Speed really took in and embraced the opportunity and experience of the Youth Developmental Festiva,l from her chance to be a leader amongst all-stars to the chance to go toe-to-toe with the best in the country. There's a phrase she uses often, "challenge me". And it's not in some bravado way meaning to step up and take your lumps, but she's always looking to be challenged in whatever she's doing.

In watching her play there were parts of games that left me feeling like she could very well be the top point guard prospect in her class. She even had a prominent club team coach who hadn't seen her play much previously but fall in love with her game. Every time I walked past him in the gym for two days I saw the same grin and heard the same phrase, "I like that Nikki Speed!".

Nikki Speed

The first thing that stands out about Speed is that her quest for a challenge isn't merely a hollow phrase; she gets after it on both ends of the floor. You can see it in her eyes that she loves playing defense. This was first evident to me last summer in Atlanta at the adidas Top Ten All-Star game where she went head-to-head against Maryland commit Anjale Barrett in some one-on-one in the middle of the game. It was straight out of the park. The difference between the two, while showing off flashy handle and creative shot selection in attempts to steal the show, is that Speed took the challenge on both ends of the floor. She didn't sit back and let Barrett do what she wanted, she went after her defensively, even at one point putting her hands behind her back to prove that she didn't need to foul her to stay in front of her. The USA Basketball setting provided her that challenge, minus the flash, every game out.

What was new and improved in Colorado was Speed's pull-up jumper. Going to the left, she was dead on from 15 feet out to the international three-point line. Her quickness demands respect and she's one of the few that consistently attacks the defenders hips, forcing them to open up and she has good bounce and can fire right into her jumper once she has the defender retreating. Every time things went stale on offense for her team she would set it up to knock down another pull up.

As a point guard she really strived to do her job and she dealt out 27 assists in five games. Her distribution both in the halfcourt and in transition are much underrated.

"You don't feel like you have to take it yourself all the time because you know the other girls here are all all-americans," Speed said. "If you're down, you know you can count on your teammates to do i,t too." She tried hard to get her teammates the ball and it actually led to an influx of turnovers because of teammates not being ready to receive the ball to errand passes that maybe she's used to people being in different spots in those situations. She took the blame for most of the passes that were dropped, writing it off to new players not knowing each other and implying that until you get to know them and they know you it falls on the point guard for the mistake.

"I have to tell you now, I'm basically hard on myself," Speed said after the opening round game against the USA White team, which would go undefeated and win the gold. "I look at this game and it actually has to be a worst game for me. No. 1, I let my team down, we lost. I guess I need to talk with them more to try and get them running the floor even better."

Part of that talking and leadership in her first game was getting her team to get out and run the floor as scoring in the half court with new teammates and limited practice isn't likely to be a strength and in Colorado Springs it wasn't. She got her team going after an early deficit in the opening salvo by getting her team going in transition. When asked what she could have done better she quickly replied, "Play smarter. Knowing when to make that pass and when not to. A lot of those turnovers were on me, even though they didn't catch them it's still on me."

Nikki Speed

Speed did have quite a few turnovers in the event but she was forced to handle the ball a majority of the time as she was the only pure point guard on her team. Some of the turnovers were not on her, despite her insistance but there were little ruts in several games where things just didn't line up and she had a few unforced turnovers. That is part of the learning process. On her high school team she is forced to press the action and alotted a certain number of turnovers but, here, playing smarter is a premium and its something she'll come away knowing as she figured it out after just one game.

"I just want to get better, that may sound crappy but I want to get better," Speed added of her personal goals at the festival. "I'm sure I'll be facing a lot of these kids in college so I kind of get that experience now.

Speed looks forward to top players coming right at her. She says it's been that way, from playing up age groups in club ball to playing the best in a setting such as USA Basketball. She truly enjoys playing defense and knows its her role as a leader to get the rest of her team on that same page. "You have to get it in their heads, it's defense first, we're gonna get it back on offense," Speed said. "All of us hate to lose, that's why I love it here. Nobody wants to lose."

Speed is not a shy kid and is embracing the leadership part of playing the point guard position at this high level. "Because I don't know the players, its on me," Speed said. "Am I confident enough to talk with them? And not worry about what they say to me afterwards. Just be leader and talk to them. That helps. It's just like going to college and not knowing anybody."

Speaking of college, Speed has not narrowed her list of schools publically and will take the rest of the summer to do so. "I'm telling all the coaches I'm open," Speed said of her recruiting. "I keep telling them by the end of the summer I should have five schools. "I'm going to take as many unofficials as I can and I've been doing that so far."

While she won't name names, it is known that there isn't a team in the Pac-10 that would be interested in signing her and schools such as Oklahoma also aare trying hard to get Speed's services after next year. "East Coast, West Coast, that doesn't bother me, leaving home," Speed says of how location will impact her decision. "Both of my parents are from the east coast so it doesn't matter at all."

As for academics she says she's just looking for some place that will challenge her, go figure. "I chose high school, I chose Marlborough for academics," she said. "It's been a challenge for me. It's getting me ready for college. I like a challenge."

So we'll stay in suspense as Speed works on her final five schools. We can all speculate that she'll want to join her former teammates like Abi Olajuwon at Oklahoma or Lenita Sanford at Cal or one of several teammates now at UCLA but don't be surprised if none of that pans out. Where she'll land in the overall rankings also is up for debate, but one thing is for sure - Nikki Speed is a top-notch point guard who will help whatever school she decides to join.