Royce and Rodney Updates

The Star Tribune's Myron Medcalf reported the other day here that Rodney Williams has narrowed his list of schools down to three, except he's apparently only telling us who two of the teams are. Strange? Yes. But I've got a theory!

Medcalf reports that Williams indicated Minnesota and Kansas are two of the three teams. Kansas, according to Medcalf and Rivals.com, hasn't offered the athletic swingman yet. Rivals' page on Williams also indicates three teams that the Cooper product is "high" on. Those teams are Minnesota, Miami (FL) and Wisconsin.

Guess here is that Williams is also including Wisconsin in that list, considering Bo Ryan's need to pluck Minnesota talent in order for him to have a chance to compete in the Big Ten. However, if Williams does commit to the Gophers, it will have taken just one full year for Tubby Smith to completely shut the gaping hole that has allowed countless top Minnesota reecruits to escape maroon and gold and wear that hideous red and white.

Finally, per Rivals, we learn that 2009 commit Royce White has moved up the recruitment ladder. If you believe in the 5-star Rivals scale, at this time last week White was your average 4-star prospect. Now, he's added a star and is the #18 player in the country, according to Rivals' scouts. Williams, at 4 stars, is ranked #28. Food for thought: No Big Ten team has a 2009 player ranked higher than White or Williams.

Embarrassment!!!!!

John Calipari 92, Tom Izzo 74. (Also 50-20 at halftime!).

Bob McKillop 73, Bo Ryan 56.

Both coaches take a hit in stature with thoroughly embarrassing performances on national television. If he wasn't already, Tubby Smith is now to be considered the Big Ten's best coach.

God, it was nice to watch Bo Ryan get shellacked in the second half. Is it wrong for me to totally dislike Bo Ryan? I have less venom for Izzo, but it's hard not to laugh when Michigan State finds itself down 50-20 at halftime!! Wow.

Further proof that the Big Ten was downright awful this season. And that provides further hope that Tubby can take the youngsters next season and improve upon an NIT-bid season this year.

Random Stuff: Bo Ryan Snags A Minnesota Recruit...

... For his 2009 class. But at least the recruit wasn't named Royce White. Instead, Ryan received a verbal commitment from Mike Bruesewitz, a 6'7 forward from Henry Sibley High School. According to The Capital Times, Bruesewitz had offers from Minnesota, Purdue, Davidson, Washington State, Iowa, Valparasio and Montana.

Bruesewitz is a three-star Rivals prospect. Without knowing how actively Tubby Smith was recruiting Buresewitz, it's hard to really work up a lather about this. It'd be nice if Bo Ryan never signed a Minnesota kid again, but that's just not going to happen. But Tubby's 2009 class will be defined by landing or losing Royce White.

That reminds me. If you like following Minnesota high school hoops, a good blog to check out is TCHoops. The blogger gives his observations after watching Royce and DeLaSalle face off against Brooklyn Center.

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR: Names are emerging in the sweepstakes to replace Everett Withers. The STrib's Chip Scoggins mentioned University of Louisville Cardinals Linebackers Coach Ted Roof came into Minneapolis to interview for the position Tuesday. Roof only signed on with the Cardinals a month or so ago, after an understandably rough stint as the head man at Duke. Such is the unfortunate nature of college coaching. The Louisville Courier-Journal picks up on Roof's interest in Minnesota in a blog post here.

Here is a bio of Roof from his days at Duke.

Scoggins had previously mentioned former Nebraska coordinator Kevin Cosgrove could be a candidate, but now Scoggins says that doesn't appear likely.

Other names that have been mentioned are Tim Tibesar, Kansas State's Defensive Coordinator. Tibesar is a St. Paul native. Rivals mentions Tibesar, as well as UCLA DC DeWayne Walker, a former Gopher, as possibilities. But the consensus at this point is Roof is the favorite.

KEEPING TABS: Devron Bostick's highly ranked SWIC Blue Storm are in a bit of a free fall. After sporting a 23-1 record just one week ago, the Blue Storm lost fot he third straight outing Monday. But it wasn't because Bostick didn't show up. He led the Blue Storm with 24 points.

COMING UP: The Gophers face Michigan tomorrow at Williams Arena during the first leg of a two game homestand that needs to turn into two wins. I'm not going to preview the Michigan game because it's Michigan, and despite the fact that they just upset Ohio State, the Gophers trounced the Wolverines a few weeks back in Ann Arbor and really ought to be able to do the same Thursday night.

Saturday Links: Obsessing Over Tubby

If you haven't noticed on the right sidebar I've created a couple shirts. The one that is displayed says Tubby Ball, Est. 2007 on the front. On the back side, it says "Thank You Kentucky." I think I can speak for all Minnesota fans when I say this: We couldn't be happier you ran such a respected man and coach out of Lexington. It's your loss and our gain.

