Washington Huskies Men’s Basketball head coach Mike Hopkins held his beginning of the season press conference today on Montlake, to talk about expectations for the upcoming season and the what the Huskies must improve upon in year two of his regime.
Here are things of note that he said…..
Hopkins said he feels a lot better personally in year 2 with family, house, etc
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said big picture is how can they get the program to win the national championship and that’s making the NCAA tournament
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said they have 95% of the scoring back which is great
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said they are always trying to raise the bar and get better
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said they have a chance to prove themselves this season
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins says they need to build culture by taking everything to the next level which includes practicing harder and academics
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins says always moving forward is the goal
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said assist to turnover ratio and defensive rebounding hurt them the most last season
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said getting easier and uncontested shots is important
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said managing expectations is the unknown! He calls it keeping the temperature at 72 degrees
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said keeping that Chip in their shoulder is important because they haven’t done anything yet
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said David Crisp is the best leader they have had and despite assists he has a scorer’s mentality too
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said at the end of the day playing time usually works itself out
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said he wants players that want to make their teammates better
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said having great energy in practice is important and iron sharpens iron
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said how can the new guys bring something to the table
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said he feels stronger with the young guys being a year older. Guys like Naz Carter and Hameir Wright
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said he feels he has 8 starters at any time
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said Naz Carter our on 20 pounds and the young guys look like men now
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said Jaylen Nowell will play back up point guard this year as well
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said the evolution of the 2-3 zone is bigger and longer and the players have a better grasp of it
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said they did the 2-2-1 full court press and tried to speed teams up as well
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said teams are trying to control the tempo against the Huskies
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said the team needs to stay together and believe in each other
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said the ball movement and tougher together mentality is essential to the success of the team
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said Dominic Green is as good a shooter as he has seen and works 110% everyday!
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said when they couldn’t score last year their best lineup was a short lineup
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said it boils down to getting your beds shooters good shots
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said a culture piece is understanding and being aware of each other and what works best
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said executing at a higher level this year is the next step for the program
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said Noah Dickerson is begging him to shoot three’s 🤣
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said when you set the bar and the culture a certain way then the players will adapt to it
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said if you prove things in practice then in the game it’s ok buts it’s all about the TEAM! Tougher Together
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said they have to evolve as a program in terms of defense, etc and anything that helps them win
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said Matisse Thybulle is outstanding in his zone defense scheme. He has the mentality
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said he is all about simplicity. Trying to find ways where they can rise
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said they have more options, experience and versatility this year in season 2
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said they didn’t want to be good at a bunch of different things. For them it was just about the zone defense
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said playing smarter and doing things sharper is more important in year 2
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said you want your team to go against great teams earlier in the season so you can see where you are at and how to improve
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said you either get humbled or you have to bring the team down
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said there is no hiding in the schedule. They always want to play the best and they want to be fine tuned earlier in the season in year 2
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said he is a guy guy kind of coach with lineups
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said they tried to get Nevada to play them at UW but it worked out to play them in the fundraiser game
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said as far as scheduling they follow the NCAA tournament model to make the actual tournament
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said iron sharpens iron and let’s see what we got and what we are made of
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Hopkins said having a veteran team you have to play quality competition early to see what you have because you can’t see that in practice
— Jeff Wright (@jdub2379) October 18, 2018
Below is the actual video of Mike Hopkin’s press conference today…..
