Canada Serbia - streaming

[Charliebball]

Story on Kia Nurse's big game

The New Haven Register Blogs: Elm City to Eagleville

 

[JoePgh]

I just watched the replay of this game, which is available with some searching at the nbcolympics.com web site (as long as you can prove that you are a subscriber to someone on their list of cable networks).

I have two general observations:

1. Danielle Page. Did anyone else remember her name and face? It stood out in the Serbian starting lineup, because everyone else had a last name ending in "-ovic". It finally dawned on me that Danielle Page was drafted by the Connecticut Sun in the late rounds a few years ago (in the Thibault era) and actually made the team and played a few games before she was cut. I am pretty sure that she graduated from one of the larger Midwestern universities -- probably in the Big 10. She is a tough but undersized post player. I'm sure that she is as American as apple pie, but she must speak Serbo-Croatian (because they certainly wouldn't change their practice language to English to accommodate her) and she probably has some Balkan ancestry that allowed her to claim dual citizenship so she could get on the Serbian team. I would like to hear the story, but the replay that I played had no announcers so I never did hear it.
2. Kia Nurse. That was certainly one of Kia's best games -- probably her very best since she beat Stewie and Moriah last summer. Surprisingly, she was not in Canada's starting lineup, but once she got in the game, it was very difficult for the Canadian coach to take her out. And in fact she played the entire 4th quarter. She was hitting from 3 (a very good sign for UConn next year, so that KLS is not the only perimeter threat in the UConn lineup). She also hit a couple of pull-up jumpers from about 17 feet, and she used an angle off the backboard for each of them. That will be a big weapon for her next year if she can hit it consistently. She had a number of nice and difficult assists, and a few bad/dumb turnovers as well. She isn't yet Sue, Diana, or Moriah in that regard, but I think that by the time she graduates, her A/TO ratio will be in their league. I expect to see her start the remainder of Canada's games.

I also watched the USA-Spain game on replay. What surprised me more than anything (and what others here have noted) is the enthusiastic way in which Diana coached Griner and Della Donne, and the way they appeared to hang on her every word. I never thought of her as being too interested in coaching, but now I wonder about that.

In fact, I started to think about one scenario that MIGHT ensue if Geno retires in the next few years (maybe after winning Gold in 2020?). What if Sue and Diana could BOTH be convinced to coach at UConn to continue the tradition? I know that they don't have college coaching or recruiting experience, but who could possibly have more credibility with high school seniors wanting to have a professional basketball career? Sue could be the adult and work out the X's and O's, while Diana provides the competitive fire and the glamor value for recruits. Maybe CD and Marisa could be convinced to stick around and teach them the ropes of the college game and the recruiting game, and also coach the post players (which Sue and D might not be qualified to do).

I can think of far worse options for the inevitable succession problem.

 

[BigBird]

Bravo, Kia! She has so much heart and skill.

 

[DaddyChoc]

I will no be surprised when this Canadian Badass becomes an All-American as a UConn Husky.

nice to see you Kib, I was thinking of you yesterday (thought you were kind of quiet lately, maybe it was just me)

 

[meyers7]

I just watched the replay of this game, which is available with some searching at the nbcolympics.com web site (as long as you can prove that you are a subscriber to someone on their list of cable networks).

I have two general observations:

1. Danielle Page. Did anyone else remember her name and face? It stood out in the Serbian starting lineup, because everyone else had a last name ending in "-ovic". It finally dawned on me that Danielle Page was drafted by the Connecticut Sun in the late rounds a few years ago (in the Thibault era) and actually made the team and played a few games before she was cut. I am pretty sure that she graduated from one of the larger Midwestern universities -- probably in the Big 10. She is a tough but undersized post player. I'm sure that she is as American as apple pie, but she must speak Serbo-Croatian (because they certainly wouldn't change their practice language to English to accommodate her) and she probably has some Balkan ancestry that allowed her to claim dual citizenship so she could get on the Serbian team. I would like to hear the story, but the replay that I played had no announcers so I never did hear it.

Here's an article about her Naturalization. It's in Serbian. But using an online translator, it seems she played with a couple Serbians at Nebraska and kinda just took a liking to Serbia while she was playing in different countries in Europe. Just decided to get naturalized. Doesn't say anything about parents or grandparents. ??? She was born in Colorado Springs, CO.

http://kosarka24.rs/5666-danijel-pejdz-predstavljena-u-kosarkaskom-savezu-srbije

 

[cordarone]

From the FIBA eligibility rules

A national team participating in a Competition of FIBA may have only one player on
its team who has acquired the legal nationality of that country by naturalisation or by
any other means after having reached the age of sixteen.

The one naturalised player allowed needn't have any roots to the country he/she is playing for so long as the citizenship requirements are met, and the player hasn't played for any other country previously. This, I presume would be the case with Page, like Hammon (and later Prince) did for the Russians, and Lindsey Harding is doing for Belarus this tournament.