That's why it's so entertaining for me to watch some blame-Tubby-first Kentucky fans struggle to find reasons for their loss to Gardner-Webb and close call this week with Stony Brook. What are the radical portions of the UK fanbase going to say if/when North Carolina comes into Rupp Arena today and demolishes the Wildcats. Right, I already know the answer: They'll blame Tubby.

Well, at least most of the time. It seems that some UK fans have already gone to criticizing new head coach Billy Gillespie, per this Scout interview with prize freshman Patrick Patterson. Patterson, you might remember, is the 5-star diaper dandy that UK fans salivated over--literally frothing at the mouth I think--during last year's recruiting wars. They had to have Patterson. And even though it was clear Patterson was going to go to UK when Tubby was there, UK fans pointed to the hiring of Gillespie as a reason why Patterson picked UK. We'll get to recruiting in a second, but here's a telling quote from Patterson:

“People are out there saying this is the worst Kentucky basketball team in the history of Kentucky.”

Who is saying that to you?

“Fans, people around campus, when you are walking in restaurants and stuff like that. I have heard people say stuff about the Kentucky basketball team losing to Gardner-Webb and saying Kentucky hasn’t lost to a mid-major school since 2001 or something like that,” Patterson said. “I have heard people saying this is worst team or that we are not doing anything. On Facebook, they have stuff about Coach (Billy Gillispie). "

It almost makes you sad. Here's this young, talented basketball player, who is apparently bombarded with negativity everywhere he turns. In class? Criticism. On Facebook? Cheap shots at his coach.

But most of the conversations still center around Tubby. In this Lexington Herald-Leader article, Jerry Tipton sits down to talk with Dick Vitale and the ESPN announcer reiterates his criticism that a portion of the UK fanbase went too far in their desire to see Smith jettisoned.

And then the blog Hugging Harold Reynolds suggesting satirically this week that all UK travails begin and end with Tubby. Here's a taste:

You see, it's all Tubby's fault that UK is a mess right now. Through his lack of recruiting and inability to win consistently over his ten years in Lexington, Tubby almost single-handedly destroyed the once-storied legacy of Kentucky basketball.

Earlier this year, it was "Tubby's Fault!" the Cats lost to Gardner Webb. Saturday, it most likely will be "Tubby's Fault!" if the UNC Tarheels crush UK, as expected. Shockingly, new UK coach Billy Gillispie has come under relatively little scrutiny for a man in his position.

Some might view this as the fans just enjoying their honeymoon with him - but that wouldn't be right, because far too many of them are still kicking and screaming about a good man and coach who they ran out of town.

Even though that blogger was writing tongue-in-cheek, it's clear that the UK fan base is forever going to be obsessed with Tubby Smith. Adding salt to their wounds right now is the 2008 recruiting wars. A quick look at Rivals' rankings--there are others that are far more favorable to Minnesota and Tubby--and it would appear that Tubby is recruiting on par with Billy Gillespie, even though Billy Clyde has the UK tradition, facilities and Ashley Judd to fall back on. The Rivals rankings linked to above list UK as 19th in the country and Minnesota right behind at number 20. Tubby also won the first head-to-head recruiting battle when Ralph Sampson III picked Minnesota over Billy Clyde's Wildcats. Once again, Thank You Kentucky! And is there any way ya'll can become livid with Ashley Judd and send her north too?

Now, on to a few other things.

** Staying on the obsessing over Tubby/basketball recruiting topics ... the Wisconsin Rivals site Badger Blitz is beginning to worry about Tubby. Could Tubby be turning the tide in the border recruiting wars? Could Bo Ryan be on defense for once to keep his players home. That'd be a nice change, wouldn't it?

** Star Tribune men's basketball beat writer Myron Medcalf asks in this blog post whether Tubby should go to a big lineup. Medcalf suggests a lineup of Al Nolen, Lawrence McKenzie, Dan Coleman, Jonathan Williams and Spencer Tollackson. That'd be a big lineup, and would help us on the boards. And I think that Coleman is more suited to play on the perimiter, though I worry about how he'd matchup against quicker small forwards. It could be worth a try from time-to-time, but does anyone really think Jon Williams should start?

** The Pioneer Press and Star Tribune report that Tubby benched seniors Spencer Tollackson, Dan Coleman and Lawrence McKenzie during the loss to Florida State Tuesday. Tubby was not happy with their leadership, energy, intensity and lack of scoring, the reports suggest. McKenzie called the development a "reality check." And Fuller also reports that Tubby has tweaked his offense some to encourage fewer jump shots and more penetration/inside play that could help the Gophers get to the foul line--an area where they struggled against FSU.