Niels Giffey is the perfect glue guy. A knockdown 3 point shooter, who doesn't take bad shots. He even showed bits of slashing and post game skill towards the end of the year. But more importantly is his defensive versatility. He guarded players from Sean Kilpatrick to Julius Randle and every kind of player in between. UConn needed more consistent rebounding? Niels crashed the boards like crazy and pulled in some huge rebounds (including 11 against Nova).
Championship teams need high-level glue guys; there's a reason Niels Giffey is a two time National Champion.
From the moment Niels bent at the waist and didn't get the loose ball and had KO yell at him, he did everything except hit the open outside shots he hit all year (go figure). And, the shots finally came in the final game . . . plus the other one from the corner. The argument could be made that there's no NC if he didn't do all that he did.
Then again, same argument gets made regarding Boat's defense, free throw shooting and shot selection. And DD stepping up on defense and offense. And TSam filling in for Lasan, until the final game when he went back to being understudy. And Phil's interior defense. And Amida's 3-point play vs. St. Joe's.
Oh yeah: Shabazz!
And KO, and the staff, and JC, and the alums.
It took ALL of that to win, NOT playing "perfect games" against "better" teams.
Plus Senhor.
