In a perfect world Kia Nurse's finals week schedule would have allowed the UConn sophomore guard to either see her brother Darnell play for the Edmonton Oilers in games at Boston and New York.

However, things didn't quite work out that way. She did improvise and make it down to Boston on Dec. 14 after the game to have dinner with her brother, a former first-round pick.

"It was fun and we sat down, the waiter asked us if we were celebrating anything and he said 'we haven't seen anything in three months so let's just celebrate that,'" Kia Nurse said. "It was really fun to just kind of catch up and sit down. We called the family at home when we were at the table, it was kind of like a reunion and it was a fun time.

"I didn't make it for the game, I had an exam. I would have liked to see him play live but I was able to catch it because it was finally streaming on the television so it was really fun to get to watch him and see him in that atmosphere."

Nurse began the season in the AHL, recording one assist in six games with the Bakersfield Condors. When the Oilers dealt with injuries on the blue line, Nurse was promoted to the NHL. He not only has two goals and five assists in 25 games. He is also third on the team in time on ice, averaging 20 minutes, 40 seconds per game.

"Everything he is going through, I know that he is living out his dream so for me that is pretty crazy," Kia Nurse said.

"I said to him 'how do you like it? How does it feel?' He said that everything is just so awesome. He is getting his first place by himself so it is like a new journey but it is fun to kind of be a part of it and he is just having the time of his life.

"When you thrown him into the fire, that is exactly where he needs to be. He does well under pressure and he works hard so he is kind of prepared for everything especially in that industry where you have to prepared to be playing that day or going back down to the (AHL) and I think he has done a really good job of balancing all of that."

I also asked Nurse about the Connecticut Sun hiring Curt Miller as the new head coach since Miller coached his sister Tamika, his aunt Raquel and almost convinced Nurse to play for him at Indiana.

"He is an awesome person and I love being around him and we kind of get together," Nurse said. "Through the whole recruiting process he is somebody who was really fun to talk to and get to know. From all the stories that my sister and my aunt have told me about him, he is obviously an fabulous basketball coach, he knows exactly what he is talking about and getting to know him was an absolute pleasure

I was absolutely so happy for him. I know he worked extremely hard. She (Tamika Nurse) said he knew what he was doing and his system worked really well. He knew how to make practice fun and serious at the same time and my sister really likes that, she liked the atmosphere at Bowling Green the whole time she was there."