What to make of Gaffney?

[Kenny11]

At the moment, I'd describe Gaff as a KO guy. Someone who doesn't improve or put in the work in the offseason. He earned a starting job last year. Looked like someone who would help anchor the team with Bouk. Then we recruit a pretty average PG in Cole and Gaff is sitting. Justifiably so.

My assumption is he didn't put in proper summer work.

he is known as a kid that really really really puts the work in.

 

[Husky68]

At the moment, I'd describe Gaff as a KO guy. Someone who doesn't improve or put in the work in the offseason. He earned a starting job last year. Looked like someone who would help anchor the team with Bouk. Then we recruit a pretty average PG in Cole and Gaff is sitting. Justifiably so.

My assumption is he didn't put in proper summer work.

From his play to date do you think Cole put in the proper summer work? Both are shooting about 30% from the field and Cole gets far fewer rebounds (effort?) and way more turnovers (basketball IQ?) but lot more steals (quickness?).
Both Gaffney and Cole need to play better. Neither is currently playing well (not talking about shooting which has been way under par but is distinct from playing well) enough to be a top 25 team point guard.
I would start Gaffney with Cole coming off the bench. Hunt shots for Bouk and Polley early. Cole comes in and team trys to get him shots. Play determines game minutes where one plays or both play together a lot.

 

[UKemba15]

What you say? Off season reports are overhyped? Is that what you are suggesting? Heaven forbid. I can’t believe that could happen...why every off season report I read had me expecting a front court of Bird and Jordan with a young Bill Russell at center and a back court of Magic and LeBron.

I couldn’t believe it when Bill Russell asked to be released from his NLI last summer...thought we were gonna have something special in that one...

 

[UKemba15]

Your New Year's resolution is to stop being wrong on the internet.

Gilbert took over nothing last year which is why he is living out in a cornfield somewhere in Kansas.

Well, he took over occasionally, it was just usually to the detriment of our team...

 

[Fishy]

Well, he took over occasionally, it was just usually to the detriment of our team...

lol.

I don’t want to run the kid down, but he was horrific, especially late in games until he finally had to take a night off for the Temple game.

Short memories around here.

 

[David 76]

Every one should relax. We probably will never see Gaffney, Martin, Adams and Cole all shoot that poorly again.

 

[UConn990411]

I have no idea why Gilbert is coming up in this thread, but there’s a reason last year’s team turned a corner when Gaffney replaced him in the starting lineup.

He’s not the most dynamic point guard we’ve seen at UConn, but the offense runs a lot smoother when he’s on the floor. If nothing else, his first instinct isn’t to take quick shots that really should be going to Bouknight.

 

[ucp990411]

I think Gaffney could be a decent player at UConn. My two issues with Gaffney is that A) he is only a sophomore, and kids take time to develop, and B) Gaffney would be better if he wasn't forced to play the 3 so much. He is too short, it is hard to create against athletic 6'6 players, and he ends up parked in the corner.

Please let me know when he plays the 3?

 

[Ratso]

Every one should relax. We probably will never see Gaffney, Martin, Adams and Cole all shoot that poorly again.

seriously, 17 days off playing a top 10 team. could be worse, golden state not looking so good

 

[MexicoHusky]

From his play to date do you think Cole put in the proper summer work? Both are shooting about 30% from the field and Cole gets far fewer rebounds (effort?) and way more turnovers (basketball IQ?) but lot more steals (quickness?).
Both Gaffney and Cole need to play better. Neither is currently playing well (not talking about shooting which has been way under par but is distinct from playing well) enough to be a top 25 team point guard.
I would start Gaffney with Cole coming off the bench. Hunt shots for Bouk and Polley early. Cole comes in and team trys to get him shots. Play determines game minutes where one plays or both play together a lot.

Who knows. Maybe not.

My comments about Gaff are just a theory of course. Based on the fact that Gaff started last year. Seemed to be developing into a solid 4 year guy. He should of been in the drivers seat for the starting role. Suddenly he's on the bench and seems to have taken a step backwards. Benched by a transfer who isn't playing particularly well himself. I'm a bit puzzled.

Maybe its just Covid. Maybe Covid took away the normal summer leagues and camps. I understand he put on some muscle. Spent time in the gym.

I like Gaff. A lot actually. Coming into the season i thought he'd be one of the leaders of the team. So far he's not so great. Hoping he turns it around.

 

[MexicoHusky]

he is known as a kid that really really really puts the work in.

Yeah, I don't pay a ton of attention to the off-season news. Others have suggested he put in a decent amount of time in the weight room.

 

[WeAreUCONN]

I was confident Gaffney would hit the free throws and he did. I was not confident that Cole would and he didn’t. Other than being in control when he’s on the court. Nothing else stands out to me about his game. I wish it was Gaffney at the line instead of Cole though.

