Transfer Rumors Due To Maturi/Tubby and Royce/Trevor/Al

[Reserve]

I know there's another thread on this but I thought I would take it a different direction. We've seen numerous quotes from the players regarding how good the team would have been if Royce and Trevor would have played. Westbrook in his interview yesterday reiterated how badly he misses Nolen and that they were beyond words with communication and just knew what each other was going to do defensively.

So it brought me to today with several things from Sansevere

Here is Gophers forward Damian Johnson ...

On how different the season would be if the team had Al Nolen, Royce White and Trevor Mbakwe: "It's very different. We weren't expecting people to get suspended. We weren't expecting to lose our point guard (Nolen), who has been here as a leader on the court. I was expecting us to be 20-something and 0 right now. I wasn't expecting to lose as many games as we did. I knew we had a chance to lose to some good teams. It's hard to go undefeated in college basketball. I thought it was a possibility (to be undefeated). I thought if we had the team we were supposed to have, we could be in the top 10 right now. We had two players who were very good post players in Trevor and Royce, and we had Al, who knows how to run the show. He could dish around to all kinds of different people. We'd have more playmakers than we have now. I think it's real rough that we lost those guys. We just have to fight through it from now on out."

On believing the Gophers already would have an NCAA bid locked up if Nolen, White and Mbakwe were playing: "I feel we'd be locking in on a one or two seed right now. We'd be an upper-echelon team in the country. There are not too many people who can rebound and defend like Trevor. Royce can score. He's also a rebounding and post presence. We would be a matchup problem for a lot of teams."

On whether the Gophers still can pull together a bid to become an NCAA tournament team: "I feel like we can."

Ralph touches on it again with a one liner here-

Nice read on him by the way!

If the University of Minnesota men's basketball team makes it into the NCAA tournament, it's likely Ralph Sampson III will play a significant role.

Sampson had 13 points and 10 rebounds in the Gophers' 66-64 win over Penn State on Saturday, and the Gophers (14-8, 5-5 Big Ten Conference) will need a strong performance from him tonight against Michigan.

"When he makes good hard moves to the basketball and attacks the basket, he can make a difference," Gophers coach Tubby Smith said. "He's got a good basketball IQ. He has learned how to control the paint as far as clogging up the middle, and he has always been a good passer out of the post. He's getting stronger and getting more mature."

I talked to Sampson on Wednesday about the NCAA tournament.

BS: What is your level of confidence about getting into the NCAA tournament? Is it high, medium, low?

RS: I always play like this (latest) game can make us get into the NCAA or break us. So I feel we all have to come out every night and give it our all to make the tournament.

BS: But is your confidence level high or low, or is it still up in the air?

RS: I think it's still up in the air. I feel we have to prove ourselves each night.

BS: What do you have to do differently to make the NCAA tournament?

RS: I feel we have to come together as a team and really show what we can do as a team and come together as one unit.

BS: What do you personally have to do differently?

RS: I feel I still need to improve a lot more in order to help the team the way I want to. I feel I've made great progress so far, and I still need to go a lot farther.
BS: In what areas — rebounding, scoring, defense?

RS: I feel everything, really. I need to become a little more patient on offense and take more defensive pride, and just go after everything 100 percent.

BS: Athletes talk all the time about taking their game to another level. Is there still a lot more room for you to take it to that next level?

RS: I feel there is. There's still leaps and bounds I can take it to.

BS: Have you thought about taking this team and carrying it on your back?

RS: I've thought about it, but then you also have a lot of great players here that take a lot of load on their backs. If we all take responsibility and put the team on all of our backs, we can carry it as far as we want to go.

BS: What advice, if any, have you gotten from you dad? (Sampson's father, Ralph, was a college and NBA star.)

