December 3rd, 2007: Maryland at Rutgers

Rutgers Scarlet Knights 68, Maryland Terrapins 60

Kia Vaughn is a Pod Person, Marissa Coleman is smooth, and for fuck's sake, you do not foul a three-point shooter.


Please note that I'm a bit punchy, and thus these game notes might be less coherent and a bit more ridiculous than usual. Considering my penchant for off-kilter remarks, that's a disturbing thought. But onward, ever onward.

Going to this game might have been one of the least sensible things I've ever done, but if I had chosen the Cal game over this one, I'd probably be kicking myself right about now. What a trip. What an absolute trip. I love my team- but oh, how I love my arena so much more. Hauling ass from Queens takes a lot of hauling- train to train to shuttle bus and almost get run over- but I still made it to my seat before opening tip- to the rest of row H, I apologize for not being able to get to my seat any other way but across all of you.

Maryland is good. No, seriously. Sweet Sixteen, I said in my thread? This was more of an Elite Eight game, much more on the line than anyone would ever guess, pride and passion and a clash of opposites that, in many ways, turn out to be similar, much like mirror images of one another. Perhaps it's no coincidence that Maryland and Rutgers have similar color schemes, or at this point, maybe I'm pulling stuff out of my ass. Whatever the case may be, Maryland brought it to the RAC and brought it well. Except for the free throws at the end, Marissa Coleman impressed me like you wouldn't believe. I wouldn't go so far as to say she can play any position, but she's got a nice combination of power and finesse that ought to make a lot of teams take a look at her come April. Kristi Toliver also played well- but if she's going to make it in the WNBA, either she's going to have to admit that she's actually a shooting guard or she's going to have to lay off the shooting a bit and learn to stop carrying the ball. That being said, girl is money, no lie. I wasn't as impressed with the starting posts for Maryland- neither Langhorne nor Harper did anything that especially piqued my interest. Truth be told, I thought the most effective post player for Maryland was Jade Perry, and I was very surprised to see Maryland not bring her in once in the second half- I think she could have been very effective against Junaid in the second half, with the amount of time Junaid had to log. Strickland… she hit one shot early in the first half and that's the last I remember of her doing anything notable until she fouled late in the second. I'm sure she did other things in the middle, but they weren't very memorable. What really impressed me about Maryland as a whole was their athleticism and their hustle. Loose balls that Rutgers seemed accustomed to not fighting for became all-out scrums and/or Maryland rebounds. They're fast and they're quick, and they fear pretty much nothing. With Duke on a downswing and Carolina inconsistent as all hell, Maryland may well run away with the ACC. Of course, in conference play, one never knows what will happen.

Would whoever stole the real Kia Vaughn give her back? This pod person sucks. Yes, she got her rebounds, and she got a couple of the key ones late. Yes, she got called for a couple of bullshit fouls. But you cannot be a starting center for a top-notch team in a major conference and miss as many easy shots as Kia did. Ironically, the only shot she hit was a jumper outside the paint. I'm optimistically inclined to believe that she and Rashidat teamed up to neutralize Harper and contain Langhorne, but this is based on me hoping and praying that Kia did something positive in the game. Midway through the first half I was about ready to go down there and smack both Ajavon and Prince upside the head for the stupid shots they were taking, but in the second half, Epiphanny found her shot and fueled the key run that Matee capped with her three. That does not excuse the boneheaded foul in the last thirty seconds- no, do NOT foul a three-point shooter, I don't care if God Almighty Himself comes down from Heaven and proclaims that the Eleventh Commandment is Thou Shalt Befoul The Shot Attempt Of The Offensive Player; Yea, And Thou Shalt Send Them To The Line For The Throws That Are Free; And Lo, Thou Shalt Hear The Lamentations From Thy People, you do not foul a jump shooter and this goes double for a three-point shooter. Essence was… Essence, though she had a couple of defensive lapses that surprised me mightily. Love to watch her work, although she and Matee also both need to watch it with the hand under the ball. I love Heather Zurich's hustle- poor girl's face still looks like nightmare fuel under the mask, but she's still fighting and scrapping inside. One of the guys in my section was hollering at her to look for her shot, but honestly, the woman is playing with a serious handicap in the vision department here, and the last I heard, shooting really requires good eyesight, so leave her be. Honestly, I think the difference-maker in the game was Rashidat. She stepped up where Kia failed, hitting her shots in the lane with a beautiful soft touch and bodying up almost as hard on defense. If Kia's not careful over the next couple of games, she may well be benched, and I can't argue she wouldn't deserve it. I still wish Coach Stringer had a little more faith in the bench, because our three starting guards are going to wear down from overuse, and Myia and Brittany can both bring good things to the table. No, Brittany, those things do not include three-point shots. No.

I had the pleasure of sitting with a batch of season ticketholders, and they were my kind of fans- people who know the game and love the game, are passionate about the game but can analyze it at the same time, who give the refs shit for bad calls but can admit when the bad call is in our favor and/or the no-call is in our favor. The extra four bucks was definitely worth it for their company. Great crowd. Not as many people as there should be for a 5 versus 3 game, but on a Monday night with a start time that does not jive with the NJ Transit/Rutgers shuttle schedule, I can sort of understand it. Not that it really matters in the RAC, though, because even a small crowd combined with the band echoes and reverberates. When you've got a very decent crowd, on the other hand… by the second half, the place was rocking. My heels still hurt. How I'm going to get to work tomorrow, I have no idea. It's been a long time since I've been in the middle of anything that compares to a RAC crowd in a close game. And I loved every second of it. Okay, maybe not the seconds when we were down ten, but other htan those I was pleased.

Referees. Oyyyyyyyy. What else is new, right? I'm writing this without having looked at the game thread, so I don't know who's bitched about what, but I can think of four crap calls in Maryland's favor off the top of my head: Kia's third, Matee's fourth (which would set her up to foul out on the dumbass foul against Coleman), and the last two out of bounds calls. Also, counting above two seemed to be a bit of a challenge for them, as I recall one play where a Terrapin was parked in the paint for six seconds with no call. Come on, Bonita. You and me, we go way back. We've been at so many of the same games. Is a good call too much to ask? Look, I know the Scarlet Knights are no angels, and we like it that way. But how is it that the foul differential gets racked up so quickly? Are we playing our out of conference schedule against the Celestial League or something? Look past the name on the front of the jersey, guys, please?

In the crowd: Mike Thibault and at least one of his sidekicks. Patty Coyle, both her sidekicks, and Loree Moore. Former Rutgers player Mariota Theodoris, or at least someone who stole her warm-ups. At least three Board Junkies.

Next up, Army. I'm pretty sure that Coach Stringer will keep the score down in this one. I mean, more than usual. It'll be nice to be back at the Garden, though.