1. Thee's actually a difference between an opossum and a possum. Opossums are from the Western Hemisphere, possums are Australasian. Mammalogists take this seriously. (I work on animals that eat opossums, or possums, depending on where they are, so I don't actually care.)
2. They have hands because of their reproductive biology. They're born at a much earlier developmental stage than placentals. Kangaroo joeys are the same size, shape, and color of a cherry gummy bear at birth. (No idea if the flavor is similar.) But they have to have grasping hands as soon as they're born to grab mom's fur and pull themselves into the pouch.
This actually constrains marsupial evolution. There are marsupial parallels with woodchucks (wombats), flying squirrels (sugar gliders), sloths (koalas), moles (marsupial moles), buffalo (extinct diprotodonts), anteaters (numbats), coyotes (extinct thylacine), and so on. But you'll never see a marsupial bat, a marsupial with flippers, or a marsupial with hooves. They have to have a grasping hand. (This is why their "antelope" and "deer" are kangaroos and wallabies - they hop on two legs, allowing their forearms to keep some grasping capability.)
If you're ever on Jeopardy and need this information, you're welcome.
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