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The last time I went to a conference championship game, I was in college and it was the CUNYAC title game, and my alma mater won the game on two free throws after Staten Island threw the inbounds pass straight out of bounds. It wasn't half as exciting as this.
We got to the box office around 1:30 to make sure we were able to get tickets, and we started the line. The ticket office was a little disorganized, because I don't think they were ready for this many people to show up to a women's game. I was a little disconcerted when I saw so many people from St. Francis come by in their red, white, and black, especially as they guided people to various sections depending on their affiliation. They just kept coming... and coming... and coming... and then the LIU fans started arriving. It got crowded in a hurry. My legs are still cramped.
Much love and thanks to the young lady handing out LIU t-shirts at the entrance. I'd been dying for some swag, and that saved us a good thirty bucks, which we'll most likely use in the WNIT somewhere. (Or the NCAA. Oh, please, Almighty Committee, give St. John's Norfolk to Memphis or Dayton.)
I do wish the anthem singer hadn't been the same guy I'd heard in three different arenas, who gets worse every time I see and hear him.
If the Red Flash went deeper than three into their bench, then the LIU announcer didn't bother to mention who they were. Shené Fleming played briefly in the second half when foul trouble became a factor for one of St. Francis's starting guards. Brittany Lilley brought major offense off the bench, especially in the second half. Allison Smith went scoreless, but she played a good bit, so she must have been doing something right.
Brittney Hodges. Brittney Hodges. Holy crap, Brittney Hodges. I figured she was going to be the one to watch when the ESPN cameraman was following her closer than her own shadow during shootaround, but she went OFF in the first half. At one point, SFU had 23- and she had 14. LIU got on her better in the second half, but that opened up the lane and the midrange jumper for Samantha Leach, who made the most of her opportunities. Quinessa Johnson was in foul trouble for a chunk of the second half, and I don't recall her being much of a factor. Daly also got loose in the second half, with a little help from her friends. Janie Killian was a difference-maker with her length and size- she's 6-4, and LIU had no way to deal with her. That didn't keep them from trying alley-oop passes over the top.
I really like Krystal Wells, and not just because she thanked us for coming to one of their games earlier this season. She's a firestarter on the defensive end, with a reservoir of energy that never seems to run out, and her hustle made a lot of good things happen for the Blackbirds. Justine Stevenson was just not there today. I mean, she was physically present, but except for one rebound, I can't remember one good thing she did- and the pass after the rebound was stolen! Tamika Guz played briefly, proved that she couldn't shoot for love nor money, and was sat back down on the bench.
Paging Connie James. Her head was just not in this game. Too many sloppy passes, too much bad ballhandling- I think she let the pressure get to her a little. Heidi Mothershead showed up for the game and played well on defense- one brilliant sequence that forced an over-and-back comes to mind- but her shot didn't join the party. Shame. That might have been useful. Chelsi Johnson, while I applaud your confidence in your jump shot, it's a little overstated. Don't stand there and watch. Follow your shot. She went after everyone else's shots hard, though. Ashley Palmer... I always go "I'm not impressed" when I watch her play, but then she puts up 20 points and I don't know how many rebounds, and I just go wow. Kiara Evans, while she got a little too intense sometimes, did a good job of knowing that she needed to make with the offense because Mothershead wasn't hitting and they weren't getting much from the bench.
Refs. WTF, man? An elbow to the chin isn't a foul but a reach is? Iím not blaming the refs for the loss- I think LIU managed to screw up homecourt advantage all by themselves thanks to missed free throws and a couple of players not showing up. But I don't want players to get hurt, and it got close to that line. Put it this way: sometime after Janie Killian's elbow introduced itself to Ashley Palmer's chin, Palmer ended up on the floor. When Killian offered her a hand up, Palmer rolled away and got to her feet by herself.
