Alterique Gilbert lost potential

[Chin Diesel]

what was AG's ceiling, AJ price?

I'd go lower.

Look at his past season at Witchita St. Yes, he was post injury but he was much older and experienced than almost everyone else on the court and he was still inconsistent running a team.
Any PG his size will always have some turd games offensively. Shots not going in, bad luck around the rim, etc. But he never got really good as a floor general and the teams he played on at UConn and WSU reflected that.

AJ commanded a FF team that had high level players all over the court and was much better knowing when to lead from the front and when to lead from the back of the pack. And AJ could take over games offensively.

 

[Chin Diesel]

You could have said exactly the same thing about Kemba Walker after his freshman year.

Yet four years later AG was still the same player. Kemba, some would say, improved between first and third season.

 

[UCTitleTown]

What about terry larrier( remember him)

SBA. Swedish Basketball Association. Jiggedy! I guess there's worst places to spend your mid-twenties than Sweden.

 

[Jkiller]

Not sure if you have heard of stunted growth on YouTube but he’s done some great videos about Rodney Purvis, Boatright, Taliek Brown.

It sucks that we have had almost a major injury almost every year since Alterique

 

[UncleSpliff]

He could never shoot nor finish at the rim. Not a good combo for a PG. 36% FG & 30% from
3 for a 5 year career is abysmal for a major college pg. This Included this past year with Witchita St where he shot 35% ... 28% from 3 several years removed from his injury. If he never got hurt I don’t really see how much improvement that would have added to his shooting / finishing shortcomings. Might have improved somewhat but I don’t see any world where he’s a mid 40s Fg 35% 3 shooter...

 

[Tampahusky]

I don't understand your comment about his injuries. He's probably the most snakebitten player we've ever had - maybe the most snakebitten college basketball player I've ever seen. His entire college career was derailed by injuries. Do you think people are wrong to mention that?

He was never a great player. He might of had great game or two but to say injuries were to blame for his all conference play I doubt it. He never knew his limitations injured or not and never was a high IQ basketball player, that showed for 4 years.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

That’s a real good question and something I have thought about
I think the question is different for different years .
It also depends how he was used
Certainly his freshman year when Adams was forced to be on the ball 40 minutes. CV would have lost minutes
But a three man rotation would have helped that team. That team probably wins 20 and goes to the NIT.
Unless they won the AAC tourney which was very likely.
Sophomore year CV would have played 2/3. It pretty much had to be three guard . That team needed to pressure the ball to be successful
and would have been much more competitive but that was a killer schedule and the front court was decimated. However if the previous year had more success than who knows about the departures . That could be a game changer.
Personally I thought both Ollie and Hurley overestimated Gilbert’s PG skills .
I though he was more RB than Bazz
Adams was a much better PG
because of his court vision
Blending those three guards was difficult but doable.

. It was a factor in changing trajectory of program. Those first 3 games of that first season (before he went down) he was often best player on the floor. he was averaging 30 minutes a game and scoring over 10 points a game. Yeah we lost to Northeastern and Wagner to start the season but that was because Jalen and Rodney were absolute horsecrap. Against Wagner in his first college game Al played 35 minutes and scored 14, Jalen played 37 and scored 9, Rodney played 26 and scored 5. God those two were terrible to start season. Then Al went 7-6-3 against northeastern in 36 minutes. then the 3rd game against loyola Al had 16 first half minutes before going down with the shoulder. Had 10 points already. (Jalen scored 9 in 37 minutes, lol Purvis had 5 points in 31 minutes). That team had issues, but I believe with a healthy Al things wouldve been much different in my opinion. He had a swagger those first 3 games he was never able to regain.

To be fair Rodney was not emotionally prepared for that season , with the loss of his friend who was pretty much his adopted brother.
To be fair to Jalen he was playing a new position which at least during his UConn career never seemed comfortable. Actually when Jalen went back to point the team clicked he had his best year at UConn.
However he was playing on ball for the whole game which was not good that created other issues.
Blending two into a team was challenging and Hurley had the same problem.
We will never know for sure.

 

[mauconnfan]

He was never a great player. He might of had great game or two but to say injuries were to blame for his all conference play I doubt it. He never knew his limitations injured or not and never was a high IQ basketball player, that showed for 4 years.

Agree with some of what you say but no one is talking about his biggest impact, defense. On that end he was more Boat than most others we are talking. He was real good there. So while he made questionable decisions on one end he made up for many on the other. His IQ was solid there.

 

[wheelerdog]

What about terry larrier( remember him)

You mean Larry Tarrier?

 

[Lefty2one]

Who knows, despite any physical limitations due to injuries his BBIQ was sorely lacking. As other have said, he over-penetrated and was out of control far too often. He had the physical tools--a better question is probably how good would he have been if he played for someone besides KO, someone who actually developed him.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Yet four years later AG was still the same player. Kemba, some would say, improved between first and third season.

