Why UConn WBB freshman Gandy Malou-Mamel could be a 'really big factor' next year

[NycUcWbbFan]

It difficult to decipher this paragraph, some peculiar subjunctive construction I suspect. But now you have me thinking about what 1 year of practice might end up doing for Gandy if she gets real minutes next season.

She’s a big big. And she’s also a fast big who runs the court well. Not as well as Sarah or Blanca or even Sara Okeke (if she comes to Storrs), but better than Jana. And probably better than almost all other players 6’5” or taller. Her offensive skills are raw at best. She’ll mainly score on putbacks if she scores at all.

The real question for Geno (and us) is whether she can rebound and discourage guards from driving into the paint. And maybe defend other bigs for a while until she fouls out. My guess is she’s not very far from this standard. The key factor, I think, is footwork and understanding court positioning, and she has already said as much herself. This is stuff she can develop in practice against some of the best bigs in D1.

Worst case scenario is she gets into foul trouble quickly. But this isn’t a crisis given the many front court players Geno will have at his disposal. Can she give Geno as much as 10 mins of solid effort? I’m betting on yes. If Jana starts and plays 18-20 minutes and Gandy and Olivia each provide 8-10, I think we won’t be disappointed. There will be plenty of time to run a super big lineup occasionally, a traditional lineup and also a smallball lineup.

In Geno and CD’s fast PACE quality mix-and-match this year, they are able to carve out quality time (see ”Pocket Bridge Rotations”) for Caroline, Ice and Ayanna, despite having limitations on their games/ positions they play due to setbacks from prior injuries:

• If Gandy becomes a passable “basketball player” rotation player, with some of her better abilities becoming a weapon (for example, à la Kelly Schumacher in paint deterrence or a Kia Stokes in defense and rebounding) Geno and CD will find minutes for her, especially in the softer part of the schedule, even if some of her other skills are still developing.

More and better quality mix and match at a faster PACE is part of Geno and CD’s solution to the riddle of a deep quality roster.

• One enables the other (and vice versa) and results in faster and better learning and improvement (akin to machine learning) and flatter minutes to achieve program and individual goals;
• And the more dominant mix-match play is, the more time can be carved out of games for training the lower bench players; in 15 games this year, Geno and CD have used 69% of games (i.e. through 3/4 of the third period) to develop the key rotations for March/ April success, and the rest for other rotation players’ training.

 

[fomalhaut]

It's going to get quite interesting next season when Jana, Gandy and Olivia are competing for game playing time. Many here on the BY are going to have a favorite and there will probably be many threads and posts asking "Why isn't (enter one of the three players here) starting or getting more minutes?

Some of us have been saying that this year already.

 

[hoophuskee]

It difficult to decipher this paragraph, some peculiar subjunctive construction I suspect. But now you have me thinking about what 1 year of practice might end up doing for Gandy if she gets real minutes next season.

She’s a big big. And she’s also a fast big who runs the court well. Not as well as Sarah or Blanca or even Sara Okeke (if she comes to Storrs), but better than Jana. And probably better than almost all other players 6’5” or taller. Her offensive skills are raw at best. She’ll mainly score on putbacks if she scores at all.

The real question for Geno (and us) is whether she can rebound and discourage guards from driving into the paint. And maybe defend other bigs for a while until she fouls out. My guess is she’s not very far from this standard. The key factor, I think, is footwork and understanding court positioning, and she has already said as much herself. This is stuff she can develop in practice against some of the best bigs in D1.

Worst case scenario is she gets into foul trouble quickly. But this isn’t a crisis given the many front court players Geno will have at his disposal. Can she give Geno as much as 10 mins of solid effort? I’m betting on yes. If Jana starts and plays 18-20 minutes and Gandy and Olivia each provide 8-10, I think we won’t be disappointed. There will be plenty of time to run a super big lineup occasionally, a traditional lineup and also a smallball lineup.

yeah I didn' write that well.

1--- Concerned that next year if she doesn' play (or play very, very little considering his recent comments) posters will lose patience in the quality of the player. or
2---- Blame Geno on her lack of development citing something like his comments we see on this thread.

Just as some posters want to wait for a recruit before voicing an opinion. In other words "I'll believe it when I see it." That's happened with Paige, Sarah and Blanca to varying degress. With me with Gandy, I've always felt she is a potential jr/sr year player. Anything other than that, I'll believe it when I see it. Geno is a big time exaggerator imo.