Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 57, Seton Hall Pirates 51
What we have here is a failure to communicate. Namely, that the round thing should go through the orange thing.
Game 2 brought more repetition from the blue nano, a shuffling of fans, and an influx of people in really bright blue. I admit, I love the Hall's blue. It's much more striking than most teams' blue.
Apparently we were sitting by LIU family, because a bunch of them came into the stands briefly and chatted before wandering off. Palmer, Johnson, and Evans stayed for the whole second game, and I think I saw a couple of the others as well.
Georgia Tech's uniforms disconcert me. It's not that they're ugly, but I'm not used to bare shoulders. I kind of have this urge to take some of the fabric from the enormously huge shorts and use it to cover the bare shoulders. They run some of the most intense practices I've ever seen, though my traveling companion pointed out that that might just be because they wouldn't have had a chance to do their usual morning practice, so they made up for lost time during shootaround. Whatever the case may be, I've never seen a player knock one of her teammates to the floor during shootaround. That's some intensity.
Sharena Taylor had a nice stroke. So did Alex Montgomery, although she was ineffective for stretches when she got into foul trouble. Chelsea Regins has the most aggressively regulated dreadlocks I've ever seen. I think she shaves part of her scalp to delineate things more clearly. She was in a lot of places, trying to make things happen. Georgia Tech was very frenetic, in general, so if you don't see notes on a specific player, just assume that she was running her ass off in the trap.
I really like the Aussie they have, Brigitte Ardossi... at least on offense. She's not so good at staying with her assignment on defense, but she did a lot of good stuff on offense. ("Good stuff." This is why I shouldn't be letting the Internet distract me so that I'm only getting to these notes six hours after the end of the game.) Yeah, four steals, but much like Sherill Baker, either she'll get the steal or the other team will get the basket. Metra Walthour's sense of timing was impeccable- she hit a couple of early shots for GT, then put in the third one during a Seton Hall run. Mo Bennett was off and on. So was Deja Foster, who needs to learn that cute is for the team picture (and with a team like this, even that statement's debatable- tough as this team is, I don't think they do cute). Goodlett shows promise- I'm so used to the lower rung of the ladder that 6'5" makes me do a double-take. She needs to know a little more about the game, but otherwise she'll be right.
Seton Hall's running short-handed, with only 11 on the roster and only 9 playing. I don't even know anymore. (Confusion here: my notes say the starters were Booker, Emery, Wood, Curry, and Green, while Seton Hall's site has Williams instead of Wood; I'm thinking I misaimed my starter star, in which case you can smack me.) If so, then this is the right place to mention Whitney Wood's earning of the Coco Hart Memorial Award For Epic Fail on an open lay-up. Shanai Heber played starter's minutes for Booker, but still came off the bench. Nice job rebounding, but she picked up a lot of fouls. More of the officiating later. Terry Green had some enthusiastic fans behind us, but I'm not impressed with Mangina's recruit. Kashmere Joseph's really fallen down the depth chart, which, when the depth chart is as shallow as the Pirates' is, is kinda pathetic. I mean, it's not like I was ever terribly impressed with her, but c'MON.
Booker barely played. I'm going to have to go on Seton Hall's site to confirm dimensions, positions, and hometowns, because the roster at LIU was jacked up, but if the numbers I have are accurate, Booker only started because of her build. Ebonie Williams was really the only reason they ever got into the game- she got them off the schnide with a three, and she was hitting pretty consistently once she got going. Nicole Emery and Kandice Green joined the party in the second half, and that was enough to save the team. Emery was at least getting to the line- that's the only way Seton Hall could score for a large chunk of the game.
