Rich: Geno's thoughts on Nurse

[pap49cba]

Here are Auriemma’s thoughts on Nurse …

“I think the biggest thing that I admire about the way Kia plays is she plays almost like with Svetlana (Abrosimova’s) demeanor,’’ Auriemma said. “She just doesn’t get caught up in all the emotion of everything and doesn’t have the highs and lows that a lot of kids have. When you watch her, she’s just very, very, very solid every day. Every day I’ve seen her play, she just is always solid. She’s a tremendous athlete. She’s a fabulous shooter, a terrific passer. She wants to pick you up three-quarter court and play great defense. She’s smart and really knows the game. Players like that I think, I don’t care what country you live in, if you play for the national team when you’re 17-years-old you have a lot going for you, and she’s got a lot going for her.’’

LINK

 

[meyers7]

She wants to pick you up three-quarter court and play great defense.
LINK

Well that part is nothing like Abrosimova.

 

[xHunt3r]

Actually found the bottom half the article more interesting as it gave some insight into 1 player class UConn had this year.

“So sometimes you end up with one player because you’re recruiting five others players and you hope that you get four out of those five. And for whatever reason it just kind of falls apart along the way. And then what are you supposed to do? Run out there and go, `Well, yeah, there’s three other kids. They can’t play here, but at least we’ll have a four-man recruiting class’ or `I think they’ll get a lot better. By the time they’re juniors they might help us.’ Really? By the time they’re juniors four other kids have come in that play their position that are better than them. So this isn’t a place where you’re going to recruit a lot of kids that hope by their junior year are going to be good enough to play for you. That doesn’t work that way. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t win a national championship every year and then be waiting for kids to be juniors to get good. The kids have to be right away when you recruit them here.’’

 

[MilfordHusky]

We're trying to assess how Kia stacks up against the American HS players. Some of us think she's definitely a top-5 player. I hope so. She seems to have no weaknesses. Starting on the senior national team, she "played up" by several years. We have another player who has done that: Stewie. I'm not saying that Kia is at Breanna's level, but I think she'll be an impact player early on and will make people ask how Geno found her.

 

[mrmojack]

She still has another yr of Olympic practice/competition before she shows up
at Gampel. She will be even more experienced when she gets here.
I think she will be a special player here. Lock down defender!!!!

 

[UConnCat]

and will make people ask how Geno found her.

I'm pretty sure Geno read my comment to one of Jim Fuller's blogs in April saying that this Nurse kid from Canada sounded like a UConn-type player and that Geno should take a look at her. Seriously, Nurse played great at AAU events beginning in April and big-time schools started taking notice. Before that, she was attracting attention from Indiana and a few other Big 10 schools. UConn's interest was first reported in an article from an Edmonton site in August. That article started a three-page thread in which some questioned whether UConn should be interested in another guard or whether UConn's interest was real. Starting next year, we'll see why UConn's interest turned out to be very real.

http://www.the-boneyard.com/threads/uconn-showing-interest-in-canadian-guard-14.42540/#post-667518

 

[DaddyChoc]

I'm pretty sure Geno read my comment to one of Jim Fuller's blogs in April saying that this Nurse kid from Canada sounded like a UConn-type player and that Geno should take a look at her. Seriously, Nurse played great at AAU events beginning in April and big-time schools started taking notice. Before that, she was attracting attention from Indiana and a few other Big 10 schools. UConn's interest was first reported in an article from an Edmonton site in August. That article started a three-page thread in which some questioned whether UConn should be interested in another guard or whether UConn's interest was real. Starting next year, we'll see why UConn's interest turned out to be very real.

http://www.the-boneyard.com/threads/uconn-showing-interest-in-canadian-guard-14.42540/#post-667518

good thread find... the comments are interesting and funny

 

[JoePgh]

We're trying to assess how Kia stacks up against the American HS players. Some of us think she's definitely a top-5 player. I hope so. She seems to have no weaknesses. Starting on the senior national team, she "played up" by several years. We have another player who has done that: Stewie. I'm not saying that Kia is at Breanna's level, but I think she'll be an impact player early on and will make people ask how Geno found her.

