Final thought on Trevor Mbakwe's punishment

Last Trevor Mbakwe post, I swear.

The Minnesota big man has officially been allowed to return to practice and he will be playing against Purdue on Thursday night, albeit off the bench. He apologized to the team today (video via the previous link):



Minnesota also released the full transcript of what Mbakwe wrote in the facebook message that got him arrested (consider the whole thing sic):

I know we haven’t talked in forever and trust me I’m not trying to start any drama with nobody in your life or anything. I just wanted to wish u the best with everything and I hope all has been well with you and your family. I am still disappointed how everything played out and I do wish that in the future we could be cool again. Idk how u r going to take this msg hopefully its not bad but I just wanted to wish u a happy new year and send out a congrats for graduating. I’ve been well I’m finally playin bball again in everything down in miami finally got taken care of thank god. Well idk if u will respond or not but best wishes for 2011.

This only reaffirms what I wrote about Mbakwe for Beyond the Arc yesterday -- that he didn't deserve to be suspended. The message, as Tubby Smith put it, was "well intentioned but misguided." He wasn't being malicious, he was trying to make amends. To right a wrong. To rebuild a burnt bridge. (I'm out of cliche sayings.)

I also think that not starting Mbakwe and forcing him to deal with "internal" punishments -- which is coach speak for a whole bunch of running -- is the correct move. Mbakwe did, in fact, violate a no contact order. It doesn't matter what his intentions were, he broke the law. The cops had no choice but to arrest him, and when you are arrested for just cause, there needs to be some sort of repercussion.

In this case, the punishment fits the crime.

And I think the embarrassment that Mbakwe caused himself, and those close to him, with this message will probably outweigh any "internal" punishment that Tubby throws at him.