 

[coachn]

Gaff hit his FT. He's a winner.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Please let me know when he plays the 3?

Look at the box score.

 

[David 76]

Cole hadn't missed a free throw until this game.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

Neither Cole nor Gaffney has shown they can beat their guy off the dribble ... or maybe the offense isn’t structured in a way that gives them the opportunity. Either way, the PG has to do that, or be brilliant at pick and roll to shine.

BTW, Gilbert could do that on occasion, but was stymied when he got to the rim.

 

[UconnU]

Gaff hit his FT. He's a winner.

He’s a damn ghost out there. He made 1 field goal in 30 minutes, got to the line just once, missed all five 3s he took. He’s a big reason why teams are doubling Bouk. He needs to improve offensively, just not making too many mistakes isn’t good enough. This is the baseball equivalent of a team starting a defensive right fielder.

With that said I think he’s going to be a fantastic senior.

 

[lange10]

For those who seemingly forgot the constant Gilbert headaches, fast forward to 1:13:45.

Cole and Gaffney are not playing spectacular right now offensively but to unequivocally say Gilbert would be the best PG on our team and helping us immensely is just wrong.

 

[Kemba Time]

For those who seemingly forgot the constant Gilbert headaches, fast forward to 1:13:45.

Cole and Gaffney are not playing spectacular right now offensively but to unequivocally say Gilbert would be the best PG on our team and helping us immensely is just wrong.

This game is such a perfect example of why every Alterique conversation on this site always turns into a giant argument of "He would be our best PG option and we miss him vs. he was so horrific, how could anyone ever think that?" If you choose to watch the 1:13:44 before that, he was a major part of the reason UConn was in a position to win this game. He was the key player during a run that took UConn from down to up 5 in the second half and clearly outplayed Gillespie on both ends ... and then he threw a pass that was very much the equivalent of missing two free throws with the game on the line, and that's all some remember.

AG had his moments. He was a better player in a UConn uniform than anyone who says he was horrific is remembering. Posters who do things like choose to put up his stats over final 9 games instead of using his final 10 because 10 games ago he had 17 points on 66.7 FG and that would change being able to say he shot 31% to he shot 37% over his final games with UConn are wrong. I mean, seriously, who uses a nine-game sample size unless they are trying to make it fit for them. A simple look at the last five games after roles were settled going into the AAC tourney shows that he and Gaffney were pretty close to equal by the end of the season with a slight edge to AG, but that's not an argument worth having for the 1000th time now.

People who say things like we wouldn't have been in position to beat Creighton with Alterique at PG are very wrong: We were in position to beat Villanova, Florida, Houston (twice), Xavier and Wichita with him at PG last year. What happened at the end of some of those games is another story (those Florida and Houston wins were fun nights) -- one that unfortunately often looked like the end of our most recent game. And it's amazing the way some constantly explain away Gaffney's 33% FG/26% 3FG and then say AG couldn't throw it in the ocean for shooting 37/31 in his career.

And anyone who peddles the "we started winning when Gaffney took over the PG job" narrative is really ignoring that the schedule became much easier at that point. AG gets killed for close losses to Wichita, Nova and @Houston, who were all ranked at the time. Gaffney gets credit for taking over with a win against Temple and the only ranked team we played the rest of the way was the Houston win that Gilbert actually started and played 33 minutes to Jalen's 27.

Bouk also developed into a much more consistent threat, Vital took his game to another level, Whaley took over a key role down low -- which would have solved a major issue of AG throwing dump passes that Carlton couldn't catch in the post, because Carlton cannot catch the ball -- and so much down the stretch had to do with having two capable PGs to share the load instead of needing one to do things like play 45 minutes with the ball in his hands of a 2OT Wichita State game because Gaffney looked like a deer in the headlights when good teams pressured him for the first half or so of the season.

That said, Alterique's UConn career was undeniably a disappointment and it was time for him to move on. Some of it was injuries, we all know that. Some of it was coaching early in his career. Some of it was being miscast as the next Kemba/Boat/Bazz ball-in-his-hands guard when his game after those injuries clearly didn't support that. And some of it was his own on-court decision-making and an attitude of trying to prove he could do it all by forcing the issue instead of deferring when things started spiraling.

It's really time for everyone on both sides of it to stop feeling the need to bring his name up every time our current PG play is the topic of discussion though. If you still feel the need to drag the kid over the coals, your New Year's resolution should be to not be a jackass on the Internet. If you feel the need to post that he would be a better option than what we have now, you are falling into the same trap those who relentlessly ripped AG did when he was here: Gaffney and RJ are our point guards now. Support them. There's no more need to focus on if we'd be better with Gilbert than if we'd be better with Kemba, Marcus Williams, Antonio Kellogg or Taliek.

