Scotty Hopson Practices Making Up for Michigan State

by Joel Hollingsworth on Jul 2, 2010 7:07 AM EDT in Rocky Top Talking Points

Talking Points for 7/2/10:

A couple of days ago, we noted that the basketball Vols were still using the one point loss to Michigan State in the Elite Eight as motivation. Last night in the Pilot Rocky Top League, Scotty Hopson had a chance to put the lessons of that game into practice under live fire. With 24.7 seconds remaining and his team up 124-122, Hopson went to the line to shoot a one-and-one. Remember, against the Spartans, he was in a similar situation (although ~~it was a tie game~~ we were down by one), and he hit the first but missed the second. The team failed to get back on defense, committed a foul, and lost the game. This time, Hopson hit the first, missed the second, but got back on defense to intercept a pass. He drove for the basket and was fouled and went back to the line with 3.9 seconds left for another one-and-one. He hit both. Yeah, it's the PRTL, but it is an actual game, and it's an indication that the players are indeed learning from their mistakes. Woo for Hopson.

In case you saw the link but didn't read the story, that 6'9" front court player who has committed to play for the Vols will be playing this season. John Fields is eligible to play immediately because he's already graduated from UNC Wilmington and will be enrolling in a UT graduate degree program not offered by UNCW. There's an interesting recruiting loophole it might be fun to poke and prod for awhile. What sort of crazy graduate degree programs can we offer that aren't offered anywhere else?

Steven Pearl says that he's going to shoot 75% from the free throw line this season, and he wants us to write it down. Done.

Bobby Maze has added 10 pounds and says that he'll play with the Chicago Bulls in the Las Vegas NBA summer league "if not the New York Knicks."

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