In Kia Nurse We should Trust?

[Lynx23]

I admit I would have liked to have seen more consistency in Kia's play in the Olympics but I also recognize that she is not required to live up to my standards. Maybe there's another way to look at this hypothetically. Who on the UCONN's WCBB team, this year or last, would have done a better job of leading the Canadian National Team through three victories in the Olympics? Stewie? Maybe. Moriah or Morgan? Not likely. Anyone else? No way. Kia was not yet a Junior, leading seasoned pros against seasoned pros. This wasn't the Pan Am games, which created unreasonable expectations. I don't know how good Kia can be this year but we'll soon find out. She was certainly humbled against France and I was disappointed for her, but perhaps this experience will be a valuable learning tool. Let's hope so because I suspect, as she goes, so will UCONN WCBB this upcoming year.

 

[jdubct]

Give Kia a break. I wonder how a pre-junior year guard such as Moriah Jefferson would do as a starting guard in the olympics. That's a tough task, being the youngest player on the team, having to start. Probably play well in some games and not so well in others.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

Shouldn't we infer that Kia was not 100% for some or all of last season? Or did that sports hernia just happen this past spring? She didn't have as good a year as I thought she would, maybe she was playing with some discomfort all year? (what we non-doctors call pain)

Gus Mahler- - - Gus you beat me to it. Kia Nurse was hurting all last season with the sports hernia. And she had the repair surgery right after the FF so she could come back in time for the Olympics and to prepare for UCONN's 2016-2017 season. Even though her play this past season was down from her freshman year it was amazing that she played as well as she did under what must have been major pain and/or discomfort!
I trust in Geno & staff and Kia's competitive nature to bring her back to her usual talented, aggressive style of play!

 

[bags27]

I honestly don't know why this discussion gets play. Kia is a magnificent defender and extremely steady with ball movement and ball distribution. She is an intense and excellent athlete and takes coaching very well. She brings great intangibles to the game: she's a terrific teammate, has tons of elan, and is a total competitor. Yes, her shooting is erratic: sometimes very hot (scored 25 in one Olympic game; looked very bad in the loss), but that's a mental thing and perhaps correctable.

More importantly, focusing on a player in isolation is a fool's errand. It's got to be a team concept, a total ecology. Most players have some significant deficit. A coach has to balance deficits with the compensatory strengths of other teammates. The past two years, with the core "big 3" so dominant and with either KML or KLS as the bomber, Kia's role was relatively minor. Over the next two years, with new or at least newer players integrating, her role will be enlarged: it will be to provide mature leadership and a steadying influence. It will be to demonstrate to younger players that it's okay to make mistakes, so long as you work to correct them; that there is a way to play "smart" basketball. UConn has the luxury of putting the best team on the court, rather than necessarily the "best" five players. Whatever one thinks of Kia as an individual player (and I do believe she is the best 2-guard on the team), Kia is essential for the team.

 

[meyers7]

So who could be the leaders? How about the two not playing this year, sitting it out, but bringing it to the starters in practice and setting the tune throughout the season? For you naysayers, this thought should not be overlooked!!!

Wait, now some of the things you've posted are pretty dumb, HOWEVER, this just might take the cake.

So you think players who've never played for Geno before, never played at UCONN before, will not be on the floor this year, should be the leaders???

 

[Waquoit]

Learn to see the good in others.

I learned that years ago. But in some cases I need a stronger prescription.

 

[Bigpetunia]

Sorry to read your disrespectful comment about me being a troll and that I am beneath someone. God created all the same, man - the created -classifies each other. Learn to see the good in others.

Right you are (syntax notwithstanding!)!!! Everyone, EVERYONE is entitled to his or her opinion, even if the opinion in question has little or no merit. Guess even the Supreme Being falls short of the mark occasionally. Yes, the player whose skills you indict occasionally plays out of control on offense. But UConn's ongoing dominance is rooted, as it always is, in the fact that its opponents consistently struggle to break the 50 point barrier. No one on the team regularly contributes more to that reality than Kia Nurse. Thanks for suggesting that we ignorant fans "wake up." Me, I'm going back to sleep.

 

[Jimbo]

Andy Warhol was quoted as suggesting that everyone is entitled to 15 minutes of fame.

Your time's up.

Disagree slightly in this instance, Kib…only because those 15 minutes surely expired at least six months ago with RunItUp!'s posting of that bizarre "Are Modern Athletes True Christians?" thread on this board. (I don't have the stomach to link to it here, but it's still available in the Cesspool for anyone interested in being flabbergasted.)

As for Kia, I think she has been nothing short of tremendous in her first two years at UConn in a complementary role as a "glue"-type player. I doubt that many fans expected upon her arrival that she would become as important to the '15 and '16 title teams as she proved to be. Whether that translates into stardom, now that her role will expand in the Big 3's absence, remains to be seen. But I'm not betting against her ability to carry a team on her back when necessary, because she proved in the Pan Am games that she's capable of doing just that. And even if she struggled at times during the Olympics, I think it's safe to say that the toughest competition she'll face while wearing a Husky uniform will look a lot more like the USA Pan Am team than the French senior national team.

 

[BroadwayVa]

A 2 year uconn starter and Canadian national team starter is not going to be the floor leader this season because who is going to have that role instead?

I don't see Kia as an all American next year but she is the best option available. And UConn will have multiple challenges - the team will not live or die solely on her performance.

