...the thought hit me a few games when I saw her short arm a layup and avoid contact.

In all the tapes of Gilbert I watched when Kaitlyn was in HS or on AAU teams, she was a very strong finisher with her layups. Granted, the competition is uniformly (much0 better, but I'm a little surprised the (lack of) finishing.

As my coach used to say on layups and putbacks..."you don't have to be so fine, just get to the line."

If you watch them all closely you will are they are using underhanded scoop shots for layups. Walker, Gilbert, etc.

I don’t know what they did in high school - but it’s a technique issue. My sister was a 5’4” AA point guard (turned down ND in early 80’s). She first pointed it out to me and it drives her insane watching ND - and it has been an issue for a long time with many different players. It is something that for whatever reason MM doesn’t seem to attempt to change. My sister had that baby hook variation too because it was a way to get the ball ober 6’2” forwards that had 10” on her. But - she very much used proper technique on all shots other than very overt ones contested by giants. Oddly, she averaged over 10 FT per game In High school (and over 20 ppg). As stated by you above and in my other post - proper technique would draw more fouls too.

I think they got away with it more in high school due to weaker competition and thus likely calmer while shooting with the same bad technique for layups.

It’s why Mk makes her layups at a much higher rate. The ball is released using proper technique for her.

At one point in the GT game I counted 6 straight misses using bad technique. Each guard occasionally shoots layups correctly - so there is room to force change to happen if someone tried.