Prospect Spotlight: Gil Taiber (2020)
On a deep and talented Cedar Falls roster, 6-foot-5 forward Gil Taiber could be a guy to emerge as an essential piece this winter.
The Tigers are striving for back-to-back state titles this season, and with their size, depth and skill, have a very legitimate shot to be crowned 4A champs once again.
Taiber is a lengthy and versatile combo-forward, who would have a shot to start and be a major contributor for most any other team in Iowa. With Cedar Falls, his playing time could be scarce at first, and must be earned.
“I’ll be fighting for playing time with some seniors that are good that are coming back. I think I should still get some decent playing time, and I just hope to make the most of what I do get, and earn my playing time,” said Taiber.
It’ll be his ability to exploit smaller forwards and use his length that could make Taiber essential to Cedar Falls success.
“With my length, I think that I’m pretty good at driving to the hoop, I’m kind of quick for how tall I am. And I’ve been working on my shot a lot lately, so I think that’s going to be my skill-set this year,” said Taiber.
“I’m also working on my back-to-the-basket, and being able to score on guys that are smaller than me.”
Taiber spent his spring and summer playing with Iowa Prep 16U, he says it was a productive and beneficial offseason.
“It was a good summer, we played really well together. And I’ve been in the weight-room, too. I’m hoping I can be a little stronger than some of the other guys and be able to use that to my advantage,” he said. “I was pretty active over the summer, just trying to get a lot of shots up and trying to improve the best I can.”
As he heads into what will be a very important junior season and 17U offseason, Taiber says some recruitment has started to trickle in. He’s using NCSA’s website to help generate some college attention.
“I’ve been getting a lot of emails from coaches inviting me to camps, smaller schools have been reaching out to me for visits,” said Taiber. “I hope to get a little more attention from some bigger schools, that’s be fun to play somewhere big.”