RS: I've gotten from my dad to take each game as one game at a time and keep pushing forward. He told me I'm playing great right now, and I'm playing a lot better than I did last year. He told me I've improved a great deal from the end of last year until now, and even from the beginning of this season until now. He says that I'm playing with a lot more confidence and I'm a lot more aggressive. And that if I keep playing the way I am, and keep improving the way I am, I'll get to where I want to be.

BS: Do you feel more confident in your game?

RS: I feel a lot more confident in my game right now. I feel confident in my outside shot and playing more aggressive in the post.

BS: I heard you tell somebody you lost your way as a team for a while this season. Why did you lose your way?

RS: I feel that, as a team, we weren't really coming together as one unit. We were all trying to go our separate ways, and trying to take on a bigger role than all of us could handle. Instead of relying on each other and building each other up, we all were trying to say, "We could get it done ourselves."

BS: When did that realization hit?

RS: It's hard to pinpoint when exactly it hit.

BS: You now know that you won't have Al Nolen (academically ineligible), Royce White (legal issues and withdrawal from school) or Trevor Mbakwe (legal issues) coming to the rescue and helping the team. Does that somehow give you a different mind-set?

RS: I think it does. Losing those players definitely hurt our team a lot. They're all great players, and like brothers to us on the team. Losing them kind of took our chemistry down a little bit. I think we've recovered and are going full force right now.

***********

So here's my question and what I'm starting to get the general feeling of .. Are they players blaming Tubby and Maturi for their handling of Mbakwe's and Royce's troubles this year and the resulting load it brought upon the other guys and bad chemistry issues that followed?

This is not to move any responsibility from Nolen/Westbrook/Mbakwe - They were all in control of their own issues. Mbakwe may get a pass if this is a case of mistaken identity of course but Maturi had the call on that one. But even Trevor had a facebook update about a month ago complimenting the handling of Tennesse's players after their legal troubles and seemed to take a shot across Maturi's bow.

 

[Rouser]

I don't know that players are blaming coaches for the suspensions. Actually, I doubt they are. The transfer rumors seem more about (as Johnny has said) being homesick and getting a couple tongue lashings.

 

[SelectionSunday]

Cobbs (homesick) I can understand, but sometimes I have a hard time coming to grips with the modern-day athlete. They don't like being yelled at by their coach? Did these guys come here thinking Tubby would be a cuddly soft wallflower? What do some of these guys think big-time college basketball is, 7th-grade girls' basketball? I just don't get it. If they don't want to be yelled at, go play at the Y. Or, here's a novel idea, do what the coach wants you to do.

 

[Section201]

Lessons

Let me start by saying I have no idea who or what the players blame the season results on.

I will say this however.

I have come to really like these guys. These young men are learning some lessons about life. Things do not always go as you think they will. It has not been an easy season for them but they are still hanging in there. As far as I know they still go to class, they still go to practice and they are representling themselves, their families and the U in a very favorable manner.

My hat is off to them.

DJ is the heart and soul of this team and he will always be one of my favorite Gophers but I am really looking forward to seeing RSIII the rest of his Gopher career. I think he may be the most important player next season.

As for how Maturi and Tubby have handled "stuff" this year I have to say I am satisfied it was handled as well as could be expected. With the humiliating experiences the program has gone through in the past, IMHO, they should err on the side of prudence. If some players and some fans are not happy with that, so be it.

I do wonder how the AN matter got to where it did as I thought it was someone's job to make sure kids were going to class and performing as expected in the classroom.

The topic of transfers is not an uncommon thing when things do not go as expected or even in normal circumstance. I sure hope Cobbs stays as I believe he will be an excellent PG next year.

It has been one tough season for anyone involved in or with the Gopher season.

I can still fall back on this, I am thrilled to have Tubby Smith as head coach of the Gophers.

 

[centerofmn]

In other words, the transfer rumors were probably just an idea, probably born of frustration, that have a very small chance of coming true.

 

[Blizzard]

It's sad, from Damian's comments, to read how high the players expectations were this year. Along with the rest of us I guess as well. It's hard to place blame. We blame the players, the players blame each other and the coaches. No one wins.

