Comments for From The Barn

Comment on Joel Maturi’s reign of error finally ends by Adam

Adam — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:18:42 +0000

This is excellent. I don’t think Maturi gets as much heat as he deserves (although he gets some). You’ve laid it out nicely.

But I think I need to add to it. I don’t think you’ve highlighted just what this man did, unfairly, to Royce White and Trevor Mbakwe. For Trevor, being forced to sit out a year over mere accusations may end up costing him an NBA career. Who knows.

Right now, it looks like Royce is going end up fine. But too he made to sit out a year over an offense at MOA that likely would have only gotten him a few games suspension had it been resolved before the season. And, of course, again, laptop allegations that were never proved.

And PJ, the reason for saying no to Williams is no defense for Maturi. He chose his squeaky-clean reputation over helping the program over decades-old allegations. You say he “caused” violations, but my recollection is that Mr. Williams was never disciplined by the NCAA. Maturi caused the U to breach a contract over guilt by association.

Once again, Maturi picked his own perversely inflated sense of honor over the best interests of the program and the kids in it.

Finally, Smith has been significantly more successful than Monson. He has 20 wins in 3 of 4 completed seasons, and could well get to that mark again this year. Monson did that exactly once. And Tubby’s improvement over the Monson years happened despite Maturi’s repeated undermining of the program.

Comment on Joel Maturi’s reign of error finally ends by PJ

PJ — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 04:05:34 +0000

I usually like your stuff, but I think you’re off the mark here. iAllow me to respond to a couple of points: 1) You criticize Maturi for costing the University money for hiring Jimmy Williams without mentioning the reason: Williams caused several NCAA violations in a previous stint at the University. 2) You say that “No discernible effort has been made by Maturi to get it [a practice facility] built.” No offense, but I’m pretty sure Maturi doesn’t call you every time he tries to talk donors into giving money for something like this. Moreover, if you know a couple of money trees you can shake to get the cash for a practice facility in this economy, please, call the development department immediately. They would love to hear from you. 3) Regarding Mbakwe, he was accused of a major crime. Letting him play was not a cut-and-dried issue, and while Maturi made the conservative call, it was the right one.4) Regarding the contract extension for Smith, you criticize Maturi earlier for extending and then firing Monson. Surely you don’t wish to criticize him doing the opposite with Smith (who has been comparably successful to Monson), especially given that he’s on his way out?

Comment on Rube Roundtable by DWG

DWG — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 05:05:42 +0000

rockstars

Comment on A Gophers win in Bloomington would make sense in the Bonkers Big Ten by JF

JF — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:16:35 +0000

Keep in mind that blatantly predicting a win would jinx the team, and we just can’t have that.

Comment on A Gophers win in Bloomington would make sense in the Bonkers Big Ten by Andy

Andy — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 04:40:27 +0000

I too am pretty impressed with your prognostication regarding this game. I know you typically write an article before games and yes the B1G is interesting (especially this year), but your optimism about it being an interesting game is about the closest thing that I heard to being a remarkable prediction. I like your style dude (writing-wise). Keep it up.

Comment on A Gophers win in Bloomington would make sense in the Bonkers Big Ten by zipsofakron

zipsofakron — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:14:03 +0000

JF FTW!

Comment on A Gophers win in Bloomington would make sense in the Bonkers Big Ten by Jackie

Jackie — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 04:01:07 +0000

Nice prediction, JF!

Some freaky combination of offensive rebounding, generalized Big Ten ‘bonkiness’, and Indiana not maintaining their offensive efficiency (4 for 18 on threes) really did work out for us in the end.

I’m proud of our guys for playing hard and believing in themselves. They may be young and inconsistent but they’ve got quite a bit of skill and talent.

Go Gophers!

Comment on A Gophers win in Bloomington would make sense in the Bonkers Big Ten by Mark

Mark — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:32:03 +0000

So you are saying Indiana’s offensive efficiency through 16 games will not stay at or near that level, but their defensive efficiency through 4 Big 10 games (3 of which were against 3 of the top 4/5 teams in the League) WILL remain constant?

Got it.

Comment on A Gophers win in Bloomington would make sense in the Bonkers Big Ten by JF

JF — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:35:17 +0000

Facts are facts. The Gophers aren’t very good, and statistically in conference play, neither is Indiana.

Comment on A Gophers win in Bloomington would make sense in the Bonkers Big Ten by rgd213

rgd213 — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 06:19:31 +0000

Nice article…You have successfully trashed a very good Indiana team and a Minnesota team trying to compete in the best conference in the nation without their best player. How proud you must be. If I had the power to fix things the 1st to get canned would be YOU