Tubby may get PG help sooner than expected
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The Minnesota Golden Gophers may get help from a Tubby Smith recruit sooner than expected. PG Nate Garth, entering his final season this fall at Woodrow Wilson High in Dallas, has been on an accelerated academic path the past couple years and it appears he could be eligible to graduate - and enter the U of M - by January 2008 - in time to take part in most of the Big 10 schedule with the Gophers.
Of course, Garth is hardly the first student to join a college team early due to accelerated academic programs, but it will be the first time in many a moon the Gophers have captured the interest of a recruit so inclined.
The pitfall, however, is that no matter how you spin it, Garth would be giving up a full season of academic eligibility to play about half a season with the Gophers. Is such a sacrifice worth any potential gain? While Tubby may redshirt Garth, he's already better than any incumbent PG on the Gophers roster, including upperclassmen, and it will only get more difficult to resist playing Garth once he's on campus if the Gophers struggle prior to the beginning of the Big 10 schedule.
The determining factor is whether Garth can pass a first-semester art class. If so, he'll be free to join Coach Tubby sooner than expected. Whether that's ultimately a good thing remains to be seen, especially since adding him as a floor leader could prove disruptive as he would miss Midnight Madness and the first two months of the season. Just as the Gophs might be starting to gel, adding Garth could prove disruptive both to the team and to Garth himself. If that happens, it's curtains for the Gophers for one final season before a Tubby makeover can really start to take hold with the maroon and gold.
