DePaul Blue Demons 59, St. John's Red Storm 58
What's worse, getting your ass kicked all over the floor or losing a heartbreaker? You decide!
That was disgusting. That was embarrassing. That was shameful. That was one of the worst implosions I've ever seen from a team in my life, and the gods alone know how many I've seen from my beloved, yet utterly frustrating, teams.
I should have realized things were going to go sideways when I took out my camera to try and show all y'all out there what the shiny new inside of Carnesecca looked like, only to discover that the batteries had died. NOT COOL. So no pictures from this game. It's probably for the best. I'm trying to forget this game as quickly as possible.
The anthem did not suck. Bring back the mixed chorus more often, please. At least they know how to sing.
We held a somewhat pathetic moment of silence for Coach Yow. I say pathetic only because there's too much ambient noise from the lobby to keep the arena silent. Doug Bruno was kitted out in his finest pink tie, what looked to be a WBCA shirt, and pink ribbons (along with the rest of his staff). Looked like the Red Storm's staff was wearing smaller, darker ribbons.
Keisha Hampton absolutely tore us apart. Oh, hi, person who's taller than any of our starters. Would you like to completely kick our asses? Oh, you brought a friend? Hi, Felicia Chester! Go right ahead, score on our frontcourt all you want! Never let it be said that we're not obliging hosts. Hampton did a great job getting position in the paint on both ends of the floor, especially on the boards. We kept leaving China Threatt open (which, I'm sorry, that still sounds like a foreign policy conference, not a shooting guard) and she kept making us pay. Somehow, the fact that she was the one who sealed their game against Rutgers with a jumper escaped everyone on the floor and on the St. John's bench. Seriously, guys? Do you not read what little there is to be read about the women's game? Naughton's slick. And she wasn't at her best, from what I've read. That frightens me. Sam Quigley reminded us of a Miller, stylistically and with the ponytail. Obviously not as cut, though. I don't think anyone is. She might be a better ballhawk, though- she was all over our utterly inept ballhandlers like white on rice. Even when we had a double-digit lead, the Blue Demons came at us and hit the holy hell out of us on the boards and on defense. They never gave up, which is the major difference between them and us.
Because we were some very epic fail out there, I'll tell you. Monique's got to be willing to shoot more. I can't believe I'm saying this- wasn't it just this time last year that I was bitching about the number of shots Monique was chucking? But right now she's the big dog, and if she doesn't step up, no one will. Da'Shena's trying, and so's Britney, but they're only freshmen, and they're bound to make mistakes. Right now, this team looks to be in complete disarray. One of our captains isn't playing her game because… well, because, and the other one is still suffering from the aftereffects of her sprained ankle. I think this is actually the first time I've seen Joy since the injury, and she's definitely not herself. She's not going up as hard, she's not hanging on to the ball, and I think she's trying to do too much on a bum ankle. Heart is all well and good, but right now, it's a bit of a failing. If someone would please find Kelly's common sense, that would be greatly appreciated, because while her shooting's gtting a little better, her decision-making is still sub-par. The only reason I give her a pass tonight was because right at the outset, she hit the deck on two consecutive plays. So that had to hurt like hell, and probably rang her bell a little bit, so I'll let her slide. Just for tonight, though. Doesn't explain any of the previous games. As mentioned, Da'Shena's trying, and this was the first game where, at least to me, she looked frustrated by bigger players. Good game by Sky, one of the few bright spots. What in the world is wrong with Centhya Hart, and how can we make it stop? Girl's got her head stuck up her ass, and unlike Kia Vaughn, she doesn't have the build or the innate talent to play at the Big East level with her head so firmly lodged. We need her to step up with Joy injured and Coach's sudden refusal to give Sheree any time and Recee any significant time- at least Recee played a little, and showed signs of being the badass we all know she can be.
Here's an example of the epic fail I'm talking about here. Coco gets the ball on a fast break, wide open under the basket. Instead of going for the layup like just about any basketball player with a modicum of intelligence- or, indeed, even a general knowledge of the rules- she walks across the paint to the other side of the basket. Not dribbles- by the way, I should mention that she was already on the right side of the basket, and she's right-handed- but walks. The referee, not being a complete moron, called her for the travel, so instead of two easy points, we get a turnover. UR FAIL IS SHOWIN.
Bob Trammell, in what undisclosed location have you been hiding out? And of all the points of emphasis to bring with you, why did you bring the double dribble? There were four double-dribbles in that game, I'm not exaggerating.
Dear St. John's, really, stop inflicting the dancing girls on us at every timeout. They're not terribly attractive, they're about as synchronized as an epileptic fit, and they don't do anything markedly different from routine to routine.
