Dave Hoppen is a partner in an Omaha-based financial group, so it is no surprise that Nebraska’s leading basketball scorer of all-time poses two important questions before receiving Friday night's 2013 Whitehead Distinguished Alumni Award at the Nebraska Basketball Hall-of-Fame Banquet in Lincoln. Hoppen’s first question: Is Tyronn Lue Nebraska’s best professional basketball player ever? His second question cuts closer to real estate Hoppen has owned for 27 years: If Lue had returned for one more season 14 years ago instead of turning pro, would he be Nebraska’s all-time leading scorer instead of Hoppen?
Hoppen doesn’t definitively answer either question, but if you listen closely to his historical analysis, you conclude that if push came to shove, he would say “yes” to the first question and then another “yes” to the follow-up question. “We’ve wanted to get Tyronn into the Hall-of-Fame for a long time, but he’s just been too busy in the NBA for all these years,” Hoppen said. “He’s still busy as an assistant coach for the Celtics. It’s hard for a guy to get a weekend off during an NBA season. This honor has been a long time coming, and it’s made me think about why.
