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Stokes with a NY Liberty record 8 blocked shots

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I'm impressed (yet again) by this young lady and her many talents. I hope she continues to grow and prosper, building on her experience as a Husky.
 
I thought that Kiah had a good chance to be a contributor at the next level because of her athleticism and her very dependable shot blocking without fouling. But I have to say I am amazed at how well she has assimilated in her role which is far more demanding and involves much more playing time than her UCONN role. I'm really excited for her because at UCONN I expected her to become a player like this and we didn't get to see this type of production until the end of her junior year. Having a big man coach who really believes in her and pushes her has really had a great result. Tina also seems to have had a positive effect. Whatever the catalyst, it's really fantastic to see her blossom like this and get some well deserved attention. Go Kiah!!!
 
Gene always had mixed feelings about Kiah and never quite got her best

But you have to give him credit(my wife says across the table in Jackson Hole), he pushed. begged, and cajoled her for four years to try to get her to maximize her talent.

But we all have to admit that like him or not, Bill and staff are finding the right buttons.
How'd you like that 15-footer...all net.
 
And this was a bench player on what may be the best team in wcbb history (2014), not to mention a bench player on NC-winning teams on either side of that year. So happy to see a player who was a worthy part of history at UConn become a valuable commodity at the next level. Kiah's earned every bit of it, even if she thanks Geno, Papa Greg, and the town of Marion, Iowa, as well.

I will always be rooting for her. What a great champion she has been and hopefully will be in the W.

And don't forget how many starters from those great teams return next season! Lots of fun ahead in 2015-16.
 
msf22b said:
Gene always had mixed feelings about Kiah and never quite got her best

But you have to give him credit(my wife says across the table in Jackson Hole), he pushed. begged, and cajoled her for four years to try to get her to maximize her talent.

But we all have to admit that like him or not, Bill and staff are finding the right buttons.
How'd you like that 15-footer...all net.
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Got to remember that different teams have different needs. UConn Huskies needed Kiah to decimate the opponents' offense in the paint, but with the scorers they had it would have been a big project to work a lot of plays for Kiah on layups, and it really wasn't necessary and could have hurt the Huskies in the tournament if things didn't click. For the Liberty it's a completely different story, and with necessity being the mother of all invention, I'm sure Bill will be working up some tactical inventions for Kiah to get a bunch more buckets along with all of the stuffed turkey shooting of opponents' shots.
 
Should be an interesting game tonight when Kiah goes against Brittany Griner. Anyone care to give an over/under on the number of blocks we will see?
 
Watching that clip, it seems that the pros allow a bit more body contact that the NCAA does - particularly on that last one, I found myself thinking, "well, that'd been a whistle last year". Kiah also looks really, really fit - she always was, but, looks like she's even leaner.
 
Many of us predicted that Kiah would outshine EW long term. Maybe long term won't be as long as anticipated.
 
The amazing thing about Kiah is that she's really only 6'4 on a good day.

Most of the great shot blockers in women's basketball have been a lot taller than their opponents (Dydek at 7'2, for instance). Sure, Kiah has long arms, but she's truly one of the best natural shot blockers I've seen.
 
pinotbear said:
Watching that clip, it seems that the pros allow a bit more body contact that the NCAA does - particularly on that last one, I found myself thinking, "well, that'd been a whistle last year". Kiah also looks really, really fit - she always was, but, looks like she's even leaner.
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More walks, too. Kiah's defensive presence has caused shooters to shuffle their feet and those aren't called as travels.

In the Memory Lane category - a few months ago, Kiah caused the big girl from Texas to jump up, get scared by Kiah's advancing on her, then try to go up again. That stuff doesn't show in the box score, but Kiah has caused - and still causes - lots of TOs with her D.
 
CTHUSKY74 said:
I thought that Kiah had a good chance to be a contributor at the next level because of her athleticism and her very dependable shot blocking without fouling. But I have to say I am amazed at how well she has assimilated in her role which is far more demanding and involves much more playing time than her UCONN role. I'm really excited for her because at UCONN I expected her to become a player like this and we didn't get to see this type of production until the end of her junior year. Having a big man coach who really believes in her and pushes her has really had a great result. Tina also seems to have had a positive effect. Whatever the catalyst, it's really fantastic to see her blossom like this and get some well deserved attention. Go Kiah!!!
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Regarding the bold. Really?

