Kia Nurse and Canada Beats Czech Team

[rford53]

Kia Nurse had a marvelously complete game in the victory over the Czech Republic 91 - 71. Points, rebounds, assists, great defense , ball handling, decision making. Now Canada is in the quarter finals against Australia on Friday. No question about Kia's skills and smarts. Wow.

 

[UcMiami]

It will be interesting to see the scores in these games as it is the first chance for comparative strength between the groups - Canada was certainly in one of the toughest groups with France and Turkey but they dominated the #2 team out of Spain's group - by a comparable score to Spain's victory over CZE.
In Group Australia was the second best team to the USA statistically, but how good really are Cuba, Belarus, and Korea - I gather Korea actually sent sort of their B team to the worlds and are training the A team for the Asian games for example.
And of course how good were the three teams in the USA group?

 

[EricLA]

I am so glad to read something like this about Kia. There was another thread discussing Kia Nurse specifically and I was completely mystified how anyone could watch her play against players 3 levels above her current high school status and not say she was just a terrific all around player. The continuous droning on her about how she is an "average shooter", "average ball handler" etc etc. just had me shaking my head.

Being her in Istanbul, seeing the quality of the competition, and seeing easily the best player in college (Stewie) struggle often against the world's best really puts Kia into a proper light.

 

[meyers7]

Kia Nurse had a marvelously complete game in the victory over the Czech Republic 91 - 71. Points, rebounds, assists, great defense , ball handling, decision making. Now Canada is in the quarter finals against Australia on Friday. No question about Kia's skills and smarts. Wow.

12 points on 5-8 shooting. 0-2 from 3pt land though. 2 assists o turnovers, 2 rbs and played 24 minutes. Good game for her.

 

[rugbymate]

While it's difficult to draw conclusions from one game, if Kia can have that kind of production against a team that would crush UCONN's AAC competitors then we have a player who can be a worthy successor to BH and can slide over to spell Mo Jeff when necessary. WoW!

 

[JoePgh]

I am so glad to read something like this about Kia. There was another thread discussing Kia Nurse specifically and I was completely mystified how anyone could watch her play against players 3 levels above her current high school status and not say she was just a terrific all around player. The continuous droning on her about how she is an "average shooter", "average ball handler" etc etc. just had me shaking my head.

Being her in Istanbul, seeing the quality of the competition, and seeing easily the best player in college (Stewie) struggle often against the world's best really puts Kia into a proper light.

I think you really have to stretch the English language to make "good but not great" (which is how I characterized Kia Nurse's physical skills) equate to "average". In school, that is the difference between B+ and C. I also compared Kia to Kelly Faris. Would you or anyone say that Kelly's athleticism was "average"? I would never make that statement.

Having said that, and not having watched the Canada-Czech game which I hope to do this evening, I remain of the view that while Kia may be a star at UConn and may eventually be a #1 or high #2 WNBA draft pick, she will do it mostly through her "above the shoulders" contribution -- basketball sense, leadership, and personal maturity. Her physical skills will not hold her back, but they will not be what distinguishes her.

If anyone interpreted my comments as suggesting that Geno was wrong to recruit her or that she will ride the bench for four years, that is also (ahem) a "creative" interpretation of the plain English words that I thought I wrote.

 

[UcMiami]

So France wins as expected and China beats Belarus - that means the #3 teams in groups B and D beat the #2 teams in groups A and C. If Cuba gets beat which I think is likely the Quarters will include three teams from groups B and D and only the top teams in Groups A and C.

 

[rugbymate]

I think you really have to stretch the English language to make "good but not great" (which is how I characterized Kia Nurse's physical skills) equate to "average". In school, that is the difference between B+ and C. I also compared Kia to Kelly Faris. Would you or anyone say that Kelly's athleticism was "average"? I would never make that statement.

Having said that, and not having watched the Canada-Czech game which I hope to do this evening, I remain of the view that while Kia may be a star at UConn and may eventually be a #1 or high #2 WNBA draft pick, she will do it mostly through her "above the shoulders" contribution -- basketball sense, leadership, and personal maturity. Her physical skills will not hold her back, but they will not be what distinguishes her.

If anyone interpreted my comments as suggesting that Geno was wrong to recruit her or that she will ride the bench for four years, that is also (ahem) a "creative" interpretation of the plain English words that I thought I wrote.

You may have unfairly taken some heat on your Kia Nurse post. While your assessment was very good it was also comparing the equivalent of apples and oranges given age, experience, physical development etc. Interestingly, KN reminds me of a young Lindsey Whalen who was labeled as high basketball IQ, strong physically, good but not great athletic skills. Of course they said the same thing about Larry Bird!!!

 

[RadyLady]

I think you really have to stretch the English language to make "good but not great" (which is how I characterized Kia Nurse's physical skills) equate to "average". In school, that is the difference between B+ and C. I also compared Kia to Kelly Faris. Would you or anyone say that Kelly's athleticism was "average"? I would never make that statement.

Having said that, and not having watched the Canada-Czech game which I hope to do this evening, I remain of the view that while Kia may be a star at UConn and may eventually be a #1 or high #2 WNBA draft pick, she will do it mostly through her "above the shoulders" contribution -- basketball sense, leadership, and personal maturity. Her physical skills will not hold her back, but they will not be what distinguishes her.

