Gophers sign Chip Armelin for this year. Yes this year

Just when you thought the Gopher roster was set for this upcoming season and they had signed every mediocre player they could, they go out and snag mediocre shooting guard Chip Armelin from Louisiana.

Actually Armelin is a very interesting case.  He doesn't rate highly on any of the recruiting websites, and doesn't appear to have very many basketball offers or interest, but that can all be easily explained:  everyone thought he was going to play football.

Apparently, from what I can gather, Armelin was a pretty good HS hoops player in Louisiana, but decided that he would play football as well instead of just concentrating on hoops his senior year.  He had a great season at wide receiver and was being heavily recruited to continue playing football by some good schools.  Prevailing wisdom was that he would take a FB scholarship.  Looks like that was wrong.

And despite the low rating, game reports and recaps paint a different picture of Armelin.  The reports describe him as an amazing athlete, but one with a good shooting touch from deep (plus he's left-handed) and a solid ball-handler in both transition and the half-court. 

He could be a solid sleeper, or he could simply be a poor man's version of Rodney Williams.  I guess he could end up being both.  I'm a little perplexed as to why they would use a scholarship on a guy like this when they don't really need him and are chasing so many higher profile players for next season, but I'm guessing Tubby sees something he likes.

One thing is for certain, this year's class is going to go a long way towards my opinion of Tubby.  If these lesser touted and lesser recruited players end up as stars or even solid players it will certainly be impressive, and prove he still has an eye for talent.  If not, well, he better hope he starts getting higher profile kids to come to Minneapolis.