 

[Greathusky]

Generally speaking, I think the whole team is looking to find their roles behind Bouknight. There seems to be a hesitancy in the offensive flow with players taking too long to make their move whether it be passing, cutting or shooting. My hope that this will become less apparent as the rust falls off and players are more comfortable with each other.

 

[lange10]

This game is such a perfect example of why every Alterique conversation on this site always turns into a giant argument of "He would be our best PG option and we miss him vs. he was so horrific, how could anyone ever think that?" If you choose to watch the 1:13:44 before that, he was a major part of the reason UConn was in a position to win this game. He was the key player during a run that took UConn from down to up 5 in the second half and clearly outplayed Gillespie on both ends ... and then he threw a pass that was very much the equivalent of missing two free throws with the game on the line, and that's all some remember.

AG had his moments. He was a better player in a UConn uniform than anyone who says he was horrific is remembering. Posters who do things like choose to put up his stats over final 9 games instead of using his final 10 because 10 games ago he had 17 points on 66.7 FG and that would change being able to say he shot 31% to he shot 37% over his final games with UConn are wrong. I mean, seriously, who uses a nine-game sample size unless they are trying to make it fit for them. A simple look at the last five games after roles were settled going into the AAC tourney shows that he and Gaffney were pretty close to equal by the end of the season with a slight edge to AG, but that's not an argument worth having for the 1000th time now.

People who say things like we wouldn't have been in position to beat Creighton with Alterique at PG are very wrong: We were in position to beat Villanova, Florida, Houston (twice), Xavier and Wichita with him at PG last year. What happened at the end of some of those games is another story (those Florida and Houston wins were fun nights) -- one that unfortunately often looked like the end of our most recent game. And it's amazing the way some constantly explain away Gaffney's 33% FG/26% 3FG and then say AG couldn't throw it in the ocean for shooting 37/31 in his career.

And anyone who peddles the "we started winning when Gaffney took over the PG job" narrative is really ignoring that the schedule became much easier at that point. AG gets killed for close losses to Wichita, Nova and @Houston, who were all ranked at the time. Gaffney gets credit for taking over with a win against Temple and the only ranked team we played the rest of the way was the Houston win that Gilbert actually started and played 33 minutes to Jalen's 27.

Bouk also developed into a much more consistent threat, Vital took his game to another level, Whaley took over a key role down low -- which would have solved a major issue of AG throwing dump passes that Carlton couldn't catch in the post, because Carlton cannot catch the ball -- and so much down the stretch had to do with having two capable PGs to share the load instead of needing one to do things like play 45 minutes with the ball in his hands of a 2OT Wichita State game because Gaffney looked like a deer in the headlights when good teams pressured him for the first half or so of the season.

That said, Alterique's UConn career was undeniably a disappointment and it was time for him to move on. Some of it was injuries, we all know that. Some of it was coaching early in his career. Some of it was being miscast as the next Kemba/Boat/Bazz ball-in-his-hands guard when his game after those injuries clearly didn't support that. And some of it was his own on-court decision-making and an attitude of trying to prove he could do it all by forcing the issue instead of deferring when things started spiraling.

It's really time for everyone on both sides of it to stop feeling the need to bring his name up every time our current PG play is the topic of discussion though. If you still feel the need to drag the kid over the coals, your New Year's resolution should be to not be a jackass on the Internet. If you feel the need to post that he would be a better option than what we have now, you are falling into the same trap those who relentlessly ripped AG did when he was here: Gaffney and RJ are our point guards now. Support them. There's no more need to focus on if we'd be better with Gilbert than if we'd be better with Kemba, Marcus Williams, Antonio Kellogg or Taliek.

Certainly - this Nova game was one of his better games as a Husky. He was a large reason we were in the game in the end.

However, at the end of the day, you need a PG that is cool, calm & collected in crucial moments of games. He was not. There’s a lot of evidence to support this viewpoint.

 

[ucp990411]

Look at the box score.

What does the box score tell me? When he plays with Bouk and Cole, Bouk would be the 3. When he plays with Adams and Cole, Adams is the 3.

 

[Improviser]

Cole hadn't missed a free throw until this game.

True.

Reminds me of a quote a chef friend of mine once said.

"A chef is only as good as his last meal."

People remember the last thing somebody did. The last meal, the last remark, the last foul shot. Not necessarily fair to the person, but the way life is often.

 

[Kemba Time]

True.

Reminds me of a quote a chef friend of mine once said.

"A chef is only as good as his last meal."

People remember the last thing somebody did. The last meal, the last remark, the last foul shot. Not necessarily fair to the person, but the way life is often.

I always thought the quote was "A chief is only as good as his last brief"

 

[freescooter]

Cole hadn't missed a free throw until this game.

He shot what 10 for the year at that point. Not exactly a huge sample.