December 4th, 2006: Hartford at St. John's

Hartford 58, St. John's 46

Nikki Jo Rotolo is a maverick colt, things can actually get worse for St. John's, and referees suck in an epic fashion.


Another day, another loss. Looks like the 2006 Liberty were a good run-up for the 2006-07 Red Storm.

The band felt the need to play Christmas music. I hate them right now, although some of them are making themselves quite amusing by dancing to various musical interludes during the timeouts. Still, I don't need more Christmas music.

The cheerleaders have stopped doing their Thumper impression with their pom-poms during the national anthem, which is a relief, as I can now stop bursting out in giggles at the sight of little white poufs bouncing in time with the drumrolls.

Wow, Ikea Witt is awesome to watch. Knows how to shoot, knows how to drive, and has a nice burst of speed. Would not be surprised to see her in someone's training camp next spring. She royally abused the St. John's defenders assigned to cover her (for most of the night, it was our 'Bama girls, Joy and Angel, who were so painfully burned). Oh, and she was quick on the ball, too, with five steals. Damn, that girl really *is* good. I hadn't realized how many steals she had until I looked at the box. I was also impressed with Danielle Hood, and the one Hawk I was pleased to see have a not-bad game was Lisa Etienne. I may have deep-rooted issues with Hartford (it's a Rutgers thing), but they've got some talent there, and Rizzotti knows how to handle a team.

Much to my dismay, I have discovered that Nikki Jo Rotolo, who I enjoy watching play, has some serious issues with authority. There was one point in the game where Coach was screaming at her and she wasn't listening, at which point Coach yelled, "If you're not going to listen, you're going to sit down!" and sent in Charisse. I am minded of the breaking of the maverick colt in The Same River Twice. Charisse, unfortunately, wasn't very helpful; six turnovers, tentative on offense, and lost on defense (well, okay, most of them were lost on defense, but she was really bad). Allie… oy. She did hustle for a couple of loose balls, but she's still making a lot of bone-headed mistakes that really make her look "special". Nikki Jo, in addition to her "la la la I can't hear you!" moments, was taking some bad shots. She took a lot of good ones, too, that didn't go down, and some that did. She needs to shoot more often and quit playing silly buggers with the ballhandling. Joy had what might have been her best game of the season so far. She seems to be much more a second-half player; she takes a while to get warmed up, but when she does, she's hot- she had a quick run by herself. I like the way she plays- she's all about the hustle and the tips. All of her rebounds were offensive. She's also a leader, or at least good at keeping track of what she and her teammates are supposed to be doing. Angel needs to work on her hands; this was a really bad night for her, and let's face it, we can't afford really bad nights from anybody this season. Tiina kinda got stymied in the post by Delva and Kelley, who seem to be more familiar with this notion of playing inside the paint than she is, but she had a solid game. Prove me wrong about blonde Euros, woman! Monique was in full "Baby Shameka" mode; lots of nice shots and a solid offensive game coupled with some ugly defensive lapses and ballhandling that she should not have been doing- but then, it would have been ballhandling that Kia Wright should have been doing.

Why wasn't Kia doing it, you might ask? According to the game notes, she's reaggravated a sports hernia; the recap gives it as a muscle strain, but whatever the reason, she was in streets today, a long-sleeved black top and black slacks. Kelly was pretty in pink, Victoria was stylish in white, and Recee has earned the DeTrina White Memorial Fashion Award for "please get a new dress shirt, I shouldn't recognize the same one four games into the season!" There are way too many people in street clothes on the Red Storm bench. It makes me sad.

I don't want to harp on the fact that the refs were bad, but seriously? They were awful. The guys calling my school's homecoming game were better, and I go to a D-III in a crap conference. One rather egregious error happened during a set of free throws. Angel Tate was fouled, went to the line, and as is her wont, missed the first. Hartford called time (not sure why; how can you ice a cold shooter?) and when they broke the timeout, the refs tried to usher Monique McLean to the line. Rizzotti and her bench threw a FIT, which was understandable, since it was a foul in the act, and Angel was the one who had been shooting. Order was restored, but how do you mix up 5-11 #20 and 6-2 #45? Travels went uncalled, poor Joy got wrassled to the ground with no call, Kelley of the Hawks was almost growing roots in the lane, and the refs honestly had no control over the game. DEATH.

There were a few people in the building rooting for Hartford, but I know at least one of them to be a UConn fan who came because of Rizzotti. I hope there were at least some Hartford fans who actually care about the team and would still follow them if Rizzotti weren't the coach. That's what still bothers me about their fan base, and has been since the screw job in the 2005 tournament. How many of these people would care about the Hawks if their coach were Dana Wynne or Beth Record? Those players deserve better than people just in Husky love with their coach.

We also spotted some of the SJU men lounging about in the section behind the St. John's bench. Sadly, there was plenty of room to lounge. Attendance today and Saturday was dreadful. Come ON, New Yorkers, the tickets are seven bucks and the freshmen are pretty good, plus we've got Little Sister Christon here.