Gandy is a project, there’s no denying it. I’d think of her in comparison to other ‘project’ bigs, like Piath or Aliyah del Rosario. She’s already more skilled than Piath when when she arrived in Storrs, and may become about as skilled as Del Rosario was as a freshman by the time she gets here.
Kyla Oldacre is another example: more skilled as a freshman than Gandy is likely to be, at least as a rebounder and low post scorer. But she’s nowhere near as athletic as Gandy.
I hesitate to include Amari in a list like this because we don’t know how much injuries hampered her growth as a player. But in any event she was never as physically assertive as Gandy is now.
Gandy’s already considerably more athletic than any of them right now. She’s stronger and quicker, and above all she’s physically assertive. I’d say she’s more athletic than Dorka was, though nowhere near as skilled, and may never be.
An interesting comparison would be Liv as a freshman. Similar athleticism, though Liv may have had quicker feet, and she already had pretty good post moves and understood positioning pretty well. Gandy will likely not be nearly as far along as that. But Geno may not need her to be.
This is why Kiah Stokes keeps coming up as a comparison. As a freshman she was also a project. But she was quite coachable and capable of getting a few points and a few rebounds and blocking a shot or two in 10+ mpg. She was not as big as Gandy at 6’3”, but she was very athletic even as a freshman.
I’m wary of projects because they may never develop once they get to D1. The curve may be too steep for them. But I don’t have this fear with Gandy merely because she started late and already seems to be developing well along a steep curve as it is.
If anyone is imagining how Gandy would play right now against the best HS bigs, like little Betts or Lara Somfai, I suspect she’d be outclassed. They just have more skills at both ends and they are each nearly as athletic as she is. Could she limit their low post scoring or rebounding? Maybe. Though she’d probably foul out pretty quickly. Two or three years from now, however, she might be able to defend either of them effectively.
