What to do with Mbakwe and Nolen?

[EG#9]

I have thought about this a lot and I am not sure there's been a thread on this specific topic. Trevor's trial continually being delayed has now not only hurt 2009 season, but it's hurting the 2010 season as well. Tubby won't know if he will have Trevor available, so he's got to hold on to his scholarship. If Trevor happens to be convicted (which is obviously a much bigger issue than basketball), the Gophers will be short a scholarship player again next year. Nolen's situation is very much the same in that Tubby likely won't know about Nolen's eligibility for the fall semester before it's too late to use his scholarship. With bad luck (and that's the only kind of luck we've known for about a full calendar year), the Gophers could be 2 scholarship players short again next year. Tubby's style of play is dependent on a deep bench and these lingering issues could leave him short handed again.

Then there's the related issue of the 2 current open scholarships that are going to be difficult enough to fill with Spring signees. Hopefully, Cory Joseph chooses the Gophers, but if he does not one of the open scholarships simply has to go to a pg...right?

 

[BleedGopher]

EG#9, you bring up a great topic. This staff is in a very odd situation where they could be recruiting for up to four scholarships right now, without even having a difinitive one to offer. We have the scholarship that we're holding for Cory Joseph, we have one that we may be holding for Royce, we have a scholarship that we're holding for Nolen, and we have a scholarship that we're holding for Trevor. Not to mention the transfer rumors that were picking up a lot of steam before our win against Wisconsin, as some said that a couple of players could bolt. So in essence, we could have six, yes SIX, scholarships that are earmarked for guys currently affiliated with the program (or were affiliated, or will hopefully be affiliated in Cory's case) that all six could not be on the team next year.

This puts the staff in a very difficult position. As "anonymous" always says, spring recruiting is like trying to pick up a girl at a bar at closing time. You get a bit desperate, quite a few teams are trying to hurry to fill a last minute need as well and the pickings are slim. We haven't had a ton of success in spring over the years...our best spring recruit was probably Antoine Broxsie and he certainly wasn't a game changer. The importance of filling these potential open scholarships with impact players is more critical because Hollins and Eliason appear to be more of a work in progress.

I'd be shocked if we had to fill all six scholarships, but as you point out EG#9, bad luck (by our own doing or not) feels like the only type of luck we have.

It should be an interesting spring for sure, and hopefully the staff has a stable of already-estasblished relationships with a nice group of spring recruits at a variety of positions.

Go Gophers!!

 

[station19]

EG#9, you bring up a great topic. This staff is in a very odd situation where they could be recruiting for up to four scholarships right now, without even having a difinitive one to offer. We have the scholarship that we're holding for Cory Joseph, we have one that we may be holding for Royce, we have a scholarship that we're holding for Nolen, and we have a scholarship that we're holding for Trevor. Not to mention the transfer rumors that were picking up a lot of steam before our win against Wisconsin, as some said that a couple of players could bolt. So in essence, we could have six, yes SIX, scholarships that are earmarked for guys currently affiliated with the program (or were affiliated, or will hopefully be affiliated in Cory's case) that all six could not be on the team next year.

This puts the staff in a very difficult position. As "anonymous" always says, spring recruiting is like trying to pick up a girl at a bar at closing time. You get a bit desperate, quite a few teams are trying to hurry to fill a last minute need as well and the pickings are slim. We haven't had a ton of success in spring over the years...our best spring recruit was probably Antoine Broxsie and he certainly wasn't a game changer. The importance of filling these potential open scholarships with impact players is more critical because Hollins and Eliason appear to be more of a work in progress.

I'd be shocked if we had to fill all six scholarships, but as you point out EG#9, bad luck (by our own doing or not) feels like the only type of luck we have.

It should be an interesting spring for sure, and hopefully the staff has a stable of already-estasblished relationships with a nice group of spring recruits at a variety of positions.

Go Gophers!!

VERY good points. I've been thinking about many of those things myself.

Edit: My question is; what are the time tables for the above mentioned four players?

 

[Tater]

Edit: My question is; what are the time tables for the above mentioned four players?

With Trevor, we know that his attorney has stated previously that the trial would take place in the spring, after the season is over--not only for the Gophers, but for other teams like Kentucky and Memphis who have potential witnesses on them, if I recall correctly.

Trevor's case has another hearing set for 3/8 re: trial date. Hopefully, a trial date will be set at this hearing.

Also, it is probably in Trevor's best interest at this point to have the trial pushed back to right after the semester ends since a potential conviction before the semester ends might end up causing him to drop/fail all his classes.

That being said, what is good for Trevor may not be for the Gophers--obviously the Gophs want this over sooner rather than later and I don't know when the spring signing period begins. If Trevor's trial is pushed back to May or into the summer, the Gophers might not be able to do anything with Trevor's schollie should he get convicted.

 

[Roy Christensen]

If a large number of schollies become available Tubby may need to look for JC players in order to patch holes. Wasn't Vincent Grier signed in the spring?