The announcement earlier this week that junior forward Trevor Mbakwe will not play for the Gophers basketball team until his pending legal matter has been resolved means Minnesota is less capable of contending for the Big Ten championship. According to earlier news reports, a woman alleges Mbakwe attacked her earlier this year in Florida. A trial is anticipated regarding a felony aggravated battery charge to further address the allegation.
Mbakwe is a junior college transfer who will be allowed to continue practicing with the team but not play in games, according to an announcement made by athletics director Joel Maturi. That means Mbakwe won’t be able to fill the role of rebounder, inside defender and scorer needed to make the Gophers a better team.
The road to the Big Ten title goes through Michigan State, the defending conference champion and a preseason top five team nationally. The Spartans rough house teams on the boards and the Gophers, not a strong rebounding team last year, will miss Mbakwe. He was one of the best rebounding junior college players in the country last year playing for Miami Dade College.
The need for rebounding and inside defense and scoring is potentially a larger problem now with news of Royce White’s indefinite suspension for violation of team rules. White’s maturity and judgment dating back to high school has previously been questioned, making for speculation about his career contributions to the Gophers.
Gophers coach Tubby Smith didn’t say on Tuesday how long White will be suspended, possibly two to six games. It’s apparently up to Smith to decide, just as it is with another suspension, that of senior guard Devron Bostick.
The Gophers, who start the season tonight with a home exhibition game against the University of Minnesota Duluth, will try filling the power forward position with players other than Mbakwe and White. The problem, though, is no one else on the roster matches the power and mold of those two at about 6-8, 250 pounds each. Both could be among the most physical and strongest post players in the Big Ten.