I feel sort of like I cheated on St. John's today. I got more into this game than I have any other, because LIU needed the support and it was a conference championship, with a chance to Dance on the line. Don't get me wrong: when St. John's makes a conference championship game, you'll hear me across the state line, I'll be so loud. But LIU is my second favorite team and I wanted them in SO badly. I may have bruised my thigh. If anyone from the Red Storm reads this, it was just warm-up for if I can get to the tournament with you guys next week. :D
Originally, when it was announced that the halftime show was a cheerleading squad from PS 307, I threw up a little in my mouth, because elementary school cheerleaders are made of EW. But these kids were really, really good. They were doing pyramids and lifts that the team at St. John's doesn't even try. (So yes, when the SFU cheerleaders were a bit less than crisp with their routine, our response was "Our fifth graders are better than you!")
As frustrating as it was, I do have to give props to the SFU crowd for traveling. That was a long haul to make.
I really hope LIU makes the WNIT. They deserve at least a look. And this team needs that kind of post-season experience.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
March 14th, 2010: St. Francis (PA) at Long Island (NEC championship)
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
March 8th, 2010: Atlanta at New York
New York Knicks 99, Atlanta Hawks 98
The Game Notes of Doom take some time off from basketball to... watch basketball. David Lee impresses, Danilo Gallinari shoots, and referees almost don’t make our day.
I'm not a big NBA person. The acrobatic stunts don't get my pulse pounding the way I gather they're supposed to. I don't think the NBA is where amazing happens, I think it's where ballhogging happens. That all being said, if someone offers me free tickets to a basketball game, I'm going unless it conflicts with another game.
I'm not used to being up in the 400s. I've been up there before for various events- my first Rangers game, a couple of Knick games, even a couple of Liberty games back in the day when those sections were sold. But I'm spoiled by life in Liberty-land. Being up there gave me the germ of a theory; maybe NBA fans appreciate the acrobatic, explosive plays more because they're the only thing you can see from the upper deck. It's harder to see the smaller details when you're closer to the ceiling than the floor. And thanks to ridiculous ticket prices, most people can only afford to see games from the upper deck when they do go. But this is all hypothetical, and I'm not even sure my brain is working right now, so maybe I'm not making sense.
I think every tourist in New York was in our section. There were maybe five people who didn't have cameras or illegal camcorders out during the game. I would have done something highly inappropriate to the guy in front of me if he had used that illegal camera to block my view of the game.
The anthem singer and her HOLY CRAP THAT'S BRIGHT pink dress were doing very well until near the end, when she started thinking she was Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin all rolled into one. No. Just no.
Whoever does the video clips for the Knicks should be applauded. Those were some nice videos, especially the one that linked the past and the present. But I'm a sucker for that kind of thing. Tradition is to be celebrated, not ignored.
It was good for the soul when we heard "Gotta Get Up" and they showed Sista Christon on the Jumbotron. She looks good. Is it May yet?
Atlanta's uniforms are really ugly and they brought an awful lot of fans with them.
Jamal Crawford got a warm welcome back from the fans- I guess he was popular when he was a Knick? Played well enough, in any case. Jeff Teague does not seem to be the brightest bulb in the basketball box. Zaza Pachulia had at least one set of devoted fans who brought a Georgian flag with them, but he didn't play all that well- some exceptionally dumb fouls on his part.
Marvin Williams is a bigger man than I thought, and bigger than I noticed the first couple of times he went into the game. Joe Johnson started off hot, but didn't remain as important a factor as the boxscore would suggest. Mike Bibby was underwhelming, which might have been the real difference in the Hawks not quite getting over the hump. Al Horford did a lot of tough work inside- he had a lot of offensive rebounds because the Knicks weren’t crashing the boards. I remember one especially nice dunk by Josh Smith, but that’s about it. Of course, I’m now writing these notes at 12:30 the following day.
I cringed every time they did the Tony the Tiger thing for Toney Douglas- I like the kid. He’s got game. House was part of the third quarter surge that gave the Knicks the lead. Al Harrington isn’t exactly what I would call the world’s greatest defender, but he had some nice shots in the fourth. That’s one hell of a sixth man they have there.
