Tubby and Maturi To Determine Royce's Status Today

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Maybe a bit of conflicting words from Myron and the Pioneer Press.

I think Myron indicated Bostick would be back on Saturday and Trevor and Royce were still suspended.

Pioneer Press says that-

Minnesota athletics director Joel Maturi said he would discuss White's status with coach Tubby Smith as early as today after the Gophers return from their Big Ten-ACC Challenge game in Miami.

"I think everybody feels good that this issue is resolved," Maturi said, before Minnesota played the Hurricanes on Wednesday night. "Tubby and I will discuss what that means as far as Royce is concerned." " Maturi said.

The perception is a bit different.

I think at least Royce will rejoin practice.
 

And the circus continues.........:eek:
 

Royce will be suited up by the end of next week. Tubby needs him. Tubby will get him.
 


Blizzard said:
Royce will be suited up by the end of next week. Tubby needs him. Tubby will get him.
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You certainly can't ignore the three losses in a row and how they might play a part in this decision. It seems pretty obvious we REALLY need Royce. If we win those three games would things be different? I think so imo.
 


I think its very evident that these players are needed. However, I hope they aren't bringing them back solely for basketball. This is a life lesson that needs to be learned.

That being said...it has to be frustrating as hell for Tubby. In the off season, this team was built with the assumption these guys would be here. No doubt the team chemistry isn't there, pieces of the concoction are missing!
 

Blizzard said:
Royce will be suited up by the end of next week. Tubby needs him. Tubby will get him.
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I hope you're right. This entire situation has made me lose a ton of faith in Tubby's ability to balance between father figure coach and leader of a winning program. If this were junior high basketball, I would've agreed with all three suspensions and the tough love approach to teaching the players a lesson. D1 basketball is not all about mentoring and developing kids, there's a business side to counter-balance. Tubby seems to have forgetten that D1 basketball is also a business and selling tickets and making the big dance represents millions of dollars in revenue for the University. The fact that he would rather sacrifice losing three games (that we could've won) just to teach a few kids a lesson (including the Nolen and Westbrook benching), has really diminished my opinion of him as a coach. Perhaps Tubby has a better career in the military.
 

Either way, he's one screw-up from being gone, so I guess I don't see the big deal if they let him play. The only thing I might do is not re-instate him until he's enrolled for the second semester so as to ensure he's passed all his classes and will not have academic issues on top of the legal ones.
 

I hope you're right. This entire situation has made me lose a ton of faith in Tubby's ability to balance between father figure coach and leader of a winning program.
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I'm not sure how I feel about it. I believe it will happen nevertheless. Maturi and Tubby have a lot on the table with the basketball program. With Gopher athletics going down the shi-tter, or at least revenue Gopher athletics, I think Maturi was probably thinking basketball would have been his bright spot on the year. I'm not sure how they'll balance out success vs standards.

I've seen standards sacrificed for success too many times to know better.

These guys are going to bend. Whether it's the right thing to do? Different story I guess.

I know we'll all be a lot happier if they start winning.
 



howeda7 said:
Either way, he's one screw-up from being gone, so I guess I don't see the big deal if they let him play. The only thing I might do is not re-instate him until he's enrolled for the second semester so as to ensure he's passed all his classes and will not have academic issues on top of the legal ones.
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Exactly. Now that the legal remedies are running their course, it's time to define 'indefinite suspension' (under the big assumption there aren't other issues out there).

It would seem a bit odd for White to plead guilty, suffer his legal punishment, and still have his Basketball discipline be undefined.
 

This is with ZERO inside info but I would guess that White will be able to practice and not play in games until the beginning of the Spring Semseter. After that he will be able to play. And of course he is on ZERO tolerence policy. One slip up and he is done.
 

mnboiler said:
This is with ZERO inside info but I would guess that White will be able to practice and not play in games until the beginning of the Spring Semseter. After that he will be able to play. And of course he is on ZERO tolerence policy. One slip up and he is done.
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I was thinking the same thing... I would be happy with this agreement because:

A) Royce would have to dedicate himself to be eligible Spring Semester
B) Practice with the team without hope of playing. Which is difficult and shows dedication.
C) Lets Tubby still control the situation

I also, think that this may be what Tubby decides but holds on the indefinite part of the suspension. He just states that Royce is now allowed to practice, but will re-instate when he feels Royce has changed.

my 0.02
 

tato2001 said:
Exactly. Now that the legal remedies are running their course, it's time to define 'indefinite suspension' (under the big assumption there aren't other issues out there).

It would seem a bit odd for White to plead guilty, suffer his legal punishment, and still have his Basketball discipline be undefined.
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Interesting perspective.

I hope there are a set sequence of things that must be accomplished for re-instatement. I hope it is objective and not subjective.
 