 

[monk10]

Cobbs (homesick) I can understand, but sometimes I have a hard time coming to grips with the modern-day athlete. They don't like being yelled at by their coach? Did these guys come here thinking Tubby would be a cuddly soft wallflower? What, do some of these guys think big-time college basketball is 7th-grade girls' basketball? I just don't get it. If they don't want to be yelled at, go play at the Y. Or, here's a novel idea, do what the coach wants you to do.

I have no idea how Tubby is like, but my college football coach was a yeller and a screamer. He had no problem dressing down coaches, players, and anyone else who was in his path at any time and any place. Since, I came from Texas from a successful high school program to a DIII school in the north where football isn't as important, it was bigger shock then I expected. I was homesick by the end of the first year also. Anyone who knew me knew I wanted to go back home. I ended up staying and graduating from the same place.

I take these comments with a huge grain of salt, since I went through that emotional roller coaster my freshman and beginning of my sophomore years.

 

[inflectionpoint]

Injustices or not people need to create a scapegoat in a situation with such frustration and uncertainty. In this case the enforcers, Tubby and Joel, make perfect scapegoats for the players. As humans they need to release their frustration somehow and it looks like the coaches are receiving the brunt of it.

 

[NDGopher]

I hope that was the actual transcript from the Ralph interview because he says "I feel" more than anyone I've ever heard.

 

[Blizzard]

I hope that was the actual transcript from the Ralph interview because he says "I feel" more than anyone I've ever heard.

RS: I feel everything, really.

There ya go.

In the interviews I've seen with Ralphie I feel he's rather well spoken.

 

[GoFerit]

I feel Ralph got his head in the right place. Good looking, too.

 

[chi-town gopher]

Cobbs (homesick) I can understand, but sometimes I have a hard time coming to grips with the modern-day athlete. They don't like being yelled at by their coach? Did these guys come here thinking Tubby would be a cuddly soft wallflower? What do some of these guys think big-time college basketball is, 7th-grade girls' basketball? I just don't get it. If they don't want to be yelled at, go play at the Y. Or, here's a novel idea, do what the coach wants you to do.

I'm guessing most of these guys have pretty thick skin if they've made it this far. I think a lot of the people on this board are more than a few years past their playing days and forget how easy it is to get sick of a coach. Getting screamed at every day gets pretty old. When you are winning you put up with it, but when things aren't going well you start to wonder if it is worth it. Usually you just shrug, complain to your teammates and stick it out.

Most fans side with the coach because the idea of playing Big Ten basketball seems so appealing to hard core fans that couldn't hack it themselves (I certainly wasn't good enough) that we rip players for being soft, but the reality is that these guys do work really hard. If I was homesick, struggling in school, bothered by the outside distractions with this team, or annoyed with fans ripping my performance, the last thing I would want would be to get screamed at every day. I think there are plenty of guys that have a right to be frustrated with the situation right now, but I'm guessing most of them are just venting.

 

[Roland Brooks]

Yelling

EVERY coach yells.... Nobody yelled, screamed and wore their emotions on their sleeves more than Monson.

Just saw Calipari the other night screaming at Cousins, Izzo gets (on a stool) right in players faces. If people transfer its not because a coach yells.

 

[tikited]

***********

So here's my question and what I'm starting to get the general feeling of .. Are they players blaming Tubby and Maturi for their handling of Mbakwe's and Royce's troubles this year and the resulting load it brought upon the other guys and bad chemistry issues that followed?

There was a past thread/post stating that several hoops players called Maturi an ***hole when Trevor was first notified that he was being shelved for an unknown period of time. No idea if this was true, but I remember reading it. So, if true...Yes, they blame Maturi at least.

They are players-they don't care as much about future seasons as they do about this season. They see a wasted season that didn't have to be. Can't say I wouldn't feel the same way if I was in their shoes. We, as fans, are more easily prone to blame the players who messed up.