February 13th, 2008: Louisville at St. John's

With great Cand(y)ce comes great power, and Jeff Walz has learned well from Brenda Frese.


I have had it with this shit. I have had it with my team giving, at best, a half-assed effort. I'm tired of ballhogging and complaining to the ref instead of talking to teammates, sick and tired of blonde moments and freshman mistakes, frustrated with the fear of going up and the lack of desire to go in. I really have had it with a coach who is at best in over her head and at worst a hormonal bundle of tyrannical cluelessness. Is this a Division-I, Big East team or not? This is a question that should have been answered long before the 24th game of the season.

Louisville certainly is an in your face team. I could hear their coach all the way from the other side of the arena (although, granted, a St. John's crowd doesn't make all that much noise even when there are people there, and there really weren't, which is a whole other bundle of issues because student tickets were free, but what are you gonna do?). He does seem to reflect his former employer in that regard. If tonight's game was any indication, that's one helluvan offense they have- 96 points in a college game is nothing to sneeze at. They provided some cheap laughs when, during their chest-bumping, Chauntise Wright knocked Desereé Byrd to the ground. Angel McCoughtry made an impressive showing on both ends of the floor with her athleticism, range, and great hand, and if she comes out this year, some team will be lucky to have her, that's for certain. If she doesn't come out this year, well, some team will still be lucky to have her. The player who really brought it tonight for the Cardinals, though, was junior forward Candyce Bingham, who seems to be channeling the general power of awesome that the name Candace/ice/yce bears. She reminded both me and my mom of Dupree, in build and in style of play. It was getting to the point where I was yelling at the Red Storm not to let her score because I was running out of room to mark her field goals. Chauntise Wright is a scary big woman, but she uses that bulk well, or at least she was using it well against the slender and/or utterly FUCKING USELESS posts that St. John's put against her. Patrika Barlow had a knack for being everywhere. Mom rather liked her. Maybe it's just the name. ;)

I've mentioned before that I'm throwing this season away and blaming it on pregnancy hormones, right? Because Coach Barnes Arico is making no sense, and her lack of making sense is leaking over to her team, which is in turn fucking things up fourteen ways from Sunday. I know I'm biased because Joy's my favorite, but how in the blue fuck do you sit a starter who is in only mild foul trouble for just over half of the second half? And how is this going to help team morale when she happens to be one of your co-captains? And it's not like Joy was playing badly, either. Compare/contrast to Tiina, who looked completely lost out there- I honestly think she's actually regressed since sophomore and early junior year, which should be a red flag. Coco made a lot of dumb plays- hustle plays, I'll grant, but she's got to go up with the ball instead of coming back down, because her handle is nonexistent, and this leads to turnovers. Monique had one good defensive stand on McCoughtry, but one out of several isn't going to cut it. She was really forcing her shots, especially in the second half, which makes no sense whatsoever, because it looked like Sky had finally found her shot and some of her confidence. She's not a point guard by any stretch of the imagination, our Sky, but she was finding, taking, and making her shots at the two- at least in the first half. When Kia got into foul trouble, Sky had to shift to the point, and as of right now, she's not ready to play point on the D-I level. Kia… girl, I don't know what's wrong with your head, but you better get it on straight. Even her own cheering section was calling her out for talking more to the refs than her own teammates. Kia, maybe you wouldn't have to talk to the zebras quite so much if you didn't actually commit the spectacularly dumbass fouls. About the only highlight for St. John's was Kia's bullet pass to Joy for a layup in the paint. I love the connection the two of them have- I only wish we had more time to see it. Kelly played well off the bench, although she was also forcing some of her shots, and guess what? She made a play on the sideline that resulted in a steal! Recee played hard, but I think Wright was a little much, even for her. At least she and Sheree were both aggressive.

This is the third game this season that we've been competitive at the half and then completely fallen apart in the second half. What the hell is Barnes Arico saying, or not saying, in that locker room? I honestly don't know, but I think she's lost her team, and in turn lost this season. Her team captains aren't doing their jobs, or perhaps aren't being allowed to do their jobs. The result? Tiina's acting like a stereotypical blonde and a stereotypical Euro, Kia's not talking to her teammates (and sometimes it's really obvious she doesn't want anything to do with them), and Joy? Well, Joy seems to have been marginalized, which isn't good when she's the only one I hear actually communicating with her teammates. (And Nikki Jo. But Nikki Jo lives in the doghouse with Charisse and will never see the light of day again, apparently.) It's to the point where I'm almost grateful this season is coming to a close and will most likely end on March 3rd. At least when things go wrong for Rutgers, we can blame everyone else most of the time. When St. John's fucks up, they fuck up. And all of this interpersonal shit makes me nervous about next season…