The kids were cute, though. Molloy's JV girls were cheering for the little itty bitty one, and the roof nearly came off when she hit a shot. I kinda thought the buzzer beater was more interesting, but clearly I'm less sentimental and more into basketball.
A star-studded night… well, inasmuch as any game can be considered star-studded when only 500 people show up. Two of our latest suckers promising young recruits for next season came. Friend of mine mentioned that Chandler from the Knicks was there (I suppose he was the bulky bald guy a few rows below me who mom thought looked like Rick Mahorn from the back), and that Kia Wright was in the house. I miss Kia. I miss Kia's family, too.
I don't think I can stress enough how badly we fell apart in the second half. Everything just went wrong, and no one was really innocent. Considering this is now our third close loss in a row, I'm starting to wonder what this team is made of, and if it can be reinforced with a steel alloy sooner rather than later.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
January 27th, 2009: DePaul at St. John's
Saturday, January 17, 2009
January 17th, 2009: George Washington at Fordham
George Washington Colonials 55, Fordham Rams 52
Growing pains in the A-10, but leavened with promising young talent.
I think it's safe to say that this is a down year for the A-10. George Washington's treading water, and barely doing so at that. Temple's putting itself back together. It really does like Xavier's the only legit threat in that conference.
But we were discussing Fordham. Or at least I should be.
Rose Hill Gym is a lovely place to see a basketball game, although Fordham is not one of those campuses that looks better in the snow. No cheerleaders, no band, and the concessions appear to be focused around the cafeteria. If you're at Rose Hill for a game, you're at Rose Hill for a game, period, end of sentence.
Starting at the top, then. Jessica Adair dominated the game, but she did so more because of her height. She does have the moves, but she doesn't have the stamina or the conditioning to go to the next level effectively. She has the moves, and she has some of the instincts, but those moves are going to come flying back into her face once she steps up in class. She got in close to the basket, and was able to use that soft touch, because she's 6'4" and her defender was 5'11". That's not going to work for much longer. But she dominated in this game because her team needed her to. Can't argue too much with that. I've always had a fondness for Antelia Parrish- I like big girls with range who also aren't afraid to use their size inside the arc- but this wasn't her best night. It seems a little soon to be reissuing Beck's #5 to a freshman, but Myers seems to have a good head on her shoulders- no, she's not Beck, at least not yet, but I doubt that Beck was a hot prospect as a freshman either. Yolanda Lavender wasn't listed on our scorecards, which was one of the primary reasons I didn't want her to do much of anything- it's always a bitch trying to keep stats without a proper card. Nice distribution, though. Bozeman seems to be relying a lot on freshmen to carry the load- makes sense, given that he lost a lot of talent from last year's team. I do like Rivera off the bench, though, always have. She had one especially nifty steal in the second half. Anyone know why Jazmine Adair's fallen off the radar? She used to be pretty high in the rotation, but she didn't play all that much today? I know Abiona's stepped in, and I really like her for some reason that I can't quite put my finger on- the same with Booker, for that matter- but is she that much better than Jazmine Adair that she's taken most of the senior's minutes? In general, we were not impressed with Bozeman's game management, especially near the end of the game- why, when you're an awful free throw shooting team, do you concede rebounds on FTA to a team that's within one possession?!- although I did like the big lineups he ran out there. At least he was aware of the disorganizing effect that his team's vast size advantage had on the Rams.
I find the difference between this year's hot shit freshman and last year's hot shit freshman to be very interesting. Mahoney seemed much less interested in involving her teammates than Peters is, and maybe that's why Mahoney's team had no wins and Peters's team has seven. In fact, the play of the game was a pass from Peters to Kristina Bell for a hoop. Peters has a good head on her shoulders- the turnover numbers won't show it, but she knows what she's doing on the court. I really like Randall Hurst, though- she's the one who stuck out to me, and if she was just a little bit taller, she'd really be something. As is, she's got nice moves, but she's a dreadful defensive liability; Adair absolutely ate her for lunch, shooting over and around her, despite the screams of the Fordham fans, because there's only so much getting in front you can do in a situation like that. Bell stepped up in the second half, although she has too much of a penchant for needlessly fancy shots for my liking. Takita Earl looks like she's put a little muscle on since the last time I saw her, but she still seems afraid to shoot, even when she has good shots. Zopf's a nice rebounder for a guard of her size. Stokes did a nice job on the offensive boards, given how few minutes she got- seems like Andruzzi was trying to go small and quick against the big and not terribly fast Colonials, a plan that might have worked if George Washington's guards weren't ready for it, or if Parrish weren't a lot faster than you'd think. Andruzzi's endgame strategy also didn't work so well- having fouls to give does not necessarily mean you have to give them, and if you are going to give them, give them as hand-checks on attempted steals, not stupid holds on non-ball-related parts of the offensive player. Hot mess.
