MINNEAPOLIS — University of Minnesota forward Trevor Mbakwe was granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA on Friday after tearing his ACL early in his senior season.
Now, the question is whether he'll want to return.
"I am certainly excited for the opportunity that the NCAA has given me in a sixth year of eligibility," Mbakwe said Friday in a statement. "I want to thank my family and all of Gopher Nation for all of the support. It has been a difficult season but I am confident that I will be able to return to the type of player I was before the injury."
The 6-foot-8 Mbakwe suffered the injury in late November in a game against Dayton. At the time, it was uncertain whether he'd be granted a sixth year by the NCAA. After playing one year each at Marquette and Miami Dade Community College, Mbakwe transferred to Minnesota but sat out the 2009-10 season while dealing with off-court legal issues.
Despite all of that, Mbakwe was indeed granted one more year of eligibility.
"The NCAA made the right decision," said Gophers coach Tubby Smith. "Trevor has done everything we have asked of him for three years now and he deserves the right to compete for a sixth season."
Before his injury, Mbakwe was averaging a team-high 14.0 points and 9.1 rebounds. During his breakout junior season, he scored 13.9 points per game while grabbing a Big Ten-best 10.5 boards per game.
Prior to his senior season with the Gophers, Mbakwe contemplated testing the NBA waters after he played with USA Basketball in the summer. But the St. Paul native chose to stay home for his senior season. Now that his ACL injury affected his NBA draft stock, he'll have the choice to make of entering the draft anyway or returning to the Gophers for one more year.
When talking with the media in January about his decision, the 23-year-old Mbakwe — who has a young son, Makhi — was honest about money being a possible driving force behind his upcoming decision.
"I'd never turn down making money doing something I love," he said.
Although Mbakwe remained with the team as a leader on the bench following his injury, the Gophers struggled without him during the rest of the regular season. They lost their first four Big Ten games and also lost six in a row later in the conference season. Minnesota's inconsistency without Mbakwe cost it a trip to the NCAA tournament. Instead, the Gophers accepted an invitation to the NIT Tournament, where they're currently in the Final Four and will play at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
Mbakwe will be there with his teammates, like he has been since the injury. The question is, will he be with them next season, too?
"It definitely wouldn't hurt coming back another year and playing with these guys, especially how this season's going," Mbakwe said in January. "I miss these guys, my family. I wouldn't mind playing with these guys for another year, even though I'll be real old."
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