Just the Facts, Ma'am: Two spirited double-digit comebacks by the Iona Gaels weren't enough for them to win their holiday tournament, as they fell to the Toledo Rockets 68-60. Naama Shafir led the way for Toledo with 16 points and six assists, getting help from the 15 points of Melissa Goodall and the 13 points and 10 rebounds of Lecretia Smith. Kristina Ford led the home team with 16 points and nine boards. Tomica Bacic and Marissa Flagg scored all their points, 12 and 11 respectively, in the second half to help erase a ten-point Toledo lead.
For true confessions, a lack of old awesome, knee-related trauma, and a half dozen free wings, join your intrepid and reliable blogger after the jump.
After that game, it was on to the next one, and to the game that we were really there to see. No disrespect meant to UMBC and Brown, but Iona's a better team than either, and we've been dying to see Naama Shafir since she was a freshman. This was the matchup that we scoreboard-watched all day, hoping would happen. This is the reason why we hiked up to New Rochelle.
Apparently, it was the whole reason that Iona came too. The concessions never did open up, but the fans started to show up during the intermission between games. (Of course, this cut both ways; a bunch of UMBC people left during introductions. This is not a good idea when Iona does their home intros in a darkened arena.)
Since Iona doesn't have a band, we didn't have to worry about a skeleton crew brutalizing the national anthem- the PA announcer did double duty as the DJ, playing and pausing the various tracks on his computer. This was all right when the tracks were traditional arena rock. It was somewhat less all right when he played Miley Cyrus during a timeout, then followed it up with two straight timeouts of Justin Bieber. I had to be reminded that giving someone a swirly in a urinal is considered assault and is therefore a felony. But my ears are still bleeding, and someone needs to pay for that.
Toledo got some very good minutes from Haylie Linn. I like her hustle. She had a good knack for being in the right place at the right time, my favorite sort of player. Yolanda Richardson was also a key reserve in this game. Big girl's got moves. I approve of this message. Andola Dortch, who biked when she wasn't in the game, saw time in the second half when Coach Cullop went for the offense/defense swaps.
For the Rockets, they went to their starters to get darn near everything. Lecretia Smith had a bad habit of getting in her own way on rebounds and loose balls, but she made things happen on the inside. Don't recall much about Courtney Ingersoll. Jessica Williams got into foul trouble late in the game, but I don't recall if she did anything worth mentioning or not. Naama Shafir is a really good point guard who shows flashes of being a great point guard. She doesn't quite have that complete mastery of the floor that the greatest point guards have, not quite that sense that as soon as she walks onto the floor the game is hers, not quite the feeling that the ball will always go exactly where she wants it and exactly when she wants it to. There were times in that game when the feeling was there, but only times. She has got to watch her footwork, because three or four of her turnovers came on travels that could have been avoided with a little more care and forethought. I like her shot and her scrappiness, though. Melissa Goodall was the player who impressed me that I wasn't expecting to impress me. She just found her way to the basket and put the ball in. It seemed that simple.
Iona likes to go deep into their bench. I think everyone who was eligible played. Maybe that's an exaggeration, but if it is, it isn't much of one. I can't shake the feeling that Cat Lutz should go by the full form of her name. A hard C plus the surname Lutz is not going to end well. I miss Milica Paligoric's eyeblack. (At least, I think it was hers. It was awesome, whoever had it, and I miss it.) She brought a very physical presence, sometimes too physical. (Don't elbow your opponent in the face. It's not polite.) Lutz was a common tag team with Kopp. I'm not sure the combination worked. My memory is failing me, and so are my notes- their bench must not have done that much.
