Here are Advocate Sportswriter Randy Rosetta's thoughts on Tack. His thoughts are pretty similar to mine. One thing that was surprising was that Tack was on track to graduate this year or in May, a timetable similar to Collis Temple's. He apparently is really smart, which makes the whole honor code violation that much more disappointing. http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/121505/lsu_rosetta001.shtml Rosetta: What will Minor's value to Tigers be? By RANDY ROSETTA [email protected] Advocate sportswriter Take Tack Minor away from the LSU basketball team either of the last two seasons and the Tigers likely would have been headed for big trouble. That's just how valuable Minor has been from the day he stepped on campus with his blinding speed, the gravel in his gut and that unwavering swagger that he has no qualms about putting on display. Now the LSU coaches have to determine if, when and just how much inserting the unquestionably talented 5-foot-11 dynamo into the mix will help or hinder the Tigers' progress. Minor is officially back as a part of LSU's program Saturday night, returning from a university-imposed academic suspension that cost the Houston native a full semester of his college career. The details are still relatively sketchy. The suspension was for a violation of the university's honor code, which means Minor was caught doing something he knew better than to be doing. The price for his mistake was steep: Minor couldn't participate in any team-related workouts or activities over the summer or throughout the fall. He was also prohibited from attending classes this semester, derailing an academic path that had him on course to graduate either this month or by the end of next semester. Worst yet for Minor is the fact that he's been conspicuously AWOL while a talented young basketball team has jelled and started to establish a fun-to-watch chemistry. Therein lies the problem for both Minor and the LSU coaches. When does John Brady take the wraps off a player who is potentially as valuable as any point guard in the SEC? How long will Minor stay in the game and take minutes away from freshman Ben Voogd, who is in the important early stages of his learning curve, or Garrett Temple, who is just now starting to look confident with his outside jump shot? When the Tigers get into crunch time of a close game -- it could come as early as Saturday against Louisiana-Lafayette and almost certainly will next Monday against underrated Northern Iowa -- does Minor stay on the floor because he's LSU's best pure ball-handler and a solid free-throw shooter? How does a coach balance the impact a player might have against how much his presence might cause a negative ripple effect? Brady made it crystal clear earlier this week that Minor won't just step in and reclaim his starting job. "Tack has got to earn his way back," Brady said. "He's not going to be given anything." That's not only the way it should be, it might be exactly what Minor needs to know and needs to hear. Part of Minor's value is his bluster, his belief that he's as good or better than anybody on the floor. It's important that he retain that quality because when he's playing well and within the context of what his team is trying to accomplish, Minor is arguably the Tigers' most important player. But it's also vital that Minor figure out a way to moderate that temerity with a healthy dose of humility. He needs to be humbled by what he's been through this semester and what he's missed. He needs to be humble about the fact that -- fairly or not -- people are going to be waiting for him to screw up again. He needs to quietly use that as fuel for whatever he accomplishes this season and beyond. Eighteen months from now, after Minor wraps up his LSU career, he should be able to look back at his last season and a half and have a legitimate right to say "I told you so." If Minor comes back and plays under control and still has the same enthusiasm he's always had, he could be a huge boost for the Tigers immediately and the rest of the season. If, however, the last several months don't impact Minor at all, his role this season may be mostly as a spectator for what figures to be an entertaining ride the rest of the way.
