November 29th, 2008: New Hampshire at Yale (Turkey Classic at LIU)

Yale Bulldogs 76, New Hampshire Wildcats 55

Yale and New Hampshire get along like 'cats and 'dogs, Yoyo Greenfield is not who you expect her to be, and Kristin Cole is an exceptionally good juggler.


Can you think of anything better to do on the Saturday after Thanksgiving than go to a basketball tournament at a school you know nothing about with four teams you have no emotional investment in? Yeah, I couldn't either, so off we went to the Courtyard LaGuardia Turkey Classic.

LIU has a nice little facility- very clean and crisp and modern, but you might want to eat before the game, or bring something with you, because I didn't see any concessions set up in the lobby. But we didn't venture out between games, so they might have set something up afer the games started. Not completely certain. Also, bring cushions- the entire lower bowl is bleacher seats, and they charge double for the chairbacked upper deck.

We joked that Yale-New Hampshire had to be moved to New York because if they played it in New Hampshire, someone might get killed. Very scrappy, very chippy game. Not that I mind that sort of thing, but the referees in it were pretty bad- there's a difference between taking charge of a game and controlling it, and a difference between calling a fair game and calling an even game, and these referees seemed to not know either.

It didn't help New Hampshire that they seemed to have been bitten pretty hard by the injury bug- they only dressed eight, and from the talk by New Hampshire families before the game, it sounds like one of the injuries was pretty recent. And there was a lot of foul trouble in the first half for their starters, so I give their coach major props for adroit player management- despite having three starters hit two fouls early in the first half, she didn't have anyone foul out until the waning seconds, when Candace Williams committed a dumb reach-in. They've got good height for an America East school. In terms of build and elbow pointiness, Racheal Fowler reminded me a little of Lisa Leslie- she's not someone I'd want to get into a rebounding battle with at all. She had a great save on the baseline that resulted in a basket by Kate Early. Candace Williams has some moves- a good scorer, but she got foul-happy in the second half, and that got her in trouble when the Wildcats could have used her. Amy Simpson's got a nice shot too. I think I've heard of her before, for some reason. The freshman LaRosa shows promise.

When I looked at the Yale roster, I admit that I wasn't expecting Yoyo Greenfield from Los Angeles to be a white girl with dirty blonde hair and a pixie face. So I stereotype sometimes, 'scuse me. She had a nice game, canning threes and running the offense, though there were a couple of possessions where she was getting her Becky Hammon on, and not in the good way (though also not in the "let me change my citizenship way", either, more like the "let me run into traffic with no help and throw up a shot that has no chance of going in" way). There was something I liked about Ashley Carter, but I can't put my finger on it. For what I'm assuming is a coach's daughter, Mady Gobrecht has one of the least fundamental layups I've ever seen a post shoot. I think she blew two or three chippies. Jamie Van Horne's got a nice three-point shot. Haywood Wright reminded me disconcertingly of Sue Wicks- similar facial structure, same eyebrows, same manner of running, and same need for kneepads. That was one of the things I liked about Yale- there were a lot of skinned knees, which to me means everyone's going after every loose ball.

I don't want to say it was a chippy game and there were a lot of free throws shot, but Yale's Melissa Coborne got to double figures without hitting a field goal. (She hit two shots late, but both after her tenth free throw went in.) There were a lot of jump balls, a lot of players on the floor, and a lot of hustling. A New Hampshire player had her head sat on; Wright had to leave momentarily to have her clawed wrist wrapped.

Yale opened the second half on a 13-0 run, and that really sealed the deal for them; they were up 9 at half and won by 21, so the run basically provided the rest of the cushion and allowed them to let New Hampshire play them even for the rest of the half. Greenfield hit a couple of shots to spur that run.

It's an odd thing to notice, I'm sure, but I like how both teams run their drills. Yale was shooting free throws (hey, Kim, are you listening?) and on-ball defense, and New Hampshire's drills were pretty crisp. Very neat and efficient. Something tells me Yale's going to take the Ivy by storm, given their upset of NC State, their close play against Kentucky in the first round of this little tourney (as reported by the friendly New Hampshire families), and their blowout against New Hampshire.