Kiah Stokes

[msf22b]

Near the end of the game, when Baylor made its big run,
Stewie and Bria made big shots to put the game away.

And Kiah was a rock inside, swatting away shots and rebounding the ball.
A regular unsung hero
At a point where our bigs were reluctant to be aggressive on account of fouls.
She contributed 4 blocks and 6 rebounds in 15 minutes

And no fouls…that's zero!

As many blocks as the whole rest of the team combined!

In a very big game ( a poster on another thread queried what had she done in big games).

I'm not saying that Kiah has completely emerged; there is the small matter of offense.
But if the combination of our staff and her family can generate some slick moves around the hoop.
Something well within her potential.
And put a touch of meanness into whatever niceties take place between her ears.

Then the potential for a very high draft pick next year is very much in play.
And a huge senior season is possible ("I can see it"…thinking of a Pajama Game lyric).

 

[caramel]

We may be surprised next year,as far as her offense goes.She really isn't needed offensively this year,even though most would like to see it from her.Next year could be a different story,and I have a feeling her father will be working with her all summer on her offensive game.As much as I love this team and each individual on it,my heart is in Kiah's corner and when she does start to become consistent on the offensive end,I will be her biggest cheerleader!

 

[Tonyc]

Kiah has been great. When she begins to learn how to score and not just on rebounds she will see a lot more time. Dribble drives, 10-15 footers will help. She has come along way and makes a tremendous difference on defense. Now we need her to look to score.

 

[cohenzone]

Obviously we don't see most players, but I have to believe that minute for minute, Kiah is in the top echelon of post defenders and rebounders in the country. She might be in the top echelon of defenders regardless of positiom. She has been having a great impact regularly lately.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Kiah has been more willing to take the 8 to 10 foot shot that Stef takes. Unfortunately it seems most of the time like its a last second decision and that's when she misses them. With more playing time next year, I wouldn't be surprised to see her make more of them. What I'm also hoping is that she won't setup in the high post as much as Stef does and the team will have a much better low post offense.

 

[HGN]

Kiah is , has been , and will be a very important part of this team. On offense and on defense. She plays defense like no other in the post.. She may not score the points but she makes it possible for others to score with her offensive boards.

 

[meyers7]

What I'm also hoping is that she won't setup in the high post as much as Stef does and the team will have a much better low post offense.

You keep saying that. I don't think you understand how the UCONN offense works.

 

[ndmb]

You keep saying that. I don't think you understand how the UCONN offense works.

Not necessarily in this case. Stefanie is a much better passer and shooter than Kiah, and not as good a rebounder. I think it's a fairly reasonable possibility that Kiah will fill a different role next year than Stef does this year.

As an example, UConn usually doesn't play much zone, but Geno has made an exception this year for when we have three bigs on the floor.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

I have great faith in Kiah, but I have to wonder if Geno does. Why did Kiah only get 15 minutes last night? When Dolson got her 2nd late in the first it would have been the perfect time to get her in and keep Stef from getting her 3rd. Didn't happen and Stef eventually got that 3rd one. Dolson played 32 minutes and stewart 39. Kiah couldn't have gotten a few more minutes?

 

[DaddyChoc]

is there a Defensive POY award in the NCAA?

 

[Phil]

is there a Defensive POY award in the NCAA?

Yes

WBCA/United States Marine Corps Defensive POY

 

[Forty_four]

I have great faith in Kiah, but I have to wonder if Geno does. Why did Kiah only get 15 minutes last night? When Dolson got her 2nd late in the first it would have been the perfect time to get her in and keep Stef from getting her 3rd. Didn't happen and Stef eventually got that 3rd one. Dolson played 32 minutes and stewart 39. Kiah couldn't have gotten a few more minutes?

Geno has little faith in Kiah offensively, and he does not like to play 4 on 5 offensively. That is one big reason why Kelley Faris had to improve her game offensively. One of the Geno programs showed his fustration with her offense, when he said, one dribble and pick it up, is that the only move you have after 3 years? He also said how hard she works on things she likes, rebounding and blocking shots but not offensive moves.

I watched her closely in the Temple game when she had 7 offensive boards, she had one put back and the other 6 times her first reaction, no matter where she gets the rebound is to look to the perimeter and throw it out. Not the mindset of an offensive type player.

I hope she changes for her senior year, knowing how important her role will be, but I think she might have the Heather Buck syndrome.

 

[meyers7]

Not necessarily in this case. Stefanie is a much better passer and shooter than Kiah, and not as good a rebounder. I think it's a fairly reasonable possibility that Kiah will fill a different role next year than Stef does this year.

As an example, UConn usually doesn't play much zone, but Geno has made an exception this year for when we have three bigs on the floor.

Yes, I'm sure the offense will change somewhat next year without Dolson.

 

[Fiftyish]

Yes, I'm sure the offense will change somewhat next year without Dolson.

I nominate this as the Understatement of the Week post.

 

[Fiftyish]

I hope she changes for her senior year, knowing how important her role will be, but I think she might have the Heather Buck syndrome.

LOL......but there may be some truth to it.

 

[bschwartz]

Rooting hard for Kiah, and I think she will deliver more of the assists from the post when Stef leaves. Still, I see too many times when a smaller player rips the ball away from her or gets the rebound because she aggressively pursued it more than Kiah. Doubt the reason is strength, so maybe it is some toughness and aggressiveness. I don't know. I do know that she seems to be boxing out better as of late and has done a better job of anticipating where the rebound is going to be. I think that is why her rebound numbers have been going up (along with her PT)

I did notice she got a lot of crunch time minutes yesterday, which is a good sign. The last few minutes she and KML were alternating with Kiah substituting in on defense and KML on offense. Moving forward I am curious how frequently Geno goes with the three post lineup. I wonder whether that will be a game plan thing or reactionary to a game situation. So want her to be great.