I don't have much to say specifically about the players from either side because of the way the game shook out. At the beginning, Georgia Tech looked like something out of a defensive maven's wet dream. They were trapping hard ad pressing harder, forcing bad shots and contesting most shots. Seton Hall couldn't buy a bucket. It took almost thirteen minutes of game time for them to finally register a field goal, but once that happened it was like the floodgates opened. Six field goals in seven minutes isn't a bad clip. Once the Pirates got going, the Yellow Jackets' lack of discipline really showed, more on the offensive end than on the defensive end, but they started to fall apart in the halfcourt defense as well. As long as they were able to hawk the ball, they could disrupt Seton Hall's offense, but once the Hall got into a rhythm, assignments were blown and open shots were found- and in the second half, Seton Hall wasn't missing the open shots they were blowing in the first half.
It was an ugly game, plain and simple. The refs didn't help either. The calls got oddly inconsistent near the end of the game, because I think the three guys were overwhelmed by the physicality of the mess.
Here are the two plays, both near the end of the game, that seemed ot encapsulate the fail that the Pirates brought to the yard: with about fourteen seconds left, Seton Hall was down 54-51. This was after fucking off about nineteen seconds from the clock. Instead of going for the three, Emery drove the lane for two. Except that she got called for the charging foul on a sketchy call, her fourth, and possession went back to Georgia Tech, who sank two free throws. Now Seton Hall, down 56-51 with about four seconds left, decides to try a three from the corner closest to the bench. It goes up... and gets wedged between the rim and the backboard. Jump ball, alternate possession gives the ball to Georgia Tech. As hot a mess as that game was, I can't think of two more jacked up ways to end a game.
Seton Hall, OMG, you made my conference look bad, stoppit. Georgia Tech, don't rest on your laurels, because that almost lost you the game.
GNoD DISapproved!
Friday, November 27, 2009
November 27th, 2009: Georgia Tech at Seton Hall (LIU Turkey Classic)
November 27th, 2009: Brown at Long Island (LIU Turkey Classic)
Long Island University Blackbirds 68, Brown Bears 55
Brown is a bit confused, LIU puts the pieces together, and teamwork is of the good.
The day after Thanksgiving, some people like to sleep off the turkey and the overindulgence. Some people prefer to indulge in greed on the heels of their gluttony.
The Game Notes of Doom prefer basketball as their vice, so we were off to LIU for the Turkey Classic. LIU's cute little arena and New York location (one stop away from Manhattan!) do a pretty good job in drawing schools that usually wouldn't deign to visit an NEC team, both in terms of class and in terms of location; the second game in the Classic was Seton Hall and Georgia Tech. I thought it was very realistic of LIU to put themselves in the first game, knowing that Seton Hall would probably be bringing a lot of people (in relative terms) for the second game.
Signs you are at an NEC arena: the musical options were "Black Classic iPod with rap/hip-hop" and "Blue Nano iPod with Top 40 hits". The blue nano won the day, and we ended up hearing "Paparazzi" six times and "Disturbia" four (and it would have been more if we hadn't finally let the guy in charge know that enough was enough, because while I like "Disturbia", hearing it four times in three hours is much of a muchness).
Anthem was tolerable, except for one egregiously bad horn player who needed to be taken out into the parking lot and thwacked with a stick with nails in. What's up with the holding-hands-during-the-anthem trend? FAIL.
Did you know the mayor of Baltimore played for Brown? No, I think this was a different Sheila Dixon; no one would be fucking with her if this were she. Brown uses a lot of line changes in the mold of Charli Turner Thorne, so a lot of people rotated back and forth. I sort of felt bad for Taylor Masaschi, who ended up being the eleventh woman sitting forlornly on the bench while five played on the floor and five waited at the scorer's table. Aileen Daniels was the first player to score for Brown, which took a while, which is why I remember it, because the bench opened the scoring. Christina Johnson sort of wants to be Kristi Toliver when she grows up, which isn't necessarily a good thing. She's good, but she seemed to be trying to do too much. The other reserves were unmemorable.
Natalie Bonds was really the only player on that team who seemed to be a legit player. She did nice work inside and worked on the boards. Hannah Passafuime looked like she was trying to work out some unresolved hostility. I'm sort of looking forward to their game against Columbia. Unresolved Hostility versus Ten Pounds of Crazy in a Two Pound Bag is gon' be good. The other starters didn't really impress me, though that may simply be because I'd not seen Brown before and it's always a little easier for me to keep an eye on a team if I've seen them before.