Anda Ivkovic went down hard at one point, and let me tell you, there are some serious disadvantages to being in a small, sparsely populated arena. You get to hear every scream of agony and every whimper when a player crumples to the floor, clutching the knee that she's already suffered a torn ACL in. The weird thing was that after a few minutes on the bench, she was standing up and getting all taped up, and she even played a couple of series after that before calling a timeout and getting out of the game. That was the last we saw of her. I wish her all the best. No one deserves to spend even a second of their senior season curled up in pain. Her role as shooter was admirably picked up by Kristina Ford, who I sort of had to root for, because she's from my nabe. It felt like she was shooting more threes than the boxscore suggests, and her presence on the boards was strong as well. I like her. This game would not have been nearly as interesting as it turned out to be if Tomica Bacic and Marissa Flagg hadn't shown up in the second half. I've seen games where one player has a second-half run that beats all. I've never seen a game where two players were silent in the first, then went off in the second half. Bacic decided she was going to take over, and she started going inside with a vengeance. She had a dramatic injury moment as well, when she twisted her ankle a few minutes after Ivkovic went out with her knee injury. She got up faster, and though she was limping for a minute or two, she was fine fast enough for me to be a wee bit skeptical of her. Flagg got a lot more aggressive and assertive in the second. Whether it was because Toledo forgot about her or because she decided to step up, I couldn't say for certain. Suzi Fregosi, despite being the poster girl for today's game (*holds up scorecard poster* See?), didn't produce very much- a couple of shots when Iona was trying to make one of their early comebacks, but nothing after that.
Stat combination of the game: 21 Iona turnovers. 15 Toledo steals. The Rockets were on them like white on rice.
The refs for this game let a lot of contact go, which falls into Iona's game. Iona has a tendency to lose their cool and play very physically. When you're wondering whether Iona has a football team, and if they do, whether they'd be cool with a Serbian center, things might have gotten a bit out of control. Shame; Aliberti and Lonergan usually call a better game than that. If you've been reading previous Game Notes of Doom, you might recall the epic saga of the gender-swapping ref, the linesman Aliberti who was listed as Janice last year but as John in a St. John's boxscore from this year. I'm thinking now that that was the Red Storm's mistake, because Aliberti was once more a Janice in the NCAA boxscore for this game, and she definitely sounded like a Janice. I really like how she handled herself with the coaches (who are both fairly intense and argumentative) and the scorer's table.
Shoutout to the small but very vocal contingent of Toledo fans who sat behind the visitors' bench. We could feel their stomping one section over. They outdid the few Iona fans who were there.
Iona has far too many cheerleaders. They're the old-fashioned kind, so maybe that's why- they're not doing stunts, just trying to impress by choreography. But we saw them coming in, and they just kept coming.
There was no tournament team. There were no post-game honors at all. We had to get out of there before they rolled up the bleachers on us. It was a good trip. I'll be happy to do it again next year, just as long as I remember this time that the trains get you there at 11:30 and 12:30, or thereabouts.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
November 28th, 2010: Toledo at Iona (Iona Thanksgiving Classic)
November 28th, 2010: Brown at UMBC (Iona Thanksgiving Classic)
Just the Facts, Ma'am: 25 points from Michelle Kurowski propelled UMBC to a 75-55 win over Brown in the consolation game of the Iona Thanksgiving Classic. Meghan Colabella added a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Retrievers. Lauren Clarke had 11 to lead the Bears, with Aileen Daniels chipping in 10 points and seven rebounds.
For travelogues, crisp ball movement, and the perils of sitting at midcourt, join your intrepid and belated blogger after the jump.
It's the most wonderful time of the year- not for the holidays and the Christmas lights that people are putting up entirely too early and the ever-increasing pressure to buy presents for people and the biting cold that cuts right through your jacket, but the time when the out of conference season really heats up, and teams take every opportunity to travel to new and exciting places that they might not have been before. I love holiday tournaments, don't you?
To get to Iona, you take Metro-North. (Or you drive. But if you're me, you take Metro-North because you don't have a driver's license and no one in their right mind drives in New York.) You're on the New Haven line, which will eventually take you to exciting places in Connecticut if you forget to get off the train. It's not the prettiest of the Metro-North lines- that's the Hudson line, which Billy Joel sang about and which will take you up to Poughkeepsie and Marist if you're so inclined. But once you get past the warehouses and grim apartment buildings of the Bronx, it's a pretty enough ride. New Rochelle is about an hour on the train, and from the station, it's a curvy little cab ride up to the campus. Possibly, it's walkable, but walking involved freezing off bits of myself that I rather like, so I opted for a cab.
The layout of the arena is a bit odd- the gym isn't properly connected to the rest of the athletics center, so you have to go through the basement if you want to get around anywhere. There are small details to the gym itself that I like- the "IONA" in white on the bleacher seats so that even if there's no one there the school spirit becomes clear, the stat board in the back corner that updates team stats in real time, the detailed graphic board that shows player stats when a player is at the free throw line. Of course, the hardest thing to argue with is the $5 ticket prices, even with $1 for the programs.
