Making the All-Freshman team is going to be a dogfight in one of the nation’s youngest basketball conferences.
Furthermore, having a bunch of recruiting stars next to your name isn’t necessarily a helpful factor.
Eight freshmen are scoring in double figures as the SEC hits the midway point of the league race. And one of them isn’t the top-ranked recruit: Tennessee’s Scotty Hopson.
Hopson and UT fans will get a look at one of the league’s top-scoring freshman Wednesday night when Georgia’s Trey Thompkins makes his Thompson-Boling Arena debut.
Thompkins is averaging 13.1 points and 6.9 rebounds, a silver lining to an otherwise hopeless Georgia season.
Hopson brought the strongest credentials with him of any SEC newcomer. He was No. 5 nationally in the 2008 class, according to Rivals.com. He was one of two McDonald’s All-Americans in the SEC class, the other being Alabama’s JaMychal Green.
Hopson is averaging 9.1 points in 22.4 minutes for the Vols. More was expected. Tennessee fans can take some encouragement that Hopson has scored in double figures in four of his past seven games — and that his 3-point accuracy is on the rise to a credible 40.6 percent.
Green was the second-highest-ranked prospect in the SEC freshman class. He’s averaging 10.1 points for the Tide.
The third-ranked freshman, according to Rivals, has been a no-show. Florida’s Eloy Vargas has played a total of 21 minutes.
Another underwhelming debut has come from Kentucky’s DeAndre Liggins, who was ranked No. 28 nationally by Rivals. He’s started one game, averages 6.0 points and has exhibited some interesting shot selection.
The top freshman scorer is Arkansas point guard Courtney Fortson, at 14.8 points. Fortson, ranked No. 60 by Rivals, leads the league in assists at 6.5 per game.
Dee Bost has been a steal for Mississippi State. Ranked No. 80 by Rivals, Bost averages 10.5 points and 30 minutes a game for the Bulldogs. He’s twice been the SEC Freshman of the Week.
The real sleeper is Ole Miss’ Terrico White. Coming out of Memphis Craigmont, White wasn’t ranked in the top 150 by Rivals and was awarded a modest three stars. He’s averaging 11.2 points and, like Bost, is a two-time SEC Freshman of the Week.
Tennessee and Florida had the top-ranked recruiting classes but aren’t getting the top-ranked results from them. UT’s Emmanuel Negedu was Rivals’ No. 40 prospect. He’s averaging 2.4 points. Renaldo Woolridge was No. 53; his minutes have nose-dived in SEC play.
Game of the Week: LSU can end the SEC’s two-week national-ranking drought with a win Wednesday night at Mississippi State.
The Tigers (19-4, 7-1 SEC) were the last team out of this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll and winning in Starkville would be a marquee victory.
“They’re the best team in the league, no question,’’ said Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury.
The Bulldogs hit a school-record 16 3-pointers Saturday against Arkansas. They had matched the old mark of 14 twice this year.
“Anytime you break your school record for threes two games in a row, that’s impressive,’’ said LSU coach Trent Johnson.
“You’ve got to close out to the NBA 3-point line. That’s easier said than done.’’
No New Tricks for Dogs: Coach Dennis Felton is gone but Georgia won’t look significantly different Wednesday night than when UT beat the Bulldogs on Jan. 10 in Athens.
“I was with Coach Felton for 11 years, every practice and every game in that period,’’ said acting coach Pete Herrmann. “I don’t know that there’s going to be a great difference in how we play the game.’’
The Last Word: UT associate head coach Tony Jones on trying to motivate the team that has lost six of its past 11 games.
“It’s been a difficult year. We’ve gone through every approach: the positive approach, to get into ‘em, to having a mixture, to sandwiching everything together. The players are just going to have to go out there and perform.’’
Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strangem@knoxnews.com.
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Comments » 11
King30 writes:
Scotty's doing just fine. The other freshmem who may be outperforming him are on teams where an immediate impact was necessary. Coming into this Vols' lineup, Scotty's had to defer to returning stars Tyler and Weezy.
