UConn-ND Championship Game

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

I like UConn in this game. ND is good and will make it a game but I think Stewart who dropped 25 on Maryland in the semis will go off again and win MOP for the 3rd straight year. And Geno will win his 10th tying John Wooden.

And next year's team looks scary too!








Starters:


C Butler
PF Stewart
SF Tuck
SG Nurse
PG Jefferson


Bench:


PF Katie Lou Samuelson
SF Napheesa Collier
SF Gabby Williams
PF De'Janae Boykin
PG Chong
SG Ekmark

 

[the Blades]

Congrats to the Champions.....low scoring, lots of TO's, ugly game at times but have to credit the tough D by both teams
( pretty similar to alot of the mens games with low point totals)......Also thought, as Stewart said, that the mighty mite.... Mo-Jef was the MVP with key steals, big shots and momentum changing plays......also saw this photo....and didn't know that Kia's uncle is

8 hours ago
" Done deal me and UConnHuskies as well" ....and her brother is
a 6-4 defenseman who was the 7th pick overall by Edmonton in the 2013 NHL draft...Edmontons' Darnell Nurse bonds through sport with sister

This post was edited on 4/8 10:02 AM by the Blades

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Blades,

Not only is Donovan her uncle, but Kia's older brother Darnell was a 1st round draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers of the NHL in 2013. Darnell, a defenseman, was with Edmonton earlier this year and then was sent down for further seasoning. Her father was a wide receiver in the CFL. Kia is also starting point guard on the Canadian national team. So this is a very athletic family.

Regarding the game, I thought ND defended UConn really well, but key plays by Jefferson and Lewis at different times were the difference in the game. Stewart and Lewis were very well defended by ND, and I thought Tuck was thrown off her game by ND's physicality. Doris Burke speculated Tuck was "nervous", but from what I could see she was being pushed slightly off her spots and did not have the same comfort to operate inside that she usually does. The ND defense succeeded in throwing UConn off its normal game, but UConn won anyway with far less than their A game.




This post was edited on 4/8 9:36 AM by KhalidShockedTheWorld

 

[the Blades]

Originally posted by KhalidShockedTheWorld:
Blades,

Not only is Donovan her uncle, but Kia's older brother Darnell was a 1st round draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers of the NHL in 2013. Darnell, a defenseman, was with Edmonton earlier this year and then was sent down for further seasoning. Her father was a wide receiver in the CFL. Kia is also starting point guard on the Canadian national team. So this is a very athletic family.

Yeah....I knew her brother was a hockey player (link above), but didn't know he was that highly rated....as you mentioned
he played most of the year in juniors( which is not uncommon for 18-19 yr. old NHL picks that don't go the college route),
Because he was in OHL he played a couple games for EDM but can go back, which the NCAA doesn't allow.....also
didn't know about the CFL and her pops.. who I see played college ball for Canisius College in Buffalo.

This post was edited on 4/8 10:17 AM by the Blades

 

[Hampton Roads 6]

Virginia Tech fan here: Congrats to UConn and Coach Auriemma on another championship.

 

[the Blades]

Donovan's going all out with the selfies on his twitter.... must be tough for a Syracuse guy...LOL!

This post was edited on 4/8 10:12 AM by the Blades

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Darnell Nurse is the captain of his OHL juniors team. From what I read he was out for about a month with an injury and returned in about mid March. I would expect he will be up with Edmonton in the next year or two for good, although it takes a while for defensemen to develop in hockey as they need to learn to play angles and do a lot of technical things which at the NHL level is very difficult due to the speeds at which the offensive players are flying up the ice.

 

[the Blades]

It's a 50/50 thing with 1st rd D sticking in the NHL after their draft year.....depending on need, talent, team philosophy, etc.......

Of their D picks the Whalers had 3 guys that stuck right away...Chris Pronger then they
had this kid who was the biggest bust ever...Fred Arthur who they sent back to the OHL...they lucked out when they
traded him to PHI....because he quit the game at 21 years old, to go back to Toronto for medical school....But it used to
be the "up to 10 games in the NHL rule"... that played into alot of these decisions...even the 4th all-time scorer in the
history of the NHL, Ronnie Francis got sent back to the OHL as a 5'11 center, but the Whalers brought him back after
a couple of months and a growth spurt to 6' 2"...

This post was edited on 4/8 11:10 AM by the Blades

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Blades-

I think the "stick ratio" might be higher for someone drafted as highly as Darnell Nurse. Plus the Oilers are a terrible team and currently their defensemen corps sucks moose balls. It's normal for a kid 19 even drafted this highly to be brought along slowly. The Canadiens' P.K. Subban, who may be a similar type of defenseman to Nurse, and is now one of the top 3 defensemen in the NHL, did not come up until he was about 21, and was not an all star until he was 23-24. Subban was drafted much lower than Nurse, which was a surprise to me because his skating ability and skills, and particularly his slap shot on the power play, are top shelf. Initially when he came up he played a little crazy and they calmed that down and he matured and is now an All Star player and one of the more exciting players in the league. He scored one of the best goals I have seen scored in the NHL this year.

