Myron: Mbakwe faces enrollment, suspension issues to hurdle

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I am far from a great legal mind, but if he has an alibi, as the article states, why would he continue to delay the trial? Wouldn't it be better to just get it done and move forward, rather than have it hanging over his head for the foreseeable future?
 

I dont like this.

Am I reading this right? The defense lawyer is going to ask for another trial date beyond the December one?

"We won't be going to trial during the season," Samms said via e-mail. "The court gave a date which I will extend at the next [calendar] call."

I really dont like the idea of this crap-cloud hanging over the team or the season. Innocent til proven guilty but that doesnt mean he should be on the team, IMHO.
 

Why would Mbakwe want a trial during the middle of the season? Of course he wants a delay. If he doesn't, then he'll basically be missing big parts of the season. He'll want his total attention on the basketball court and not in the court of law.
 

So he basically wants to delay it until after the season so he can play this year. No way. Try to move it up as early as possible. Sit out until it is over and join the team afterwards if found innocent.
 


UWOle said:
I am far from a great legal mind, but if he has an alibi, as the article states, why would he continue to delay the trial? Wouldn't it be better to just get it done and move forward, rather than have it hanging over his head for the foreseeable future?
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Yeah, this is a really bizarre move. I don't see any reason why Maturi should lift the suspension when Mbakwe/Samms could have had this entire situation resolved before the season started.
 

I'm confused why Myron would publish a report of people backing up Mbakwe's alibi and then a few days later writing about how he may be suspended. Something isn't adding up here? Either Maturi knows something we don't know or Medcalf is just clueless.
 

burton34 said:
I'm confused why Myron would publish a report of people backing up Mbakwe's alibi and then a few days later writing about how he may be suspended. Something isn't adding up here? Either Maturi knows something we don't know or Medcalf is just clueless.
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No, Mbakwe already is suspended. From the article:

"Mbakwe faces a felony battery charge stemming from an alleged assault against a woman in Miami in early April, which triggered an automatic suspension, according to the university's student-athlete code of conduct. Mbakwe, who was expected to be a major contributor for the Gophers next season, played basketball for Miami Dade Community College last season."
 

Burton - I don't think much of Myron but what are you talking about? They are two totally seperate things. Trevor claims to have an alibi and he will use that at trial if they get there. On the other hand Maturi must decide if he wants to allow Trevor to play while he is facing these charges. Trevor really has put Joel in a very tough place by pushing the trial off. I think Joel must keep him suspended until the trial is over. It appears that Trevor could have had all this done by the time the BT season begins which would have given Joel a much better situation.
 



Tubby and the coaches feel confident that Mbakwe will play and that they believe his side of the story. I think if Maturi went ahead and suspended Mbakwe, then Tubby is not going to be a happy camper.

Tubby wouldn't be sticking his neck on the line for Mbakwe if he didn't think he was innocent. That should enough for Maturi.
 

Not enough for me.

KyGopherfan said:
Tubby and the coaches feel confident that Mbakwe will play and that they believe his side of the story. I think if Maturi went ahead and suspended Mbakwe, then Tubby is not going to be a happy camper.

Tubby wouldn't be sticking his neck on the line for Mbakwe if he didn't think he was innocent. That should enough for Maturi.
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We have been down that "trust the coach" road before.

Nobody is a bigger supporter of Tubby than me, but in this case, I think the suspension should stick until it is legally resolved.
 

UWOle said:
I am far from a great legal mind, but if he has an alibi, as the article states, why would he continue to delay the trial? Wouldn't it be better to just get it done and move forward, rather than have it hanging over his head for the foreseeable future?
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Exactly! That delay motion just screamed out at me.

And as Section201 said:
Am I reading this right? The defense lawyer is going to ask for another trial date beyond the December one?

"We won't be going to trial during the season," Samms said via e-mail. "The court gave a date which I will extend at the next [calendar] call."

I really dont like the idea of this crap-cloud hanging over the team or the season. Innocent til proven guilty but that doesnt mean he should be on the team, IMHO.
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Note to Trevor's attorney ... Get this resolved ASAP! Do it in the middle of the season if you have to, but get it done!
 

Mbakwe=distraction

Suspend him for the season or rescind his scholarship. He has had ample time to resolve this issue. They will be fine w/o him. Paul Carter will get his minutes.
 



Let him play until you are obligated not to. This isn't a morality contest...the objective is to win as many games as possible. Do you think Memphis fans care that the final four run is now "non-existent?" It's about the moment...you can't erase memories. If Trevor is found guilty, then dump him. I'd feel much worse if we suspend an innocent man because of a false allegation than playing a player who, by law, is innocent until proven guilty.
 

I'm kinda surprised to see how Gopher fans are willing to throw the book at him even though he's not been convicted of anything. How about innocent until proven guilty? Why is there such a rush to judgement? From what I can, it's he-say/she-say. There's no physical evidence or video tape. This would be a travesty to kick him out of school for something he hasn't even been convicted of.
 

If he is innocent then why is he postponing his trial? I'm sorry, but he has his chance to clear his name expeditiously, and is choosing not to. Maturi has no choice but to keep the suspension in place. The integrity and reputation of the program cannot be jeopardized.
 

KyGopherfan said:
I'm kinda surprised to see how Gopher fans are willing to throw the book at him even though he's not been convicted of anything. How about innocent until proven guilty? Why is there such a rush to judgement? From what I can, it's he-say/she-say. There's no physical evidence or video tape. This would be a travesty to kick him out of school for something he hasn't even been convicted of.
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The irony............
 

Block M said:
If he is innocent then why is he postponing his trial? I'm sorry, but he has his chance to clear his name expeditiously, and is choosing not to. Maturi has no choice but to keep the suspension in place. The integrity and reputation of the program cannot be jeopardized.
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Well actually, he can choose to suspend him or remove the suspension.

I think that the gophers should use Trevor as long as NCAA rules allow them to (we wouldn't want lose a season like Memphis [or the gophers] after all). I don't think that you damage your integrity at all for using a player that could easily be falsely accused of a crime.

If the administration (which probably knows more about his case than we do) feels that they are not taking a risk by playing Trevor, then they should do so. If they have compelling evidence to suggest that he is guilty though, maybe they should rescind his scholarship now.
 

Not what I said....

KyGopherfan said:
I'm kinda surprised to see how Gopher fans are willing to throw the book at him even though he's not been convicted of anything. How about innocent until proven guilty? Why is there such a rush to judgement? From what I can, it's he-say/she-say. There's no physical evidence or video tape. This would be a travesty to kick him out of school for something he hasn't even been convicted of.
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I didnt say kick him out of school. I said keep the team supension in place. He can keep his scollie and stay in school til it is legally resolved.

If he wants to play this season he should have a conference with his lawyer about NOT postponing the proceedings.
 

Section201 said:
I didnt say kick him out of school. I said keep the team supension in place. He can keep his scollie and stay in school til it is legally resolved.

If he wants to play this season he should have a conference with his lawyer about NOT postponing the proceedings.
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There's no guarantee if the trail started now that it would be over by practice time. Courts don't move that quickly. I don't know if you noticed that or not, hence the reasoning for the postponing.

You're attempting to assign blame to Mbakwe simply because he wants to postpone the trial when there is a totally simple explanation for it. If his lawyer thought everything could be finished in week, don't you think he'd already would've done it?

And quite frankly, Maturi's not going to do anything because if Mbakwe and Tubby had any idea that Maturi would punish him, I don't think they'd be asking for a delay. Maturi is just talking for the media. He's not going to do anything.
 

Block M said:
If he is innocent then why is he postponing his trial? I'm sorry, but he has his chance to clear his name expeditiously, and is choosing not to. Maturi has no choice but to keep the suspension in place. The integrity and reputation of the program cannot be jeopardized.
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Because I assume the trial will go on for weeks and weeks. He won't be able to go to school or practice or play.

This won't be a one day thing.

If it is a Jury trial, it could take weeks to just select the Jury.
 

Really? This trial will go for weeks and weeks? Is this an informed statement?
 

I was also really disappointed when I first read that the trial is being pushed back. I'm sick of waiting to find out his status, but I'm sure that the trial is being pushed back for good reasons. I think too many people are jumping to the conclusion that it must mean he's guilty because it's being postponed. We don't know all the facts and I'm sure we aren't all experts in law.
 

This is just an unfortunate situation. If it were a situation like Dom Jones, where there was some pretty damning evidence that he at minimum did something to embarass the program there would be no question of what to do.

But in a case like this where there seems to be a very legitimate chance that the kid is completely innocent of anything, even poor judgement, it's hard to just say 'suspend him until the trial is over.' At first I was agreeing with you guys saying 'if he's inocent why did they ask for the delay?', but the more I think about it, I can see why. Even starting in August it's possible, perhaps even likely that the whole matter would have drug into late October and even November, effecting his practice time and maybe even some games.

However, they should only have done that if they got some assurances that Maturi would let him into school and let him play. If they don't have that assurance, then the delay was a bad mistake. They should have proceeded with the trial and aimed for a January enrollment. If we don't let him in, I guess he's free to enroll anywhere else he wants, right?

My gut is that the scars of Gopher Basketball past will mean Maturi does not intervene and we will not be seeing Mr. Mbakwe in a Gopher basketball uniform this season (if ever). That is truly too bad.
 

