GG Jackson's Leadership Intangibles To Be Tested In Brown's Absence
When warmups were taking place before the South Carolina Gamecocks Saturday matchup against the Texas A&M Aggies, all of the players were presented and accounted for, but not all of them were available. Hayden Brown, who been's called "the glue guy" for this basketball team and after the A&M loss was also dubbed as the grittiest player on the team by head coach Lamont Paris, was in street clothes as he's dealing with what was later stated to be a deep thigh bruise.
Without trying to dive too deep into the medical realm, a deep thigh bruise injury isn't one an athlete can afford to take lightly, and based on coach Paris stating he hopes to have Brown back "sooner rather than later", it doesn't appear as if Hayden will be available for a significant amount of time. If this is indeed the case, South Carolina will need to see someone else step in the frontcourt, as while it will be expected that point guard Meechie Johnson will be more vocal, Johnson cannot carry the entire load by himself.
With Brown out, you'll likely see a three person rotation of Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk, Josh Gray and GG Jackson for the time being in the front court, and one of these players will have to step into a larger role, but the question is which one needs to be the player that does so? The unequivocal answer here is GG Jackson, due to the role he already holds in term in regards to his production. Again, this doesn't mean that Jackson has to become the voice for the entire team, but more so not be afraid to hold his teammates accountable when their consistency in terms of execution or effort is lacking.
This is where we get into a followup question that can only be answered in due time: can GG Jackson handle the weight of being more vocal along with his current responsibilities and the fact that he's still growing both from a physical and maturity standpoint at the college level? This isn't meant to be a question rooted in doubt, but one more so of a general understanding of the current set of circumstances GG Jackson and the South Carolina Gamecocks find themselves in.
Jackson is expected to move onto the NBA after this season, and the Gamecocks have shown on multiple occasions already that they can be the recipient of horrendous blowout losses, so without the stability that Hayden Brown offers, can Jackson fight through the eventual adversity he'll have to face?
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