Jeff Goodman on Trevor: He's become a below-the-rim guy - and its almost sad to watch

[BleedGopher]

per Goodman:

Mbakwe's explosion

I feel for Trevor Mbakwe. I know some think I'm crazy, that Minnesota's sixth-year senior big man has made his own bed, one that features mistakes and red flags, but it's still hard to watch.

Mbakwe used to be one of the most feared and fearless forwards in the country. Now he's become, for the most part, just another player.

At the time he went down with a torn ACL in the seventh game of the season a year ago, the undersized power forward was averaging 14.7 points and 10 rebounds per contest. That was coming off a campaign in which he put up 13.9 points and 10.5 boards. Mbakwe was a legitimate early-entry candidate. He was relentless on the glass, ultra-athletic and played with a high-motor. A legitimate All-American candidate. Now he's become a below-the-rim guy -- and it's almost sad to watch.

I know he's still working his way back and maybe he'll get closer to the player he once was, but it's been nearly a full year since Mbakwe had surgery on his right knee. Gophers coach Tubby Smith tried to sell me on the fact that Mbakwe's explosiveness isn't much different than it was prior to the procedure, but I'm not buying it. Mbakwe is not the same player. He knows it, everyone knows it. He's averaging 8.4 points and 6.7 rebounds and has been inconsistent, going for 19 points and 12 boards against Stanford one game to six points and four rebounds against Florida State the next.

Without the Mbakwe of old, it's difficult to imagine this Minnesota team doing anything come March. Could this team, one out to a 9-1 start, make the NCAA tournament and win a game? Sure, but the Gophers could also just as easily struggle in the Big Ten and wind up in the NIT. The victory at Florida State doesn't look quite so impressive now and there are wins over Memphis and Stanford down in the Bahamas -- which could also wind up being a pair of NIT clubs.

Minnesota has a good basketball team with Rodney Williams Jr., and the all-Hollins backcourt of Andre and Austin. However, this team needs the old Trevor Mbakwe.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...nty-sec-has-been-underwhelming-in-early-going

Go Gophers!!

 

[SelectionSunday]

Hoping Mbakwe parallels Hummel

As it relates to Trevor, an example of what I'm holding out for happened last season, Robbie Hummel. Early on last season I'd watch Hummel play coming off his knee injuries, and think to myself, man, he's nowhere near what he used to be (though he was still a good player). It was hard to watch Hummel knowing he wasn't the same player.

But as the season progressed, Hummel started looking more & more like himself, and as he got stronger, Purdue got better. He got stronger with each game and by the end of the season he pretty much looked like the old Robbie Hummel. He almost single-handedly took down Kansas in the NCAA Tournament.

I can envision -- or am at least hopeful for -- a similar scenario with Mbakwe.

And I'd add, and say it again (knock on wood), if Mbakwe goes down I don't want to hear the "woe is us" stuff. This group of players already has played a lot of minutes without him, both last season and now. Obviously, the Gophers' ceiling wouldn't be as high, but there would still be plenty of experienced & quality players to put together a good season.

 

[station19]

As it relates to Trevor, an example of what I'm holding out for happened last season, Robbie Hummel. Early on last season I'd watch Hummel play coming off his knee injuries, and think to myself, man, he's nowhere near what he used to be (though he was still a good player). It was hard to watch Hummel knowing he wasn't the same player.

But as the season went along, Hummel started looking more & more like himself, and as he got stronger, Purdue got better. He got stronger with each game and by the end of the season he pretty much looked like the old Robbie Hummel. He almost single-handedly took down Kansas in the NCAA Tournament.

I can envision a similar secnario with Mbakwe, too.

I hope you're right. At this point it is a question mark.

 

[march madness]

His explosiveness looks about 75% of what it was to me right now. So probably still above average for a 4-5 in the big ten. Remember didn't he have a bigger verticle than Rodney.. pre injury.

 

[mcal24]

I don't see how you can compare his stats this year compared to previous years. Coming off the bench, he gets around 20 minutes per game. Not sure what he used to get, but I'm sure it was closer to 30.