I like all the rationalization going on here but can someone in the know address how long this trial would take? Some have said weeks and weeks some have suggested 3+ months. I always thought these types of trials wrapped up in a few days - maybe a week. Can someone in the know address?

If he plays before the matter is resolved it will be a big cloud hanging over the season.
 

Rotundo said:
I like all the rationalization going on here but can someone in the know address how long this trial would take? Some have said weeks and weeks some have suggested 3+ months. I always thought these types of trials wrapped up in a few days - maybe a week. Can someone in the know address?

If he plays before the matter is resolved it will be a big cloud hanging over the season.
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I have no specific knowledge, but I don't think it's so much that the trial itself would take that long, probably only a few days. It's the fact that there would likely be numerous other delays before the trial actually started. I don't know if what was previously scheduled for August was the begining of the actual trial, I assume it was some sort of preliminary hearing. It's just not hard to imagine the actual start of the trial ending up in October/November even if the first parts of the procedings occured in August. In spite of what we may think, this is probably not that high profile of a case in Miami and it could easily get pushed aside by more pressing cases on the court calander, or delayed by requests from the prosecuter, etc.

As for the cloud over the season, I think it is to some degree no matter what. If he's not there, we have to hear every game how this was a great recruiting class but one guy's missing. If he's there and plays we have to hear about his pending trial. The only way there's no cloud is if it was fully resolved prior to the season, which no longer appears possible. Personally, I hope they let him play, but I doubt they will.
 

I find it shady that his attorney basically says he's going to ask for continuances in the case until after the basketball season.

I understand people wanting Trevor to be allowed to play, but there is a reason why the student-athlete code of conduct was written the way it was. I'm not making a claim of innocence or guilt, but there is a reason behind him being charged with a felony.

Playing college athletics is a privilege and not a right. It isn't out of the realm of possibilities that he is denied admission to the U of M. If that happens, I am not going to find fault with the admissions staff. I don't want an athletic department that is win at all costs and I think allowing someone who is facing felony charges certainly looks like win at all cost.

Let him go to school, let him practice, let him be on the team. But let him watch games in street clothes until this is done.
 

Who cares if it affects his practice time or even a few games if he goes to trial? Thats life.

These are serious allegations that must be dealt with or he can't play for the U. To have him play with a felony charge hanging over his head would cast a pall over what should be a REALLY EXCITING season!
 

Block M said:
If he is innocent then why is he postponing his trial? I'm sorry, but he has his chance to clear his name expeditiously, and is choosing not to. Maturi has no choice but to keep the suspension in place. The integrity and reputation of the program cannot be jeopardized.
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I couldn't disagree with this sentiment more. While I agree that it would be nice (for us) to have had the trial take place as soon as possible, I disagree that Maturi has no choice but to keep the suspension in place. Maturi should go ahead with his internal investigation and if the investigation reveals that Trevor is not likely involved, then reinstate him pending the result of his actual trial.

His "chance to clear his name expeditiously" may have also been a chance to hurry into a felony case not properly prepared. For all we know, Sams either (1) needs more time to secure his witnesses' testimony and/or finalize Trevor's defense at trial; or (2) thought he could do his client a favor by pushing trial out passed the end of the upcoming season (assuming he didn't know about the automatic suspension or that he understood that Maturi won't actually enforce the suspension on Trevor). Once again, the press has dropped the ball here. The motion or request to extend the trial date into December should have included Sams reasoning for such a request.
 

anonymous said:
I find it shady that his attorney basically says he's going to ask for continuances in the case until after the basketball season.

I understand people wanting Trevor to be allowed to play, but there is a reason why the student-athlete code of conduct was written the way it was. I'm not making a claim of innocence or guilt, but there is a reason behind him being charged with a felony.

Playing college athletics is a privilege and not a right. It isn't out of the realm of possibilities that he is denied admission to the U of M. If that happens, I am not going to find fault with the admissions staff. I don't want an athletic department that is win at all costs and I think allowing someone who is facing felony charges certainly looks like win at all cost.

Let him go to school, let him practice, let him be on the team. But let him watch games in street clothes until this is done.
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I find it interesting that you assume the reason for the delay is the BB season...attorneys have other cases that may be tried in different venues...I had a civil case delayed by my Attorney because he was part of a class action that was scheduled in federal court and that case took priority. So we don't know WHY the Attorney is pushing it back...the Attorney may also know something about the system down there we don't...like the longer he waits the better it is for his clients because witnesses/accusers disappear. He may need more time to investigate the accuser...or, if the reports are true about a serial criminal on a bike is true...maybe he is hoping thei catch the real guy so Trevor can walk without trial.

Trials are expensive...so maybe Trevor needs time to get the money together...I didn't hear that this guy is a public defender, so maybe thats it...regardless of all the speculation in the world...we don't know so give it and your sacrimonious bullshit a rest.
 

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