Ignatius L Hoops
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https://www.minnpost.com/sports/2019/02/how-taiye-bello-became-the-gopher-womens-rebounding-machine/
In her final years with the Minnesota Lynx, when Lindsay Whalen stopped playing overseas, she occasionally dropped by the University of Minnesota to scrimmage with the Gopher women. The benefits flowed both ways. Whalen got a spirited workout against younger legs. And the Gophers picked up pointers from a WNBA great who happened to be the program’s most prominent graduate.
So when the Gophers hired Whalen as head coach last spring to replace Marlene Stollings, who left for Texas Tech, she already knew a thing or two about the players she inherited. But not everything. It took time for Whalen to discover something she hadn’t noticed before, something that proved vital to her team’s success: Junior forward Taiye Bello’s relentless drive to grab every rebound in sight.
“It was probably the first couple of weeks of practice when I was just like, wow, she really has a talent, and she’s really special at rebounding,” Whalen said before practice earlier this week.
...
”You can’t stop heart.” Whalen said. “I played with the greatest rebounder ever in Rebekkah Brunson. Taiye has all the skills and all the same heart that Rebekkah has. She’s just more determined than everybody out there.”
The comparison to Brunson, the Lynx great and WNBA’s career rebounding leader, is humbling praise for Bello, who averages 9.8 points per game. “Try not to disappoint,” Bello said. “That’s all I can do.” Bello said she met Brunson when the Lynx practiced at Williams Arena in the 2017 WNBA playoffs, but wasn’t bold enough to say much beyond hello. “I wish I had her number, but I don’t,” Bello said.
...
Last summer, determined to carve out more playing time, Bello worked even harder on her rebounding. She recruited two rugged Gophers male practice players to challenge her in drills. “She was trying to get boards against guys who were taller than her and had more bounce than her,” Bell said. “She was doing drills where she had to get the ball in the air, not let it touch the ground.”
Pitts, also from greater Detroit, has known the Bellos since high school. She rooms with the Bellos and Garrido Perez. “With Taiye, I always knew she was capable of it,” Pitts said. “I’d say her coming out party started this summer. Just the work she put in, she was always willing to get in the gym. Hey, want to go and work on some pick and roll type stuff? The work she’s put in the summer to develop her game showed a lot this year.
“She just has a knack for the ball in rebounding. A lot of teams probably scout her and say, ‘Just rebound the ball.’ Probably a lot easier said than done. You come out here and try to box her out.”
In her final years with the Minnesota Lynx, when Lindsay Whalen stopped playing overseas, she occasionally dropped by the University of Minnesota to scrimmage with the Gopher women. The benefits flowed both ways. Whalen got a spirited workout against younger legs. And the Gophers picked up pointers from a WNBA great who happened to be the program’s most prominent graduate.
So when the Gophers hired Whalen as head coach last spring to replace Marlene Stollings, who left for Texas Tech, she already knew a thing or two about the players she inherited. But not everything. It took time for Whalen to discover something she hadn’t noticed before, something that proved vital to her team’s success: Junior forward Taiye Bello’s relentless drive to grab every rebound in sight.
“It was probably the first couple of weeks of practice when I was just like, wow, she really has a talent, and she’s really special at rebounding,” Whalen said before practice earlier this week.
...
”You can’t stop heart.” Whalen said. “I played with the greatest rebounder ever in Rebekkah Brunson. Taiye has all the skills and all the same heart that Rebekkah has. She’s just more determined than everybody out there.”
The comparison to Brunson, the Lynx great and WNBA’s career rebounding leader, is humbling praise for Bello, who averages 9.8 points per game. “Try not to disappoint,” Bello said. “That’s all I can do.” Bello said she met Brunson when the Lynx practiced at Williams Arena in the 2017 WNBA playoffs, but wasn’t bold enough to say much beyond hello. “I wish I had her number, but I don’t,” Bello said.
...
Last summer, determined to carve out more playing time, Bello worked even harder on her rebounding. She recruited two rugged Gophers male practice players to challenge her in drills. “She was trying to get boards against guys who were taller than her and had more bounce than her,” Bell said. “She was doing drills where she had to get the ball in the air, not let it touch the ground.”
Pitts, also from greater Detroit, has known the Bellos since high school. She rooms with the Bellos and Garrido Perez. “With Taiye, I always knew she was capable of it,” Pitts said. “I’d say her coming out party started this summer. Just the work she put in, she was always willing to get in the gym. Hey, want to go and work on some pick and roll type stuff? The work she’s put in the summer to develop her game showed a lot this year.
“She just has a knack for the ball in rebounding. A lot of teams probably scout her and say, ‘Just rebound the ball.’ Probably a lot easier said than done. You come out here and try to box her out.”