Larry Brown can work with SMU players in the summer

[Mitch McConnell]

This is not Minnesota related, but I wanted you to read this so you could understand that Brown and his staff can start teaching right away. I found this in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and thought it would be worth sharing:

After a young Gophers basketball squad finished the season with a run to the NIT championship game, coach Tubby Smith is really enthusiastic about the fact that a new NCAA rule will enable him to work for two hours each week with his young players who are enrolled in summer school and make them a lot better.

Asked about the advantages that being able to work with players over the summer gives the coaching staff, Smith said they were numerous.

"Those are times, development times, you can be 1-on-1 with them, work on their ballhandling, their passing, their shooting, and kids want that, they need it," Smith said. "It will give us access to our players in the summer, which we haven't had. What they'll have is, they'll be able to do eight hours a week that they can lift [weights] and do other stuff, and only two of those eight hours can be used in individual workout sessions.

"So say a kid is having issues, we can find out more about him 1-on-1 as a coach, and he's here in summer school anyway. It's something that coaches have been fighting for for a long time and we appreciate the NCAA understanding how important this is."

Smith believes it will be good not only for his players' athletic development but also their academic development.

"You can help Rodney Williams work on his shot," Smith said. "You can work on the footwork of Andre Hollins and get his lateral quickness better. You can work on some guys. Especially with such a young team and with so many freshmen and we have two freshmen coming in, we have a lot of work to do. I think it's going to be the best thing the NCAA has done in a long time."

Smith said that the Gophers weren't prepared physically when Mbakwe went down earlier in the year.

[ponyscott]

Good find and this will be especially good for a new coach like LB to get involved with his players.

[hoopmanx]

Hire the staff, unleash them, cut dead weight from the roster, replace them w/better players. Improve, in that order..lol

[DiamondM75]

Don't forget to enroll the incoming frosh in summer school.