First off regarding the- "the end of her junior year"- I thought half-way into her junior year she became a very productive contributor. Before that she was productive but wasn't really getting 6th man minutes. - That's a minor point.

Secondly, and most importantly, didn't players such as AJones, SCash, TCharles have enormous improvements over the course of time? I'd like to mention the Penn State Coach in 99-00 ff citing that there may be a weakness in UCONN's team because of their frontline. That frontline was Williams, Jones, Cash and Schumacher.

Schumacher went on to play in the WNBA. Wasn't her defining improved play in her jr year and especially in the finals?

SO you've seen players- posts- improve a lot over time - so I don't get why you're surprised that it takes some players "time."
 
HuskyNan said:
More walks, too. Kiah's defensive presence has caused shooters to shuffle their feet and those aren't called as travels.

In the Memory Lane category - a few months ago, Kiah caused the big girl from Texas to jump up, get scared by Kiah's advancing on her, then try to go up again. That stuff doesn't show in the box score, but Kiah has caused - and still causes - lots of TOs with her D.
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On a similar note, also gratifying, is the number of times a dribbler would test the lane area, see Kiah approaching, and then back back out. That sweet young woman was quite an intimidator.
 
Gus Mahler said:
On a similar note, also gratifying, is the number of times a dribbler would test the lane area, see Kiah approaching, and then back back out. That sweet young woman was quite an intimidator.
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And how many times did you see the opponents turn the ball over because they couldn't get a shot off or because they were releasing a crazy shot at the 1 second mark that had no prayer? The reason that teams shot only 30.9% percent against UConn wasn't just that Kiah played mashed potato ball on their heads, it was also because their visits to the paint led to freak-outs that wasted many seconds and left them scrambling on each possession just to hoist up any kind of shot, all the while with MoJeff looking to rip them off and streak away for an easy bucket.
 
DobbsRover2 said:
And how many times did you see the opponents turn the ball over because they couldn't get a shot off or because they were releasing a crazy shot at the 1 second mark that had no prayer? The reason that teams shot only 30.9% percent against UConn wasn't just that Kiah played mashed potato ball on their heads, it was also because their visits to the paint led to freak-outs that wasted many seconds and left them scrambling on each possession just to hoist up any kind of shot, all the while with MoJeff looking to rip them off and streak away for an easy bucket.
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Ha! "mashed potato ball." Good one. And often mashed with her elbow!
 
DobbsRover2 said:
Oh heck, the Storm could also have had her at #1, and their boat may have gotten a little flipped around there as well. Need I mention which ex-Husky and WNBA rookie had a higher Win Share rating at 1.3 than anyone on the Storm including Jewell Loyd, who is at 0.0. That was before tonight's game, so Kiah will shoot up further and she was already leading a productive Liberty crew. Sun's Liz Williams is also doing better than Loyd at a 0.3 WS, but she's 9th out of 12 players on the Sun.

And the really marvelous thing about Kiah's WS rating is that it is almost evenly divided between the offensive and defensive contributions. Who'da thunk it?
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There's far more pressure on Jewell to carry the load for Seattle than Kiah has with the Liberty. Bill can afford to bring Kiah in off the bench, play good defense and rebound while getting her offense together. Jewell pretty much has to be IT for the Storm and every other team knows it.
 
Striper69 said:
There's far more pressure on Jewell to carry the load for Seattle than Kiah has with the Liberty. Bill can afford to bring Kiah in off the bench, play good defense and rebound while getting her offense together. Jewell pretty much has to be IT for the Storm and every other team knows it.
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This is not really true: she can't be IT with as little playing time as she's getting. Besides, what coach would be concentrating on Jewell with most of the Storm offense coming from other players?
 
UConn990411 said:
The amazing thing about Kiah is that she's really only 6'4 on a good day.

Most of the great shot blockers in women's basketball have been a lot taller than their opponents (Dydek at 7'2, for instance). Sure, Kiah has long arms, but she's truly one of the best natural shot blockers I've seen.
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Griner was standing next to Kiah and was way bigger than Kiah. It surprised me.
 
mudcat said:
This is not really true: she can't be IT with as little playing time as she's getting. Besides, what coach would be concentrating on Jewell with most of the Storm offense coming from other players?
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Most of the other teams key in on Jewell when she's in the game. What other player on the Storm is as good an offensive player as Jewell?

Answer: no one.

So what's your point?
 
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