Brown did not impress me. Their coach was exceptionally slow with her subs, to the point where we were wondering what in the world she was doing in the Ivy League. Their defense reminded me of the middle-school games that you see at halftime- everyone went after the person with the ball. Against a moderately better team than UMBC, this is not going to work. Against UMBC, it worked for a while. We also weren't sure what in the world the coach was thinking with some of the sub patterns, especially in the second half when the game was out of reach- one minute she'd be bringing in the subs from the very end of the bench, the next she'd be calling them back and coming with the starters, almost like a head coach reading off the card for a two-point conversion- "Sure, it's a forty-point game, so the card says I should go for it." (Different numbers, obviously, because points mean different things in football and basketball, but you get the idea, right?)
Lindsay Steele was the first player off the bench in both halves, a guard who got into the mix a bit. We saw a little bit of everyone. The bench player who sticks out the most in my mind is freshman Jordin Juker, who played defense like she fantasizing about suiting up on the Smurf Turf back in Boise and played offense like she never saw a shot she didn't like. Her aggression and assertiveness will serve her well, but she's not going to have a lot of friends on the other teams in the Ivy. I remember thinking that there was a lot of head-desky moments for Carly Wellington.
Lauren Clarke likes to shoot a little bit. It seemed like every time she had the ball in the frontcourt, she was getting ready to put up another three. To be fair to her, UMBC left her embarrassingly open sometimes- we're talking about having enough time to step into the three, not just release it quickly. Aileen Daniels was a name that stuck in my head from the last time I saw Brown, and she has a nice presence inside, even if she couldn't hit a free throw to save her life. I don't think this was her best game, and I wouldn't be surprised to hear about her having good games in the Ivy League season. Sheila Dixon tried to pull off a lot of fancy moves that neither she nor her team were properly prepared for. Nice vertical, though. If the over-the-shoulder pass had gone to someone that could hit a lay-up, I might have remarked on that as one of the best plays of the day. It was reminiscent of Ticha Penicheiro. Lindsay Nickel sort of disappeared until the second half, though that had a bit to do with foul trouble. Hannah Passafulme came on in the second half, with a nice block and a pretty shot on a feed from Daniels.
UMBC didn't like to go to their subs until late in the half- they went almost the entire first quarter (or reasonable facsimile thereof, as I'm aware college games don't use the quarter system) with their starters. I liked what I saw out of Amirah Tucker in garbage time, and Kristen Coles was a useful guard. Chelsea Barker was good as a reserve point guard, though sometimes she thought too much about her own offense.
Where we were sitting (center court, about six rows up) was very neutral ground, though contested might be closer. Behind us was a family of Brown fans. In front of us was a contingent from Montclair. My wild guess is that they were there for the kid from Upper Montclair, Meghan Colabella. She started off well, but she faded later in the game. Erin Brown came up with the shots when they needed them. Tope Obajolu did a great job of rebounding and coming up with the loose ball, but she couldn't hit the broad side of a barn if you spotted her an extra barn to aim for. Michele Brokans spent a lot of the game in foul trouble, and she did a nice job of staying out of it once she got the fourth foul. The player who impressed me for the Retrievers was Michelle Kurowski. I'm not just talking about the way she shredded Brown's defense. Her court vision was well above par. She kept the ball movement going smoothly.
I was sort of disappointed in the referees. I'm starting to think that points of emphasis are much more of a guide than the NCAA planned for them to be- the officials seemed more worried about calling travels and slight contact than they were about some of the more heavy-duty contact that was going on.
Things that impressed me about UMBC: ball movement. A positive A/TO is a lovely thing to see in a basketball game. In a depleted America East, they might make some noise.
Friday, November 26, 2010
November 26th, 2010: Nicholls State at St. John's
For AWESOME JERSEYS, pensive junior coaches, control freaks, tiny annoying opponents, and other sundries, join your intrepid and troubled blogger after the jump.
I'm not sure what to make of this team. It feels like something's going to explode and I don't know if it's in a good way or in a 'someone's going to storm out in a huff' way. We have talent, and we definitely have heart and passion, but I don't know whether we have anyone who can harness all of it and direct it towards the rest of the NCAA. We have players with talent and we have players who need to lead, but not only are they not the same players, the players who need to step up and be leaders are falling down on the job. If you have seniors, you can't lead from the bottom; things will fall apart and the center will not be able to hold. Otherwise I'd say that we should look to the sophomore class.
