Senior Hope emerges into revised role

Basketball is said to be a game of runs. Teams have ups and downs. Players get hot and cold.
Then-junior starting point guard Casey Hope, who started all 27 games for the Yellow Jackets during his sophomore season, while scoring 6.5 points per game, began last season cold. In Hope’s first nine games to start his junior season, he shot 27.1 percent from the floor and 26.3 percent on 3-point field goals.
He never got his chance to get hot. On Dec. 17, Hope tore his ACL in practice the day before a match-up against Hiram College.
“We were scrimmaging and I caught the ball on the right wing, and I was driving,” said Hope. “I kind of did a little jump stop and my knee extended over, and I heard the pop.”
Hope had surgery Jan. 23, 2014 to repair his torn ACL. The men’s team went on to go 15-13, win a game in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference tournament and make the Eastern College Athletic Conference Southwest Tournament.
“It was tough, especially seeing how successful we were; it was difficult watching from the sideline,” Hope said. “All I could do was help B.J. [Durham] with the point guard duties, because he was sort of new to it, and E.J. [Coleman], as well.”
Head coach Mark Christner said the team missed Hope on the defensive side of the ball.
“We certainly missed his defensive presence, and I think we were able to piece together because we had E.J. Coleman and B.J. [Durham]; and they are both combo guys,” Christner said. “I wouldn’t say either one of them is a true point guard. E.J. was hurt at the beginning of last year. His first game back was our first game without [Hope]. We certainly missed his experience at the point, and we had to change some of the things we did defensively, and we had to change offensively, too.”
Christner said without Hope, the offense had to change from a play-calling standpoint.
“I mean he called everything, and I trust him to get us in the right stuff at the right time,” Christner said. “We kind of had that aspect down, and he and I were on the same page in a lot of ways, in terms of getting guys organized offensively. So when he was hurt we had to change a little bit, and I’m not sure if we’ve gotten that back.”
With the recovery process of an ACL tear being as grueling as it is, Christner said some players would not make the decision to make a comeback.
“Coming back from a surgery, a nine to 10-month recovery and rehab that he had, you can’t help but root for him,” Christner said. “It’s a long process, one where he could have easily said ‘I don’t need [basketball].’ But we need his resolve, we need his toughness and feistiness, and we need him playing.”
However, Hope never
considered not playing his senior season.
“I never thought I was done,” Hope said. “I knew coming back and playing was something I wanted to do. I wanted to stay with the senior class.”
Hope has played in all seven games this season, but has not started any. He is playing 16.3 minutes per game, scoring only 1.9 points per game, while shooting 25 percent from the field and committing 13 turnovers versus only eight assists.
Christner said it is going to take some time to get Hope back to being comfortable.
“Each game probably helps a little bit. He took a few hard falls this past week and just being able to get up and knowing he’s okay,” Christner said. “When you’re gone from the game for an extended period of time and you get back into it, even though he’s been cleared since September and he’s practiced, it takes some time.”
Durham, this year’s starting point guard, is scoring 11.6 points per game while shooting 46.7 percent from the field and 51.4 percent from behind the arc.
“He backs up [Durham], and he’s done a really nice job there, and he helps solidify that second group offensively by being organized,” Christner said. “I think for him it’s trying to find his comfort level where he can contribute and play, and I hope he does feel that he is. Defensively continuing to make an imprint on the game, and I think he’s been pretty consistent and I only think he’ll get better.”
Christner said Hope was the type of player that was fearless, and he said to be a good point guard and the type of defender he was that quality is very important.
“I would like to think I could get back [to the player I was],” Hope said. “But I don’t know if I’ll ever be as efficient as I was or fearless as I was, but I would hope so.”
Hope said the injury
affects him more on the offensive side of the ball compared to on defense.
“This year I think I’ve drawn four or five charges because I didn’t want to jump stop,” Hope said. “On the defensive end, I don’t really notice it. I’m not as quick as I used to be, especially with my horizontal quickness. I don’t think I’ll stop worrying about it until hopefully March when we get into the key part of our season.”
Hope believes his role on the team is to provide energy off the bench on the
defensive side of the ball and to compliment Durham at the point.
“With [Durham], he’s a point guard, but the way he plays and the way I play are different,” Hope said. “He’s obviously very efficient on the offensive end, whereas my offensive set is more setting up the plays, getting other people involved and getting my teammates good shots. And then the defensive end is where I think I have the most impact.”
Christner said having Hope back this season gives him more versatility with the lineups he can put out, and putting Hope and Durham on the floor at the same time is a possibility.
“Winner” was the first word that came to
Christner’s mind when he thinks of Hope as a person and a basketball player.
“From a comprehensive standpoint, he is as good as they come,” Christner said. “Throw in the injury piece and coming back from it to play at a high level, there’s no doubt in my mind when he leaves here, he will be
successful.”