LIU already seems to be going deeper into their bench than they were two games ago, as I don't recall Kayla Ramsby playing in the Columbia game. I would have remembered a player who basically looked like a poor man's version of Deanna Nolan, not just in superficial physical appearance, but in speed and vertical leap. I like her. I like a lot of LIU's freshmen. Krystal Wells is a pretty solid young point guard with a good sense of the game. Tamika Guz has size and (at least in practice) hands like clamps; she just needs a little more wherewithal and some shooting lessons to be a real force on the inside. Ify Obianwu gave them some good minutes, and she's another player who saw very limited time in the Columbia game. Because it was such a blowout, we got to see MaryAnn Abrams, who couldn't buy a basket no matter how hard she tried but at least got a rebound, and Tessy Hetting, who moves very gracefully. Justine Stevenson needs to learn not to bring the ball down; if you're going to play the post, you never bring the ball down because the guards will go "OOOOH NEW TOY SHINY *grab*" and there will be a scrum. Marika Sprow's minutes were unimpressive, but whatever, she's still a fellow Liberty fan.
Heidi Mothershead sneaks up on you. I looked down at my clipboard at halftime and went "!!! Mothershead has 12 points! How the shit did that happen?" She had one wicked block that made us all go "ooooh!". Kiara Evans still needs to learn when not to shoot (for example, going one on three: don't shoot), but she rifled some passes to Chelsi Johnson that were things of beauty. Making things happen- always good. Johnson is rapidly becoming a favorite of mine, because she's a very communicative player and because she gets it done on the inside, plus that sweet little foul line jumper makes her a threat further out as well. Palmer looked a little winded before the game, and when she went down in a heap in the first half, I was a little worried (also, to the troglodyte behind me who complained because of the injury timeout, I must hope that you are not related to a Brown student, because otherwise I must assume that you have been cuckolded, because no one sired by a troglodyte would be able to get into an Ivy League school). Fortunately it looks like it was just her ankle, and not a severe injury; she spent part of halftime and a couple of timeouts running, presumably to keep it from getting stiff, and there was one long runout that pretty much proved that as long as she kept moving the ankle would be fine.
Pretty solid reffing crew. No real complaints here.
I really like Streigler's coaching style. She usually stays very calm, but always stays involved in the game, always keeps her players on their toes, and instills pretty good sportsmanship in her team. They're pretty good about having a hand to help an opponent up.
All in all, a deeply satisfying game. GNoD approved!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
November 18th, 2009: Columbia at Long Island
Columbia Lions 64, Long Island Blackbirds 62
The Game Notes of Doom step down in conference class- but not in the quality of the experience.
I forgot how much I missed the mid-major experience, and how much I like going to games at LIU. It has a certain charm that a lot of arenas just don't possess (and they charge you for it- $8 a pop!).
There are disadvantages. I swear the Blackbirds have to be the worst free throw shooting team I've ever seen because their fans, band, dance team, and pep squad make more noise when they're shooting than when their opponents are shooting. Guys, seriously, don't disconcert your own players. It does not end well. And I think I'm still recovering from the loudness of the band. They play at a volume more suited to the RAC than the WRAC.
I do like the programs, though, and the team poster is very nifty. Sort of a cross between picture day and complete chaos. Reasons I <3 Chelsi Johnson...
Dear Mary Beato: you are not Lisa Leslie, nor are you Charde Houston. Please to be pulling your shorts out of your crotch. If I am forced to see cameltoe at a basketball game, it damn well better be from one of the dance team. Other than that, your shooting is good but your driving sucks. Jazmin Fuller did a decent job running the offense in the short time that the responsibility was in her hands. Melissa Shafer did work on the boards. Caitlin Stachon shows good promise as a reserve for the Lions- a big girl with a bit of a touch.
