November 25th, 2007: Dartmouth at St. John's

St. John's Red Storm 74, Dartmouth Big Green 31

Dartmouth is… not good. But Recee Mitchell and Kelly McManmon are.


So after one exhibition game and three games on the road, we finally got to see the real Red Storm show up at Carnesecca. At least I hope these are the real Red Storm, because if they are, this is going to be an awesome season; if nothing else, it'll definitely be better than the debacle of last season that I'd much prefer to forget, if it's all the same to you.

We got in the door late, so no anthem report, although I'm sure they had the band do their usual… ah, less than stellar arrangement, unless they brought in a sub-par singer; for whatever reason, they tend to have really awful anthems at St. John's, and I haven't been able to figure out a reason why. Starters were transfer Kelly McManmon and freshman Sky Lindsay at the guards, junior Monique McLean and sophomore Joy McCorvey at the forwards, and senior Tiina Sten at center (although, given the propensities of Tiina and Joy, it's likely that Joy played more center than Tiina, and I think Joy even jumped center to start the game). Alas, we also missed the traditional rituals of greeting that each player shares with one of her teammates- you know the kind I mean; on St. John's, the player who helps dust Monique off or chest-bumps with Tiina is sophomore center Recee Mitchell.

I have to admit, I was surprised to see three Texans on the Big Green roster- granted, two of them were sisters. Possibly. Probably- same last name, albeit a common one; same hometown, albeit a medium-sized city; same size and build, and they looked a lot alike. I get this feeling I've seen the Dartmouth coach before, possibly in the Pac-10, though I'm not exactly sure why. She was a hoot, not so much arguing with the refs as pointing things out to them that it occurs to her they might have missed- my favorite moment was when she described a Red Storm player as "do-si-do-ing through the lane". Considering that the player was Tiina, who's Finnish, this gave me some unusual mental images. Dartmouth seemed to be playing a very large and interchangeable rotation with a lot of players who could fill each other's role if necessary- well, except for Darcy Rose, who was a big center and the only one of her ilk on the squad. She impressed me, as did both of the Smiths, Margaret and Brittney (you can see why I wasn't sure if they were related or not; people who name their daughter Margaret don't tend to name the next one Brittney, or vice versa). Sydney Scott, the lone senior on the roster, impressed me with her leadership and the way she took charge on the court. Since Dartmouth did have trouble at both ends of the court- they didn't break the point-per-minute barrier and got blown out by forty points- you can understand why I'm having trouble trying to pinpoint notable players and great plays by the ladies in green. I recall being surprised that they didn't take a lot of outside shots- I had assumed from their tournament game against RU a while back that Wielgus was a live-by-the-three-die-by-the-three coach- and that they were really awful on their free throws. These are not things I expect from an Ivy League team, and I don't care if that's feeding the stereotypes. It was… I really am trying to find positive things to say about Dartmouth, but they got three points off their bench, all on FTs (obviously, since they hit no threes), had almost as many turnovers as points, and couldn't stop a team that was missing one of its reserves and had just lost to Vermont. Um, at least they'll have an Ivy League education to fall back on?

