Mr. Basketball finalist's

[ref83]

Balance team or No balance team, this Hopkins kid is a true scoring guard. I have watched this kid double teamed his whole career and he still seam to score with little effort. 2700 points and counting is pretty impressive. I also watched this kid play on ESPN this summer on the number 1 ranked EYBL team in the county, Georgia Stars. They won the Peach Jam Championship and finished season number one in Nation. Hopkins scored against all of the top ranked players in the country. I see why this kid is a Belmont signee.

No question he's a great player. All three finalist are great players and deserve to be where they are No matter who wins they are all great players.

[steelerfan32]

best player in the state is darius garland and he is only a sophomore

[UCSportsFan]

Class A. should be Hopkins. He is the top scorer in the entire state of Tennessee. Averaging 35.9 points per game and third in the nation for scoring per Maxprep.

Hopkins is a very good player no question and he can score the basket but i feel as part of being Mr. Basketball is being able to bring a mediocre team up to a contender.  Fayetteville is horrible even against a weak schedule.  Take Key off of Clay County's team and they are very mediocre.  Kind of like Fayetteville this year.  Key is the best player in Class A due to his all around game and his ability to make his team better.  Hats off to all 3 finalists but it will be a travesty if Key doesn't get it.  He's that good!

[victorT]

Not sure I understand the last comment about Hopkins? Hopkins took a team that finished season with a record 5-18 first season to a 23-5 record last year and at one point ranked number 1 in the Class A AP poll. Record 5-18 is pretty mediocre I would say and record 23-5 is pretty good. If you take Hopkins off of Fayetteville team that would have not have happened,numbers don't lie. It is not Hopkins fault that their is only 2 seniors on his team this year.

[Shozen]

Not sure I understand the last comment about Hopkins? Hopkins took a team that finished season with a record 5-18 first season to a 23-5 record last year and at one point ranked number 1 in the Class A AP poll. Record 5-18 is pretty mediocre I would say and record 23-5 is pretty good. If you take Hopkins off of Fayetteville team that would have not have happened,numbers don't lie. It is not Hopkins fault that their is only 2 seniors on his team this year.

Ok, I didn't want to make this thread an argument as there is zero doubt that Hopkins is a talented player. However, rolls reversed if you swapped Key and Hopkins Key would average the same or higher and Hopkins wouldn't average 35 if he was on Clay.

 

You might ask how I know? Well there is a couple reasons. On Clay he wouldn't get to take 20-25 shots per game, strength of talent he faced would be much better, and Clay doesn't play a one man offense as when I seen Fayetteville play, Hopkins had the ball 80% of the time 1 on 1 or doing something to create for himself. Nothing against him because he is obviously there only option.

 

A couple more facts; Key has had 5-8 40+ games this season. Clay County has had 10-15 games where they won by 20+ so for half of the game Key would be on the bench because of the blowouts. I gurantee that Hopkins with Fayettville's record and lack of talent is on the floor for most if not the entire game so him averaging only 4 more points per game is deceiving. I gurantee he has averaged almost double the minutes compared to Key while only out scoring him by 4 points per game.

 

Your statement by only having 2 seniors is irrelevant as Clay County only has 3. As said before Key is probably the all around most talented and best player in Single A. I would probably rate him Top 3 in all classifications.

Edited February 14, 2016 by Shozen

[victorT]

 

Question, does Key or Foster have any D1 offers? I was told that Hopkins had D1 offers since he was a sophomore.

[ref83]

Question, does Key or Foster have any D1 offers? I was told that Hopkins had D1 offers since he was a sophomore.

Hopkins could not have D1 offers since he was a sophomore because the first time that a college can legally contact players are June of the summer before their Junior year. So anyone that says they had offers before that is wrong They can receive letters but official offers can't be made until their Junior year.

[ref83]

Question, does Key or Foster have any D1 offers? I was told that Hopkins had D1 offers since he was a sophomore.

Having D1 offers don't make them the best player. What they do for their team makes them the best player. Key's team back to back conference champions, they were District and Region Champion last year went to state also. That's is still to be determined this year. With Key Clay Co has been at their best for the pass d two years without him they would be very average.

[Coach423T]

I'm sorry but I feel like Patrick Good got robbed on not being named a AAA Mr Basketball Finalist!!!

[victorT]

I didn't say that D1 offers make the player, just asked a Question. . Let me repeat that I was told that Hopkins received a D1 offer the summer before he enter high school his Junior year, school does start in August? and multiple more his junior year. Best of Luck to the 3 Finalist.

[Shozen]

Question, does Key or Foster have any D1 offers? I was told that Hopkins had D1 offers since he was a sophomore.

Offers, from my understanding there has been very large schools and top AAU teams after Key. Univeristy of Tennessee to name one but as far as official offers I have no idea. As said before you cannot have an offer from a school as a sophomore. They are considered a junior if an offer comes during the summer break after their spophmore year.

 

Belmont is a good school but far from a strong D1 school. They are struggling in the OVC behind Tennessee Tech this year. I have seen Coach Payne visble himself at a lot of Clay's games. However from my understanding a lot bigger schools have made appearances at Clay's games I.e SEC schools.

Edited February 14, 2016 by Shozen

[Shozen]

I didn't say that D1 offers make the player, just asked a Question. . Let me repeat that I was told that Hopkins received a D1 offer the summer before he enter high school his Junior year, school does start in August? and multiple more his junior year. Best of Luck to the 3 Finalist.

You didn't say it but you clearly implied that since Hopkins got offers his sophomore summer that he was in turn the better player if Key didn't. There would be no other reason to ask the question while putting Hopkins name in the mix if you didn't mean it that way.

Edited February 15, 2016 by Shozen