November 6th, 2008: X All-Stars at St. John's

St. John's lacks a point guard, the X All-Stars lack a name, and Carnesecca Arena is shiny.


Oh, God, we need a point guard.

Oh. You wanted more coherent game notes? What do you think this is, the New York Times?

Starting at the beginning, the renovated Carnesecca Arena is very shiny. I like the new walkway, but if they don't figure out a way to set up a ticket office inside the arena, they're going to have problems on game day, since the outside ticket office closes before tip-off. And the vast emptiness needs to be filled with… something. I don't know what. One side of the arena now has seatbacks in the lower bowl, but the side I prefer to sit on, facing the benches, is still bleachers all the way up except for one row of seats between the bowls. They've elevated the endcourt seats and added a few angled sections.

Things that are made of win: not charging for an exhibition game, getting to the line, the new graphics, the sound system, Victoria Hodges getting on the goddamn court for the first time ever, Da'Shena Stevens.

Things that are made of fail: mismatching your graphics so that one side has last year's and one side has this years, mismatching your graphics so that Britney Murphy's mug is on the board when Da'Shena is shooting, the X All-Stars roster not having two of its key players listed, Britney Murphy.

Things that are made of bling: the young woman in black shirt and slacks, with her gold necklaces and cute little clutch, presumably Elón Sidney, whose name I will not dare to pronounce until I have a guide.

The anthem singer didn't suck, and the band wasn't horrible. Disconcerting, that.

The X All-Stars roster was listed above as being made of fail. Half the players on it weren't there, which is good, given that they were seriously listing two players from Broward Community College. Yes, seriously. Yes, I know, I shouldn't discriminate against junior colleges because Ashley Shields will punch me in the face with the fist wearing her championship ring, but seriously. They touted the return of a former St. John's player, Shemika Stevens, who I think I barely remember. She started, but she didn't play much. Two of the players they got big scoring numbers out of aren't even listed on the paper roster. Renee Taylor, a small guard who wore #1, sounds familiar- why do I keep thinking she came out of Miami? #11 was announced as Latisha (sp?) Joy, but shows up on the Gametracker as Donnett Reed. I DON'T KNOW WHY. She came on strong in the second half, scoring 19 of her 24 points, including a very nifty scoop shot. They started Niki Avery from Eastern Kentucky, a quick little guard who shot mostly threes and annoyed the fuck out of our backcourt; Adia Revell, a forward out of Maryland-Eastern Shore who looked like Allison Feaster and thought she could shoot like Allison Feaster; Sophia A. Rogers, a post out of Central State University (I am not making this up, I don't care how generic it sounds) who banged our posts around a bit; Stevens; and Cherise George, a guard from Lynn University. Their more memorable players were the benchies- Joy, Taylor, a burly post named Jonee Billy, hard-fouling guard Candice Lindsay (who I'm thinking might be kin to Sky, on account of a Googlewhack turning her up at Fairfield with CtK as her alma mater and Brooklyn as her hometown), forward Almalika Lemon, and loudmouthed guard Natassia Boucicault, who committed her fifth foul on a dumb reach-in and proceeded to ask Dennis DeMayo "why'd you call that, f---ing f----t?" DeMayo was not amused.

Recee Mitchell has decided to go by what I presume is her full name, Aricia. It'll be hard to get used to, but if that's her preference, I sure as HELL am not going to argue with her. In any case, Aricia did not play terribly well and pissed off Coach a lot, though she was rocking her Le'Coe hair. Starters were Sky Lindsay, Monique McLean, Kelly McManmon, Joy McCorvey, and Coco Hart. Sky was very shaky at the point, but she was better than the freshman who shall not be named or numbered, because what the fuck, #12 still belongs to Kia Wright. Monique is, as ever, superb at getting to the line, but her handle remains shaky- a critical flaw in her game. Love her work on the boards, though. Kelly was on fire in the first half, though X found her better in the second. She had one wicked awesome o-board that made me happy. Coco and Joy are both adventures in going to the foul line, but Coco forced a lot more contact than Joy did. Really not Joy's day- she didn't wake up until the second half, at which point she was benched, I don't know why. She, Coco, Da'Shena, Monique, and even Kelly were crashing the boards and boxing out hard. Da'Shena. Da'Shena is love right now. She's fierce, she's unafraid of contact, she forces fouls, and she had two beautiful blocks. Brief Kristin Moore sightings. They were made of fail. Victoria Hodges finally got onto the court after two consecutive lost seasons! Amazing! Incredible! Awesome! She even got a rebound to show for it. If she shakes the rust off, she'll be very, very useful, given that she's our tallest player (at 6-2, sigh). And that about does it. Sheree wasn't active- I think she was on the bench, but I don't recognize my team in street clothes, especially when it's been eight months since I've seen them last.

Who did Dennis DeMayo piss off to get this game? Couple of bad calls from his crew, nothing too egregious. I felt we got the benefit of some borderline calls.

Charisse Curtis, our former walk-on, was in the stands tonight. Nice to see her again. She's a nice young lady, even if she doesn't understand doubling down on the hot shooter. And if Candice Lindsay is kin to Sky Lindsay, that would explain why I couldn't tell if Mama Sky was there- naturally, she'd be hidden behind the video camera.

Things are still a little shaky. People don't know where they're supposed to be yet. Joy and Monique have their work cut out for them as the captains of this team. But that's what exhibitions are for, isn't it? Shake off the rust, figure out who's doing what and who needs to be doing what? That kind of thing? I'm hoping that this was just a test run for the freshman who must not be named or numbered, and that her ass will be planted firmly on the bench when the games start mattering, because Sky was shaky and Kristin's cameos were made of fail BUT THEY WERE STILL BETTER. Also, hope things are well with Sheree and Elón.