Well, that was a depressing start to the Game Notes of Doom on this post-Thanksgiving day of rest. Let's talk about happy-making things instead. Let's talk about the garage sale that St. John's had outside the gates, where they usually stash the scorecards and other useful things. They sold off a bunch of sneakers, jackets- and practice jerseys. Words cannot express just how my face lit up and how excited I was when I found Joy McCorvey's #25 in the pile. I was randomly smiling all day whenever I looked down at the folded jersey in my bag. My fiancé and partner in crime bought Recee Mitchell's #52, dubbing himself the "enforcer of loudness". Wonderful memories were free with purchase, and it was nice to see a lot of the old numbers again.
Since most of the band was still at home for the holidays, we got a recorded version of the anthem. Since most of the band was still at home for the holiday, we also got a mix of alumni and students. It wasn't pretty, though the trombonist and his band nerdlet were priceless. The problem is that our band has improved in the last few years, and the old players really aren't up to the challenge.
Nicholls State reminds me of what would happen if you introduced Erin Phillips and Debbie Black, then blended their DNA. None of them are over six-foot. All of them are pesky, annoying, frustrating, persistent, and frenetic. Their 5-11 forwards did a great job of getting their arms up to deflect shots, but we still could have done a better job of going in on them. Jasmine Hoskins was their sixth woman in both halves, snagging a nice block and a few points. They also brought in Kya DeGarmo, who was small and annoying.
LiAnn McCarthy brought fans, if the glittering jersey signs behind the road bench were any indication. I would have thought that was a lot cooler if she weren't prone to holding everyone and anyone who came anywhere near her. I don't mind players with a physical presence. I do mind players who darn near sexually harass my team. Alisha Allen hit shots at what would have been big moments in a game that was closer. Ricshanda Bickham did a nice job of driving the lane and getting to the line on us, but she also canned a couple of threes. Cassie Hearon always seemed to be around in the middle, even if she couldn't throw it in the ocean. (That problem was going around. You'll see what I mean later.) The player who really impressed me for the Colonels was little bitty KK Babin. Listed 5-4, but you wouldn't know it from her rebounding. There was one play where she rose up from among two or three St. John's players to get the offensive rebound and put it back up. Oh, and she was shooting threes like she was Laurie Koehn in the three-point challenge. After about the fourth one, anyone watching the game (possibly even on StormTracker) heard me screaming something along the lines of "ANYONE WANT TO GUARD THE MIDGET? IT'S ONLY HER FOURTH THREE-POINTER!" (All proper respect to people 5-4. My mother is 5-4. I'm about 5-7. If you're shorter than I am, and you're playing basketball, you qualify as a midget.) My hat is off to her.
Nadirah McKenith got herself into Kim Barnes Arico's doghouse pretty badly, so not only did she not start, she didn't get into the game until every other guard had seen time. She took it out on the Colonels with a little extra to spare. How's this for a line: nine minutes, six points, four rebounds (all offensive), one assist, and three steals? You know the play I just mentioned about Babin in the first half? Nadirah did pretty much the same thing in the second half, rising out of the deeps so suddenly and smoothly we weren't initially sure that it had been her shot. That whole mess nudged Amanda Burakoski up in the rotation, and despite her plethora of blonde moments, she was able to make some good plays on defense. Her shot was weirdly off, though- if anything, she needed to take a step back to try and get it down. Briana Brown saw extended time, and though she showed freshman hesitancy, I like her. She canned one three that was a step or two behind the men's line. Keylantra Langley really needs to not pass to the opposing team. That would be useful. Again, she needs to be more confident on the floor. Zakiyyah Shahid-Martin made a couple of brief cameos. Jennifer Blanding made one near the end of the game and was impressively not bad- a couple of good rebounds, a putback, nice presence on the floor. More of that, please, Big Love.