Refs didn't help either. The bald guy I remembered from the A-10 tournament as being a bit of an asshole, the young guy looked about twelve and scared to whistle anything on anyone bigger than he was, and the ponytail had the quickest five-second count I've ever seen in my life- we clocked it at three and a half seconds. Look, guys, I'm not asking for competence anymore. All I'm asking for is consistency. If you're going to not know what you're doing, not know it in the same way every time out, that's all I want. If consistency is in fact the hobgoblin of small minds, then you lot should be able to handle it.
New feature for the Game Notes of Doom! Yours truly recently inherited a digital camera, and I thought, hmmm, wouldn't this be fun to take along? It's an Olympus D-380, nice zoom, but not designed for action shots. What I primarily want to use it for is establishing setting, since I go to a lot of different arenas. My goal with the Game Notes of Doom is to make you feel like you were sitting next to me at the game, feeling the highs and the lows, and seeing everything I see. The more I convey that, the better. So this first batch of photos can be found here.
Really looking forward to seeing how these two teams develop, though I think they could both use new coaches.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
January 13th, 2009: Georgetown at St. John's
Georgetown Hoyas 64, St. John's Red Storm 48
Despair. Horror and despair. Incompetence, horror, and despair.
Jesus Hypothetical Christ. Let them have one home game without us in attendance to keep them in line, and everything goes to hell in a handbasket. And I don't think it's going to get much better from here, because KBA's teams don't deal well with losing, and there are two tough games on the road coming up. We really don't need to hang ourselves this early. Save some for later.
Whoever is convinced that this student manager can sing needs to be keelhauled. The only way his performance could be any worse was with the static that kept cutting into the song. No. Just no. Have the band do it. Have a recording do it. But stop letting that guy sing.
I think I like the direction Terri Williams-Flournoy is taking her team. Very tough defensive team, very physical, and she uses every player on her roster. She plays her matchups well, and her team stays involved in the game- you can hear her bench players calling out screens and defensive schemes. The chemistry there seems really good. One of her assistants needs to learn to shut the hell up, though. He looked and sounded like he went to the Rick Mahorn Charm School.
The one disadvantage to using everyone on the roster is that that's a lot of players to keep track of. So my impressions might be a bit vague and scattered. My most humble apologies. Karee Houlette, though, is not easy to forget, though I wish she were. What a beautiful stroke! The net barely moved on most of her shots. Krystle Hatton's one tough customer- she and Recee had some epic battles in the post, and she's one of those big players who knows she's big and loves every second of it. Jaleesa Butler's also a tough cookie, and one hell of a sixth woman. I don't know which one of them was guarding Monique, but whoever it was, she did a helluva job. I suspect that it was Monica McNutt, but my memory of the assignments is faint, and there's only so much that can be put together from play-by-play. Alexa Roche is also sticking in my mind, but I can't put my finger on why. Overall, though, that's a tall, wide, physical team that uses its size very well. And until Fuller and Butler started feasting on free throws at the end of the game, they had really good balance behind Houlette.
There's got to be something wrong with Monique. She didn't look like herself at all. Slow, hesitant, awkward, overwhelmed- I could go on, but I'd rather not. And that really sums up how most of the team played. Joy is very obviously still hurtin', and I think that affects the team's morale. Sky was awful, and Kelly was even worse. Off the bench, Coco was nothing, and while Recee showed signs of her old Texas badass nature, she got hit with some bullshit fouls that really limited how effective she could be. The only two that made me happy in any way, shape, or form were the two freshmen, Da'Shena and Britney. Da'Shena couldn't get her shots to go in, but at least she followed them. Britney ball-hawked really well and didn't play too badly on the offensive side of the ball, but she's got to learn to speed up her game. I've been told she's not very outgoing, and if she's going to be a point guard in the BEast, she's going to have to get over that extremely quickly. You ned to have big brass ones to survive, plain and simple.
Inconsistently refereed game, and we had Dee friggin' Kantner as one of our refs, so I give up all hope now. The other female ref, Aliberti, seemed to have it in for Recee- she called two consecutive bullshit fouls on her. It got out of hand pretty quickly by the end of the game, and I genuinely thought there was going to be a fight.
These notes are short because I'm extremely glad the game is over. I don't want to think about it anymore. I don't want to think about the road games. And under no circumstances do I want to think that this team won't get its collective head out of its collective butt until Joy's better.