Kia Nurse vs. Stewie and Moriah

[bellairehusky]

Now that the season is over the championship won, I want to ask a question that has been bugging me for a very long time...how in the world did Kia Nurse single-handedly beat a team with Stewie and Moriah?

 

[j66kicker]

Now that the season is over the championship won, I want to ask a question that has been bugging me for a very long time...how in the world did Kia Nurse single-handedly beat a team with Stewie and Moriah?

Simply badass....

 

[housekeys]

UConn will have lots of superstars next couple years, but it will have one leader: Kia

 

[Carnac]

Now that the season is over the championship won, I want to ask a question that has been bugging me for a very long time...how in the world did Kia Nurse single-handedly beat a team with Stewie and Moriah?

Because Stewie and Moriah didn't get any help from their teammates. The rest of the team deferred to them to score and play defense. None of the other USA players appeared to play with any urgency or resolve.

 

[Sullybaby]

Now that the season is over the championship won, I want to ask a question that has been bugging me for a very long time...how in the world did Kia Nurse single-handedly beat a team with Stewie and Moriah?

Kia Nurse is a much better player than you're giving her credit for. If you're worried about her scoring or taking over games, don't. Don't forget with the Canadian team for a long time she was their youngest player. Naturally then, she deferred to the older women. I believe the same thing happened this year at UCONN. She simply did what she's always done, deferred, in this case to the seniors. Watch out next year!

 

[snlMINAJ]

i am quite honestly very intrigued to see kia nurse as junior and senior. she clearly has the talent and potential to be the 'it' player as evidenced by this past summer. i think due to her play this past summer we were probably all expecting more than 9-9ppg 2rpg & 3apg this season.

i see her taking more ownership next year, she will obviously have a bigger role.
i expect 13-15ppg 4+rpg 4+apg next year.

 

[UcMiami]

Now that the season is over the championship won, I want to ask a question that has been bugging me for a very long time...how in the world did Kia Nurse single-handedly beat a team with Stewie and Moriah?

While Canada does not strike fear into the USA NT, it is a team of good international players who have years of experience over the college players on the USA team. Nurse was spectacular, but she had a lot of support from the whole rest of the team. Player for player, with the exception of Stewart and Jefferson, every match-up favored Canada.

 

[xHunt3r]

Now that the season is over the championship won, I want to ask a question that has been bugging me for a very long time...how in the world did Kia Nurse single-handedly beat a team with Stewie and Moriah?

Canada had a better team...

have to keep in mind that USA basketball split the talent in that age group between two teams, so it wasn't the strong team we could have put forward.

 

[Lynx23]

In a recent interview (I can't recall where I saw it, maybe an All Access segment) Geno stated that Kia's role with this team was different than hers with the Canadian team. He added that she became the "go to" person with the Canadian Team but that UCONN did not require she take on that role. I think this probably sums up the answer to the question posed in this thread. I noticed her open and calling for the ball quite often last night but the passes not coming her way, and nor did they need to. Next year will be different; everyone will have to be a scorer. BTW, her line was decent throughout the tournament but she didn't take a lot of shots, deferring to her teammates. She's a very good floor general and may very well be the team leader next year. She certainly doesn't back down to anyone on the court.

 

[Charles T]

Right. Canada had a better team and the US coach was not Geno.

Diana says clarity is a key factor, among others, separating Geno's/CD's teams from all the others. All players know their roles and all the others' roles. Kia's, inter alia, are/were playing all-out-no-fouling defense on a big scorer, serving as an option on offense, and running the floor on the break [50' pass from Stewart & lay-up last night for example]. Another factor is discipline. They all know they do it CD's and Geno's way or they sit on the bench.

Kia's role will change.

 

[warbler1055]

Kia always gives 100% on the floor. She put up something like 34 (don't remember the exact number) points in the PanAm game last Summer vs the US so she can score a bunch. I have no doubt she will be the Canadian point guard at Rio and at UConn next year.

 

[mdakota]

Because Stewie and Moriah didn't get any help from their teammates. The rest of the team deferred to them to score and play defense. None of the other USA players appeared to play with any urgency or resolve.

I agree Completely... I watched a few of those Pan Am games... Taya Reimer would hold her hands out in front of her in a "What are we doing" type gesture... Alana Coates just slowly jogged up and down the floor... Those two stuck out in my mind because everyone is always saying how great ND and SCAR are. No urgency and even less teamwork was displayed... with the exception of Mo and Stewie... Now it would have been a completely different story had Tuck Played...

As for Nurse... We haven't seen her scoring prowess at UCONN yet... She's happy to do her part within the team and defer to the big three... Because she's an awesome team player.

 

[CocoHusky]

Because Stewie and Moriah didn't get any help from their teammates. The rest of the team deferred to them to score and play defense. None of the other USA players appeared to play with any urgency or resolve.

Ding Ding Ding we have a winner!
There was a very poignant play from this summer that sums up the answer. Picture this; At mid court the was a loose ball laying on the ground. 10 player on the court. Three of the 10 players instinctively dove on the ground to get the ball. All three were UCONN players! Coincidence?

 

[Jimbo]

This thread seems like a perfect place to drop this ESPN article about Kia and next year:

Kia Nurse holds the cards for UConn

I suppose a pessimist could look at her Pan Am performance and wonder whether that was a one-off thing because she didn't duplicate it this past season. But I fall into the camp of those who say Kia simply wasn't asked to turn in that kind of scoring performance for UConn this year. For me, the key takeaway from what she did last summer is the fact that clearly she has it in her to perform that way when she has to. Not everybody has that. And she did all that against an American collegiate all-star team. She even physically overpowered Jefferson on a couple of drives late in the championship game and got an and-1 or two against her. If she can do that against Mo and the USA Pan Am team, she can do it against a college team. Now that she'll no longer be the 4th or 5th scoring option in UConn's starting lineup, I think we'll start seeing that side of her more often.

 

[Roundball fan]

Now that the season is over the championship won, I want to ask a question that has been bugging me for a very long time...how in the world did Kia Nurse single-handedly beat a team with Stewie and Moriah?

Stewie and Mo had played way to much in every game and I thought they were worn out. Just my opinion but Kia also played great and we will need all of that next year.

 

[TheGOAT23]

Ding Ding Ding we have a winner!
There was a very poignant play from this summer that sums up the answer. Picture this; At mid court the was a loose ball laying on the ground. 10 player on the court. Three of the 10 players instinctively dove on the ground to get the ball. All three were UCONN players! Coincidence?

Bingo!!!

 

[baggerbob]

Because Stewie and Moriah didn't get any help from their teammates. The rest of the team deferred to them to score and play defense. None of the other USA players appeared to play with any urgency or resolve.

Players like Coates, and Plum showed why they lost in the tournament by being no shows in the Pan Am games.