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Message: [QUOTE="hoophuskee, post: 2129882, member: 3535"] I don't agree overall. Gabby was pushed to the forward spot in which she is excelling now because she lacked the ability to shoot the ball consistently and has an obscene strength to offensive rebound. To take away her ability to offensive by sticking her outside in a zone is not helpful to Gabby or the team. As far as her being the shortest player, imo not relevant. Heck, Charles Barkley was actually 6-5 1/2. If he were to play with Magic Johnson would that mean one would want Magic to be in the post while Barkley outside because Magic is taller? Even if UCONN loses next game or two, haven't we put the "height" justification to rest as being irrelevant? We have been the best team in America with 5'11 and 6'1. Secondly players like Kia and Lou are taller than Gabby yet Gabby is a far superior player inside. Why take away the superiority Gabby has and put players who are tremendous shooters inside where the are less effective? Overall height will usually lose out over fundamentals. Not all the time ofc. But this year and what the Golden State Warriors have shown - height isn't the "be-all." Remember how many people were saying how much "Nat" was needed this year and that she should start. She definitely was needed this year and UCONN is not number 1 without her and maybe if she played sub-par we would have had 2-3 losses and not been the overall 1 seed. Nat has been huge this year vs certain teams but not the need that many claimed she needed to be - in order to be as good as what UCONN has been. I really do believe we'll need her though. As far as zone defense/ zone offense- imo you attack the zone with fundamentals. And the more fundamentals each player has - you make it harder for the opposing team to defend you. A basic offensive fundamental for all players is "the triple threat." That is when you face the basket you can pass, shoot, dribble. Because Gabby is not a three point shooter and range is suspect, by only focusing on "she can make pinpoint passes" minimizes her impact because she no longer si a triple threat. IMO there is no way Geno is going to go away from certain fundamentals to start a game if he doesn't have to. If she isn't much of a shooter and you have to rely on Gabby ot be a pinpoint passer from the outside while she already is a tremendous passer and terrific scorer on the inside, you have effectively taken a strength of her scoring away from the game along with her offensive rebounding. [/QUOTE]

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