 

[HuskyPup]

Geno has little faith in Kiah offensively, and he does not like to play 4 on 5 offensively. That is one big reason why Kelley Faris had to improve her game offensively. One of the Geno programs showed his fustration with her offense, when he said, one dribble and pick it up, is that the only move you have after 3 years? He also said how hard she works on things she likes, rebounding and blocking shots but not offensive moves.

I watched her closely in the Temple game when she had 7 offensive boards, she had one put back and the other 6 times her first reaction, no matter where she gets the rebound is to look to the perimeter and throw it out. Not the mindset of an offensive type player.

I hope she changes for her senior year, knowing how important her role will be, but I think she might have the Heather Buck syndrome.

I agree with forty _four... to an extent...the problem isn't that Kiah CAN'T score...it's that she doesn't feel like she's free to try to score. She seems to always defer to others for that role. It's hard enough for her to stay on the floor when she gets minutes and certainly does not want to get yanked for taking an ill-advised shot. She's more comfortable at least looking for a jumper here or there but her mindset is to first do what she feels most comfortable with first which is rebound and erase shots! She'll get there. As they say ...the cream always rises to the top! Look out!!

 

[VAMike23]

Kiah isn't going to be a cat of a completely different stripe next year. She will not morph into Dolson.


Having said that, she is not a bad passer from the high post and she will improve next year in this regard as she gets more minutes. And we can still run the hi-lo with her and Stewie.

She won't hurt us if she still doesn't have a lot of go-to-the-basket moves when she's at the FT line, but she will have to develop a FT-line jumper, otherwise teams won't respect her when she's at the high post and they will just collapse on Stewie. Hard to do that with Stef. It's possible that Geno will let Kiah post side to side without coming out high but that would really be a different type of offense and I don't see him doing it.

I would like to see Kiah get better at the screen and roll - lots of times when she rolls she looks like she's going through the motions and not really expecting to get the ball. Inexplicably, for someone as strong as she is, she gets pushed around too easily on the block . Perhaps a Tina Charles light bulb will go off next year re: intensity and will become more aggressive in sealing defenders and fighting for position. She's already pretty good at receiving passes over the top, but she could be better yet.

 

[DaddyChoc]

she missed some easy lay-ups... damn it! (finally watching the game)

 

[Wbbfan1]

I understand why Stef is in the high post a lot and usually have no problems with it, except when she spends more then 75% of her time in the high post. By having Stef in the high post she's able to pass to other players easier and it allows Stewie to roam down low to get points.

However last night was a prime example where I would have parked Stef down low to take advantage of her size. She plays more physical then Stewie in the low post and should have been able to get more touches and score more points. I did notice with 4 minutes left in the game, where was Stef. She was down low where she was fouled; made two free throws; and then made a layup to score 4 of her 10 points. Against Baylor's undersized forwards, IMHO Stef should have had more then 10 points while still not at the expense of Stewie's points.

I would like to see Stef split her time between the high and low post on a more equal basis.

You keep saying that. I don't think you understand how the UCONN offense works.

 

[boontonbomber]

seems as though kiah should have had many more minutes in the 2nd half. if there was ever a game where she should have spelled dolson it was last night. she was so very effective , and thought that was dolson's worst performance this season. stef looked very tired out there, but the only time kiah got in during the 2nd half was for kaleena.

 

[RadyLady]

You keep saying that. I don't think you understand how the UCONN offense works.

 

[Buzzyboy]

Kiah has been more willing to take the 8 to 10 foot shot that Stef takes. Unfortunately it seems most of the time like its a last second decision and that's when she misses them. With more playing time next year, I wouldn't be surprised to see her make more of them. What I'm also hoping is that she won't setup in the high post as much as Stef does and the team will have a much better low post offense.

I love the potential Kiah has. She is such a skilled shot blocker and rebounder and I think all she needs on the offensive side is a little bit of the confidence that is oozing out of Moriah's body right now. I hope Moriah can spare a little because Kiah has such physical skills that she'd make UConn untouchable next year if she evolved offensively like I know she can.

 

[easttexastrash]

Stokes was VERY good defensively. She was a real difference maker and if she works on her offense this summber will back-fill for Stewart very well. She still has tremendous upside.

 

[Suebird10fan]

I always find these Kiah Stokes threads exasperating.

Here's the deal. Kiah is one of the best rebounders in the country. She probably or at least close to the best shot blocker/interior defender in the country. She is not a great scoring threat and probably never will be. You put all of that together and you have a really good player. First team all-American, no. Probably not second team or third team. But once you get past that, there aren't a lot of players, IMHO, better than Kiah Stokes.

If you had a center who scored 20 points a game with a really high FG% and grabbed 12 to 14 boards a game, everyone would agree they were one of the top centers in the country even if they were only so-so on defense. Why is it so hard when offense is the weak point to understand how good Kiah is? So, sure we'd all love it, including Geno obviously, if Kiah could score 15 to 18 points a game. She can't/won't. If she could she'd be a first team AA given her other skills. But she's still one of the top 10 to 15 post players in the country in my opinion. The fact that she doesn't get starter minutes is just a reflection of how good UConn is.

So, can't we just enjoy Kiah as she is and stop gnashing our teeth and saying if only, if only. This is not a Charde Houston situation. This is a really, really good player who just happens not to be a great scorer.