March 9th, 2008: Atlantic 10 semifinals

You gotta be tough to survive, and tougher to advance, in the Atlantic 10- just ask Temple and Dayton. But you can have a sense of humor about it too- just ask George Washington and Xavier.


Day 3 (well, day 2 for me) dawned far earlier than it should have, thanks to Daylight Savings Time and insufficient sleep the night before. Nevertheless, we hied ourselves hence to Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse for the semifinals, where we met up with and introduced ourselves to the lovely and dedicated dwalkfan. Had we been just a hair more emotionally invested in Temple, we would have bought the awesome t-shirts- "REPO" on the front, with Hooter on the back clutching a net and the A-10 trophy in his talons.

Because the games were on CSTV, and because attendance had blown several large chunks the night before, one whole side of the arena was closed off (later, Charlotte would settle into there, but I don't think that counts so much towards paid attendance, and I wouldn't want to chase the one upset team from quarters out- isn't elimination enough without insult?) to compress the fan base and make the place look full. The Temple fans and the Dayton fans got into it early and often- oh, not fan-on-fan violence, but competing chants. Lots of noise as background to the broadcast, which I'm sure made the execs happy.

Dayton got a lot of breaks in the game; it seemed like a lot of questionable out-of-bounds calls and block/charge calls went their way. They just couldn't get through the Temple defense to capitalize. I… really don't know what Dayton's coach was thinking, to be completely honest with you. Remember how I said that Kendel Ross was the best player for Dayton in the Charlotte game? She was hitting shots, she was getting offensive rebounds, she was doing her share and then some to carry them over the 49ers. For whatever reason, he didn't give her all that much run, even though I see I missed her initial entry into the game. Still, I would have gone with what worked until she proved that it didn't, you know? This time the hot shooting came from Kiki Lund (who also played well in the Charlotte game), but 'most all of the Flyers were shut down.

Lady Comfort stepped up big in this game- Shanea Cotton got into major foul trouble in the first half, so she had to be all the muscle. She completely owned the paint against Dayton, and showed flashes of being more than just a goon. Ashley Morris got hers, but she really showed both her Philadelphia roots and her mentoring by Staley in this game- a lot of her passes were too much for her teammates to handle, and she was a little faster with the ball than her feet were. In that sense, she reminded me of a young Staley, although she doesn't have quite the same build. But leave it to a New Yorker to save a Philly team's bacon; in the second half, when Dayton had taken a one-point lead, Lindsay Kimmel hit back-to-back threes to give Temple the lead and room to breathe with it, and that was enough for Temple to survive, because those two threes gave Temple a five-point lead, same as the final spread. I think that put the swagger back in the Owls' step.

Major awesomeness from Hooter today- he seemed much more enthusiastic than he was yesterday, even getting into a routine with the cheerleaders that ended with the Owl up in a lift. That takes big brass ones to do in a mask that completely covers your face.

I don't envy the Dayton fans having to go back to Ohio and that large snow system that's waiting there for them, but they have nothing to be ashamed of. Their team played well, and if they can just make a run at one of those Chaminade-Julienne kids, they might seriously be something someday soon. And if I'm Temple, I'm not real cocky after this game, because they damn near choked it away, up thirteen with three and a half to go. Their opponent for the A-10 crown shows no mercy and will go for the jugular if they sense weakness.

On to game 2, after a TV-mandated 40-minute break (as compared to the twenty minutes that were afforded the day before). This was the George Washington-Xavier matchup, and it was an utter blast more for the fun in the stands than it was for the action on the court. See, both teams had their bands… and both bands were really into the game… and both bands had eclectic repertoires. George Washington won the first sally with their transposition of "Bohemian Rhapsody"; by the end, the Xavier band had their cell phones in the air. Then Xavier gave Kimberly Beck hell for airballing an early shot- she heard the "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaairbaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall!" chants all night. Of course, at the other end, GW's fans and band were giving Special Jennings all kinds of grief for her name. And then Xavier started in on their rather traditional "spell out your school name" chant during free throws. Well, the George Washington fans weren't having with that, so they did it too. Yes, that's right. G-E-O-R-G-E-SPACE-W-A-S-H-I-N-G-T-O-N-SPACE-U-N-I-V-E-R-S-I-T-Y. Yes, they added the university part. Yes, they actually said "space!" between each word. Xavier struck back with their cheerleaders and the routine they have with spelling out the school name with their bodies. The GW fans had no answer for that, and of course, Xavier won the most important part of the whole episode.

At one point near the end of the game, I declared to the world at large that Ta'Shia Phillips could not be allowed to score anymore, as I was running out of room on my bootleg scoresheet to record her points. She went on to add a field goal and a free throw. I was not amused. She had her way in the paint, although some of the bullshit foul calls on the Adairs did not help one bit; by the end of the game, all three major frontcourt players for the Colonials had four fouls. Amber Harris took a hard hit in the second half and came up looking like… well, not so much "who am I and what am I doing here" as "ooooh, pretty colors!" After that, while she had a couple of late shots, she also started racking up stupid fouls. Xavier also got big shots from Jerri Taylor, and Maureen Harter, as she did in the first game, took care of all the team's whining needs- she's one of those players who would swear on a stack of Bibles that she never committed a foul in her life. Perhaps Jennings was disconcerted by the loudness of the George Washington fan contingent calling her name, because she didn't seem to be as much in control of the game as she was against St. Joseph's; of course, GW is also a higher-quality opponent, and she faced a better defender, and she did get her assist numbers.

As mentioned above, both Adairs were hobbled by bullshit fouls- Parrish also had four, but I can think of three calls against the Adairs as a combination that were pure, unadulterated crap. And they weren't effective on the other side of the ball, either. A lot of GW's problems on offense came from trying to force the ball over the top into the post- this is not a brilliant notion when the Musketeers' defense is anchored by a six-five forward with a ridiculous wingspan. Beck didn't play particularly well, I felt; she tried to force too much and let herself get rattled. I don't know if this was a coach's decision or a point guard's decision, but they waited too long to get Lawrence and Allen going, preferring to go into the post instead of onto the perimeter. Why play to Xavier's strengths?

Rule of thumb, dear crew: if you have caused Joe McKeown to swear at you? YOU HAVE MADE AN UNSPEAKABLY HORRID CALL. There were a couple of plays where he got quite animated, and one where I'm fairly certain he dropped the word "bullshit!" Then again, does the name Roy Gulbeyan ring any bells? I thought it might…

I still believe GW was the better team- they just didn't play like it. I'm not as sold on Beck as I was yesterday, but I do think she'd make a great backup for someone in the WNBA.

Temple and Xavier for the title belt. Shanea Cotton and Ta'Shia Phillips should be billed as the undercard; those two deserve each other, with the elbows and the hips they throw, and I wish I could see Morris versus Jennings.