Nerves Getting to Kia?

[DobbsRover2]

If I were Kia, especially after the first half against Dayton sent the message that the upcoming games could go down to the wire and might depend on one late-game play, I would be extremely nervous that I might make one mistake at a crucial point in the Final Four that could cost Stewie the chance to be the first player to have four national titles in her career. I hope that the games aren't close enough that this becomes a real possibility.

Does anyone remember how KML made a critical mistake at the end of regulation time in her freshman year in a game at Notre Dame that arguably cost her team the game? Or that she missed a corner 3 at Gampel at the buzzer that could have won another game against ND? It's natural for freshmen to worry about that -- more than upperclassmen.

I think it's possible that Geno will use the "big lineup" (with Big Kiah instead of "little" Kia) for a lot of minutes in the Final Four, and at the end of close games, to minimize this possibility.

Having said all that, can one of our statistics jocks please provide comparative statistics for Kia's freshman year vs. Moriah's? I suspect that Kia will have been more productive as a freshman than Moriah, perhaps significantly more so.

Really is no comparison between Kia's and Moriah's freshman years, as one is a starter and one was a reserve. MoJeff's top stat was her steals back in 2012-13 with 52, and even there Kia has more, though in hugely more minutes, as MoJeff got 677 and Kia will finish with about 300 more. MoJeff did have a huge upside, but there's really not a lot to say except that Kia has had a tremendous year that will leave her ranked around 12th in points, 7th in assists, and 9th in steals among UConn freshmen all-time.

 

[Striper69]

Early in the 2nd half the announcers said: "looks like the nerves are still getting to her". I've never heard anything about Nurse being nervous. Has this been mentioned befiore? Any evidence of nerves affecting her game? I not aware of any and I'm inclined to doubt it with all her experience on many stages.

I thought she was "tired"...


now she's supposedly "nervous"?

 

[Waquoit]

Really is no comparison between Kia's and Moriah's freshman years, as one is a starter and one was a reserve.

If Nurse can play as well in the FF as MoJeff did, UConn will romp. By the end of that season she was better than Nurse is now.

 

[DobbsRover2]

If Nurse can play as well in the FF as MoJeff did, UConn will romp. By the end of that season she was better than Nurse is now.

You're kidding on April Fools, right? Okay, hah, hah, hah. Right?

Look, I love MoJeff to death and beyond now, but her freshman year had its erratic experiences, and if Kia's FF is anything like MoJeff's was in 2013, I'm going into hibernation until November. In the more challenging game against ND in the semis, MoJeff was 0-3 shooting, with 2 TOs, 0 assists, 2 PFs, and 0 points. Things were a little better for her in the blowout of Louisville in the NC game that Heather ended with a steal and layup, but MoJeff's FF stats were 24 minutes, 1-5 FGs, 3 assists, 3 TOs, 4 PFs, 1 steal, 3 points.

We do seriously need Kiah to be way better than that in the next two games.

 

[chrissaran]

Kia has shown a bit of nerves, especially against Dayton. She improved in the second half. She should relax more knowing that she doesn't have to shoulder the burden, just contribute as best she can.

 

[Bonpland]

Maybe it's because she arrived here from the World Stage and because of that our expectations for her have been set at height that all but Maya could not acheive, but I think that at this point the Husky faithful are underestimating the contribution she has made as a freshman. Think back on the freshman years that most of our past stars have had. Kia has been outstanding while performing with the country's best WCBB team. I hope that she has a great FF, but at this point she owes us nothing. She has performed well all year, and she will be a starter for as long as she plays here at UCONN.

 

[Lynx23]

I agree completely with Bonpland, especially the part about starting all four years. I have a hard time understanding any negativity surrounding Kia Nurse. So what if she's nervous, she still works as hard as anyone else on defense when her shot isn't falling, if not more so. And those six points she scored in the second half against Dayton were very meaningful. I can't see anyone else starting in her place, especially this year, especially in this tournament.

 

[baggerbob]

The defense for the starting 5 in the 2nd half was the reason the game turned. When Kia picked up her 2nd foul in the 1st half, Geno put in Saniya, then Gabby, then Kiah, and none of the groups were effective. If she was nervous the 2nd half, during the run with the defense it sure didn't show, and Geno never made a substitution in the 2nd half, until the game was almost over. So Geno apparently wasn't worried about Kia.

 

[ctkaiser]

I think getting 2 fouls early in the game didn't help her at all as far as getting into the flow of the game. Same thing happened to Stewie against vs Rutgers.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Certainly some viewers clearly see different games from me. Couple of points:

1. Can Saniya play defense? Anyone who thinks otherwise should maybe watch the game before reposting old dumb stuff that long since went stale. She was in for a little over 3 minutes right after Kia picked up two quick fouls, and when she came out at around the 9 minute mark, she earned a big congratulatory pat after a great job. Totally locked down her player, tipped a pass that went out of bounds off her man, and after Dayton picked off a bad KML pass, it was Saniya who sprinted back to seal off the Dayton trailer so that Hoover plowed into KML for a charge. Just an outstanding job. The two threes that Dayton hit by Austria and Malott while she was in were on the other side of the court as they were left wide open by one of the starters. So again, Doris is still stuck back somewhere in November with most of her comments, but there's really no need for BYers to parrot her nonsense. At this point I would say Saniya's defense is better than her offense, though that's partly because she is the 5th option for shooting and doesn't get passes.

2. Were the players who subbed in for Kia in the first half ineffective? That's only true if you weren't watching the game and don't care about stats. Kia just did not look that great in the first half. Sorry to say it, but during the almost 8 minutes she was in from the start, Dayton was eating UConn's lunch, knocking down 4 threes and a variety of other jumpers. When Kia was taken out, the Flyers were scoring at a rate that would give them almost 60 at the half. Sure, defense is a team thing and is not caused by one player's breakdown, but to say her replacements were less effective than her is flat out wrong. She returned for about 50 seconds at around the 9 minute mark, and after another Dayton bucket she was done for the half with a line of around 8 1/2 minutes with Dayton racking up 24 points. Gabby and Kiah split the last 8 minutes and Dayton score 13 points, so the UConn defense was much more effective when they were in.

Adjustments were made at the half, and 2nd-half Kia to me looks great, along with a UConn defense that did not give Dayton the open looks that they got in the first half. I'm guessing that Geno told MoJeff to stick with her man better, but that's just a guess.

3. Why was UConn's D messed up in the first half? From what I see of the Dayton game, the problems of the first half were largely caused by players being left open for great looks, and the Flyers were a team with many players who could shoot pretty well when no defenders were on them. Not entirely sure why there was so much straying defense by the Huskies, but the Flyers had the energy in the first half to take advantage of it and make UConn pay. The Huskies were also a little lackadaisical on some of the rebounds that Dayton flat out stole from them, and their block attempts on Dayton shots were a bit disjointed, though they got three in the first half.

 

[cabbie191]

The most ridiculous Dorisism during the Elite Eight game was her repeatedly declaring that two seniors on Dayton had played UConn before and that the experience of that 40-point loss in Storrs was somehow helping them in this game.

Perhaps, but given that the two players and the coach said it was a help, and the fact that they played us evenly for an entire half and the final margin of victory was the third closest of the team's 36 wins this year, perhaps not.

 

[svetbird]

My problem with these remarks seemed to be when Nurse was playing well. everything seemed to be about her not putting up big offensive numbers. She was a big help the 2nd half. I was thinking how much better she looked.