He's certainly been right about stuff before (even non-Gopher stuff like Justin Morneau's injuries.) Though I do recall him claiming Trevor would never play for the U again after the Facebook incident and that didn't come to pass.
This may help with your recollection - the following quote is from January:
...I would just offer a different opinion than it seems most have -- that is, it appears the early take on this is that there will be little or no impact on Mbakwe's playing time and this is just a case of a guy being kind on Facebook.
Not saying I think it's the most likely outcome, but there is a real chance we've seen the last of Mbakwe in a Gophers uniform...
Saying that something is not the most probable outcome, but still there is a real chance of it happening differs quite a bit from claiming that it will happen.
The other thing I said that I differed with most everyone is that I believed the 'Facebook incident' would result in more than 'little or no impact'. I continue to believe the impact could be significant and I think it's all going to come to a head soon.
Debating what is appropriate punishment, what really happened, the various perceived ills of the legal system, etc. isn't going to change reality. My understanding is that not only was Mbakwe unsuccessful in completing his pretrial intervention program in Florida (due to the arrest on misdemeanor charges), but also the folks down in Miami-Dade are ready to get this show on the road. By show I mean criminal trial on the felony assault charges. Things have been continued throughout the summer, but I can't see this getting pushed into next spring. They want to get this thing handled now.
Today is the first full day of NCAA basketball practice. In addition to classes and time on the basketball court, Minnesota's top player again is juggling criminal court dates in multiple states on multiple charges on his schedule, including this Monday the 17th in St. Paul and Tuesday the 25th in Miami. The St. Paul issue seems tough to beat as there's already an admission of guilt. As discussed in May, Mbakwe's attorney filed a motion to get his violation of the harassment restraining order excused, but the motion
looked like a waste of time.
With respect to the felony case in Miami, it's scary stuff. When it comes to pretrial intervention programs, requirements can differ greatly between jurisdictions. Some require the defendant to admit guilt, while others require some lesser form of acknowledgement of responsibility. Although, in some circumstances neither is required. Obtaining some acknowledge of wrongdoing is done in part so that if someone does not complete the deferral program, the case for the prosecution is bolstered by the admissions from the defendant.
Not that 'getting a lawyer back for talking trash' should play any role in the legal process, but quotes of Mbakwe's attorney Gregory Samms 14 months ago such as, "they don’t offer this (pretrial intervention) on felony cases", "(they offered pretrial intervention because their) case is crumbled" and "they had no case and they're just trying to cover themselves" couldn't have helped matters.
Gopher fans have embraced Trevor Mbakwe and probably will continue to do so. There are no major changes in facts and circumstances that existed in 9 months ago. But they can't help him with the courts. This could still go a lot of different ways, but I don't like where it looks to be headed. Perhaps what Gopher fans will do, however, is try to help the case with the University administration. It's a unique situation in that Maturi was stern: unless delays were only caused by the prosecution, Mbakwe would not play until the legal issues in Florida were resolved. Maturi deemed the acceptance into the pretrial intervention program as resolution. With respect to the harassment charges, he brushed them off as no big deal as most people did. However, both of these legal issues are hanging out there. If the legal matters are to be resolved soon, what resolutions will result in Trevor being allowed to continue to play? If the legal matters are not soon resolved, will he be allowed to continue to play? Sure, the U's administration should have known in February that the pretrial intervention program folks had given Mbakwe a failing grade and obviously he was allowed to continue playing. Perhaps they didn't know. Maybe they hoped it would all go away. It hasn't.
Some areas of understanding need to be firmed up before you get too out of sorts, but those are some of my thoughts since everyone was so interested as to what was on my small mind. I think we need the print and/or radio media folks (or I will do the work in exchange for massive pay) to check in with the County down in Miami and see what they have to say, if anything. I could have this all wrong (probably not). One time I was reading aloud in a class of kids and pronounced orangutan "or-enj goo-ten". Of course I was only about four years old and in some accelerated learning class, but I'm still capable of saying really dumb things at times.