So, my ladies in white and red. Okay, maybe we weren't playing the most challenging opponent, but the kids looked all right. It's so weird not to hear Coach yelling at one particular player- last season, if it wasn't Allie who was clueless out there, it was Nikki Jo, to the point where Joy pretty much had to be a leader on the floor so Coach's orders could get relayed. Well, Allie's evaporated into thin air and three guards have dropped Nikki Jo to the bottom of the rotation, so the hollering is a lot more evened out now, though Coco and Sky both seem to be getting the brunt of it so far. The team still needs to work on not getting in each other's way, but the hustle warms my heart. What I love is the way they work together- one series near the end of the game comes to mind in that regard. Tiina fed Joy under the basket for two points. As they ran back up the court, I saw Joy saying something that looked like "I'll get you back". Sure enough, the next time down the floor, Joy had position under the basket and dumped it off to Tiina for a shot. I like the way the kids work together. The first half today, though- y'know, when it was still a game- was the Kelly show. Kelly sat out last year because of the transfer requirements, and she looked like she wanted to prove she fit in here- so she racked up 16 points in the first half, at some points having scored more than the entire opposing team, and including four long-range bombs. She's got good instincts. I like that in a guard. Sky was quiet today, although those high, arcing shots of hers had a knack for going in just when Dartmouth seemed to believe that they could make the game somewhat respectable. Monique didn't look right- maybe it had to do with the bandage on her wrist, but she looked easily winded, and she wasn't looking for her shot- which, considering she shot more than just about anyone on the team, says something about her trigger finger. Tiina was solid, which was all we really needed her to be, because we got unbelievable post play out of Recee. Damn, but she can move for a big girl- reading the postgame quotes, she lost 35 pounds over the offseason (you GO, girl!), which explains why she's quicker than I recall, because she's light on her feet for a big girl. I'll also bet you dollars to donuts she played volleyball in high school, because twice during the game I swear I saw her try to dig the basketball, which hurts when you try it. She was an absolute monster on the glass, very tough and very physical- oooh, I'm looking forward to seeing her play against Marcedes Walker. Joy… well, it's hard for me to be objective about Joy, even more than it is for me to be objective about anyone on my teams. I just love her hustle- though she's bulked up a little, she's still damn skinny, but she's a scrapper for all of that, down on the floor for every loose ball and in the paint for every rebound. She had an awesome "not in our house, hon" block near the end of a Dartmouth shot clock, and though she had three steals credited, she'd probably have a couple of more possessions to her credit if it weren't for that damn possession arrow. We got nice solid play from Kristin Moore as the backup point guard- I really like her court vision. The dropoff is going to be pretty minimal when she comes in and once Kia's back to speed.

Oh, yes. She's baaaaaaaack. After sitting out the first three games of the season with an injured God only knows what at this point, Kia Wright suited up and took the floor for the first time this season, in front of an adoring crowd of… er, 416, according to the boxscore. Guys, we need to work on this. Kia's still shaking off the rust, but she still put up a few points, got a couple of rebounds, made a couple of nice passes, mixed it up with the big girls- there was one play where she and two Dartmouth posts were going for a rebound under the basket and little ol' Kia came up with the board. When she's back up to speed and starting again… hoo, boy, with Kristin and probably Kelly coming off the bench, and with Recee in the post, we are going to be something to contend with. Just a little more time to get to know each other- although they seem to be doing quite well at that- and they'll be quite a team… and while two of them are seniors and another one or two are juniors, the others have a few years to gel together.

I have a bad habit of making parallels with everything and everyone, but these kids do remind me of the Libkids. My nickname for Monique has long been "Little Sista Christon" after Shameka- they even wear the same number, and Monique's just as girly. Joy's an undersized scrapper and a team leader in the same vein as Ashley Battle, though not quite as strong. But I honestly do think that someone who loves the Liberty and what they seem to be developing into would also love this St. John's team- and the tickets are even cheaper!

Those who followed St. John's the last couple of seasons might have noticed a few players dropping off the roster for no publicly given reason, most notably Angela Clark, the tall, slim all-conference forward who wore #3, and Lisa Claxton, the short, bulky, well-pedigreed guard who wore #10. Both of them were on the roster at the start of last season but never made an appearance. Well, they've not been forgotten. I actually noticed this at the exhibition game, but the gear made a reappearance today and I thought I'd mention it: like most teams, St. John's has a dress and dribble. Last year, the gear was clearly men's gear- numbers all wrong and clothes ridiculously too big. This year, the gear is clearly women's gear, both in decoration and in size. The jersey numbers? #3 and #10, and #3 doesn't hang very loose and #10 isn't very long. Hey, now you know what happens to jerseys that are ordered and not used.

Now, I hear tell that there are only so many players one can have dressed for any given game, and since Sheree was dressed today, someone else would have to be in streets. But Angel Tate, the backup center who started much of last season, was nowhere to be seen today. I'll be keeping an eye on the boxscores to see whether she resurfaces or whether she, like Coach's former favorite target, has decided that her life would be better doing something other than playing for St. John's. (She too parallels a young lady who once suited up for the Liberty; unfortunately, since she's a post with a tendency to shy away from contact, and tends to be easily distracted, the parallel is Iciss Tillis.)

About the only regret I have is that Charisse, who walked on the team last year after the spate of injuries and returns this year (possibly even with scholarship in hand), didn't score in today's game. It would have been nice, since she's clearly going to be the one the crowd roots for as the last woman off the bench.

Next up at home is Boston University, and something tells me that BU will put up more of a fight than the Big Green did. I'm looking forward to it.