Kia a finalist for Lieberman

[j66kicker]

I agree that Ionescu is a phenominal player, and should be given serious consideration for this award. I would ask this question.assuming that Nurse is the best defender of this group, I would then ask "What can Ionescu or any of the others do that Nurse can't do? I realize the fact that Kia has been a starting guard on two national championship teams should have nothing to do with THIS year's award. If you're going to mention leadership, I would think that should prove her leadership abilities, not to mention that in 4 years, she's only lost 2 games (Stanford, Miss St), none of which where on her home floor. She has a motor that does not stop or slow down. She leads by example, and she's been a team leader all season..not to mention that Geno loves her!!

This is not a comment on who I think should win, but Ionescu does have the motor and the leadership. Several posts here question her defense. I went to see her play Friday night and she played hard defense and effective defense the whole game. Actually I thought she led her team by her defensive example. She is really, really good.

The one negative might be she just isn't that fast. And... Oregon has had some good wins against ranked teams this year, but they lost big to the only truly elite teams they played, and Sabrina didn't show up - Louisville (Ionescu 8/2/3) and Mississippi State (Ionescu 15/1/5). IMO it isn't her year. But, also IMO, she DOES play defense.

 

[connie]

Until I watch most if not all of the games these candidates played this year, I cannot have any reasoned opinion. Having said that, I question whether the stats. can tell us too much. Some players' stats suffer from playing on teams that have tougher schedules. Or the stats benefit from more playing time necessitated by more close games. Or they reflect lesser or greater surrounding talent (doesn't matter how good a passer you are if your teammate can't hit their shot).

In any event, putting aside whether the candidates even qualify as point guards, I would imagine that if Kia had Ionescu's stats., and Ionescu had Kia's, there'd be bloody hell to pay on this Board if Kia did not get the nod.