Film room: Analyzing Duke women's basketball's Nyah Green

A stacked class of newcomers mark head coach Kara Lawson's first major accomplishment at Duke. Heading into the 2021-22 season, we take a look at film from Duke women's basketball's newest players. Previously, we analyzed Lexi Gordon, Lee Volker and Amaya Finklea-Guity. Next up, we look at Nyah Green:

After joining Louisville as a five-star prospect and ESPN’s 23rd-overall recruit in 2019, Green took a redshirt for the 2019-20 season and returned to action for the Cardinals for 2020-21. With sky-high expectations as a top recruit and player on the preseason No. 5-ranked team in the nation, Green left Louisville after only five games and 52 minutes of playing time. 

In fact, her last game with Louisville had Green riding the bench for 39 of the game’s 40 minutes as Louisville cruised to a 73-49 win against Duke at her new home, Cameron Indoor Stadium.

She told the Chronicle in January that she was uncomfortable with her role as a four or five and wanted to take advantage of her natural guard position, which she believed Duke’s "free-flowing" approach could accommodate. According to scouting reports from 2019, the 6-foot-1 guard has a playmaking mindset, could stroke the mid-range jumper and was developing a three-point shot. The Allen, Tex., native’s 29.3% field goal mark in limited minutes last season can be easily overlooked when considering her potential role on Coach Lawson’s 2021-22 Blue Devils team.

Though the junior has not built a reputation of breaking down defenders at the college level, that ability is clearly there, as Green thrives in the spotlight as seen above in the highlights from the 2019 District 9-6A-clinching game. The ex-Louisville prospect is skilled with the ball in her hands and consistently converts in the paint and from mid-range, taking advantage in transition.