[Rosiak's Blog] Mbakwe staying; Taylor update

[Pakuni]

http://blogs.jsonline.com/muhoops/archive/2008/04/16/mbakwe-staying-taylor-update.aspx

Mbakwe staying; Taylor update
By Todd Rosiak
Wednesday, Apr 16 2008, 05:34 PM
Just spoke with freshman forward Trevor Mbakwe, who said he wanted to set the record straight regarding his status at MU.

"I've been reading the papers and they're saying all this stuff about me transferring for family reasons before Coach (Tom Crean) even left," he said. "I just want to let everyone know that isn't true.

"It was news to me. It was a shock. I didn't know where it was coming from, and that's never been an idea in my head."

Mbakwe said he's talked with coach Buzz Williams recently about his role in the future.

"I've had several conversations with Coach Buzz," he said. "He was telling me what he feels I should work on and how this summer is going to be important for me just getting back to being healthy since I really didn't play much this last year because of my knee injury."

Mbakwe estimated his knee is about 85% healed at this point.

"I've been resting since the season's been over," he said. "I haven't been doing much running and jumping, so we're just letting it heal because it wasn't completely healed when I came back. It's doing really good right now."

Mbakwe said he expects to be cleared to resume full workouts sometime in May.

Also, since my last blog post about the Tyshawn Taylor situation, Taylor has spoken to Williams and voiced his desire to be released from his letter of intent.

MU, in turn, has faxed over a release form to St. Anthony's, and all that remains to make the release official at this point is the signature of both Taylor and Taylor's mother.

The situation will likely be resolved at some point later this evening, with both parties finally being able to move on.

[rocky_warrior]

Wow.  Todd's on the ball today!

Clarity about Mbakwe and Taylor.  Nice to have.

[TallTitan34]

Nice!  Thank you Todd!

[ToddRosiakSays]

Mbakwe staying; Taylor update

Written by: Todd Rosiak


Just spoke with freshman forward Trevor Mbakwe, who said he wanted to set the record straight regarding his status at MU.

"I've been reading the papers and they're saying all this stuff about me transferring for family reasons before Coach (Tom Crean) even left," he said. "I just want to let everyone know that isn't true.

"It was news to me. It was a shock. I didn't know where it was coming from, and that's never been an idea in my head."

Mbakwe said he's talked with coach Buzz Williams recently about his role in the future.

"I've had several conversations with Coach Buzz," he said. "He was telling me what he feels I should work on and how this summer is going to be important for me just getting back to being healthy since I really didn't play much this last year because of my knee injury."

Mbakwe estimated his knee is about 85% healed at this point.

"I've been resting since the season's been over," he said. "I haven't been doing much running and jumping, so we're just letting it heal because it wasn't completely healed when I came back. It's doing really good right now."

Mbakwe said he expects to be cleared to resume full workouts sometime in May.

Also, since my last blog post about the Tyshawn Taylor situation, Taylor has spoken to Williams and voiced his desire to be released from his letter of intent.

MU, in turn, has faxed over a release form to St. Anthony's, and all that remains to make the release official at this point is the signature of both Taylor and Taylor's mother.

The situation will likely be resolved at some point later this evening, with both parties finally being able to move on.



http://blogs.jsonline.com/muhoops/archive/2008/04/16/mbakwe-staying-taylor-update.aspx

[LastWarrior]

A few points...

1) EXCELLENT reporting by Rosiak!
2) AWESOME news on Trevor coming  back!  We're gonna be good next year!
3) If Mbakwe is only at 85% right now, why the hell did Crean pull the redshirt two months ago?  To reward him?  Give me a break!
4) Good luck to Taylor.  MU better put an IU restriction on the release and PULL his scholarship offer.  Let him play the field but also let him know that MU is NOT the place for him.

[NYWarrior]

1) EXCELLENT reporting by Rosiak!

yes indeed, spectacular

[rocky_warrior]

4) Good luck to Taylor.  MU better put an IU restriction on the release and PULL his scholarship offer.  Let him play the field but also let him know that MU is NOT the place for him.

I don't know about that.  I'm not sour on Taylor at all.  If he ends up wanting to come to MU and we have space - I'd welcome him.

On the other hand, if Hurley wants an assistant coaching job at MU.  I'd tell him to look somewhere else 

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

I really cannot believe they pulled Trevor's redshirt. No wonder Crean didn't care about him losing a year for a few minutes of mop up duty. I honestly believe one of the reason's Crean did this was to create some kind of false "buzz" for the ESPN game, as pathetic as that is.

[LastWarrior]

rocky... I'll start out by saying that i'm not big on any recruit backing out of a commitment.  That said, i'm okay with letting him out if that's what he really wants and there was a coaching change.  I'm not for punishing a young man for because he made a decision that he regrets and he had no control of the situation.  That said, he needs to understand that he's allowed one mulligan and that's it.  As a part of the maturing process, he must learn to stick by his decisions - good or bad.  As such, he needs to understand that if he wants out of his loi so be it but then he's done with MU.

[LastWarrior]

adding to my last post, nothing will change with the guard situation or buzz's experience as a head coach over the next several weeks.  So if these are the real resons he wants out, then there is no reason for him to come back to MU.  So again make the adult decision of wanting out of your LOI but understand that you lose your scholly.

[avid1010]

It's too bad we're TT is out of the equation, but I have not hostility towards TT or Hurley.

What's the deal with Hurley.  He's been made out to be a bit of a jerk on this site.  Previously, I was under the impression he does a lot for kids in low income areas, and he surely could have left for an "it's Indiana" job.  I hope we didn't burn any bridges, but if Buzz is as good as we hear he is I think when/if he proves himself as a coach he'll be able to recruit there again.

[NavinRJohnson]

Is it just me, or does there appears to be a direct correlation between a player's height/position and his willingness to play for MU in the post-Crean era? The taller they are, the more likely they are to stick with MU. Interesting given the one of the common criticisms of Crean's recruiting.

What's the average size of Mbakwe, Fulce, O'Toule, compared to Taylor, Williams, and Christopherson?

For the record, I'm a guard guy and recognze this as an area Buzz will have to address.

[avid1010]

So again make the adult decision of wanting out of your LOI but understand that you lose your scholly.

He's not an adult in my mind.  How many people on this board transferred from one college to another for various reasons?  How can we expect a kid to live up to his LOI when we had a coach who didn't live up to his contract, and have fired coaches before their contract was up.  If a year from now TT calls MU and says he wants to be a student-athlete at MU I certainly have no problems allowing him back, given that he is asking to come to MU for the correct reasons.  I matured a great deal in my college years, and I'm very thankful to those who taught me lessons I needed to learn without turning their backs on me.  I think he's learned his lesson, and I hope a year from now he realizes that MU is a great place to be a student-athlete and mature into an intelligent/ethical man.  While we can only offer a certain number of scholarships, I don't know that banning a kid from a scholarship at MU is in line with Jesuit beliefs either.  Gray area I guess...

[mviale]

Todd Rosiak is the MAN

[slingkong]

avid1010: +10, right on the money