 

[MadtownGopher]

Seems like a pretty harsh piece. Goodman even cites Trevor's 19 and 12 game, but then points to the fact that he didn't follow it up with another great performance as some how being an example of why he's lost it? Seems to me it's more a product of rust and fatigue due to 4 games in 6 days. Hopefully Trevor uses this as motivation.

Edit:

Boom, Trevor has already seen it.

Trevor Mbakwe ‏@TMbakwe32
" I had someone tell me I fell off, ooh I needed that" ���� #motivation #nevercontent #thankyousportswriter http://instagr.am/p/S8QIbYl0pP/

 

[Minnesconsin fan]

"and the all-Hollins backcourt of Andre and Austin. "

who else is on the All-Hollins team? Lionel and Ryan are the only two more I can think of without going to the google.

I think expectations for Trevor to be 100 % by now weren't realistic. Al Jefferson wasn't 100% for a year and a half(and traded by then). And he didn't rely on being explosive the way Trevor does. I thought I saw a comment about the brace coming off soon and that might help him let loose a little.

 

[brucekaupa]

Things look crappy if you use "per game"...but lets take into account how many minutes he's actually playing...

Trevor in 2011-2012:
- Games: 6.5
- Minutes per game: 28.7
- Minutes played: 201
- Points per game: 14.0
- Points total: 98
- POINTS PER MINUTE in 2011-2012: 0.4876
- Rebounds per game: 9.1
- Rebounds total: 64
- REBOUNDS PER MINUTE in 2011-2012: 0.3184

Trevor in 2012-2013:
- Games: 10
- Minutes per game: 17.2
- Minutes played: 172
- Points per game: 8.4
- Points total: 84
- POINTS PER MINUTE in 2012-2013: 0.4884
- Rebounds per game: 6.7
- Rebounds total: 67
- REBOUNDS PER MINUTE in 2012-2013: 0.3895

Hmmm...is he doing better or worse?

 

[fan of Ray Williams]

Yeah, good job Bruce. That's what I was just doing also. Thanks for doing it. (Much better job than I would have done.)

 

[brucekaupa]

And it's not like his minutes this year have been garbage minutes. Quite the opposite. We've been SAVING him in the easy games and using him when needed.

So, I argue that he's doing freakin' fabulously and we're taking care of him.

Columnist: Shove it.

 

[brucekaupa]

And there's more...

- 2011-2012 Blocks Per Minute: 12/201 = 0.0597
- 2012-2013 Blocks Per Minute: 13/172 = 0.0756

- 2011-2012 Steals Per Minute: 8/201 = 0.0398
- 2012 2013 Steals Per Minute: 8/172 = 0.0465

- 2011-2012 Assists Per Minute: 10/201 = 0.0498
- 2012-2013 Assists Per Minute: 9/172 = 0.0523

- 2011-2012 Turnovers Per Minute: 22/201 = 0.1095
- 2012-2013 Turnovers Per Minute: 18/172 = 0.1047

I see improvement in every area (except free-throw percentage). Shut up, Jeff.

 

[From the Barn]

Ken Pomeroy lists each player and who they compare to in previous years. Mbakwe's most similar player is...Trevor Mbakwe in 2012. He's the 13th best offensive reboundr in the country this season and 54th best defensive rebounder, and he's blocking more shots and drawing about the same number of fouls. He's playing as many minutes as needed, which isn't every single minute. This is a good thing.

 

[RunGopherRun]

Things look crappy if you use "per game"...but lets take into account how many minutes he's actually playing...

Trevor in 2011-2012:
- Games: 6.5
- Minutes per game: 28.7
- Minutes played: 201
- Points per game: 14.0
- Points total: 98
- POINTS PER MINUTE in 2011-2012: 0.4876
- Rebounds per game: 9.1
- Rebounds total: 64
- REBOUNDS PER MINUTE in 2011-2012: 0.3184

Trevor in 2012-2013:
- Games: 10
- Minutes per game: 17.2
- Minutes played: 172
- Points per game: 8.4
- Points total: 84
- POINTS PER MINUTE in 2012-2013: 0.4884
- Rebounds per game: 6.7
- Rebounds total: 67
- REBOUNDS PER MINUTE in 2012-2013: 0.3895

Hmmm...is he doing better or worse?

