A tale of two Kevin's.
Kevin Gamble was an above average athlete, great slashing interior moves, good shooter, clutch player, and a sieve on defense. Dennis Hopson of OSU in particular gave him fits. Davis frequently had to go zone in 1987 despite having an edge in athleticism almost every night. And Gamble was a large reason why. Fortunately the juggernaut that was the 1986-87 Hawkeyes hid a lot of weaknesses. Until UNLV exposed them. Ironically, it was Gamble's third foul early in the second half that helped trigger UNLV's run. By the time Davis realized he needed Gamble's scoring punch, the damage had been done.
Kevin Boyle was, at least for two years, a slightly above average athlete, good baseline J, decent hops, good rebounder, had none of Gamble's "put it on the deck" moves. But he could shut down an opponent. He did it mostly with hustle and intelligence, forcing his man where he didn't want to go, forcing him into traps, good anticipator for steals on the perimeter. He went MIA against Louisville in the 1980 final four game and began a slow downward spiral from there. He actually had a similar career to Kenyon Murray. By the end, guys like Illinois Derek Harper were toying with him and he struggled just to shoot free throws. But Boyle always had the desire, the mentality, to do defensive dirty work. Gamble could make athletic plays in the press but treated halfcourt defense like an afterthought. It shortened he NBA career.