Why Gabby sat vs USCar

[RockyMTblue2]

See? I NEVER disagree with you LOL!!!

Funny. Knew we could talk this out.

 

[CocoHusky]

How about what she DOES ? At her size, the fact that she nearly leads the team in reb/ 40 min is ridiculous. Those numbers clearly support Geno moving her into the post.

She reminds me of Asjha Jones and Tamika Williams. She may be a little smaller than them, but she makes up for that with athleticism. And if she can add her guard skills confidently into her game ? - Ridiculous

She's already my favorite player on the team.

What gabby does is already " Ridiculous good"! Her athleticism? Breathtaking! So glad she in a UCONN uniform. Is she my favorite? -that sort of not fair like asking me to pick between my children: I have 2. My post was in response to the opinion that Gabby should be the starting SG over Nurse- I disagree.

 

[Sonny44]

This young lady is freakishly physically gifted with a positive attitude, a hard worker and driven to succeed. She has poise and maturity that belies her age. As was said above, I don't know or care if she's going to start or what "position" she plays, I just know that she will be an important player over her UConn career.

Geno to Rosie: "...I don't want to Jinx her, ....but if you keep her healthy, she's unbelievable."

Yeah, I think Geno's a little high on this kid.

Amen Biff.
I don't understand all this angst about Gabby. She could accomplish at least as much as Kiah has. She's what 3 inches shorter than Kiah, but probably jumps 6 inches higher.

 

[CocoHusky]

Amen Biff.
I don't understand all this angst about Gabby. She could accomplish at least as much as Kiah has.

Of course she can after a summer of working on her jump shot , passing, balling handling, and fould shooting if you ment Kia Nurse. Shot blocking if you are talking about Kiah Stokes.

 

[DobbsRover2]

"With SCs tall front line, Gabby wasn't going to get a shot off."

There's no evidence this is true. Gabby's athleticism & hops make it likely she'd be at least as successful as our last undersized power forward -- the BTExpress, who is in the top twenty on the all-time UConn scoring list. Her use of the glass & spin to get around defenders hands astonishes me on a regular basis. And I'm not sure it can be practiced very successfully, given all the movement/height/defender variables involved, so I'm crediting it to excellent instincts & inventiveness. Don't get me wrong -- inventiveness requires there has been a lot of practice so you know in general what's possible, but adjusts for the specifics of the as-yet-unencountered present situation.

Kind like how Roger Federer regularly invents shots on the fly, especially on the backhand.

Yeah, it's not the size that matters so much as the quickness, and when Gabby does the spin and bank shot, I have not seen it get blocked, even when she's had someone like Houston's Ty Gilbert on her who is big and blocks a lot of shots. When Gabby has been blocked in the last ten games it has been on jumpers in the lane or straight lay-ups, which are much more vulnerable to getting blocked unless ironically you're that short MoJeff who never gets blocked. The two players who get blocked the most on UConn are Nurse and Tuck because of their style of play in taking it to the hoop on drives. Stokes also brings the ball down too low often when she goes to the hoop but it's not usually a block because no shot gets attempted in those cases.

Hard to say how effective Gabby was against USCar because she was in for 4 minutes and picked up a point and a rebound, which is not a terrible amount for so little time. USCar got one block (against Tuck) and it's hard for me to believe that someone like Wilson would have picked up a bunch of blocks if Gabby had been in there a lot longer tossing up her spin banks. Seeing how Wilson played defense, I actually think Gabby would have eaten her alive. Watch how Gabby does it, backing in or just driving her butt in on the defender to push her back, and then quickly spinning and sweeping the arm far out and curling it around for a high banker. As a defender you have to be quick and have perfect timing to block that shot. Maybe Stewie and Kiah have the wingspan and skill to do it, but I didn't see any Gamecock with that ability.

 

[hoophuskee]

Hoop & Joe, I am not ready to pick sides yet because I agree with most of both your analysis. Two additional point 1) Don't sleep on Boykin-as a hybrid 3/4 she will challenge Gabby for playing time. She rebounds, defends and passes well enought to get minutes in any line up. Most importantly she will takes and make the 3 at a high enough clip that defenses have to honor it.
2) Gabby foul shooting could become problematic enough for team to consider a hack a Gabby strategy which could be enough to keep her out of close games. I want to enjoy this year. We have a whole summer to debate next year's starters, positions & minutes.

No need to pick sides. I misinterpreted what he said. He was speaking of who will start.

As far as Boykin - she missed a year this year. You miss time it's tough to overcome. When Boykin committee - there was a poster here named "Godfather" I think that was very high on Boykin. I thought of possibility she could step in over Butler. But she's been out a consierdable amount of time - just in the back of my mind - just a wild guess I think she'll be behind the others early. - Though we'll find out soon enough.

And for me - with Gabby it comes down to how well she shoots. SO certainly I agree about her ft shooting and she has to be able to shoot 15 footers or I think she'll have to be like a tasmanian devil inside. Without either/or as others said more terrific players are coming.

 

[CocoHusky]

This young lady is freakishly physically gifted with a positive attitude, a hard worker and driven to succeed. She has poise and maturity that belies her age. As was said above, I don't know or care if she's going to start or what "position" she plays, I just know that she will be an important player over her UConn career.

Geno to Rosie: "...I don't want to Jinx her, ....but if you keep her healthy, she's unbelievable."

Yeah, I think Geno's a little high on this kid.

Biff,
I am surprised that another poster has not reminded you already that Geno said something similar about Heather Buck. Love the expressions of the entire coaching staff in the picture Geno-Mouth wide open. Shea-similar to Geno just saying wow. Marissa- peeking around Geno not wanting to miss a thing.
I am reminded of Gabby quoting Shea about her recruiting: “We don’t need you ( Gabby) but we are sure glad to have you.”

 

[Striper69]

Yeah, it's not the size that matters so much as the quickness, and when Gabby does the spin and bank shot, I have not seen it get blocked, even when she's had someone like Houston's Ty Gilbert on her who is big and blocks a lot of shots. When Gabby has been blocked in the last ten games it has been on jumpers in the lane or straight lay-ups, which are much more vulnerable to getting blocked unless ironically you're that short MoJeff who never gets blocked. The two players who get blocked the most on UConn are Nurse and Tuck because of their style of play in taking it to the hoop on drives. Stokes also brings the ball down too low often when she goes to the hoop but it's not usually a block because no shot gets attempted in those cases.

Hard to say how effective Gabby was against USCar because she was in for 4 minutes and picked up a point and a rebound, which is not a terrible amount for so little time. USCar got one block (against Tuck) and it's hard for me to believe that someone like Wilson would have picked up a bunch of blocks if Gabby had been in there a lot longer tossing up her spin banks. Seeing how Wilson played defense, I actually think Gabby would have eaten her alive. Watch how Gabby does it, backing in or just driving her butt in on the defender to push her back, and then quickly spinning and sweeping the arm far out and curling it around for a high banker. As a defender you have to be quick and have perfect timing to block that shot. Maybe Stewie and Kiah have the wingspan and skill to do it, but I didn't see any Gamecock with that ability.

Maybe Geno's saving something for the NCAA's...

(you know...don't show all your cards).