Sergio Rodriguez looked so lost out there. I don’t know when he joined the Knicks, but my guess would have been at about 4:30 Sunday. Lost defensively, didn’t know where his teammates were. When he got the ball and was able to do things himself, he was okay. I have no idea why he was starting. For that matter, I don’t know how Bill Walker ended up in the starting lineup, but he acquitted himself well (someone’s been shooting around with Laurie Koehn, hasn’t he?). David Lee- I love his hustle, but he’s got to learn to play with fouls. Once he got the fifth, he was a lot more tentative than I think he could have been. Other than that, I really, really like him. He’s the kind of guy WNBA fans would enjoy watching. He does the right things on the floor. Gallinari- wow, what a shooting night. The PA announcer at the Garden loves putting the accent on his name, so it’s good that he went off. I’ve never seen anyone play ninja defense the way he does, though- his hands were always chopping and lashing out, but just the hands, not the arms. I do love Italian body language; it’s the only way people in the 400s can tell what’s going on.
And then there was almost a riot. The Knicks, being the Knicks, managed to choke away nine-points of a ten-point lead, and turned the ball over on the last possession. The Hawks came speeding up the court, but I swear they had a flashback to being the bad Hawks and managed to fuck up two easy shots. The third tip-in went in, but by then the buzzer had long since sounded and the Knicks had escaped. Well. Until the referees signaled that the shot was good. The arena staff were stunned. And as Mike W announced that, “As it stands now, the final score is Atlanta 100, the Knicks 99,” the arena erupted in booing, a low, ugly noise. But there’s nothing as happy as a New York crowd that gets its way.
I’m not going to make a regular practice out of going to NBA games, and I wouldn’t even if I had the money. But I’ll give the Garden credit- the last two games I’ve been to there have been exciting and come down to a shot right near the end of the game. (I went to a Rangers game a couple of months ago; I didn’t write it up because I don’t know enough about hockey to do that.)
Sunday, March 7, 2010
March 7th, 2010: Syracuse at UConn (Big East tournament)
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So we sat and marinated in our fury and frustration for twenty minutes, waiting for the second game to begin. We debated leaving because we knew it was going to be a blow-out, but we paid for the ticket and our dinner reservations weren't until 5:15, so there was no point in going anywhere. We chatted up the UConn fans around us, some of whom commiserated with us about the previous game. Then Elvis entered the building and it got hard to do much of anything.
Star-divide
I don't want to be a UConn fan- I love my team, I'm happy with my team, I think we can do great things- but I want something like what UConn has. I understand that it takes time to build a fan base like that, and that there's a bit of a perfect storm in Connecticut, given their placement between the New York sphere of influence and the Boston sphere of influence with no real outlet for those passions nearby. But the feeling of sitting in an arena for a women's basketball game and being surrounded by thousands of cheering fans... it's good for the soul if you're a fan of the game, and not just of one particular team or another. It's something to aim for.
I swear Kayla Alexander felt she had something to prove. I don't know who she wanted to prove it to, given that she made the All-Freshman team and it's pretty obvious that she's going to have to fill in when Nicole Michael graduates. She showed some nice moves inside, though her propensity for elbows will probably not serve her well in later years. Carmen Tyson-Thomas also showed me something, though perhaps it was just the ability to not look like someone who had never played basketball before when confronted with the machine that is UConn, which I suppose is a moral victory. Tyler Ash started getting fearless late. There comes a time when it's hard to really care. Lampkins fancied herself a three-point shooter- haven't seen enough of the Orange to determine if she normally hits those and tonight was just not her night, or if she just can't shoot.
Maybe Syracuse just gave up, but their starters didn't seem to be in the game at all- both literally, by not playing a lot, and figuratively, by not having their heads in the game. Michael barely got any touches, which you would think would be unusual for Syracuse's all-time leading scorer. The way Tasha Harris played today, I'm surprised she was even in the first twelve for the Lieberman. Maybe it's the lateness of the hour or the quality of the game, but I'm having a hard time remembering Syracuse doing much of anything other than missing even the easiest of shots that UConn gave them.
That's the scary part. UConn gave up 19 offensive rebounds, and Syracuse still couldn't get it in the hole. They had two or three chances at some shots and could get nothing. That's the scary part- this was far from the best game UConn has played this year, and they still curb-stomped a Syracuse team that's on the bubble. That's the most terrifying thing about UConn. They're just that good.