You need to send this to Goodman, and tell him to STFU!

Athletically, Mbakwe doesn't look like the same freak that looked like last year at the beginning of the season, but he's still a very gifted athlete and will do nothing but improve physically (hopefully) as the year goes on. Instead of going the Goodman route and talking trash on the Gophers, maybe he should look at the numbers Bruce came up with and write a new piece entitled:

Mbakwe Working Back to 100%; still producing for Gophers

I love it when a couple of rubes in a chatroom can do an actual reporters job better than he can!

 

[zipsofakron]

This piece reeks of what I'll call "national sportswriter insulation." He's seen a few games and now has all of the answers, even though he has no point in coming to sweeping conclusions. In fact, it's possible the only games he's watched are the nationally televised games (Bahamas, FSU) where Mbakwe didn't even really need to play. You think he really tuned into ESPN3 to catch a near Mbakwe double-double in 14 minutes?

The whole "they could do well in March....or they could not" is such a lazy angle. "They might win this game or they might lose, I dunno!" Great insight.

This is such a hack piece in that Goodman uses numbers that our completely out of context. Oh, ONLY 6.7 rebounds per game? He's averaging 11 minutes less than he played last year and 14 less than in 2010.

My favorite quote? "Maybe he'll get closer to the player he once was, but it's been nearly a full year since Mbakwe had surgery on his right knee." Right. It hasn't even been a year since he TORE HIS ACL.

Oh, and he uses the word "could" three times in his defining paragraph. Hard-hitting reporting right there.

Yes, Mbakwe looks a bit less explosive than before. But good God, is it really "hard to watch" and "sad to watch"? Enough with the hyperbole, Goodman. Anyone who's seen this team extensively knows you pulled up the ESPN player page for Mbakwe and wrote this thing in 10 minutes.

 

[tjgopher]

I am a BIG fan of Goodman's work, but I think he's a bit off the mark here. I mean, yes, Trevor is not producing like he has in the past, but that isn't due to a lack of explosiveness. It is quite simply and matter of factly due to a reduced number of minutes (as astute posters here have already factually shown). I think you could make the argument that Trevor is slightly less explosive this year so far, but is no where near "sad to watch" territory. Not remotely close. Not if you've watched the games. I mean, cripes, Trevor has three games already with double-digit rebounds. In the only three games he's played more than 20 minutes this year, he has 12-8-12 rebounds, respectively. He's played in five of the ten games this year for 14 minutes or less. As a comparison, he had four double-digit rebounding games in the seven he played in last year, while averaging a lot more minutes a year ago. And, he is averaging MORE rebounds per minute this year than last year. So, he IS, as a matter of fact, rebounding the ball as well as he did last year...period.

Now, if Goodman's argument is that Trevor isn't as good right now because he can't play the same number of minutes and therefore the Gophers won't be as good because Trevor can only play 17 minutes a night instead of 30, then fine. There could be an actual, legit stance to be taken there. But, he didn't say anything like that. He called Trevor "sad to watch" and not explosive. That's hogwash. I've really enjoyed watching Mbakwe play during this comeback. His efforts should be applauded. I've been actually quite impressed with Trevor's athleticism, especially the last 5-7 games.

 

[Dr.Don]

You need to send this to Goodman, and tell him to STFU!

Athletically, Mbakwe doesn't look like the same freak that looked like last year at the beginning of the season, but he's still a very gifted athlete and will do nothing but improve physically (hopefully) as the year goes on. Instead of going the Goodman route and talking trash on the Gophers, maybe he should look at the numbers Bruce came up with and write a new piece entitled:

Mbakwe Working Back to 100%; still producing for Gophers

I love it when a couple of rubes in a chatroom can do an actual reporters job better than he can!

Well stated, GopherRun.

