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Message: [QUOTE="Lynx23, post: 2770993, member: 309"] Kia's probably never going to win any awards for her offense but she will continue to make every effort to improve upon it. I think that there are players whose impact to a team can't be measured solely in stats; I've always felt Kia is one of these and that this was the case with UCONN. She was the National Defensive Player of the Year, meaning she was better at something important to the game than anyone else in the opinion of the voters, but that wasn't good enough to warrant a 1st Team AA on anyone's list in spite of her 13 ppg, which wasn't too shabby either. Katie Smith chose her for her defense and has made that quite clear. If you've watched the Liberty's games as I have, it is apparent that Kia is the best defensive player on her team, bar none. Again, [I]bar none[/I]. She may not have the most blocks or steals, nor does she always keep an opposing player from making a shot, but she consistently plays hard and, more often than not, you'll see an opposing player pass up a shot rather than take on Kia one-on-one. Her reputation probably precedes her now and the last game was a good case in point. Kia only played 10 minutes but there were three plays that stood out. One was a steal from Vandersloot and a fast break that resulted in her nearly getting tackled by Quigley (maybe I have the two players mixed up) and a foul called. On another play Kia dove to the floor for a 50-50 ball using her body to shield it from Faulkner who took exception and appeared to yank at Kia's hair as she pulled her head close to the floor. Faulkner got a flagrant 1; I thought she should have been tossed from the game for gross unsportsmanlike conduct. Finally, Kia got in a scrum for the ball with a taller player whose name I cannot recall and in the process of yanking the ball away, the other player when flying. No foul was called but that appeared to be the end of the night for Kia. Maybe Smith was just protecting her rookie because the play was getting chippie. I know this is long-winded, but every time I see some sort of statistical analysis attempting to quantify a player's value to a team or her status among her peers, I can't help but think that there are those players whose contributions to the team simply cannot be accurately assessed in terms of numbers. I've always felt Kia is one of those players. Again, no awards, but consistently hard-nosed play, and making the best use of the talents she has. I fully expect (or hope at least) that her competitive approach to the game will eventually spread to the other Liberty players and they will start winning more games. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach