for 18 points and 11 rebounds, in a 77-72 win over VCU.

It was enough to earn Hopson Most Outstanding Player for the tournament.

Its been a long time coming for Hopson. The last two seasons, the uber-talented junior has been forced to play what amounted to a supporting role. As a freshman, it was Tyler Smith's team. As a sophomore, Smith's midseason dismissal provided an avenue for Wayne Chism to take over. As a result, Hopson is now the only member of the class of 2008's top ten recruits still in college.

"I haven't had one of these since high school," Hopson said of the MVP award. "I'm definitely feeling good right now. But I have to put this behind me, go on to the next day, and play basketball."

The knock on Hopson throughout his career has almost always been his passiveness. He was too willing to let the game come to him, too willing to settle for a jumper, too willing to allow others to take the big shot or carry the team through a tough stretch. He had his moments, but the general consensus coming into the season was that Hopson had lottery pick potential but the aggressiveness of a three point specialist.

More than anything, this week helped to change that belief.

Its obvious in talking to him that Hopson has had it drilled into his head that this is his team, that he needs to be a leader. And its starting to show through on the court.

"That is what they expect from me," Hopson said of his teammates after the game. "Coach wants me to attack. I can't be nonchalant. Stay in attack mode all the time. I had a couple of opportunities and I wanted to take advantage and be aggressive."

"That's my game," he continued. "I'm a slasher. I get to the basket. I just have the ability to shoot it."

Against VCU, the Volunteers were getting killed on the glass in the first half. So Hopson attacked the glass, finishing with 11 rebounds. It was his aggressiveness off the dribble and three straight buckets to open the second half that allowed Tennessee to build a double digit cushion. It was his driving layup with five minutes left that countered a VCU run that had cut the Vol lead to two points.

On Friday, Tennessee had built their lead to as much as ten in the first half, but an early second half run by Villanova gave the Wildcats the lead back. Hopson, who was once again quiet in the first half, was the guy that gave the Volunteers to momentum back. He drove to the rim and scored – not settling for jumpers like he did in the first half – or penetrated and found an open teammate when he drew an extra defender.

He did this while playing aggressive, fundamental defense in both games.

"Last night, [Scotty] had 11 rebounds," Pearl said. "Tonight he didn't rebound but he had three assists and one turnover and he played great defense against one of the best guards in the country."

The biggest question mark for Tennessee coming into the season was whether or not Hopson could become a go to scorer. Size was never an issue – between Brian Williams, Tobias Harris, and John Fields, Tennessee has as good of a front line as you will find in the SEC.

Melvin Goins has proved to be a terrific defensive point guard and a solid senior facilitator while Trae Golden has provided a nice change of pace as a player maker.

On the perimeter, Cameron Tatum, Skyler McBee, and Jordan McRae provide a nice blend of youth, experience, athleticism, and shooting. On the defensive end, this team has held every opponent to less than 36% shooting.

And while four starters from last season are gone, there is still plenty of experience on this roster.

"We're not a young team, we're a new team," Pearl said. "I've learned as much about this team in the last five games as any. Four starters. I have some senior guys that were back ups."

"Those guys are all starters now."

The only thing that was missing was a go to scorer, a guy that Bruce Pearl can rely upon when his team desperately needs a bucket. A guy that is willing and capable of scoring when isolated.

Right now, it looks like Hopson is that guy.

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