JoePgh
Cranky pants and wise acre
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2011
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After Gabby's performance tonight, I thought back to when she first arrived on campus. Everyone, on the Boneyard and elsewhere, assumed that she would be a guard. After all, she is fast and she is 5-11. I think Gabby assumed that also. Before the first month of practice was over, Geno had decided that she would be a forward at UConn, making a typical comment to the effect that "she can't shoot; she can't pass; and she can't handle the ball", so maybe it would be better if she weren't a guard. Never mind that the team two years ago was very guard-heavy.
Gabby said, "I've got no choice but to trust him", and she started posting up, seeming very out of place since she had never done that in high school.
And then, a couple of years later, she has a game like she had tonight, going head-to-head against Briana Turner and narrowly winning that battle (but certainly not dominating Turner).
Probably every other coach in the country would never have given a thought to what position Gabby would play, and would have lived with her inadequate outside shooting for a guard and (until this year) her questionable passing and ball handling. She might have ended up being a 4-year bench player as a guard for any other good team. Other coaches (the one in Knoxville?) would not have wanted to deal with getting her to buy in to doing something that was out of her comfort zone, even if it was in the best interest of the team.
It says something good about Gabby that she did buy in without histrionics or any visible disruption to the team. It says something great about Geno that he saw that potential and had the willfulness to follow through on it.
Gabby said, "I've got no choice but to trust him", and she started posting up, seeming very out of place since she had never done that in high school.
And then, a couple of years later, she has a game like she had tonight, going head-to-head against Briana Turner and narrowly winning that battle (but certainly not dominating Turner).
Probably every other coach in the country would never have given a thought to what position Gabby would play, and would have lived with her inadequate outside shooting for a guard and (until this year) her questionable passing and ball handling. She might have ended up being a 4-year bench player as a guard for any other good team. Other coaches (the one in Knoxville?) would not have wanted to deal with getting her to buy in to doing something that was out of her comfort zone, even if it was in the best interest of the team.
It says something good about Gabby that she did buy in without histrionics or any visible disruption to the team. It says something great about Geno that he saw that potential and had the willfulness to follow through on it.