December 14th, 2008: Rutgers at Army (Maggie Dixon Classic)

Rutgers Scarlet Knights 59, Army Black Knights 38

C. Vivian Stringer is inexplicable, Kia Vaughn is inconsistent, and Alex McGuire is accurate.


I despair of understanding Rutgers, I really do. And I despair of ever understanding Coach Stringer. I'm starting to believe that there's something genuinely wrong with that team- and with a fan base that's part New York attitude and part Philadelphia hellraiser, that's the last place you want to have something wrong with your team.

Nice crowd for the doubleheader, and many props to the folks from Connecticut and Penn State who made it out for the noon tip. I've been to Gampel; I've been to the Bryce Jordan Center. It's a hell of a haul between either of those and New York, so they must have either stayed over or gotten up at the crack of dawn to make it for the first game. Compared to the Rutgers fans, the bulk of whom left after the first game, or stayed to the end of the first half of PSU-UConn, y'all made a much better show.

Beautiful anthem, and having the cadets present the flag was the right touch. I especially liked that the cadets started the flag waving at the song cue.

Army really looked like they were in over their heads. A lot of sloppy passing/passes that were never in a million years going to get over or around the defenders, some very hurried shots. RU did a nice job of containing Megan Evans, who I recall going off like a firecracker against St. John's. But then, St. John's doesn't have anyone quite like Kia Vaughn, which might make a difference when attempting to put the clamps on a six-two fforwrd. McGuire had a nice shooting day, at least in the first half. Erin Anthony really got into the game in the second half, but by that point, most if not all hope was gone. Not a lot of spiffy plays by Army- the only ones I have down were by Courtney Wright, a nice block in the second half, and a steal to set up one of McGuire's threes. And again, I stress that Magarity really needs to calm down. Then again, if he was prescribed Valium, I'm pretty sure Stringer stole it.

Okay, seriously, what the fuck? So much what the fuck. Why did it take so long for Stringer to sub when her starters were obviously fatigued and making stupid mistakes because of it? We were screaming for her to pull Vaughn a good five to eight minutes before she even thought of subbing, and when it was Zurich she pulled, I was extremely o.O. It took her until the end of the first half to pull Vaughn, and not until the second for her to actually put in the player who normally replaces Vaughn in the lineup, Rashidat Junaid. And she always seemed to be blaming the freshmen for something, even if it wasn't the freshmen who were playing badly. Vaughn did seem to have it together early in each half, but she gradually faded in the first half. There was one play where she was walking back on offense. Not running, not jogging. Walking. Dudenotcool. Piph made me happy, though. Brittany Ray's timing tends to be impeccable. McCurdy was one of many Scarlet Knights with a nice block. Freshman sightings- I like April Sykes a lot in game action; she seems to be the most into Stringer's defensive system, and she showed impressive range during shootaround. Pope seems to have the right ideas, just a little too much enthusiasm about trying them out in game action. Speed seemed a little too interested in getting on the board and not enough interested in getting her teammates involved, though I think that may have been a function of the limited playing time.

In the first half, it looked like the refs wanted to help Army keep the game respectable, and the weirdest calls were on Rutgers. In the second half, it looked like the refs wanted Rutgers to blow it open, and the weirdest calls were on Army. (And on Brooklyn Pope- clearly one of the refs likes freshmen as much as Coach Stringer does.)

It's just as well we were playing Army. We wouldn't have won this game if it were against a better opponent. We didn't play the way we're capable of, and I'm pretty sure our coach is insane.