Game Changer: Nine Things on Bryce Hopkins' Commitment to Providence
1. What more is there to say about the run Ed Cooley and the Friars are on right now? After setting the Dunkin Donuts Center on fire this season, then making noise in March, Cooley has somehow raised the bar even higher in terms of excitement and expectations this offseason.
Sunday brought the news of Corey Floyd Jr. transferring from Connecticut to PC, while Monday saw the Friars making national headlines when Kentucky transfer Bryce Hopkins shared his intention to join the Friars.
Hopkins was an elite recruit in every sense imaginable as a high school star in Chicago. The 6’6 forward visited the likes of Kansas and Wisconsin, and verballed to Louisville at one point, but eventually pledged to Kentucky (after giving Providence serious consideration as well).
He played sparingly this season in Lexington for a Kentucky team that appeared to have very real National Championship hopes, before being upset by St. Peter’s in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
As mentioned in this space previously, if Cooley could draw up an ideal forward it would be Hopkins, who plays with both physicality and versatility. He can slot in as an overpowering small forward, or a mismatch four, depending upon the opponent.
He is the highest rated player (per high school rankings) on Providence’s roster since Kris Dunn and Ricky Ledo committed as part of the class of 2012. Both Dunn and Ledo played in the NBA. Dunn was a two-time Big East Player of the Year.
2. One of my favorite observations during this offseason came from our Craig Leighton, who noted that Providence really wasn’t in position to capitalize the last two times they reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
After the Final Four run of 1987, Rick Pitino left in the offseason, while in ’97 it wasn’t a secret that Pete Gillen could be off to greener pastures in the near future. Gillen was gone by the spring of 1998.
This really is an unprecedented time for Providence — at least since they joined the Big East. The Friars have stability in the coaching staff, vastly improved facilities, and now evidence of sending players to both the NBA and playing deeper into March.
3. It’s amazing what a strong March can mean for a program. I’ll never forget Alex Murphy, once upon a time a five-star recruit out of Rhode Island, adding Butler (a pre-Big East Butler, mind you) to his list of contenders after the Bulldogs made a run to the National Championship game the year prior.
4. The transfer portal has been Providence’s friend, which is a tribute to Cooley and his ability to build lasting relationships. Where would PC have been this season had Al Durham chosen to transfer elsewhere? A big reason why he chose Providence was because of his familiarity with the coaching staff, which had recruited him when he was a somewhat underrated guard out of Georgia.
A year after Durham sent Cooley diving into his pool, we saw Hopkins, Floyd, and Noah Locke all finally committing to Providence after the coaching staff pursued them out of high school.
For Locke, it was a relationship that dated back quite a long way. He was at PC’s Elite Camp in June 2016, while Floyd and Hopkins both seemed pretty locked in on Providence once they became available.
There has been talk of a deemphasis in terms of high school recruiting, but it will continue to be critical for Providence due to Cooley’s ability to build lasting relationships. Might as well start them early.
5. The importance of Cooley’s relationship-building, and potentially catching players on the rebound, is a thought that dated back for me to his earliest days at Providence.
Weeks after being hired at Providence, Cooley and his staff hosted Georges Niang on a visit, but at that point Fred Hoiberg and Iowa State had invested so much time in Niang that it was almost moot.
The next year, I watched Niang (at that point a full-fledged star) tear up a prep tournament, after which he gave Cooley a big bear hug. I was obsessed with Niang’s game for a few years at that point, and held out hope that one day he’d flip to PC, but he loved Iowa State and became the face of the program and an unlikely NBA player.
There have been a few prospects I’ve monitored in the same way since, but Hopkins is the first I’ve closely tracked in which it came together like this.
6. Let’s not overlook the fact that, despite all five spring additions coming from the transfer portal, Providence has the makings of a very good young core.
Jayden Pierre should be a terrific point guard in the not-too-distant future, and Quante Berry could provide positional versatility as he matures. They are both freshmen who have been signed since the fall.
Hopkins just completed his freshman year, ditto for South Carolina transfer Devin Carter (an All SEC Freshman team performer), while Floyd will have four years of eligibility remaining as well after enrolling at UConn early out of high school.
With that young core in place, and Cooley’s success in the transfer market, the staff is now set up to aim extremely high when recruiting high school prospects. Expect them to be quite selective this spring and summer when it comes to high school players.
7. Hopkins really didn’t see many minutes at Kentucky this season, with the exception of an outburst versus LSU in February. Here are all of his possessions from that game:
8. This ten-minute feature on Hopkins from high school provides a really good glimpse at both his game and personality. Both of his parents were interviewed for this piece as well. His father played basketball at Tennessee Tech.
Here he is mic’ed up at a Kentucky basketball camp:
9. Hopkins averaged 24.4 points, 12.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.8 steals, and 1.5 blocks per game as a senior at Fenwick (IL).
Here are some highlight reels from high school:
can't wait for next year already