I hope you're right. This entire situation has made me lose a ton of faith in Tubby's ability to balance between father figure coach and leader of a winning program. If this were junior high basketball, I would've agreed with all three suspensions and the tough love approach to teaching the players a lesson. D1 basketball is not all about mentoring and developing kids, there's a business side to counter-balance. Tubby seems to have forgetten that D1 basketball is also a business and selling tickets and making the big dance represents millions of dollars in revenue for the University. The fact that he would rather sacrifice losing three games (that we could've won) just to teach a few kids a lesson (including the Nolen and Westbrook benching), has really diminished my opinion of him as a coach. Perhaps Tubby has a better career in the military.
Click to expand...

Boy, could I agree with you less. I'm not quite sure if you're simply insinuating that these guys should all be playing or what, but the fact that you think basketball is more important than "teaching these guys a lesson", and that it has "diminished" your opinion of him as a coach makes me only believe that you're not seeing the whole picture. These guys are young...and many of them need direction. If people aren't going to teach them any of the life lessons they need to know, they're never going to make it in life...not basketball, but life as well.

And to bring the whole "we need them to win so the 'U' can make more money" bit, I would remind you that we had that before...his name was Clem Haskins. Winning at all costs cost the University of Minnesota a truckload of money after they were forced to give up all of their proceeds from several NCAA tournaments, a Final Four appearance, and thousands upon thousands of unsold tickets after the program was scarred and embarrassed publicly for years following the scandal. All this, so that Haskins and the Gophers could win a few more games a year, or in the case of 1996-1997, a lot more.

I'm all for the due process of the law to work itself out; and I'm all for these guys finally getting on the court and playing...when the time is right. But let's make one thing clear here...Royce White has some pretty big issues to overcome, that's certain. Anyone who saw the footage of him take down the guard with both hands in a parking lot knows that. He's clearly a guy that has not been told "No" very often from anything, and when they have, he's found a way to get what he wants. This is probably the first time someone's told him no and it's sticking, so don't glorify the kid and make him sound like the savior incarnated. He's a kid that's got to learn a few life lessons...when that's done, then he can succeed or fail on his own, I guess.

Sorry for the rant, but I guess I'm getting a little tired of hearing how much more important a game is over the potential of some of these guys spinning of the Earth for a few wins. It's not...they need some discipline, and losing a few games is well worth the long term well-being of these guys.
 

If they want to "fit" the end of Royce's suspension into a "natural time", I would guess the SDSU game on Dec. 23. Assuming his academics are in order (read: eligible for 2nd semester despite all that's going on), that game seems like the earliest we could expect to see him in a Gopher uniform. In the meantime, the Gophers must continue to assume there's no help on the way, win or lose with "whatcha' got" and make the best of it.
 

Where can I find the video

of Royce taking down the security guard? I haven't seen it anywhere. Thanks in advance.
 




twins fan

alltimetwinsfan said:
Boy, could I agree with you less. I'm not quite sure if you're simply insinuating that these guys should all be playing or what, but the fact that you think basketball is more important than "teaching these guys a lesson", and that it has "diminished" your opinion of him as a coach makes me only believe that you're not seeing the whole picture. These guys are young...and many of them need direction. If people aren't going to teach them any of the life lessons they need to know, they're never going to make it in life...not basketball, but life as well.

And to bring the whole "we need them to win so the 'U' can make more money" bit, I would remind you that we had that before...his name was Clem Haskins. Winning at all costs cost the University of Minnesota a truckload of money after they were forced to give up all of their proceeds from several NCAA tournaments, a Final Four appearance, and thousands upon thousands of unsold tickets after the program was scarred and embarrassed publicly for years following the scandal. All this, so that Haskins and the Gophers could win a few more games a year, or in the case of 1996-1997, a lot more.



I'm all for the due process of the law to work itself out; and I'm all for these guys finally getting on the court and playing...when the time is right. But let's make one thing clear here...Royce White has some pretty big issues to overcome, that's certain. Anyone who saw the footage of him take down the guard with both hands in a parking lot knows that. He's clearly a guy that has not been told "No" very often from anything, and when they have, he's found a way to get what he wants. This is probably the first time someone's told him no and it's sticking, so don't glorify the kid and make him sound like the savior incarnated. He's a kid that's got to learn a few life lessons...when that's done, then he can succeed or fail on his own, I guess.

Sorry for the rant, but I guess I'm getting a little tired of hearing how much more important a game is over the potential of some of these guys spinning of the Earth for a few wins. It's not...they need some discipline, and losing a few games is well worth the long term well-being of these guys.
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For what it is worth, I agree with you.

:clap: :clap: :clap:
 

burton34 said:
I hope you're right. This entire situation has made me lose a ton of faith in Tubby's ability to balance between father figure coach and leader of a winning program. If this were junior high basketball, I would've agreed with all three suspensions and the tough love approach to teaching the players a lesson. D1 basketball is not all about mentoring and developing kids, there's a business side to counter-balance. Tubby seems to have forgetten that D1 basketball is also a business and selling tickets and making the big dance represents millions of dollars in revenue for the University. The fact that he would rather sacrifice losing three games (that we could've won) just to teach a few kids a lesson (including the Nolen and Westbrook benching), has really diminished my opinion of him as a coach. Perhaps Tubby has a better career in the military.
Click to expand...