Everyone act surprised that an admirer of Debbie Black, such as yours truly, has great love for Sara Yee, who I refer to with great fondness as "ten pounds of crazy in a two-pound bag". She ran a fairly sharp offense, though I noticed that later in the game she was backing the ball out more and spending more time setting up in the backcourt. And of course, she was ballhawking on the defensive end and jumping for rebounds that a 5'1" guard has no right to be trying for. Judie Lomax didn't really seem to be as involved in the offense as I would have expected- she got some touches, but she was looking to pass more than I thought, and some of her moves have been dubbed travels thanks to the point of emphasis this year. Also, what's up with the soaking wet uniform? No one sweats that much. Lauren Dwyer's a tough customer. Good range, gets her shit done. Barry played well, except for occasional miscommunication- I think she was the one who had the ball in her hands when Columbia committed a shot clock violation.
Impressively, everyone got in the game for Long Island. Sure, Hetting, Obianwu, and Abrams all played a mere handful of minutes combined, but they got in. The freshman backcourt of Kayla Ramsby and Krystal Wells played well together. They intrigue me. I also like their reserve posts, Justine Stevenson and the freshman Tamika Guz- both of them big-framed players, but using it in different ways. Stevenson did more fighting for rebounds and driving, while Guz used her build more defensively and to clog the middle so she could set up shots outside (like McLaren for UConn, as an example of that type of player). And Marika Sprow gave good minutes at the guard position. (There's the problem with being a mid-major- all y'all are guards.)
Ashley Palmer was hampered by foul trouble in the second half- oh, and the inability to hit a fucking free throw, oh my God, seriously 0-5 is unfuckingacceptable. She gets very, very tentative when she's in foul trouble. There's a difference between cautious and tentative, and she's on the wrong side of it. Kiara Evans, on the other had, was trying too hard, making stupid drives when LIU was down that resulted in easy steals and fast breaks for Columbia. She's got game, but she's got to learn that she can rely on her teammates. Connie James came off as the steadying hand, even though she couldn't get her shots to fall. Chelsi Johnson came up big in the second half, when LIU let the lead slip away. If she hadn't fouled out, I think the Blackbirds might have pulled the game back out. They also got big shots from Heidi Mothershead, who came out firing from almost NBA range.
Play of the game: loose ball on the floor at LIU's end. Ashley Palmer hits the deck, grapples with a Columbia player, and is able to shovel the ball out to Mothershead. Mothershead whips it over to Johnson, who puts it in for two. I love ball movement, have I ever mentioned that?
There was precious little, but I can't say I'm surprised. Neither team prides itself on protecting the ball, and both teams scrap and hustle for anything that even vaguely resembles a ball that could be pried out of someone's hands.
And after the game, after a close loss where the Blackbirds had the lead and let it slip through their fingertips, they did the opposite of what most teams would do. The echo of the buzzer had barely faded before Krystal Wells was past the tape and up four rows of bleachers to say, "Thanks for coming out to our game tonight! I'm Krystal, how are you?" Connecting with the community: you're doing it right.
I really do think LIU has all the pieces: a good coach, better players than many in their conference, a nifty little arena, an enthusiastic core of fans, and impressive networking skills. Be ready for them to make some noise.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
November 15th, 2009: St. John's at Stony Brook
St. John's Red Storm 89, Stony Brook Seawolves 52
Guess who's back? The Game Notes of Doom are back again. Tell a friend. While you're at it, tell them about Shenneika Smith, Nadira McKenith, and Eugeneia McPherson.
Sorry for the delay- the layoff was so long that I started getting spam comments. If it makes you sad, then tell the Liberty and the Sun to make the playoffs so I can go to their games.
There are things that are just good for the soul. A 30-point win in the season opener is one of them.
We got bumped out of the bigger gym for a craft fair, but that's okay, because the bigger gym is dark and dingy and occasionally leaks. Pritchard Gymnasium is small, but at least it's brightly lit and has good seats. The sound system is designed for a larger building, but that's not important once the music's off.
