Taj Gibson made all ten of his shots against Boston College in the 2009 NCAA tournament. Two days later, he fouled out against Michigan State with more than five minutes left. Any account of his college career ought to make room for both afternoons.
The Chicago Bulls posted a tribute to Gibson on Monday, a good reason to return to the three seasons he spent at USC. Before Chicago selected him, the Trojans had already asked him to carry a large part of their rebounding and interior defense. They had also learned how much his availability could change a game.
USC could use him immediately
His archived USC biography records 16 points and 14 rebounds in his freshman opener against South Carolina. He finished that first season with 321 rebounds, then a school freshman record.
I like that starting point because it gives Gibson a college life of his own. It is easy to read his college years only for clues about his NBA career. At USC, there were games to win that week. A freshman who could collect fourteen rebounds helped the Trojans right away, whatever a scout might think about his next employer.
The responsibility continued. By March 2009, Gibson became USC's first Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year. The announcement identified him as a three-year starter and the team's leader in scoring, rebounding, field-goal percentage and blocks at that point in the season. Defense gave him one distinction. USC was asking him for offense as well.
Boston College got the fullest version. The Associated Press account carried by USC credits Gibson with 24 points, six rebounds, five assists and three blocks in the Trojans' 72-55 first-round victory. Five assists belong in the description. Even on an afternoon when every shot went in, he helped other players get theirs.
That game makes an appealing answer to the question of what a college big man can contribute. Gibson finished opportunities, defended the basket and passed. Calling him a rebounder would leave out several reasons Boston College had trouble with him.
The next opponent changed the afternoon
Michigan State forced a much harder account. Gibson had three points, no rebounds and five blocks in 23 minutes before fouling out with 5:38 remaining, according to USC's second-round game report. The Spartans won 74-69.
Five blocks and no rebounds are an awkward pair of numbers. They belong together here. Gibson could still erase a shot, yet USC finished this game without his rebounding contribution and then without him at all. A defensive award could not keep him on the floor.
His teammates kept playing. Dwight Lewis scored six straight USC points after Gibson left, including the free throws that tied the game at 69. The ending deserves those names and actions, too. Gibson's absence narrowed USC's options. Lewis still gave the Trojans a chance.
When I wrote about Kalin Lucas last week, his finish against Kansas came from the next round of this same tournament. USC had been close enough to change which team got that opportunity. That proximity is part of Gibson's college story, even though the happier Boston College afternoon is easier to revisit.
There is a current version of the roster question in Wes Hardaway's Louisville piece on LJ Wells and Flory Bidunga. How much work can one frontcourt player do, and what must the others cover when his assignment takes him away from the basket? Gibson's two tournament games show how quickly those responsibilities can change.
Chicago chose him 26th in June. USC's draft-night account put his final college totals at 896 rebounds and 253 blocks. He left as the school's career blocks leader. By then, USC had seen him solve a matchup and had seen an opponent take him out of one. Chicago was drafting a player with three college seasons of both kinds of experience.