If anyone interpreted my comments as suggesting that Geno was wrong to recruit her or that she will ride the bench for four years, that is also (ahem) a "creative" interpretation of the plain English words that I thought I wrote.

I don't believe that I saw any indication in the responses of your thread that come close to what I bolded in your post.

Some people disagree with your post and I believe made some valid supporting points.
I didn't agree or disagree, but I simply said that making these kinds of points based upon one set of data is not ideal, and that a larger data spread is a better indicator of her actual abilities.

A relatively new senior manager once asked for one year of data relating to cash receipts, and made cash projections for the coming year based upon that one year of data. That year had been an unusual one, the amount of cash brought in was much higher than it have ever been, and likely not to be duplicated. Needless to say, the projections were way off and the company ended up looking as though they were going to end up short as the new year went on, consequently some of the work that needed to be done and was planned ended up having to be shelved.

It was a newbie mistake. Lesson learned. Use multiple sets of data to get a better picture and establish more accurate averages.

That's all I am saying.

 

[Zorro]

How is her defense?

 

[Wbbfan1]

Not sure if Kia would be a great one on one ball defender against a quick guard. However as others have said she' intelligent and will thrive in UConn's team defense.

 

[Kibitzer]

I liked JoePgh's very thoughtful comments about Kia Nurse. (As a fellow Yinzer, excuse my bias.)

Let me take a less comprehensive shot at evaluating Ms Nurse's potential. Relying once again on Russ's recent quote paraphrased):

"Can she play?"
​

To which I would respond:

"YES!"​

 

[easttexastrash]

12 points on 5-8 shooting. 0-2 from 3pt land though. 2 assists o turnovers, 2 rbs and played 24 minutes. Good game for her.

Not to mention a big shot and assist in the closing minutes of the game.

 

[Icebear]

I am so glad to read something like this about Kia. There was another thread discussing Kia Nurse specifically and I was completely mystified how anyone could watch her play against players 3 levels above her current high school status and not say she was just a terrific all around player. The continuous droning on her about how she is an "average shooter", "average ball handler" etc etc. just had me shaking my head.

Being her in Istanbul, seeing the quality of the competition, and seeing easily the best player in college (Stewie) struggle often against the world's best really puts Kia into a proper light.

I completely disagreed with that other analysis. What Joe saw is not what I saw.

 

[EricLA]

I think you really have to stretch the English language to make "good but not great" (which is how I characterized Kia Nurse's physical skills) equate to "average". In school, that is the difference between B+ and C. I also compared Kia to Kelly Faris. Would you or anyone say that Kelly's athleticism was "average"? I would never make that statement.

Having said that, and not having watched the Canada-Czech game which I hope to do this evening, I remain of the view that while Kia may be a star at UConn and may eventually be a #1 or high #2 WNBA draft pick, she will do it mostly through her "above the shoulders" contribution -- basketball sense, leadership, and personal maturity. Her physical skills will not hold her back, but they will not be what distinguishes her.

If anyone interpreted my comments as suggesting that Geno was wrong to recruit her or that she will ride the bench for four years, that is also (ahem) a "creative" interpretation of the plain English words that I thought I wrote.

Honestly, what I have seen from Kia Nurse on the national level vs. Stewie on the national level, Kia has played better, hands down and it's not really close. I would never characterize Stewie as "good but not great". Basing your projection of her being a "good but not great" player for UCONN based on what you've seen on TV is flawed at the very core of your analysis. Kia will NEVER be playing against the best in the world while at UCONN, nor will she be facing players with 5,10, and even 15 years experience over her.

It would be like watching Mo'ne play against UCONN and decide "she has some skill and a chance to be good but not great". Really?

 

[rford53]

Watching Kia play against the Czech Republic today was a joy, seeing the full range of skills and abilities that are only going to grow at UConn. You had to have seen the game to realize her stat line was nice yet did not reflect her overall excellent play. O turn-overs in over 22 minutes(second highest minutes on her team for his game and the tournament), great passing that often did not garner an assist but was the pass that led to a pass for the basket. She only allowed an early 3 pointer on the person she was guarding and that was it for those 22 minutes. If you get a chance watch this game replayed on ESPN3, then you'll see what I mean. (Ok she had one bad three point attempt in the fourth quarter that hit the top of the backboard....yet her team got the offensive rebound and two points anyway!)

 

[Bgillon]

I just watched the first half of the game and KN was excellent. I sensed that as the youngest player she defers on taking her shot and instead passes the ball. That said, she was one of the best players on the floor for either team. And that's against a Czech team that the announcers said was a very experienced team. Look at her stats and then get very excited about how good she will be as a college FRESHMAN!

 

[UcMiami]

I just watched the first half of the game and KN was excellent. I sensed that as the youngest player she defers on taking her shot and instead passes the ball. That said, she was one of the best players on the floor for either team. And that's against a Czech team that the announcers said was a very experienced team. Look at her stats and then get very excited about how good she will be as a college FRESHMAN!

One of the reasons Sue is such a good PG and Whalen as well - they seldom see themselves as the best option for points in an offensive possession - but shoot a pretty high percentage when they do shoot.
One of the problems for Sims and Diggins in training camp this year was that they were coming in from an WNBA season on a team where they were option 1 and 1A for scoring and trying to immediately transition into a team concept where ideally they would be option #5 in any given five player rotation. I think they both made that transition quite well, but it had to be hard.