Tubby in hot pursuit today
While his Gophers have fallen on hard, hard times since PG Al Nolan suffered a broken foot, Tubby Smith is at least acting like he’s still interested in hanging around and building the team back up for the future. At today’s regular-season-ending game against Penn State, the Gophers will play host to two potential late-signing-period recruits.
Point guard Julian Welch, a California JC player, looks to be the most critical of Smith’s recruits; Nolan graduates next season and while Smith has several pivot guards, his roster for next year lacks an obvious floor general. Welch could fit the bill, and has said, because he respects Smith as a coach, “If I like what I see, then I feel like there’s no reason to take another visit.” So that could be good.
Forward Henry Books is a potential steal to add depth to the mix in the front court, where both Ralph Sampson III and Trevor Mbakwe are reportedly considering testing the waters of the NBA Draft in a way that would allow them to remain eligible to return if they don’t like the results of the draft, or if the NBA enforces a lockout due to labor unrest.
So let’s hope Coach Smith puts all his players in a prom dress, if that’s what it takes; after the worst season of his college coaching career, Smith needs to catch a few breaks… like landing a decent point guard recruit.
