Former Tubby Commit To Play For Alford

Tubby Smith's first verbal committment at Minnesota is now heading to play for Steve Alford in New Mexico, according to the Alburquerque Tribune. Garth is now verbally committed to play for Alford and the Lobos.

Garth previously said that he decided to back away from his committment to the Gophers because playing time was likely not what it was once suggested it would be. Last month, Garth told a Minnesota Gopher's forum the following:

"This re-opening was not basketball related. Coach Smith never doubted my talent or game. It was something I wanted to do and Coach Smith was supportive of my decision. Since the roster at Minnesota has changed with Al Nolen being qualified, he told me the opportunities I was presented before, were different now."

Since taking over the program, Tubby has landed just one recruit: Paul Carter. Tubby has let Andrew Brommer go in a different direction after he verball committed to Dan Monson. Brommer is now being recruited by mid-major type programs.

While it kinda-sorta worries me that Tubby has just one solid commit at this point, Tubby is bringing in some top talent to visit, most recently 7'4 Ralph Sampson III and Colten Iverson, who is being recruited by Florida, among others. I have my fingers crossed that both give a verbal soon.

For more on the Gophers upcoming season, check out Tom's take at Gopher Nation where he asks "What does the hire of Tubby Smith mean for the 2007-08 Golden Gopher basketball season?"

Catching Up

I'm going to unveil the preseason Week 2 Blogpoll this afternoon, but before I do that, there were a few items that caught my eye during my blogging hiatus. And rumor has it Tim Brewster is going to unveil his starting quarterback this afternoon. We'll see if the speculation that redshirt freshman Adam Weber is the guy turns out to be true.

** First, Nathen Garth has decommitted from Tubby Smith's Gophers. On its face, this would appear to belong in the not-so-good news department. But the GopherHole quoted Garth as stating that the decision might have had more to do with playing time--that is he wouldn't get what he intially thought. Here's the quote:

"This re-opening was not basketball related. Coach Smith never doubted my talent or game. It was something I wanted to do and Coach Smith was supportive of my decision. Since the roster at Minnesota has changed with Al Nolen being qualified, he told me the opportunities I was presented before, were different now."

When I first learned of the Garth decommitment I was worried. But after hearing that from Garth, I'm breathing a little easier. It would appear Tubby and his crew might think they can do better elsewhere. That said, Tubby has to get to work. The only other commitment Tubby has secured is from JUCO forward Paul Carter.

** I found this little reporting amusing. The Post and Courier of Charleston reported today that Tim Brewster went hard after Tommy Bowden's offensive coordinator Rob Spence. Here's what was reported.

Brewster, the new head coach at Minnesota, had made a courtesy call to let Bowden know he was courting Rob Spence to run the Golden Gophers' offense. Brewster was making an offer that would have given Spence a $100,000 raise.

"I thought he was gone," Bowden said.

Bowden was so convinced, he had already tabbed receivers coach Dabo Swinney to take over Clemson's offense. But Spence, who had spent two years with the Tigers' football team, surprised his boss and others by electing to stay. There were multiple reasons for Spence's decision — his family, his faith — but the driving force was his drive to fix what went wrong with his offense late last season. The man known as the mad scientist couldn't allow his Clemson tenure to be defined by an experiment that blew up in his face in the last five games of an 8-5 disappointment.

I don't remember seeing anywhere Brewster indicating Mike Dunbar was his first choice, but I also don't remember seeing anywhere that Brewster's large salary offer to Spence was turned down. Time will tell if Dunbar is the right guy, but if you read this Star Tribune article, you'd walk away thinking Dunbar was Brewster's number one guy.

** On the other side of the football, Everett Withers is apparently a "flat-out star." One wonders if anyone turned down a Brewster offer for this position. Whatever the case, I'm excited about Withers' defense. Anything could be better than the Glen Mason sieve.

Links Around Gopher Nation

** Star Tribune columnist Patrick Reusse notes the peculiar hire of Joe Esposito as the Gophers men's basketball director of operation. Esposito was the coach of The Villages High School in Florida last year. Yes, that's right, a high school coach. A year prior, Angelo coached Angelo State in Texas, but Reusee reports he resigned with four games left in the year with a worrisome 8-16 record. Esposito met Tubby Smith, Reusee continues, as an assistant at Tennessee State in 1995. Reusee finds the hire curious.