Eugeneia McPherson got the start for Nadirah, and she looked like she wanted to make the most of it. She went to the rack with some regularity, though she's slipping back into her old habit of trying to force the refs to make the call instead of trying to make the shot. I wasn't thrilled with her defensive placement, either. She gambled too much, and since her assignment was Babin, that didn't work out too well. Coco Hart looked like she was working off a tryptophan hangover, no matter how active she was on the offensive glass. Centhya, you are listed at 6-1. No one on Nicholls State is listed over 5-11. Go towards the &*^&(*^&%ing basket and put the ball in the basket. That goes for you, Da'Shena Stevens. Day really looked out of it. I'm worried about a habit she's started picking up in the last couple of games. She's started hooking the arm the way Plenette Pierson does, and with Day's fragility, I don't think that's a good habit to get into. That's the one thing that keeps Da'Shena from being a real star: she has no real durability. If she's not sick, she's got a lingering injury of some kind. Sky Lindsay looked sluggish (again, tryptophan, or so I hope), but she got her shots up and in, which was important. It sounds strange with a 25-point margin of victory, but without Shenneika Smith, we don't win this game. She put the team on her back on both ends of the floor, stroking that silky jumper from all over the place and going to the rack with grace. She also had one emphatic block that we heard up in the bleacher seats. We also saw her being more vocal on the floor (which sort of led to a sort of hilarious moment that at the same time was deeply disturbing). She looked like the elite player she was in high school.
Sort of hilarious yet disturbing moment: when Babin hit her fourth three, Kim yelled, "Shenneika! While you were coaching out there, she hit a three-pointer!" Sort of hilarious because of the sarcasm, sort of disturbing because Shenneika put the team on her back and Babin wasn't her assignment anyway, so why was Kim singling her out?
We were back in our seats by the band, where the Aricos sit. Young Mr. Arico brought a group of friends with him, and we were a very bad influence on them with our noisemaking. No profanity, nothing like that, but I don't know how thrilled their parental units will be the next time they're at a game. Young Mr. Arico definitely takes after his mother. He's a very observant watcher of the game, and a very passionate one. Someday, if he wants to be, he's going to be a great coach.
I'm thinking that at some point since last season, Dennis DeMayo lost it. Last season, he called a great, solid game. This year? He's been awful. I don't get it. There's a difference between letting them play and being physical, and "show us on the doll where the power forward touched you" physicality. There were also an unusual number of missed calls on the baseline. Um, Mr. DeMayo? If a player is almost sitting on Tamika Louis's lap, she might be out of bounds. Just saying.
We needed this to be a blowout, and it was, but not in the right way. This was supposed to be a game where Kim could experiment and get her bench some reps. Now, Nadirah's infraction, whatever it was, played into that and caused the slow start that led to us having to play more conservatively, but we still shouldn't have to come from behind against a team like Nicholls State.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
November 20th, 2010: LSU at Seton Hall
Just the Facts, Ma'am: Behind 14 points each from LaSondra Barrett and Katherine Graham, the Tigers of LSU knocked off the Seton Hall Pirates 57-40. Barrett also had 11 rebounds for LSU. Kandice Green led the Pirates with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
For sleep deprivation, a long walk, not enough caffeine, flashbacks, and other sundries, join your intrepid and adventurous blogger after the jump.
Obviously, the best part of basketball season starting all over again is seeing your own team in action, getting to know the new faces and say hi to the old ones (especially when they notice your hair- no, I'm not getting over that for a while, thank you for asking), and settling back into your old seats. The second best part, though, if you're an itinerant basketball fan like your intrepid blogger here, is getting back into the swing of your familiar road trips, going back to foreign arenas to cherry-pick the very best games.
From where I am, it's a bit of a haul to Seton Hall. Even once you factor out the bus to the subway, it's a fair piece on New Jersey Transit (with their exorbitant fares; I'm not joking when I say that this could affect attendance for games in New Jersey) through various Oranges until you get to South Orange. Hike up and down a couple of hills on South Orange Avenue, through the picturesque and dimly lit streets of a historic district and a college town, until you reach the end of the road. It's either go to Seton Hall or play in traffic.
Walsh Gym is old-fashioned trapped in glass. They renovate and renovate and renovate, but you still have to walk past the pool and hand your ticket to a guy in a blue shirt to get torn manually. You still have to figure out if you want to sit below in bleachers as hard as stone, or upstairs in seats reminiscent of a high school auditorium, where a railing occasionally obstructs game play. There's still a stage, though it's now hung with a Big East curtain. The ceilings are too low and the wall space too close to the audience for jerseys and banners to be displayed, so years of tradition hang like laundry on clotheslines over the court. It's too easy to tell how bad things were under Phyllis Mangina- the gaps between even WNIT appearances show in the years on the banners.