Based on all that I have seen or read, while Kia Nurse may be athletically somewhat less talented than Stewie, she is way ahead of her in maturity and consistency. In those dimensions, it seems that the only comparison would be to Kelly Faris. (And Courtney Ekmark may turn out to be the same kind of person.) And we know that can make up for a lot of athleticism. The Kellys and Mels and Jenns and Stefs (even the Carolines and Morgans) have had huge game impacts without necessarily being uber-athletes.

And it's possible that Ms. Nurse is a better athlete than any of those mentioned immediately above. If so, we are getting into Sue / Maya / KML territory in terms of potential game impact.

 

[EricLA]

Kia - offense and demeanor of Sveta, defense, work ethic and intensity of Kelly. Milford and I agree she's likely one of the top 5 kids in the entire class.

 

[meyers7]

I'm pretty sure Geno read my comment to one of Jim Fuller's blogs in April saying that this Nurse kid from Canada sounded like a UConn-type player and that Geno should take a look at her. Seriously, Nurse played great at AAU events beginning in April and big-time schools started taking notice. Before that, she was attracting attention from Indiana and a few other Big 10 schools. UConn's interest was first reported in an article from an Edmonton site in August. That article started a three-page thread in which some questioned whether UConn should be interested in another guard or whether UConn's interest was real. Starting next year, we'll see why UConn's interest turned out to be very real.

http://www.the-boneyard.com/threads/uconn-showing-interest-in-canadian-guard-14.42540/#post-667518

I remember that thread. I was one of the doubters. Not so much of her (although at the time all we had was a Bluestar rating of 97, which they subsequently changed to a 10), but that Geno would be after another guard. But like he has said recently he doesn't always recruit positions. He recruits players who will fit in at UCONN. (although he said he does not like to recruit duplicate players) Beside I guess better 4 birds in the hand than 1 in the bush.

I definitely missed that boat. But that's ok, I'm happy to be wrong and have her aboard.

Good call Cat. Kudos.

Still don't see any evidence she's a 3 though.

 

[VAMike23]

In terms of an athlete's body and physical maturity, what little I've seen puts her firmly in Kelly's category. Kia already looks like she's spent 2 years in the UCONN strength and conditioning program. If she plays defense anything like Kelly then, well, we're definitely going to be doing backflips . And offensively, it sounds like she is ahead of where Kelly was - we'll just have to wait and see.

From what I've seen of Ekmark, she does not have the natural athleticism of a Kelly Faris or a Kia Nurse. Incidentally, while Gabby has the greatest natural athletic gifts of the four recruits, she does not look quite as strong or as far along in her development as K Nurse. Not that I'm complaining.... I'm super excited to get all of these wonderful ladies on campus next year.

 

[alexrgct]

Kia - offense and demeanor of Sveta, defense, work ethic and intensity of Kelly. Milford and I agree she's likely one of the top 5 kids in the entire class.

Hush yo' mouf talking about kids like that.

 

[Fiftyish]

http://www.the-boneyard.com/threads/uconn-showing-interest-in-canadian-guard-14.42540/#post-667518

Thanks for posting the link. Looks like you should be on retainer as a scout for the Huskies. It was also fun to read the skeptical comments from many of the BY grand poobahs that are now cheering her commitment.

 

[pap49cba]

You mean, "Not another guard!!!!"

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I remember that thread. I was one of the doubters. Not so much of her (although at the time all we had was a Bluestar rating of 97, which they subsequently changed to a 10), but that Geno would be after another guard. But like he has said recently he doesn't always recruit positions. He recruits players who will fit in at UCONN. (although he said he does not like to recruit duplicate players) Beside I guess better 4 birds in the hand than 1 in the bush.

I definitely missed that boat. But that's ok, I'm happy to be wrong and have her aboard.

Good call Cat. Kudos.

Still don't see any evidence she's a 3 though.

"Don't be so humble, you're not that good."