Nurse's captaincy of his OHL team is also some evidence of leadership skills which are important to professional hockey employers..........on the opposite end of this spectrum is Evander Kane, a #4 overall pick who was traded from Winnipeg to Buffalo for not very much because his teammates in Winnipeg hated and disrespected him, likely due to him having a terrible attitude and missing team meetings and practices.

This post was edited on 4/8 12:42 PM by KhalidShockedTheWorld

 

[the Blades]

Originally posted by KhalidShockedTheWorld:
Blades-

I think the "stick ratio" might be higher for someone drafted as highly as Darnell Nurse.

True 1st rnd's that high should have a much better chance...the GM's don't want to look bad so they'll get a
better shot....
I can't say I have followed the NHL much since the Whale left...a lot of those guys where my friends...as
I might have mentioned I lived on the basketball court from the time I was 7 or 8 until I was a junior in HS...
then got a part time job as a teen with the Whale and a bunch of friends there got me to play hockey...within
a few years I was hooked with the hockey bug and was playing at the A level in about 3 years....skated with
a bunch of the Whalers guys in the off season and even played on an CT All star team with Janney, Leetch
and a bunch of other friends that played D-1 or some NHL and minors. Still loved the game as a player but
it was to painful to watch Bettman's AS (American South) Hockey League after my buddies all got relocated.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Blades this is the guy Darnell Nurse compares to and could be 5 years from now.....all star defenseman PK Subban of the Montreal Canadiens. Check out the amazing goal Subban scored back in October, I saw this one live while in Montreal. He takes a totally sick angle around the goal after flying to the puck like a bat out of hell, and then makes an unbelievable move on the goalie. Most NHL players would not have been able to stay on their feet with the angle he took. And this is a guy who was taken in the 2nd round for some reason:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RczFm3w3lgg

 

[the Blades]

Yeah I've seen Subban a few times.... can't help it with NESN up here and the Bruins / Canadiens on TV alot when
I'm channel surfing.....he's a smaller D who likes to rush the puck with great wheels....kinda like a right handed
Paul Coffey from back in the day. plus he's got a rocket shot too.....his brother is a goalie for the Bruins that
they have been talkin' up on NESN...younger kid.... I think he is a new pro....
This post was edited on 4/8 11:29 PM by the Blades

 

[the Blades]

back to the OT....here's something you don't see alot.....a women's early entry (JR)....... tweets.....

9 hours ago
Can't be much money. Imagine there is a Euro Deal somewhere, I hope. John Silver added,

retweet- carl adamec[/B]@
" ND has made it official -- Jewell Loyd enters draft. The cheers you're hearing are coming from Seattle."

This post was edited on 4/9 7:37 AM by the Blades

 

[the Blades]

Also some WNBA "did you know" facts from a Chicago Tribune article:


Unlike NBA prospects, women's basketball players rarely leave school early to play professionally. The WNBA requires all
American draft entrants to complete college or turn 22 by the end of the calendar year during which they hope to be drafted.
Loyd will turn 22 in October.

The compensation structure differs greatly between the NBA and the WNBA, with top women's draft picks slotted to make
about $50,000, compared to men's salaries that approach $4.6 million. International leagues often pay women more than
the WNBA.
This post was edited on 4/9 7:44 AM by the Blades

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

No point in Lloyd coming back for senior year as UConn stands in ND's way of a championship run once again with 4 returning starters plus former Big East ROY Butler becoming the 5th starter as a 6'5" monster in the middle. If LLoyd isn't going to win the title as a senior with UConn blocking ND's path once again, the sensible decision is to turn pro.

This post was edited on 4/9 9:17 AM by KhalidShockedTheWorld

 

[the Blades]

Originally posted by KhalidShockedTheWorld:
If LLoyd isn't going to win the title as a senior with UConn blocking ND's path once again, the sensible decision is to turn pro.

I can see that angle..... what I don't see is giving up a degree from Notre Dame to go make peanuts in the
WNBA.... I guess there's a reason 99 % of the gals don't give up they're college degrees for an early entry
( beside the age rule) The money pales in comparison to the men... 50K is nothing....

As Silver mentions above in his tweet it's got be connected to a international contract or maybe some endorsement
stuff . Plus add in how fragile the gals can be with injuries and how quick their hoops career can be over....it seem
pretty short sighted to me......unless she already has a degree... then I get it.

This post was edited on 4/9 7:07 PM by the Blades