January 12th, 2010: Seton Hall at St. John's

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Can we please relegate Seton Hall to America East already? (Sorry, America East.) It's bad enough that their play embarrasses the conference, but they drag other teams down to their level, which just messes up the entire conference. Unacceptable.

I suppose the tone was set for the debacle of a mess that was this game when the pregame routine was thrown off. Mine was messed up, too, but I don't think leaving five minutes late because I couldn't find my clipboard affected our offense. On the other hand, the moment of silence for the former BEast ref threw everything out of joint. It was pretty awkward when Seton Hall went off the court right before the anthem, too. They were the lucky ones- I've had the misfortune of hearing this anthem singer before, and she was even worse tonight than she was the last time. I don't know how she got a recording contract. I really don't.

Congratulations to Kelly McManmon, who broke the St. John's record for career three-pointers, and did it in less than three years! (Now go for 200, Kelly! You can do it! 23 threes in at least 13 games is not unreasonable!)

Seton Hall. Do I have to describe them? Honestly, if I weren't posting to Swish Appeal, I'd have skipped writing up this game. But I'm responsible, and a masochist, which is why I have the repeat of the game on while I'm writing these notes.

They got good minutes out of Shanai Heber, which doesn't surprise me, because she's one of the few bright spots left on that roster. I mostly remember Kashmere Joseph for fouls, including one that came dangerously close to an elbow. Curry mostly seemed to be there to chew up minutes. Morris got a little time early in the game, but most of her time came when the game was out of reach. I was surprised Whitney Wood didn't get in; I know she's eligible, because she played against Georgia Tech, and she brings an element that we really can't answer.

Kandice Green's hair exploded. But that's okay. If it makes her happy and she plays better, that's her business, and I'm not one to judge. She had a decent game. Good post work by Nicole Emery, even if she couldn't hit water falling out of a boat, though we had a lot to do with that, doubling and tripling her. Ebonie Williams started to heat up in the second half- she's got an awfully pretty stroke. She's becoming the star of this Seton Hall team, which is the most backhanded of compliments I can think of. I think Ashley Booker wanted to make things happen, but she just couldn't do it. Terry Green shows flashes of potential, but she's especially prone to freshman mistakes. For the love of all that is sweet and holy, don't foul in the last minute when you're down 20, mmm'kay?

It's more obvious with this replay I'm watching, but damn, Coco, do something about those yellow teeth. Laying off the flops and holding on to the ball would be conducive to winning more basketball games, though. Nadirah, who twisted her ankle in practice, (thanks, Deb!) really kept things flowing. She's got such great court vision. I love her. I like Shenneika, too- not a great shooting game, but the length of her arms and the quickness of her hands on defense (when she was in position) made up for it. We got enough separation near the end that Coach felt comfortable putting in Buzz and Jennifer. Not-the-Kia! put in a lay-up, and I thought the place would explode. She's adorable. Like a big teddy bear. Buzz should have had a lay-up, but at least she had a steal.

I love Eugeneia. She's so strong, and she's got such amazing ups, and she never gives up on a play. She spent a disproportionate amount of time fighting posts for rebounds- in fact, on the replay I'm watching, she just went one-on-four on the offensive boards and made Seton Hall work to the third bounce to get the board. Sky only scored six, but they all seemed to come at the right times (like the last bucket of the half; I swear this replay is stalking me), and she had a couple of great defensive plays, including one very awesome block. Kelly, while at least she wasn't afraid to shoot, and managed to get one shot to hit every part of the rim then go in, still needs to stop shying away from contact. She's always the one furthest away from her assignment on defense, which isn't good when this team prides itself on its defense. The other team doesn't have cooties. (Also, once again thanks to Debbie, you should not be a starter/rotational player and take seventeen games to attempt your first free throws.) The pod person that has replaced the real Joy McCorvey dyed her hair blonde, which has done very little to get even her vague semblance of offense going again. At least she's rebounding and making some defensive plays. Da'Shena must like big games, because she stepped up in this one (except for the free throw shooting, but at this point there are people in unlit caves in Thailand who know Da'Shena can't hit a free throw for love nor money)- she was crashing the boards hard and hitting that midrange jumper.

The refereeing wasn't too bad, but I'll rarely complain about Dennis DeMayo. I was impressed with their patience with Coach, though, because she was quite irked with a lot of people; I was fairly certain that if looks could kill, while Nadirah was at the free throw line we would have needed a new point guard.

We really need to do more work getting people into the seats for televised games. The student sections were deserted, and there were a lot of empty seats even center court. They should probably close off the bleachers for games like this.

I'm surprised we go to the zone so often. It's not very effective, compared to our man-to-man. We have too many people interested in cheating over.

Does anyone in the BEast take more punishment than Da'Shena Stevens? The only one I can think of is Eugeneia.

I wish Seton Hall hadn't played so badly, because I wanted us to play better, especially since this game was on television, and I was telling everyone to watch it. The BEast is better than this. We're better than this. We're going to have to be better than this if we want to go anywhere.