As much as I'd like to see LSU do well, I'm a Liberty fan. It's in the STH contract; if you root for Comets, they pull your subscription and send Sue Wicks or Kym Hampton after you to demand an explanation. That extends to VanChan the Candy Throwing Man, no matter how dapper he looks in contrasting purple shirt and tie. LSU started the game with phenomenal passing and great interior play. The passing deteriorated a little bit, but the interior play kept them afloat when Seton Hall made a bit of a run. They got good minutes off the bench from Jeanne Kenney, who I'm going to guess has some kind of Cajun background from the French pronunciation of her name- she stepped up her offense and made some good defensive plays. Courtney Jones did some nice work in the middle. Chancellor was able to really stretch out his bench in the first half, going eight and nine deep. By the end of the game, he was tossing everyone in. They're going to need some blowouts to test them, but I want to see what the tandem of 6'4" Shanece McKinney and 6'5" Theresa Plaisance do in a couple of years. Those are a couple of big girls.
Katherine Graham showed a good knack for getting inside and getting to the line. She uses her body well. One thing I noticed was when opponents were at the line, she was able to disconcert them with her very squeaky sneakers. She probably won't be able to get away with it all season, because some ref will call her out on it, and it doesn't show great sportsmanship, but I have to applaud her ingenuity. LaSondra Barrett was a threat from outside, as well as a fierce presence on the boards; her three in the second half really felt like the dagger that ended the Hall's chance of a comeback. Latear Eason had a beautiful give and go with Adrienne Webb, but her free throw misses later in the game were the stuff of laughter in the stands. Webb fattened her stat line with free throws in the second half when the Pirates were fouling near the end of the game. I really like Taylor Turnbow for this team. She needs to lay off the elbows a bit, but I love her nose for the basket. She had five rebounds in the first half- and four of them were offensive. That pace didn't look to change much in the second half. If she can hit her chippies, she might be a prospect next year. And remember, I told you first. ;)
Seton Hall's energy was much different from last year. Refreshingly so. There was a lot of fight in them that there wasn't under Mangina. The defensive pressure was much better. They still can't shoot straight, but that takes time to relearn. They actually looked like they cared about winning, and with Donovan in her first year and no real chance of improvement in the conference, that might be the most important thing. You can't win until you think you can win, after all. I'm not impressed with Mangina's last class, though. Elaine Swaby shows flashes of being a useful player, but she's got a lot of edges she needs knocked off. Ka-Deidre Simmons is listed at 5-8, but that's hard to believe when she's shorter than a teammate who's listed at 5-7. At best she's 5-6; I'd say she might even be 5-4. I like her fearlessness and her flash, but she needs to acquire better judgment. She plays like she's been watching too many mixtapes. Jazzmine Johnson did nothing to impress me. Tajay Ashmeade does a pretty good Shameka Christon impression in the glamour photos, and she brought some nice rebounding off the bench for the Pirates, but she has to hang on to the ball. Whitney Wood continues to be the most inexplicably awful sixth woman I've ever seen in the Big East. Between LSU's bench and Sports Page's photographer, Wood wasn't even the second best sixth woman in the room that day. She thinks she has range- she doesn't. Because she thinks she has range, she doesn't go inside and use her bulk.
Terry Green canned a three early, and we thought she was back. It was the only shot she hit all day. She was a step slow most of the game. Kandice Green made a lot of good plays but a lot of dumb plays. Same for Brittany Morris, with added questionable shot selection. Alexandra Maseko shows the most potential out of the group, but the foul trouble is a problem. I think Jasmine Crew wants to put this team on her shoulders, but either can't or is going to clash with a Green or two by doing so. I would be worried about her defense if I were a Hall fan, though. She left her teammates high and dry a couple of times.
Seton Hall fans are learning one of the things that Indiana, Charlotte, Seattle, and New York fans learned: sitting behind the home bench is not necessarily a good idea when Anne Donovan is wearing heels. However, Seton Hall has found a unique way to avoid complaints; I'm pretty sure at least two of the women behind the bench were related to Coach Donovan. Presumably they know the risks.
Dee Kantner, it's never a good sign when we mistake you for Sue Blauch. That was a really badly called game. A lot of physical play went unremarked, and we're not talking about the usual banging in the post, we're talking about people being hip-checked into the mascot. I was disappointed.
