January 22nd, 2008: Pittsburgh at St. John's

The Game Notes do not approve of players who just give up on the game- but they do approve of live wires and firestarters like Sheree Ledbetter and Kelly McManmon.


This nonsense has got to stop. I'm not paying to see a team just fucking give up out there. I'm not paying to see Monique McLean do her best Pretty Pretty Princess impression, combining the worst traits of Becky with the worst traits of Shameka. I'm not paying for power trips and bullshit. I'm paying for some goddamn basketball.

Are you tired of me complaining about the St. John's band? Cuz I'm tired of me complaining about the St. John's band.

Marcedes Walker continues to impress me less and less whenever I see her. Yeah, she's big, but a lot of that size jiggles. She was losing positional battles to Joy, who's a lot skinnier than pretty much anyone on the floor. The tattoo seems more and more like false bravado every time I see her. She got her points, but I'm willing to bet that she padded her stats with a lot of o-boards on her own misses. Shavonte Zellous continues to impress me with how she gets around her opponents. Kia's no slouch, but she was burning the hell out of Kia. Winn had a better game than she did against Duke, but I'm still not sold on her. Next year is going to be interesting for the Panthers; I'm not sure that the supporting cast around Zellous is going to attract enough attention to prevent teams from doubling or tripling down on her. She's got size around her, but so much of the offense goes through that big three that I don't know if that size is any good. Tough team. Some Penguins and Steelers on that roster.

For St. John's the question became "who actually wants to play this goddamn game?" There weren't nearly enough answers. Kia came to play, no doubt, although she needs to- if need be- defy the set play and take the damn shot sometimes. She's forcing a lot of passes, and they're going on her shoulders in the boxscore, even if the pass is good and the receiver is off in lala land. Joy came to play, and she did a helluva job trying to deny position to someone who's got… I don't even want to think about how much weight Walker has on her. Probably a small child's worth. Kristin came to play- Mom keeps accidentally calling her Loree, and tonight she did a damn good Loree impression. Sheree came to play- but in the few minutes she gets, Sheree always comes to play. Kelly came to play in the second half, and her defense in the backcourt helped key the run that made the game respectable. Those five together took a twenty-point Pitt lead and brought it down into single digits. The rest of the team… I want to know what the hell is wrong with Sky. She doesn't seem to be playing with any confidence at all. I know she had a rep, but she doesn't seem to be showing any hint of it now. Monique… don't get me started on her. She's ballhogging, she's not playing defense, she's making stupid decisions on the court, and finally, finally, tonight, Coach hooked her for all the crap she pulled. Monique seems to have the longest leash of any player on the team, and it doesn't seem fair. Hopefully, Coach noticed that the big run we made came with Monique's ass glued to the bench. Tiina… on the one hand, she was really out of it when it came to the loose balls, but I think she would have been a little fiercer if she hadn't been saddled with major foul trouble, much of it undeserved. Coco was royally out of it; she was not playing like she usually does at all. And Recee, I honestly think she's scared after she hurt her knee at Rutgers. She's hesitating in ways she never did before.

That all being said, the last time I've been this proud of a lineup was when Tiina, Monique, and the three freshmen had to go the full twenty last year. Kia, Kelly, Kristin, Sheree, and Joy made things happen when they were out there, and I'd really like to see more of Kristin and Sheree.

I know I've been this frustrated with teams before. How long have I been a Liberty fan? I'm just scared for next year. But take it one day at a time and all of that.