Their bench didn't impress me, but I guess they didn't need to. More to the point, I'm not the one they need to impress. Kelly Faris, especially, looked very ordinary, and I was given the impression that she was the next big thing from UConn. I also thought Gardler was a smarter player than she showed today; you'd expect that from a coach's kid, right? McLaren... uh, has she put on weight? I completely have no right to ask this, I know, but she looks bigger than she did last year. Dixon's still a little out of control. Perhaps there's just some sort of peculiar plague afflicting the Christ the King alumnae? Should we check on Bird or Doron to make sure they haven't been replaced by aliens? Buck looked really uncomfortable out there. Fernandes at least looked somewhat comfortable, even if she didn't meet the high standards basketball fans have come to expect from folks wearing UConn jerseys.
But hey, who needs a bench when you have Tina Charles? That was one of the most dominant performances I've ever seen from a post player. Her moves in the paint were ridiculous, and her blocks powerful. Her free throw shooting could use some work, but no single person is perfect. And Maya Moore brought it too. Slick, graceful, and acrobatic. Tiffany Hayes got into foul trouble early and really couldn't get going. Doty couldn't hit a shot, but she was brilliant passing on the break. And Kalana Greene is a great Robin to the Batman/Superman combo of Charles and Moore. She takes advantage of the space she gets because they get so much respect from the defense.
I'll tell you, it's really hard to do a player-by-player breakdown of UConn. They come at you in groups. When the ball comes off the glass or the rim, there are two, three, four players crashing the boards like their lives depended on someone from UConn coming down with the ball. Same deal with loose balls. Their passing is crisp and slick. They work as a unit like no team I've ever seen. They work harder than just about any team in the game, looking like they have to work for every loose ball in order to win. I think sometimes they pretend not to know they're talented so they keep working like this.
Not that it would matter with a margin like this, but if the refereeing was biased, it was biased against UConn. There were a couple of odd out-of-bounds calls that I thought should hae gone to the Huskies. And I'm not sure about Moore's... third foul, I think it was, though if it wasn't, I claim the excuse that it's 1AM and I'm in my nineteenth straight hour of consciousness. It was either the third or the fourth that I thought was pretty questionable.
So let's review. The guard who usually shoots pretty well went scoreless (though she had seven assists). Her running mate only had seven, and only one field goal. The bench was substandard. The passing game early on wasn't as sharp as usual. They hit barely half their free throws. They got the short end of the stick from the referees. And they won by 36. They scored more in the first half than the other team did in the game. In the Big East tournament, against a Syracuse team on the bubble.
I saw the monster last year- quite a few times, in fact, given that we went to the Trenton Regional and St. Louis for the Final Four, as well as the home game at St. John's. Somehow, they've gotten even better after graduating Renee Montgomery. This is scary, guys. This is really scary.
March 7th, 2010: Notre Dame at St. John’s (Big East tournament)
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There's nothing in the world like flying down I-95 at what was probably an illegal speed with two other die-hard fans, with the windows rolled down, blasting "We Will Rock You" at 20 notches on the volume dial, on your way to the Big East tournament. There's nothing in the world.
Star-divide
I'm really trying not to think about this game, because the refereeing still makes me want to go punch people in the face, and since I thought it was inappropriate when Brittney Griner expressed her displeasure in that way, I shouldn't give in to the same temptation. I'm still proud of my team, and I still love them, and no three blind mice can make me do anything other than hold my head high and pop my Red.
By no means were we the only St. John's fans to make the trip. There were a few swaths and spots of red in that crowd. Much love for the ladies in 118 who brought the "Seeing Red" sign, because signs are important for establishing who you are.
The Notre Dame band is better than ours, but ours got to do the anthem and didn't completely mess it up. I take my victories where I can get them.
Devereaux Peters absolutely destroyed us inside in the second half. I'll give McGraw credit- she recognized that and started Peters in the second half. (Of course, she got a little help, but we'll get to that in due time.) Bruszewski wasn't as much of a factor as I thought she could have been- which I'm grateful for, mind you. Mallory was more of a factor defensively than offensively. I find it interesting that McGraw tightened her rotation even more than most coaches do in big games- there were a couple of players who I remember getting time against us last time who didn't get in this game.