Another one of the "win at all costs" members I guess. :eek:

It never ceases to amaze me how folks don't realize that these kids have lives outside of college basketball and outside the university. In other words, these are young men whose lives will go on long after they play basketball at Minnesota. And whether you believe it or not, these ARE still kids, which means they will sometimes require tough love and need to learn hard lessons, even at the college level. Would you rather Tubby overlook it, the program gets in trouble for a lack of discipline and these kids keep doing stupid things both on the court and off? Would it make you feel better to say, "yeah it sucks, but hey, at least we won a couple of games that one year?" If your answer is yes, then I'm truly glad you aren't running any division 1 college basketball program. The type of damage you could do would be truly amazing.
 

"Would you rather Tubby overlook it, the program gets in trouble for a lack of discipline and these kids keep doing stupid things both on the court and off?"

Tubby hasn't overlooked anything. Royce has paid a huge price already and the bigger risk for the University is to make an example out of Royce. Kids will always make dumb mistakes and if you overdiscipline them, you are bringing out the wrong reaction. Royce will grow up much better playing for Tubby than bolting somewhere else to play.
 

"And to bring the whole "we need them to win so the 'U' can make more money" bit, I would remind you that we had that before...his name was Clem Haskins. Winning at all costs cost the University of Minnesota a truckload of money after they were forced to give up all of their proceeds from several NCAA tournaments, a Final Four appearance, and thousands upon thousands of unsold tickets after the program was scarred and embarrassed publicly for years following the scandal. All this, so that Haskins and the Gophers could win a few more games a year, or in the case of 1996-1997, a lot more."

You can't compare Clem Haskins program to the current one. Its apples and oranges. In Clem's program, the program itself took part in the sanctionable conduct. In Tubby's program, none of the coaches are engaging in sanctionable conduct. Very different.
 


So I take it we still are in the dark concerning Royce ??
 

CG

We agree on something...

Royce will grow up much better playing for Tubby than bolting somewhere else to play

I hope Royce is smart enough to make good decisions moving forward.
 

burton34 said:
I hope you're right. This entire situation has made me lose a ton of faith in Tubby's ability to balance between father figure coach and leader of a winning program. If this were junior high basketball, I would've agreed with all three suspensions and the tough love approach to teaching the players a lesson. D1 basketball is not all about mentoring and developing kids, there's a business side to counter-balance. Tubby seems to have forgetten that D1 basketball is also a business and selling tickets and making the big dance represents millions of dollars in revenue for the University. The fact that he would rather sacrifice losing three games (that we could've won) just to teach a few kids a lesson (including the Nolen and Westbrook benching), has really diminished my opinion of him as a coach. Perhaps Tubby has a better career in the military.
Click to expand...

You and some others seem to think that these are totally isolated incidents that simply came up out of nowhere. Seriously doubt that. It's just as, if not more likely, that these suspensions come out of patterns of behavior that Tubby wants to change. It might be smaller things like bitching at teammates, disrespecting coaches, refusing to run plays, etc. Then it escalates into something physical. I would guess there were warnings and perhaps smaller punishments that preceded the half game benchings.

It's not about Tubby thinking he'd rather be a father figure instead of a winning basketball coach. That's absolutely ludicrous, expecially since none of us know what is really going on with these players.

It's just as obvious that with White and Bostick there were more serious things at play, but those things were also patterns. Royce White isn't being solely punished because one day he acted completely out of character and decided to shoplift, shocking virtually everyone connected with the program. He and Bostick are being punished with lengthy suspensions because previous steps didn't work. You don't go looking to keep your players from getting on the court. You do it as one of your last resorts.

Main validity to the father reference is that it is like parenting because there's always a process going on and you're usually trying to balance things in that process. Pretty confident Tubby is aware of what's at stake even if you don't agree with how he is handling the process.
 

I am confused. There is no guarantee that Royce was going to be an instant impact guy anyway. It's not like he is going to jump right into the rotation and dominate. Yes, he is a skilled player, but it's not like we're talking about a kid that's proven anything at the Division I level.
 

CaliforniaGopher said:
"Would you rather Tubby overlook it, the program gets in trouble for a lack of discipline and these kids keep doing stupid things both on the court and off?"

Tubby hasn't overlooked anything. Royce has paid a huge price already and the bigger risk for the University is to make an example out of Royce. Kids will always make dumb mistakes and if you overdiscipline them, you are bringing out the wrong reaction. Royce will grow up much better playing for Tubby than bolting somewhere else to play.
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Why? If anything, it would set a precedent that such behavior won't be tolerated and thus, is to be avoided at all times. That way, kids know the consequences from the start and think about it before they do the same stupid stuff that Royce did to land himself in this situation.

Over-discipline? Really? Seems to me one of Royce's biggest problems has been a lack of discipline. But then again, you've been defending Royce to the exclusion of just about all else on this board for awhile now so I'm not surprised you think this suspension is an example of "overdiscipline."

I will agree that Royce has a better shot at straightening himself out under Tubby however. Part of that is serving the remainder of this suspension (however long it ends up being) and using the opportunity to straighten himself out, not complain about being "overdisciplined."
 


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