Tubby is easing Trevor back gradually the way a TRUE Coach does. That Coach does not look at "what can he show today", he is looking out for "what can I do help him show what he can do when healthy, for his good and the good of the TEAM."

What Trevor can do today is an absolute need to have his Coach help him become the force he still can be when totally healthy.

And that is called a True Coach. He cares about Trevor's future as much as he cares about today.

So, Jeff Goodman, take the banana out of your ear and listen to Dr.Don. STFU.

 

[brucekaupa]

ACL surgery recovery time
ACL injuries regardless of whether they require surgery necessitate “time off” so the ACL and other affected portions of the knee can heal. If surgery is necessary, patients are usually directed to wear a knee brace and/or use crutches. In rare situations where other injuries exist, an above the knee case (AKC) may be needed. The brace and crutches are generally utilized for the first six weeks after surgery. During this time, rehabilitation through physical therapy will occur. A typical timeline (after surgery) for patients to do the following activities is:

• rest, ice, elevation, compression—2-4 weeks (occurs during the 2 weeks after surgery)
• walking and biking—12 weeks
• running—6 months
• competitive sports—no earlier than 8 months (9-12 months typical)

 

[From the Barn]

It has been 12 months since the surgery, but only 9 games. If it had been 30 games since the surgery I might be concerned.

 

[Mulligan]

As one who tries to find a silver lining in damn near every cloud over the Gophers, I've been thinking this might end up helping Trevor's game. He could rely on that athletic talent before to simply out-jump and out-muscle. Now maybe he's had to work more on getting position, handling and moving the ball, and his outside shot. When he's totally back physically, as well as mentally, he might even be better.

Thanks for the breakdown, Bruce. I imagine a particular person, who has greater knowledge about basketball, concussions and seizures, Florida law, Trevor, etc. than any one person should be gifted with, is probably hard at work figuring out how to debunk your stats.

 

[Monty519]

I'm not gonna get mad at the guy for producing this, as many people (even Gopher fans have said as much about him thus far), but it is quite ridiculous to just compare numbers like that. Of course he's not gonna roll in and just act like nothing happened, the guy had knee surgery. A year is about when you START to get back in the mix unless your name is Adrian Peterson.

Explosion is not an issue IMO. It's not where it was, but he's still got plenty of it. The thing I'm seeing from him is lack of timing with his game. You see him dropping passes he normally holds onto, missteps, just general rustiness. 10 games in, you see it coming along some, but the guy's gonna need some time to adapt not only to playing again, but adapting to the different offense he's stepping into. This isn't the same team he left 12 months ago against Dayton. He'll get it all straight in due time.

 

[Dr.Don]

I'm not gonna get mad at the guy for producing this, as many people (even Gopher fans have said as much about him thus far), but it is quite ridiculous to just compare numbers like that. Of course he's not gonna roll in and just act like nothing happened, the guy had knee surgery. A year is about when you START to get back in the mix unless your name is Adrian Peterson.

Explosion is not an issue IMO. It's not where it was, but he's still got plenty of it. The thing I'm seeing from him is lack of timing with his game. You see him dropping passes he normally holds onto, missteps, just general rustiness. 10 games in, you see it coming along some, but the guy's gonna need some time to adapt not only to playing again, but adapting to the different offense he's stepping into. This isn't the same team he left 12 months ago against Dayton. He'll get it all straight in due time.

In the game the other night, the commentators were complimenting on how Trevor was using BOTH hands to handle passes in to him, and the result was that he was ready to make moves either way.

Just a notice of some of the small things that GH experts do not understand. All things are the scorebook, ya know.

 

[oleboy41]

He's wrong but why get mad about it? There are 300+ CBB teams and he's supposed to know something about a lot of them. If he's seen 3 of our games this year Id be impressed. He's made some observations from a limited sample and gave his thoughts. He could make similar comments about 20 other teams but nobody but the fans of those teams care because nobody else is breaking down the points per minute of teams they aren't fans of. We complain if the national media ignores us but then get pissed if their opinion pieces aren't completely accurate

 

[Moses87]

AWESOME FUEL for Trevor!!!!

Let's hope this really sparks him and gets him working twice as hard.

