January 21st, 2008: Longwood at Columbia

The Lions show a whole lot of hustle, Columbia is quite clever when it comes to marketing, and there might be an Oedipal complex on the Longwood bench.


The more we thought about it, the more we realized we could do the bootleg day-night doubleheader, so after refueling at the Dallas BBQ, it was uptown on the 1 to Columbia, where the Lions played host to the Lancers of Longwood. Levien Gym was a lot of things that St. Francis was not: spacious, well-appointed, and generally having the appearance of someplace in which Division I sports were played. Like most places on an Ivy League campus, it was a bit tricky to find, but we did get there eventually.

The kid who did the anthem was adorable, but that doesn't mean she should be allowed to ever do that to strangers again. I was starting to yearn for the St. John's band, which is usually a sign that I'm running a fever.

Bleachers, for the most part, although there are some reserved seat-seats. Don't know how you get those- we wanted to be on the band side, on account of Ivy League bands tending to rule the universe in terms of geekery, and that was the bleacher-seated student section. We nudged over a bit from the seats that we were sold, because I'm not a big fan of staring down the endline and the photographer kept blocking my view. As for the band, I liked them better than most- the heavy drums were certainly an interesting change- but I'd still rank them below Rutgers and Princeton.

Longwood has a UConn alumna as their coach, Kristin Caruso- I'm wondering if she used to be Kris Lamb? Whatever the case may be, she clearly comes from Geno's tree, what with the overdramatics and theatrics. The mouthy assistants are a little much, and I'm really trying not to figure out if there's such a thing as an Oedipal complex in coaching, because the mouthy assistant was an Italian dude. They brought a very aggressive, attacking defense, and an equally aggressive offense that liked to bomb it from outside or bring it inside. Shooter Krystal Garrison impressed me tonight- she's only a freshman, and I think she's got a lot of potential- as did junior guard Courtney Dyer- that's someone who might have needed to step up in class to get the attention she deserved, but it's a little late now for a junior. Keiva Small did yeoman's work in the first half on Columbia shooter Michele Gage, and when she got in foul trouble, Columbia was able to get back into the game. I have a notation down for Cierra Baker's block, though I'm not sure if that was the one that almost went behind the stands or not.

Yes, signs you might be watching a mid-major: when the game ball damn near rolls out of the gym, they don't go grab another one, the game is delayed while the ref chases the ball down the corridor. A couple of blocks almost went out the door, no joke. In that sense, Livien really is a gym.

For Columbia, the problem was not necessarily on the floor, although they do need to work on communicating with each other and making their passes more accurate, as well as speeding up their offense a little bit. They were fierce on the boards, fierce and disruptive on defense, faster than your average mid-major, and they got their shots- they just couldn't get those shots to fall in the first half. It was brutal. There was more English on the shots going in than in the courses I took for four years. But unlike St. Francis- and even unlike St. John's on Saturday, they didn't give up. They never gave up. Even with the game decided with two seconds left, when Longwood inbounded, Dwyer took a swipe at the ball before stepping back as the buzzer sounded. That's the kind of fire that might have provided different results at St. John's and St. Francis. They absolutely turned it on in the second half- their inside game came alive, with Lauren Dwyer getting all eight of her points and Chelsea Frazier picking up ten of her thirteen in the second. I suspect that as goes Michele Gage, so go the Lions- she seems to be a pure streak shooter, and when she's on they have a legitimate inside-outside game, and when she's off they have a lot of bad passes. I loved the hustle on that team- the whole team, really, but especially Frazier and Danielle Browne.

Interesting thing about the Columbia program: it lists which specific college each player is going to. I guess they have to because of the whole Barnard thing. (And completely off-topic squee, this New York City public school kid is pleased as punch to see another New York City public school kid as the president of Barnard College.)

Tradition I would take from Columbia for the ultimate college experience: the tchochkes only come out whenever a Columbia player hits a three-pointer. Keeps the crowd excited in more ways than one and keeps the flow slow but steady. Also a brilliant idea: making a deal with the local Subway to sell sandwiches in the lobby, therefore guaranteeing food that doesn't suck and a decent take.

In conclusion: I'd go back to Columbia. St. Francis, not so much. Sorry, Brother Joe.