Gandy believes each stage of improvement will render GCU unrecognizable
By: Paul Coro
The first public peek of a new Grand Canyon women's basketball era came Thursday when the GCU Basketball Practice Facility doors opened and first-year Lopes head coach Winston Gandy met the media.
But when what Gandy has in store comes to fruition, the look will be a memory by the time the season rolls around.
Gandy, whose coaching roots lie in development, is building a program by constructing improvement in each player's game. Weeks into summer workouts, GCU was playing its fifth day of five-on-five scrimmage because this team is a research and development project.
Gandy and his staff are learning their players as talents and people, and vice-versa. From there, the Lopes coaches intend to make the team even look back in wonder.
"How we start the season, I don't want to recognize our team at the end of the season, which means we've grown through the year," Gandy told Phoenix media members Thursday. "People have made some strides. We've seen some of that in the summer.
"How success looks, for me and for us, is that I don't recognize us. I hope I don't recognize us come September, then come November. Typically, with the really good teams, how you start is not like how you finish."
The improvement comes from straight-forward coaching, the type of assessments that junior guard Julianna LaMendola heard on her first recruiting call with Gandy and made her want to play for him.
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LaMedola
LaMendola is one of 13 new Lopes players, including nine transfers and four freshmen, who are getting infusions of confidence and belief along with the honest coaching.
"I'm really excited to see where it's going to take us in the preseason, the fall and then into the season," said LaMendola, a Dallas-area native who transferred from Indiana. "It's just been a lot of intentional bonding. It's fun. I love all my teammates. I love my coaching staff. It's all about building a foundation of trust, honesty, sisterhood and family. I think we've really done that."
An identity is still in formation, but Gandy and the assistants were diligent about forming a base of high-character players who complimented each other in skills and personality.
"I really believe in roster composition – working on trying to making sure the talent fits with other talent," Gandy said. "So when all of our players look to the left or right, they're not seeing a younger or older version of themselves."
Since starting skill workouts June 16, one strength that has emerged to Gandy is the roster depth. He likes the blend of experience levels and the balance of dynamic playmakers and finishers.
The full identity and performance level will play out into the season, but revelations will not be a wait-and-see development until GCU's debut Mountain West schedule. Crediting his time assisting national championship head coach Dawn Staley at South Carolina, Gandy said he wants nonconference play to challenge his Lopes.
"We're not going to wait to conference to see where we are," Gandy said. "I do think of part of elevating this university and part of elevating the program is you've got to put yourself in games with tournament-level teams. We're going to play an aggressive nonconference schedule. I know they had 30 wins (32-3 last season). I know we ain't going to have 30, but I do think we'll be tested. We'll be prepared come conference.
"I do think it will lay the foundation for the way people look at GCU, as, yes, we may be in a mid-major conference, but that's probably just about it when it comes to what we are and what we aren't."
LaMendola said the Lopes need some adversity to create grit and develop the mindset to be about each other. Despite only having two returnees who have played together previously, the summertime is developing those bonds on and off the court.
"Our goal is hopefully they get to us on and off the floor from different elements, so they don't see us just as coaches," Gandy said. "They see us as people, and we see them as basketball players and people."
For information on GCU women's basketball season tickets, click here.
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Gandy, whose coaching roots lie in development, is building a program by constructing improvement in each player's game. Weeks into summer workouts, GCU was playing its fifth day of five-on-five scrimmage because this team is a research and development project.