I believe you hit the certainty of this year--Kia alone will not be whether Geno gets to the final four or even the Sweet16--that's an off year--the talent of the opponents and Geno's ability to motivate may be the determining factors.

 

[Alydar]

Funny but I remember a couple of threads about Nurse 2 years ago on other boards. The focus of the discussions then was a video taken after her junior year of HS in which she played in a scrimmage which was intended as a promo video for another player looking for a D1 scholarship. Some posters noted that she "wasn't much" and relegated her to the end of the UConn bench. Her HS stats were discounted due to their being attained against pathetic "Canadian" competition When it was suggested that just being the starting guard for a national team while other Canadian college graduates were riding the pine gave her status, the response was that the Canadian team sucked generally. All the naysayers disappeared early in her freshman year.

IMO what Nurse brings to the court is fearlessness and aggressiveness. When she sees a lane to the hoop she doesn't hesitate, she goes. And the idea that she drives out of control doesn't jive with her 1.5 fouls per game last season. UConn is very fortunate to have a 5'11" physical guard who is strong enough to finish drives and who also has the quick first step start them. And she won't have to drive on Torrens or Fowles or Griner.

Nurse has had priceless experience denied other college players, playing against the best in the world. She will go from that to playing in the NCAA. Nurse is taking what in horse racing is called a significant drop in the class of opponent she will be facing. Barring injury,Nurse is going to emerge as one of the top guards in college this year. Whether she plays more at the 1 or 2 depends on how others play but I'm pretty confident she will lead the team.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Nobody that posts on these boards will decide what Kia's role is with the Uconn Team.. That is for Geno, and Geno alone, to decide... I trust him more than you... so your plea for everyone to wake up will fall on deaf ears.

Geno has lots of help making player decisions--if he doesn't he needs to fire at least 3 . If you watch Geno long enough and listen to his words--you'll find that some external influences have an impact on players , however so small. I won't go into it because for every word another word may have been chosen. Geno is a perfect example of what us fans should never say never about--think Stevens, Butler--they were 2 of 3 nevers.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Right you are (syntax notwithstanding!)!!! Everyone, EVERYONE is entitled to his or her opinion, even if the opinion in question has little or no merit. Guess even the Supreme Being falls short of the mark occasionally. Yes, the player whose skills you indict occasionally plays out of control on offense. But UConn's ongoing dominance is rooted, as it always is, in the fact that its opponents consistently struggle to break the 50 point barrier. No one on the team regularly contributes more to that reality than Kia Nurse. Thanks for suggesting that we ignorant fans "wake up." Me, I'm going back to sleep.

Exactly what IS syntax?

 

[LouS]

Die Hard women's husky BB fan here. I watched the Olympic women's BB games and some of the Canadian games. I know most of you people think that Kia will be/should be the floor leader of this year's husky team. Some of you will point to her 30 point game she had against the Americans that defeated Stewie and Mo at that time. Well people, wake up!!!!!!! Her last minute decisions and shot selections were absolutely ridiculous and ill-advised, and she played like there was no other teammate around her in her last Olympic game. Throwing up silly shots and shot management skills were not in her mind - she lost the game for Canada and I blame the knucklehead Canadian coach who should have pulled her in the middle of the 3rd quarter, especially since she is the youngest of the team with less experience! So this is the leader most of you think should take over the team this coming year - huh? I am the poster who advised that she have been replaced last year.

WHOA !!!! Don't most Uconn Women mature and get better (especially if you have talent). Kia will and you will eat you words....

 

[rugbymate]

Kia is a defensive gem and the choices she has made on offense continue to improve. However, her most important impact attribute is her leadership. She will be the de facto leader of the team this year and Geno will shape her role accordingly.

 

[Bigpetunia]

Exactly what IS syntax?

It's a federal levy imposed on individuals who indulge in hubris, wrath, gluttony, envy, sloth or greed. It was previously imposed upon lust, but that's since been rescinded.

 

[pinotbear]

It's a federal levy imposed on individuals who indulge in hubris, wrath, gluttony, envy, sloth or greed. It was previously imposed upon lust, but that's since been rescinded.

thank goodness!

 

[pinotbear]

In answer to the opening premise of this thread: yes.

 

[Monte]

Die Hard women's husky BB fan here. I watched the Olympic women's BB games and some of the Canadian games. I know most of you people think that Kia will be/should be the floor leader of this year's husky team. Some of you will point to her 30 point game she had against the Americans that defeated Stewie and Mo at that time. Well people, wake up!!!!!!! Her last minute decisions and shot selections were absolutely ridiculous and ill-advised, and she played like there was no other teammate around her in her last Olympic game. Throwing up silly shots and shot management skills were not in her mind - she lost the game for Canada and I blame the knucklehead Canadian coach who should have pulled her in the middle of the 3rd quarter, especially since she is the youngest of the team with less experience! So this is the leader most of you think should take over the team this coming year - huh? I am the poster who advised that she have been replaced last year.

....last 6 words: "she have been replaced last year"???????????????/

 

[Waquoit]

Players improve over time at UConn. Nurse will be even better next season.

 

[CCinCT]

Kia Nurse can now add her name to the roll call of UCONN players trolled by a relentless naysayer. I remember Maria Conlon as one such, and Kelly Faris. Seems to me they did all right for themselves. Anyone else remember players who had their pet troll ?

 

[alexrgct]

To answer the rhetorical question posed in the thread title, my response, quite simply, is "yes".

 

[BigBird]

To answer the rhetorical question posed in the thread title, my response, quite simply, is "yes".

Sounds right.