Erica Williamson did what McGraw asked of her- she's a very big, physical presence inside, and I think I liked her better before her shove sent Da'Shena to the floor and out of the game for a few minutes because of a twisted ankle. Schrader started to find her rhythm in the second half, but she didn't really strike me as being as important to the Irish as I was expecting her to be. Barlow had great hands on defense, but I don't know that she's as good of a three-point shooter as she thinks she is. Diggins's game followed the same pattern as it did in our previous match-up- she was good but not great in the first half, then in the second half she got a little more aggressive and got rewarded for it with some very generous calls.
I know Eugeneia didn't score, and part of that has to do with her bad habit of trying harder to draw contact than hit the shot, but I think she played really well today. She was a key part of our defense, and I like her rapport with Coco- bodes well for next year, when both of them will have to step up with the graduation of our seniors. Coco, while she had her usual hustle plays, also had more than her share of moves that made me want to go down there and hit her upside the head with the Clipboard of Doom. Kelly was on fire beyond the arc- I suppose the luck of the Irish would be with Kelly McManmon, even if the PA guy persisted in calling her McManamon; I thought Mama McManmon was going to go down there and set him straight at some point.
Would whoever kidnapped the real Sky Lindsay please give her back? Please? The Pod Person in #1 for St. John's right now is absolutely incompetent at this whole basketball thing. She can't shoot, she can't pass, she can't catch the ball, and she can't defend. She's not even dancing like Sky. We need the real Sky back for the tournament. Da'Shena was doing great until she got hit from behind and twisted her ankle. Even twenty-something rows up, we could see her face twisted up in pain. She's a tough kid, and we would greatly appreciate it if people would stop trying to break her. Joy was really hampered by foul trouble in the first half, and I think that impeded her ability to sense the flow of the game, which she's usually really good at. She made a couple of good defensive plays to break up fast breaks, though one of them got given right back. Shenneika put the team on her back in the first half. She was determined to keep us in it, and she did a great job of that on both ends of the floor. The turnovers disturb me, but she's a high-risk/high-reward player. Nadirah... most of the time, it's hard to believe she's a freshman, because she has poise and patience beyond her years. She loves to run a high-tempo offense, but when her team's running too fast and needs to take a long, deep breath, she'll step back and slow things down. Her court vision, while I'm not sure it's in the same class as Ticha Penicheiro's or Diana Taurasi's, is exceptional. All the fuss is about Shenneika, and it's well-deserved fuss, but Nadirah's going to be the better of the two players when all is said and done.
I'm very glad I don't work for the Big East. I can say that Notre Dame's leprechaun went to his rainbow at halftime and gave out some gifts to the referees. The officiating in the second half was sharply tilted towards ND. A lot of things that went uncalled in the first half were getting whistled in the second, and there were a couple of calls on Da'Shena and Coco that were very questionable. Of course, Coco doesn't help herself by flopping blatantly enough to bring a tear of joy to DeMya Walker's eye, but sometimes there's actually a foul there, y'know? The foul differential iin the second half was 15-9, and for a long time it was 9-1 or 9-2. It was ridiculous. More than a few people in UConn gear came up to us after the game and said that they had been rooting for us and we got jobbed- even hours later, as we finished dinner in a restaurant half a mile from the arena.
A special note on the UConn fans: I've always been harsh on Husky fans, because I've rarely had a good experience with them. That really changed today. Maybe changing shades from Scarlet to Red made a difference, but all of us had UConn fans telling us that they were rooting for our team in the first game. It was disconcerting to have the Hardcores as an ally instead of an enemy. That all being said... guys, I know you love your team and all, but could you perhaps hold your applause for them until after our injured point guard stops clutching her ankle on the court? Just a thought? Because it's really not a good feeling to hear cheers and applause while Nadirah's writhing in pain.
I'm still proud of my team. I love them. And they know we love them. We arrived about forty minutes before tip, and our seats- while in the lower bowl- were fairly high up. My mother, God love her, gets to her seat, puts her hands around her mouth, and belts out, "LET'S GO, ST. JOHN'S!" Da'Shena and someone else- I want to say Jennifer?- look up at our section and we see the smiles on their faces. They did us proud. We tried to do the same for them.