December 8th, 2007: Maggie Dixon Classic

Shavonte Zellous, Chante Black, and Rashidat Junaid impress; meanwhile, Kia Vaughn is… not well.


Nothing like a doubleheader where the gates open before noon to wake you up, huh?

First of all, I am not pleased with the turnout. Where the hell was everyone? I know the folks on this board did their part- I saw a few familiar faces in the crowd- but come ON. That was some pathetic attendance, and not attendance that would look good at all on the television. It's the kind of thing that makes people who happen to come by ask why it's on TV, or why it's in such a major arena. I mean, we did get some good noise out of the crowd, especially in the first game, where you had the Duke fans hollering, the Pitt fans hollering, and the Rutgers fans hollering for Pitt out of a combination of conference loyalty and the urge to see the team that just beat you lose in turn.

So, after all the talk this year of Marcedes Walker, as compared to the talk of her in previous years, I have to say I'm not as impressed as I used to be. She seems to have let the praise get to her head, because she's gotten very passive on the court- there were times when she was letting the tall but slender Chante Black push her around, and times when she simply wasn't chasing rebounds. At the same time, she's got brass ones enough that when her team needed her, she did step up, and enough that she has the WNBA logo tattooed on her right biceps- I couldn't see closely enough to tell whether she completely copied Cappie's tattoo or whether it's simply the logo. Shavonte Zellous also has the logo, on her ankle, but as of right now, she's got more of a claim to it than Walker does. That girl can ball, jeez. Now I completely comprende what the Maryland fans were talking about. She's a heartless shooter and a damn good hustler. I don't know if she really does have next-level game, or if she'll be exposed on bigger stages and/or without the muscle of Walker to back her up. Mallorie Winn… okay, I didn't get my program until halftime, so when I first saw #0 come off the bench and royally fuck up her first two passes, I turned to the boy and said, "Okay, she needs to not pass anymore." At which point she put up the most godawful three I'd seen all day to that point. So I figured that maybe shooting was a bad idea for her and she just needed to sit down. Then I got the program and realized that this was the once touted Mallorie Winn. Er, what the hell happened to her? No one else from Pittsburgh really stands out in my memory, although this probably has more to do with the fact that this was the first game of a doubleheader.

For Duke: Chante Black. I love her. Love at first sight. I like the way she plays the game, though she could stand to put on a little muscle. But I love the way she moves, the way she positions herself, and the fact that she seems to enjoy doing what she does. So many players have such severe game faces that the *game* portion of the whole thing gets forgotten. I was also very impressed with Abby Waner's hustle- she's got a nose for where the ball is going to be, and a boundless determination to make the ballhander's life a living hell. I don't know if she's a prospect, but she's definitely fun to watch. McCallie's big on posts (and on big posts), so I'm sure we're going to be seeing more and more post offense as she figures out what she has and what she wants. This might be a down year for them, but dollars to donuts their big push is next year. I mildly liked Karima Christmas, but I can't get past her name. (Not so much her last name, even- I work with a Karima who has a less than charming personality.) Again, I'm sure there were plays by Duke that intrigued me and made me go wow at the time, and were not Chante Black blocks, but time has eroded them from my memory. :(

Intermission consisted of some speechifying and some charitable donations, the second of which I approved of more than the first. All four teams were out there, some a bit more enthusiastically and respectfully than others. No brownie points to the two Blue Devils who chatted through the whole thing, and none to the RU players who were fidgeting. Not surprised that the Army players stood stoically through it, and would you really be surprised that Essence Carson was the picture of patience?

As an aside to whoever put together the remembrance videos: why did you think it was a good idea to show the one with Geno? Come on. The rivalry has gotten nasty enough that fans will do embarrassing things because of it. Yes, they booed the video. No, I'm not proud of them.

Beautiful anthem- they did it between games, perhaps so they could have the color guard?

Army was screwed when, three minutes in, Cara Enright went down hard enough that we heard her hit the deck, stayed down for a very long time, needed help to get up, put no weight on her leg, and went straight to the locker room. This is not a good combination of events, and bodes no good for a team when said events happen to their star senior guard. Alex McGuire had to take on the entire offensive load herself, and while she was willing and able, no one else could step up to help her. Hawkins and Anthony both did the bulk of their scoring late in the game, and Stone mostly disappeared after the first few minutes. Unsurprisingly, Army plays very tough, very physically, and very tenaciously. They welcome contact on both ends of the floor. They drive. They have surprising post presence for a team that can't really recruit above a certain height. They're fun to watch- I just don't know if they have the talent to compete, especially if Enright's out for any extended length of time.

I think Coach Stringer was pissed. Perhaps out of concern for nagging injuries, perhaps out of not wanting to run up the score, but IMO mostly because of the Duke game, she benched the entire regular starting lineup. There are small children who might not even have been aware that Katie Adams ever played who saw her start today. And Rashidat Junaid took full advantage to display her post moves and soft touch on the Garden floor. Granted, Rashidat started out with an advantage, in that a) she's already been playing better than Kia Vaughn, and b) er, we'll get to b later, suffice it to say that there may have been a reason Kia was playing like crap. Brittany Ray also decided to shoot the lights out, given the opportunity to start in place of Heather Zurich (who didn't play at all, perhaps because her face still isn't quite right after that hit early in the season, and if you don't have to…). I was glad to see Myia start, too, because I like watching her play- I don't think she's the kind of player who needs to start, but she's a most excellent sixth woman. Honestly, things unraveled temporarily in the first half when Stringer reluctantly began bringing the starters in. In the second, it was clear that the starters, or at least Prince and Ajavon, had gotten things together enough to look good. Essence was very quiet in her limited minutes. The defense was fantastic and the rebounding was splendid.

Terrapins, we need to have a talk about the use of germ warfare in out-of-conference play. I'm *sure* it's just a coincidence that after we play the Maryland Ptomaines, Kia comes up with two awful games and spends part of the second half barfing into an empty Gatorade cooler. Yes, the joys of sitting in the endcourt and having no one shielding the bench. Come on, guys, we share your team colors, can't you cut us a little slack? At least if you're going to use germ warfare, take advantage of it yourselves, don't hand it off to another team to take advantage of!

In the crowd: a batch of high schoolers and middle schoolers, Blaze and her posse, Dan Hughes, Marynell Meadors. The last two are as per Megan, the Liberty's devoted ticket rep, who joined us for a bit of the second game. During the first game, the Army squad obligingly posed for pictures in their general area. During the second, Pitt brought their own cookies and nifty warm-ups, while Duke socialized quite a bit in our section and the section behind what had been their bench.

I was at five games in eight days. Bonita Spence was at three of them. Bonita, we must stop meeting like this.