Yeah but this can't be a sincere response. The kid basically missed consecutive seasons due to injury, and portions of other seasons due to less serious injuries. He really never had an uninterrupted stretch of basketball. It's flat out incredible to me that people are acting like this was completely immaterial to his development.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Who knows, despite any physical limitations due to injuries his BBQ was sorely lacking.

What was wrong with it? Too dry?

 

[Chin Diesel]

Yeah but this can't be a sincere response. The kid basically missed consecutive seasons due to injury, and portions of other seasons due to less serious injuries. He really never had an uninterrupted stretch of basketball. It's flat out incredible to me that people are acting like this was completely immaterial to his development.

I'm serious and my perception is based more on being a floor general and extension of the coach than shooting or scoring. He just never seemed to elevate his game to controlling what his team was supposed to be doing offensively.

 

[Kemba Time]

I'm serious and my perception is based more on being a floor general and extension of the coach than shooting or scoring. He just never seemed to elevate his game to controlling what his team was supposed to be doing offensively.

That’s the opposite of what his coach had to say about him as a floor general and extension of the coach on the floor.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I'm serious and my perception is based more on being a floor general and extension of the coach than shooting or scoring. He just never seemed to elevate his game to controlling what his team was supposed to be doing offensively.

Yeah I understand what you're saying but I just don't see how you can discount the fact that he was almost literally never healthy. I get that his on-court production was less than we expected when he was a McDonald's All-American. But the idea that the development of his basketball IQ or floor generalship or whatever you want to call it wasn't hindered by the injuries seems completely wrong to me. Like self-evidently wrong. Again, Kemba didn't have that quality as a freshman, but he got to sit behind AJ Price and get a lot of high leverage reps and by the time he was a junior he was arguably the best guard in the country. Gilbert's career never even really got started.

 

[Fishy]

You do not suffer the injuries that he did and remain the same player.

It’s not humanly possible.

So, yes, the injuries had a profound impact on his career - fairly remarkable that he had the career he did given what he went through. Any suggestions to the contrary are stupid.

 

[willie99]

If Gilbert and Larrier never go down, Ollie might be our coach today or at least held on a little longer. His shortcomings that evolved, maybe a byproduct of his divorce, may have been concealed a little longer

Ollie's demise was hastened by a horrible run of injuries, highlighted by Gilbert

 

[Chin Diesel]

That’s the opposite of what his coach had to say about him as a floor general and extension of the coach on the floor.

And all that talent, all that wisdom got WSU where?

Exactly where I said I thought he would lead UConn....to an early NCAA tourney loss.

I'm not angry at the kid and I'd have liked to seen him healthy from Day 1.

I assess players like a Gilbert or a Sam Bowie much differently than straight up busts. Since we now know half this board is too young to remember Sam Bowie has the disintction of being drafted #2 in the NBA draft right between Olajuwon at #1 and Michael Jordan at #3. Foot injuries from his time at Kentucky followed him in to the NBA and he never played as well as he should have been able to play.

In short we will never know.

His biggest hindrance in college was over penetrating against high level D1 front court players and a lack of an outside shot. Those two flaws in his game would have hindered him regardless of health.

In short, I don't think he would have led UConn deep in to any NCAA tournament.

 

[AdamaNation]

what was AG's ceiling, AJ price?

.....Who led us to a final four. A #1 seed and a 3rd team all American I think?

 

[Tampahusky]

I can’t wait for the Scott Hazleton HOF injury thread next

 

[ClifSpliffy]

what was AG's ceiling, AJ price?

his ceiling? the headliner in the back of the denali, lessn' of course the third row was in, then he'd bump his head on the ceiling light.

 

[August_West]

Exactly where I said I thought he would lead UConn....to an early NCAA tourney loss.

Whelp we didnt need his help to achieve that, did we? WSU lost to an equal seed. We lost to a lower seeded one.

 

[Fishy]

If Gilbert and Larrier never go down, Ollie might be our coach today or at least held on a little longer. His shortcomings that evolved, maybe a byproduct of his divorce, may have been concealed a little longer

Ollie's demise was hastened by a horrible run of injuries, highlighted by Gilbert

Again with the divorce stuff. Jesus, everyone, stop.

If no one gets injured, Danny Hurley is our coach today.

Do you recall hearing anything about that NCAA kerfuffle Ollie got us into?

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

0.0% chance Ollie gets fired for having kids work out with a trainer in Atlanta if this team is flirting with a one seed in the tournament or nationally relevant. On the spectrum of NCAA violations this is much closer to "free cream cheese for bagels" than it is "bags of cash in Vegas hotel rooms."

On the other hand, saying Gilbert and Larrier being injured is what caused the implosion of the program is a little silly too. The bigger issue was the coach just stopped doing his job.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

.....Who led us to a final four. A #1 seed and a 3rd team all American I think?

I'm talking about the best Alterique would ever be without injuries