What's really hurt his numbers, imo, is the lack of the pressure game CBP's teams have exhibited in the past. That style, relying on the press and pressure defense to create easy baskets on turnovers, has been a big difference in this year's Vols.
Unfortunately, all that length and height that we were all so excited about coming into the season has taken away CBP's best weapon of the past three years, speed and pressure defense.
GO VOLS! Whoop dem dawgs and dores and right this ship!
RTYAB
Ironcity writes:
What this article show is just because a player has a bunch of stars doesn't mean he is going to be a star as a Freshman. Our Freshman have proven that. I think Hopsons starting to turn the corner, but I have no doubt that he has at least two more stinkers in him. One for sure at KY and the other probably at UF. Its to bad that Woolridge seems to want to be one dimensional. He really looks like he has more game, but its hard to tell because he is so in love with his 22ft jump shot. Negadu needs to play more. I think he should be in at the end of the game since he shoots 85% from the foul line and clearly he brings the type of attitude that shoudl be good in our full court game.
Go Vols don't slip up against UGA and Vandy.
ncvol17 writes:
Are we playing basketball this year? The jury is out on that.
lomas98 writes:
I really wish Woolridge could show he can at least attempt to do something else besides shoot a 3. I would like to see what his 2 point shot attempts are this year. I think he could be a good player and a match up problem if he tries to do something else.
MidTennVol writes:
Agree that Hopson will be fine. But I can't help but wonder where are all the loudmouth bozos from last summer who were proclaiming Hopson to be "one and done?"
richvol writes:
Just goes to show how much these ranking experts know about evaluating talent. Fortson is the best freshman I have seen so far.
There's nothing wrong with our length that more hustle and work in the weight room can't fix. Some better thinking and anticipation would be helpful too. Louisville's players don't seem to have a problem playing pressure defense.
Negedu not getting more playing time is a failure of the coaching staff. He is the best at the foul line and works harder than any of the others.
I'm skeptical of the claim that the coaches have "gotten into" the players enough to see a difference. All of these guys are talented but they don't work hard enough to win against a team as poor as Auburn. I'm sorry but I don't buy it. You don't see teams like Carolina and Duke or Gonzaga and UCONN make the kind of bonehead plays we do and they sure break a sweat each time they play. We are so painful to watch it's not fun anymore.
We have had a few individuals perform well at times this year but they only play well as a team on rare occasions... for a few minutes. I guess Florida was their best effort. Why won't they give that type of effort all the time?
eb502us#225637 writes:
No doubt Hopson has the most talent, but he plays like a scared rabbit and doesn't deserve to make the Freshman team.
I believe he'll wake up at some point, but I'm not expecting it this season. It's all mental with him.
GoVol writes:
Pearl needs to coach! He's a PR, Marketing & Sales guy with a head coach title. Pearl has been outcoached in a few games this year with Auburn being the most recent. Too many teams have overcome large deficits to beat us.
Pearl has been great for the BB program thus far, but he needs to implement more player control, strategy and X's & O's.
Some will disagree, but that's okay. Sometimes the truth isn't what you want it to be.
gbeejr#1354500 writes:
Right on. We all have cheered Bruce and his resurrection of the bb team, but this year he somehow has lost the ability to motivate his players. The players either won't respond to Bruce or will do so only in flashes. Is it because of his "let 'em play" style with very little discipline? Who knows. I've said this before and I'll say it again, Bruce appears now to be a slightly improved, and more passionate version of Jerry Green.
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
Courtney Fortson was very impressive againtst us. tough, good scorer, and good assist man.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
"Let 'em play" can only work if the players themselves know what they SHOULD be doing all the time and have the self-discipline to do it. CBP should have had these guys on a shorter leash from the beginning. It seemed obvious to me that the full-court game was not going to be this team's strong suit, but it should have been obvious to CBP no later than the first week of official practice. I love nearly all of what CBP has done so far at UT, but I said back in the summer that this team would test him as a coach more than any of his other teams.
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