2025 Recruiting: Gandy Mamel Malou

[HuskyNan]

Exactly, and this is misunderstood by many fans. The summer circuits, Nike, Adidas, UA etc. are the best HS age competition in the world. The international teams that USA BB competes against during the summer are a noticeable step below these US summer leagues. There are scattered individual players that are widely recruited but the depth of talent is just lower. That's why El Alfy looked so good in those summer tournaments and looks fairly average against this college competition. She has to get a lot quicker and play a lot smarter. I like that Auriemma is using limited PT to force both El Alfy and Brady to work and improve their games. He won't risk losing a game OOC, no matter what he tells the media, to provide OJT. As he says, 'force me to play you' or you'll have to wait. These aren't practice games. I also think you're correct about Gandy's compete level.

Every day I see 5-10 posts on Instagram about a top player (UConn player of interest) scoring 25, 35, 40 points in a game. Every. Single. Day.

 

[donalddoowop]

Based on stats? How does this make any sense when you've never seen the 6-3 opponent play and she's obviously less developed than Gandy and 3 years younger?

Age has nothing to do with how good some players are. JuJu Watkins was three years younger than most senior guards her freshman season and was clearly better than most. Same with Sarah this season. Gandy can't do any more than play against the opponents on her school's schedule. Hopefully she will play against some high-level competition this Summer.

 

[HuskyNan]

Age has nothing to do with how good some players are. JuJu Watkins was three years younger than most senior guards her freshman season and was clearly better than most. Same with Sarah this season. Gandy can't do any more than play against the opponents on her school's schedule. Hopefully she will play against some high-level competition this Summer.

She's aged out of AAU. Maybe she'll play some international ball.

 

[Oldschoolbb]

This thread got me excited to see Morris Catholic play, as they are a very short drive from me (two towns away). They play the town between us on Wednesday at home.

 

[hookshot]

If UConn wants to really compete against UCLA, South Carolina and other teams with big frontcourts they will need Jana to step up.........the only way that is happening is if she gets more minutes per game during conference play......if at that point she hasn't progressed than the small line up will have to suffice for this season......

Agree with Charlieball. Geno will continue to experiment to establish who is ready for prime time but not just will it to be so. Skill development happens in practice. Then you get game play where you use your skill and gain confidence (that is where Allie is now, she has the skill, but needs to build confidence via game play, as available). I don't see Jana skill as 'fairly average' (yet) compared to other starting big East posts. She appears somewhat below average compared to other starting Big East Posts, I.ve observed so far. She may have above average ceiling because of her inherent aggressiveness and coachability but she's a ways away yet and maybe can't get there this year even though we need her to.

 

[HuskyNan]

You can see two plays where Gandy is shown. In one, she turns and boxes out, in another she's ready to grab a rebound but the ball went through the hoop. Unfortunately, I can't find a Gill St Bernard's video, just this bit about the Pauldo twins from Morris Catholic

 

[HuskyNan]

Gandy had 11 points in limited minutes yesterday vs Hunterdon Central. Gill St Bernards led 44-26 at the half and outscored Hunterdon 33-9 in the second half.

Gill St Bernard's is currently #2 in the 21 team Skyland Conference.

 

[HuskyNan]

Gandy update - Gill St Bernard’s avenged one of its two losses with a 64-27 beatdown of the #12 ranked team in NJ, Rutgers Prep. Gandy had 17 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks, and 7 (!) steals. She’s now averaging 19.1 points, 10.5 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 2.0 blocks, and 1.6 steals.

I can’t find a video of the Rutgers Prep game but the stat stuffer line indicates an active player that plays both ends of the court. I like

 

[HuskyNan]

 

[RoadMaster]

 

[Zonepress]

View attachment 106337

It’s always good to review what GA has to say about recruits
Last year he said SS would change the trajectory
Of the program
That Morgan would make things happen when she was on the court and that AZ was a scorer but
Nor a great defender (I’m paraphrasing)
Obviously very accurate!
Imho Gandy is the most interesting recruit that UConn has had in sometime as she was recruited
More on potential which is not the norm

 

[JoePgh]

Age has nothing to do with how good some players are. JuJu Watkins was three years younger than most senior guards her freshman season and was clearly better than most. Same with Sarah this season. Gandy can't do any more than play against the opponents on her school's schedule. Hopefully she will play against some high-level competition this Summer.

Hopefully she won't, because she will be in Storrs with the rest of the team this summer, since her freshman year in college starts in the fall.