"My relationship with Tubby Smith began when I picked him up at the airport in Nashville and I played with him in a golf tournament," Esposito said. "We struck up a friendship ..."

Isn't it interesting that a guy who served as Tubby's go-fer at a charity golf tournament a dozen years ago lands with the Gophers as a choice over numerous Minnesota high school coaches who might have actually helped the new coach in keeping the best of the locals at home?

Now, this position isn't one that is front line on the recruiting trail. This is what he told the local paper covering his high school squad.

“I’m basically in charge of a variety of everything,” Esposito said, “things like the team’s travel itinerary, meals, practice plans, office personnel. The only thing I won’t be doing is recruiting, which is perfect for me because it means I’ll still have time to spend with my family instead of being on the road like a traditional D-I coach.”

Our View: The hiring is questionable. It had also been widely reported that Tubby Smith would offer this position to the high school coach of Draymond Green, a prep standout that had committed to Smith at Kentucky, but has taken a step back after Smith landed in Minnesota.

** The Associated Press headline is pretty blunt. "Lickliter Recruits in Tubby Smith Territory." Minnetonka shooting guard Anthony Tucker, a rising junior, has verbally committed to play in Iowa. Scout.com's profile of Tucker suggests that his best attribuite is his outside shooting. Scout ranks him as a 3-star guard.

An Iowa newspaper reports that Tucker wasn't widely pursued. He also had offers from Wisconsin Green-Bay, Utah State and Western Michigan. That would seem to indicate big-time programs, or even mid-level programs, weren't hot on Tucker's trail.

Our View: The AP's headline is sensational. Tubby has offered scholarships to players with more potential and who are ranked higher by scouting services. Time will tell if Tubby has a better eye for talent then his Kentucky detractors would insist. It would seem Lickliter signed a guard that Tubby and every other coach in a BCS school didn't want.

** Minnesota blogger Down With Goldy brings readers a lengthy YouTube clip of Minnesota recruit Nathan Garth. A 6-4 junior from Dallas, Tx., Garth orally committed to Tubby last month. He's ranked as a 3-star guard by Rivals.

Our View: Garth looks good in the video. He has a smooth outside stroke and can slash into the lane. His ball handling looks OK, but will need to significantly improve against rough Big Ten defenses. He seems to have good vision and knows where his teammates are on the floor. Garth seems to be a guard who isn't afraid to put the ball on the floor and take it to the hoop.

Disgusted With Gopher Hoops Coverage

There were two reports today in Minnesota's perodicals indicating that former Dan Monson recruit Andrew Brommer has decided to re-open his recruitment. Brommer, a junior from Rosemount, Minn., had committed to Monson but now, according to a bare-bones report from Jeff Shelman of the Star Tribune, Brommer is reconsidering. More on Shelman's weak reporting in a second, but here is a pullout from the article, including a quote from Brommer's father.

Much has changed since Brommer gave the Gophers a commitment last fall. Dan Monson was still the Gophers coach and the idea that Smith would trade Kentucky for Minnesota seemed far-fetched. "It's important for both Andrew and the University of Minnesota to look at the situation and see if it works for both sides," Rob Brommer said.

A few things about the article by Shelman bothered me, but by comparison, all the PiPress gave Gopher fans was a blurb in Shooter Walters' column.

Shelman fails to tell us, for instance, how tall Brommer is or what position he plays. For the record, Brommer is a 6-9, 215 pound center. I don't consider myself a casual Gopher fan, but little information like that, and a description of what kind of player Brommer is, would help the general public understand what is going on. Is Brommer a can't-miss prospect? What are his strengths and weaknesses? You wouldn't find that in Shelman and Walters' offerings today.

Shelman and Walters also fail to shed any light on whether the new Gophers coaching staff is upset about this. It's true, Tubby and the coaching staff aren't allowed to comment on recruits until they sign a letter of intent. But, Shelman and Walters have other sources--like high school and AAU coaches, recruiting analysts, among others--who could help Gopher fans understand why Brommer is taking a step away from the University. Tubby has four scholarships available, now that Nate Garth has declared his intent to enroll in Minnesota, so it's plausible that Tubby is shooting for higher-rated players than Brommer.