 

[Madman]

Speaking of national writer types that don't do their due dilligence..... Check out Andrew Coppens work from Delaney's Dozen. He had us winning the NIT last year. Sweet!

http://www.delanysdozen.com/2012-ar...ten-basketball-preview-minnesota-gophers.html

 

[Madman]

He's wrong but why get mad about it? There are 300+ CBB teams and he's supposed to know something about a lot of them. If he's seen 3 of our games this year Id be impressed. He's made some observations from a limited sample and gave his thoughts. He could make similar comments about 20 other teams but nobody but the fans of those teams care because nobody else is breaking down the points per minute of teams they aren't fans of. We complain if the national media ignores us but then get pissed if their opinion pieces aren't completely accurate

This is a problem for me. I don't know about all of you, but it completely discredits everything that is written if the "facts" that their opinions are based on aren't accurate or are completely misleading in the case of this article.

 

[Moses87]

Goodman has a right to his opinion...He's not seeing the explosiveness....Fair!

To use stats in his case was totally unfair considering Trevor's limited minutes....but it's all good...Trevor should use it as fuel! Tubby is probably glad that Goodman wrote the piece...Gopher fans should be glad too...This might just be the button that pushes Trevor to reach his potential.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

"@TMbakwe32:" I had someone tell me I fell off, ooh I needed that" #motivation #nevercontent #thankyousportswriter http://instagr.am/p/S8QIbYl0pP/"

Also, if you look at Goodman's tweets about the article, it's pretty clear that he wasn't trying to be a jerk about it. Mbakwe doesn't pass the eyeball test as an All-American right now and that's what the expectations/hopes were from a lot of people. The article was written because the expectations were so high, and clearly he hasn't reached them, yet.

Great article? No. Hack? Certainly not. He's one of the better one's in the business.

 

[Block M]

Mbakwe is still not in game shape and his knee is still weaker than it should be. Even AP says his knee has not fully recovered its strength. Tubby is handling Mbakwe properly, and he'll slowly round into shape and form, I believe.

 

[GopherLady]

Things look crappy if you use "per game"...but lets take into account how many minutes he's actually playing...

Trevor in 2011-2012:
- Games: 6.5
- Minutes per game: 28.7
- Minutes played: 201
- Points per game: 14.0
- Points total: 98
- POINTS PER MINUTE in 2011-2012: 0.4876
- Rebounds per game: 9.1
- Rebounds total: 64
- REBOUNDS PER MINUTE in 2011-2012: 0.3184

Trevor in 2012-2013:
- Games: 10
- Minutes per game: 17.2
- Minutes played: 172
- Points per game: 8.4
- Points total: 84
- POINTS PER MINUTE in 2012-2013: 0.4884
- Rebounds per game: 6.7
- Rebounds total: 67
- REBOUNDS PER MINUTE in 2012-2013: 0.3895

Hmmm...is he doing better or worse?

These posts were great, thank you. I wouldn't of had a problem with Goodman saying Trevor isn't producing, but giving the information that he's gotten a fraction of the minutes. I don't have the boxscore in front of me, but I believe he had like 8 pts and 10 boards in like 14 minutes in the last game. If that's not efficient, I don't know what is.

As said in this thread, I don't think this was out of malice or ill will, I think he has a decent relationship with Trevor. I personally think he seems a step slower, haven't seen it as much with the jumping, rebounding, dunking, etc. I do have to say I have a lot of respect for Jeff and have always liked his writing. Even though I disagree with this piece, I was impressed he took the time to tweet me back (as I just noticed he did with other Gopher fans) and have a discussion. We can agree to disagree, but he's not shying away from that criticism. It also seems like he really wants Trevor to do well.

Loved many of your comments on this thread - it is tough when we've seen every second of play, and national writers see 3 games...or less in many other cases.

 

[underground629]

What an incredibly overstated article. It's sad how poorly done that was. Yes, he doesn't have the same explosiveness right now. Is that really a surprise? How far into the season are we? Did he even bother to look at the minutes? I wonder how much he's actually watched.