Things that are not smart: playing "Thunderstruck" when your opponent is the Red Storm. Especially since that's how St. John's starts their games. Right at the start, Sky did something that almost made me snort tunafish out my nose, and I wish I could remember what it was.
Stony Brook and St. John's have very similar uniforms with the exact same font for the numbers, which is very confusing.
Reason 425 why Joy McCorvey is one of my favorite players in the history of ever: she has an eye for faces and she remembers people. I admit that I blushed like a schoolgirl when she smiled at me, but that's because I have a crush on players who do all the gritty little things, keep their eyes and ears open, stay involved in the game, and appreciate fans.
For a very long time, the only offense Stony Brook could muster was "throw the ball to Misha Horsey, let her drive the lane, and hope that the runner goes in". She was aggressive, because it was very clear that no one else was going to get anything done in the first half. Destiny Jacobs is a big, bulky woman who knows how to use her size. Kirsten Jeter, who I recalled being rather good from having seen Stony Brook before, couldn't get started in the first half- all her points came in the second, when she started to get more aggressive. Joia Daniels didn't score all that much, but unlike many of her teammates, she wasn't completely awful and did things that benefited her team.
I'm trying to be nice, but we won by 37. It's hard.
Lot of bench play for the Seawolves, obviously. Crystal Rushin had a nice block. Gerda Gatling played up-close-and-personal defense. Sometimes a bit much. Taylor Burner, the big freshman from right down the road, impressed me the most- she knows how to use her size and wasn't afraid to do it. A little hot-headed, and prone to freshman mistakes, but she has potential. Unfortunately, I don't know that she'll reach it at Stony Brook. Not with Michele Cherry as coach.
It was a very physical game from Stony Brook. It got worse in the second half. And those are just the fouls that were called...
Speaking of benches. We have one! And we have freshmen! And they're really good! And I have to remind myself that bad things happen when I get optimistic and if I keep thinking we're good, someone's going to rip open her knee. That being said, we have a point guard- Nadirah McKenith did a great job distributing and getting to the line to make herself a viable option. We got to see Elón Sidney on the court for the first time, so congrats to her- she picked up a steal on a joint play with Amanda Burakoski. Amanda played tenaciously, though she wasn't able to get her shots to go down. Jennifer Blanding looks so much like Kia Vaughn in body type that it's frightening- she walks like Tammy Sutton-Brown, though, which is not a good thing. She was willing to get physical and get inside, though she's got to learn when to move and when to back down- she got into a little bit of foul trouble. Britney Murphy made a cameo, but with Nadirah's distribution and Eugeneia McPherson's tough, tough defense, she wasn't really necessary, and she was a bad match-up with Stony Brook's guards. I'm worried about Coco being our primary reserve post, though, because while she crashed the boards harder than I remember seeing from her, she's still prone to making boneheaded plays, which we can't afford from our bench.
Da'Shena, we see you! We also hear you... as your free throws bounce off the rim. 9 of 10 from the field, with a lot of those being contested shots (3 of 'em were and-1s), is a fantastic percentage. 4 of 15 from the line is absolutely abhorrent, appalling, shameful, and other such words. We are not amused. Sky's offense was good early, but she started trying to force the issue, and she really shouldn't have looked for her own offense late in the game, up 30, with scoreless Elón and scoreless Buzz in alongside her. Shenneika showed a lot of what made her such a highly touted recruit- very athletic, very fast, very aggressive. She made a lot of rebounds happen. Joy is as persistent as ever, going hard to the boards, going to the ground, and keeping her eyes and ears on the game. Kelly didn’t get a lot of touches and was really a non-factor in the game. I'd like to see her get back to making the big baseline/sideline plays on defense- sometimes I wonder if that helps her get into her offensive rhythm.
The game got physical, and I don't know that the refs were ready to handle that.
It was very emotionally satisfying. I missed my team.
Many thanks to Kelly's folks for the lift home. And dinner. And company. I think there were more Red Storm fans there than Seawolf people. At most it was a draw. There are advantages to recruiting locally after all.