Kentucky wouldn’t commit to a “Home and Home” but Bryce Hopkins has found a new home in Friartown
Billy Ricci is both a native of Providence and a Providence College graduate. He entered the Providence basketball podcasting space in Dec. 2020 and has hosted a variety of Friar greats and influencers, including God Shammgod, Ryan Gomes, Bob Driscoll, Steve Napolillo, Jared Bynum, Al Durham, AJ Reeves, LaDontate Henton, Kyron Cartwright, and many others. He first partnered with Friar Basketball in Oct. 2021 on a podcast series on the 2003-04 Friars, and will work with us again on our upcoming pod series on the 2013-14 Big East Tournament championship club. Billy will also contribute to our site as a writer throughout the season.
Let’s take it back to Dec. 1, 2013. The Friars understood that the task at hand of beating a loaded #3 Kentucky team on a neutral court would not be easy, but as Carson Desrosiers discussed with us on our upcoming pod series about the 2013-2014 Big East champs (shameless plug), the team viewed Kentucky’s NBA starting five as opponents who put on their shoes and laced them up the same way the Friars did.
Going into halftime down four with a host of tri-state Friar fans behind them, the eventual Big East champs ran out of gas against Julius Randle, Willie Cauley-Stein, James Young, the Harrison Twins… I didn’t even get to Dakari Johnson yet (you couldn’t have at least beat UCONN for us in the 2014 national championship, Big Blue Nation?).
Prior to this game at the Barclays Center, we learned that Kentucky refused to come to the AMP, or the Dunk at the time. They would instead force Providence to play that neutral site game and then travel to Rupp Arena the following year for a 58-38 Kentucky win…that’s right PC scored 38 points total with an injured Kris Dunn gutting it out.
Kentucky clearly got the best of PC back then, but today Friartown is in a new age of college basketball. I am not saying, by any stretch, that the #2 ranked (according to the CBS “100 and 1” preseason rankings) Wildcats are starving for talent, but to get one of their own signifies something big brewing in Friartown, both now and in years to come.
Watching Bryce Hopkins take the court for his first exhibition game as a member of the Friars last week reaffirmed everything we needed to know: he’s a natural basketball player. This is the same player who was ranked #2 in the state of Illinois and #33 overall by ESPN coming out of high school – and now he has a lot of motivation to prove the Kentucky doubters wrong.
We saw what Hopkins was capable of when he scored 13 points in 16 minutes in a narrow victory over LSU in late February. He saw just six minutes over the final three games of the season after that, however, and decided to transfer at season’s end.
Probably the best thing I’ve read about Hopkins is an NBC Chicago article on his time with, coincidentally, the Friars of Fenwick High School in Chicago. Hopkins talked about his love for the game of basketball, and his coach Staunton Peck had a host of admirable words about the sophomore forward including:
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s playing in the NBA in a few years. I think that’s the kind of talent he has, and he couples that with his work ethic and ability to face down hard times and overcome them. I think the sky is the limit for Bryce.”
So what can we expect from Bryce Hopkins in his first year suiting up for the Friars? First, Hopkins has been traditionally most comfortable playing as a face up forward where he will be slotted for the Friars, but also has the skill to get out on the perimeter at the three as well.
That sounds like many of our former 6’6 or 6’7 inside-out threats of the past, including a certain current Special Assistant to the Head Coach named LaDontae Henton. Much like what we saw from Henton his freshman year, Hopkins just has the feel for the game you can’t teach. Hopkins can also score from all three-levels in a particularly smooth fashion, but where I really believe Hopkins can stand out for the 2022-23 Friars is scoring and passing out of the high post. With a talented and experienced backcourt of Jared Bynum and fellow newcomer Noah Locke, I see Hopkins making a huge impact making plays off the dribble or making that perfect pass to set up guards to score from deep.
On April 25th Hopkins’ IG post caption read, “Friar Forever” and now in just nine days we get to see that affirmation come to life with the sky being the limit for this Double Friar donning the number 23.