University of Minnesota Freshman Hoopster Royce White Quits Team via YouTube

Royce White, who was rated the No. 19 player in the incoming freshman class this season according to Rivals, has not had the smoothest entrance to the college hoops scene. He was charged with theft and fifth-degree assault (shoving a security guard) at Mall of America. Then he was being investigated for the theft of a laptop from a dorm room. Tubby Smith was not pleased. White’s attorney was after a plea bargain and then a few weeks later he plead guilty to the mall charges, but his lawyer said he wasn’t involved in the dorm laptop theft. ↵↵And that has led us to the bizarre move today where White posted a video on YouTube saying he’s leaving college basketball. “It would take something, something big to go against this decision to leave college basketball. I’m not transferring to no other school. I don’t want to transfer to no other school. This is my city. There’s a reason why I stayed here.” (Full comments are below, where he talks at length about lifting the “stressful burden” from his family and the Minnesota program.)↵

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↵Now look, when you’re a freshman in college, you can make a lot of rash, emotional decisions. White had clearly been through a lot -- and you could say he probably brought it all on himself -- but if the program is willing to have him back and he is eventually exonerated of his other charges and able to play, there’s no reason to throw away his career. Then again, he could just as easily bolt overseas or head to the D-League and hope someone likes him as a pro next season.
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↵(H/T to John Gasaway)↵