Unreasonable Expectations: Bruce Thornton will break Dennis Hopson’s scoring record

The three-time captain is 610 points away from passing Dennis Hopson on the all-time scoring list.

From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about our Unreasonable Expectations. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our Unreasonable Expectations here.

To cap off Land-Grant Holy Land’s Unreasonable Expectations week, let’s talk about a guy whose Ohio State legacy will completely hinge on how the final 30-35 games of his career go.

The first 102 games of Bruce Thornton’s career can be compared to many Ohio State greats, but unfortunately something is missing that has dropped Thornton to a tier below guys like William Buford, Jim Jackson, and Evan Turner — winning. The players I listed won meaningful games for Ohio State, and they’re remembered fondly because of it. Thornton, to no fault of his own, really, has not played in a postseason game yet.

Thornton’s final season will dictate his legacy at Ohio State, fair or not. If he can get the Buckeyes back to the NCAA Tournament, Thornton could be remembered as one of the best guards in program history — maybe even the best. If not, his cumulative stats will always be accompanied by a “but” and a reminder that his gaudy stats never resulted in program success.

His legacy will be even cloudier if Thornton finds a way to set the Ohio State program scoring record this season. A record that I believe Thornton will break at some point this season.

At 1,487 career points, Thornton currently sits at No. 21 on the all-time scoring list. Assuming health, the soon-to-be four-time captain will pass Turner, Terence Dials, and Jon Diebler in November alone and climb into the top-15. By the turn of the New Year, Thornton will likely ascend to the top-10.

Thornton averaged 17.7 points per game last season. If he ups that a tiny bit to 18 points per game — which might be underselling him a little bit — then he’d need to play 34 games next season to claim the all-time scoring record. Last season, Ohio State played 32 games, including a one-and-done showing in the Big Ten Tournament and zero NCAA Tournament games. With even modest improvement as a team from last year, Thornton should get those 34 games.

But if Thornton basically just needs to continue the status quo of what he did last season with a few extra games, would him passing Dennis Hopson’s record of 2,096 points really be all that unreasonable? Statistically, not really.

But if we zoom out and look at the record from a wider lens, it’s quite an accomplishment. With immediate eligibility in college basketball and the transfer portal flipping players from program to program every summer, the odds of getting another Ohio State player to stick around for four years, stay healthy all four years, and play at a high level for four straight years the way Thornton has is not too likely. Hopson set the scoring record 38 years ago — how long will it be until we see another Buckeye even eclipse the 2,000-point mark while wearing the scarlet and gray? In this new age of college basketball, Thornton could be the last of his kind.

Last season, Thornton averaged 17.7 points per game and shot 42.4% from three-point range. It was a continuation of what we have seen from Thornton since he arrived in Columbus in 2022 — aside from missing one game due to a migraine in February of 2024, Bruce has started every single one of Ohio State’s games, and he’s gotten better every year.

Being able to talk yourself into Thornton breaking Hopson’s record this season with just a modest improvement over last season goes to show how good he’s been. It’s going to be odd if Ohio State doesn’t make the 2026 NCAA Tournament, and the program’s all-time leading scorer isn’t considered one of the program’s all-time best players.

But if Ohio State does make the big dance — and if we want to go crazy, win a few games there — Thornton will be remembered as one of the best to wear the jersey.

The loyalty Thornton has shown to the Ohio State men’s basketball program is unheard of in college sports these days. I encourage Buckeye fans to not take that for granted, and enjoy watching Bruce lace it up this season on the way to rewriting the program history books.