Maturi has announced that Trevor Mbakwe can play with the Gophers basketball team next season. Mbakwe, who learned last week that he won’t have to participate in a trial involving an alleged assault, has said he’s unsure whether he will play for the Gophers, according to a Star Tribune story on August 13.
However, it seems unlikely Mbakwe will choose to leave the Gophers. He would need a waiver from the NCAA to become immediately eligible to play for another school and why would that be granted when he’s already able to play here? Without the waiver, Mbakwe’s alternative would be to sit out a season but that seems unattractive since he didn’t play last season after Maturi ruled him ineligible because of the alleged incident in south Florida.
Maturi is disappointed about Texas cancelling its two-game series with the Gophers in football and seeing the Longhorns replace those games with Notre Dame.
James Manuel, who chose the Gophers over offers that included Iowa and Michigan State, looks like one of the team’s most promising freshmen. The 6-2, 200 pound former Indianapolis prep has impressed at strong safety with both his physical and mental abilities.
Former Gopher Alex Daniels, who finished his college career at Cincinnati, is an undrafted rookie trying to make the Oakland Raiders roster. Daniels, who played both offense and defense for the Gophers and once ran for over 100 yards in a Minnesota nonconference game, was recently switched from defensive end to fullback at the Oakland training camp.
Brian Dutcher, the son of former Gophers coach Jim Dutcher, said San Diego State ex-athletic director Jeff Schemmel, who once was an administrator in Minnesota’s athletic department, is practicing law in Kansas City. Brian has been an assistant basketball coach at San Diego State for 12 seasons and said the Aztecs have all five starters back from last year’s NCAA tournament team.
Kevin Slowey, who threw a no-hitter through seven innings yesterday before manager Ron Gardenhire took him out of the game, made his fourth career start against Oakland and improved his record in those games to 3-0 with a 1.04 ERA.
Twins infielder Alexi Casilla has made two errors since June 9, 2009.