It may very well be that Tubby doesn't want/need Brommer. Or, Brommer might have wanted to play for Monson. With the reporting Minnesota Gopher fans received, we're left only to wonder and draw our own conclusions. It would seem there is a difference between 'We report, You decide,' and the clearly poor effort demonstrated by our local sports reporters.

Tubby's First Recruit

Nate Garth, a 6-foot-4 junior point guard from Dallas' Woodrow Wilson High School offered Gophers coach Tubby Smith an oral commitment Tuesday according to published reports.

According to the Pioneer Press' Marcus Fuller, Garth was being recruited by California, Mississippi and Santa Clara, among others. Fuller also suggests that Florida and Texas A&M have shown interest. That might be a little stretch for what Rivals and Scout recruiting services suggest is a three-star point guard.

For a Gophers team that has struggled most mightily at the guard position in recent years, the oral commitment is good news. But with the news that Garth has decided to make Minnesota home, it shouldn't go without mention that Tubby couldn't convince McDonald's All-American Jai Lucas, son of former NBAer Jerry Lucas, to come north. Smith had recruited Lucas hard at Kentucky and was poised to bring the young five-star guard to the commonwealth of Kentucky before he left the university. Instead, Lucas will attend the two-time national champion Florida Gators.

While Garth won't put on a jersey until 2008, if at all--oral commitments are non-binding--the discussion shouldn't center around not getting Lucas. While local writers like Sid Hartman and Charley Walters liked to throw out that idea, it probably wasn't likely. What the Gophers are getting, though, is what many accounts suggest is a high-quality point guard.

Garth, who played in the Sacramento area before moving to Texas, was thought to be headed to the California Golden Bears. The Bears' Rivals.com service, Bear Territory, gushed over Garth before he made the annoucement Tuesday he would attend Minnesota.

Garth's game is extremely smooth. Though he's been a distributor while playing with the likes of Jennings, Simpkins (two potential 5-star big men in the 2008 class), plus 5-star small forward LSU signee Anthony Randolph at Wilson this past season, he has a solid three-point stroke that's picture perfect. He also has a knack for driving and dishing, plus an advanced feel for running in the open court.

Defensively, he's still improving on his overall aggressiveness. He acknowledges that he wants to rebound better, and put more pressure on his opponents.

"I know I've improved in a lot of areas, but I definitely want to get better at ball pressure," Garth said. "I'm quicker on my feet than I was before, and I still get some steals. But I know I can improve defensively."

According to the Minnesota perodicals, Smith seems unlikely to sign another player to help out this season. While that make for a long 2007-08 campaign, that will leave 5 scholarships available for the following season. If Garth does in fact come to town, he will join Rosemount, Minn. center Andrew Brommer, who offered an oral commitment to former Gophers coach Dan Monson. According to the Pioneer Press report, Smith is after another Texas guard, this time Willie Warren, a 4-star guard, and Ralph Sampson III, son of the former Virginia star.

The Pioneer Press article, which featured substantially more information than our friends at the Star Tribune, offered a positive review from hoopmasters.com.

"He's really a solid player. He can shoot the ball and set up people real well. In a class with not a lot of depth at point guard, it's a good get for Minnesota. He's a very good passer but just needs to get stronger, like most high school players."

Another item to point out here: Garth never even visited Minnesota. Simply, he wanted to play for Tubby. The Gophers coach became familiar with Garth while at Kentucky, but according to the PiPress, backed off a bit as the Wildcats made a hard run at Lucas.

"When [Tubby] went to Minnesota and saw the point guard situation there, he said he had to have me. He sounded just as excited as me," Garth said. "I know what Tubby is capable of and what he can do for a program. No knock on Dan Monson, but Tubby's going to get high major players. With the work ethic he has, he's going to turn things around quickly."

Time will only tell if Garth is right. But what I'd like to see is a Tubby version of a Fab-Five for 2008-09. We shall see.