One moment of LOL from the ref crew, though: this crew included a relatively new young black female ref. I missed the context, but apparently Van got her by the shoulder or something. From this, I conclude that he had a senior moment and mistook her for Sonja Henning or Coquese Washington and expected her to get into the game or something like that. She looked very confused by the whole thing.
Seton Hall's autograph policy for their team is something I haven't seen from a college team before, but one I have in the pros: after the game, a few players were delegated to sign autographs for the (LOL) crowd. So we got that, and we'll bring the card back if we go to the St. John's game, and we'll hope that they have three different players from today's batch. It feels like we're dealing with Pokemon or something. Gotta catch them all!
It's going to take a while for Anne Donovan to change the culture in South Orange. That's the first thing she has to do, though. It'll probably be easier when they actually get rid of Phyllis Mangina, or at least not let her in the building. The fact that that woman is still employed at Seton Hall is embarrassing for that school and for the Big East. I can't say I'm looking forward to Seton Hall's improvement, since they're the Red Storm's double on the Big East schedule and I sort of like having a couple of games that we know we can win, but for the sake of the conference and the betterment of the game, I can hope that the Hall is at least better than the effort they were putting up the last couple of years under Mangina. Besides, I'm still irked at Donovan for leaving the Liberty.
Friday, November 19, 2010
November 19th, 2010: Columbia at St. John's
I love my team. The feeling might even be mutual. That's sort of weird, but in the best of ways.
For defensive pressure, coiffeur, mini basketballs, and far too many Girl Scouts, join your intrepid and somewhat gobsmacked blogger after the jump.
I love Fridays, and not just because that means the end of the week. It means Casual Friday at the office, which means joyously wearing a Red Storm t-shirt and beads instead of having to make like Supergirl with a blouse over the shirt all day. It means slipping out two minutes early to catch the bus that takes me to the train that takes me to the train that takes me to the bus that takes me to the arena. (Seriously, it is impossible to get around Queens easily via mass transit.)
Unfortunately, they forgot to tell us that there was some kind of Girl Scout Day going on. I think I've mentioned a time or five that I hate kid-related events: the shrill pitch of the kids hurts my ears, they never know when to scream or who to scream for, and in this particular case, the chaperones were even more clueless than the children. Is it asking so much for all y'all not to mill around like you've never been anywhere near a large gathering area before? I had to double back to get my scorecard. We all know that I need my scorecard.
Respect the anthem. I don't think that's asking so much. That means you, chattering girls in front of me who kept going across the aisle all damn game. That means you, Nadirah, Shenneika, Jennifer, and Tesia. I saw what you did there. Stand up, shut up, and look at the flag. (Unless you are getting your Toni Smith on and making a political statement, then you can turn away from the flag.)
Columbia carries a lot of players. I had to adjust the fold of my scorecard because the halfway point left three players under the fold. Objectively, I like that the bench players stayed involved in the game even when they were down twenty-five in the last minute. Subjectively, the cheerleaders and I all wanted them to shut up, and I think that encouraged the cheerleaders to step their game up, because the "DE-FENSE!" chant got old after a while.
I'm still surprised Tyler Simpson doesn't get more time. Good things tend to happen when she's on the floor. She was one of the few Lions to get to the line. Diana Lee's become more assertive this year... which is not necessarily a good thing for Columbia, because her shot isn't that good. Nicole Santucci saw limited time as a big body. Since Columbia is an Ivy League school, and therefore doesn't give athletic scholarships, I can't make the usual comment I make about players who are on the broad side. Mary Beato has pulled her shorts down a bit, much to the relief of those who had to suffer through her cameltoe last year. Her shot was fairly awful, though. Blaine Frohlich, who despite the best efforts of my AutoCorrect is not related to Linda Fröhlich, played briefly and got fouls. I know Melissa Shafer played, and I know she did things, but I don't remember much of what she did other than the airball.
I don't know who peed in Kathleen Barry's Cheerios this morning, or if someone was talking trash at her or something, but in the second half, she got a pretty nasty chip on her shoulder. It's one thing to dive. It's another thing to dive low like you're either going for someone's knees or like you're pretending someone went for your knees. I expected her to b a lot more assertive in this game, but she really didn't seem to be. Courtney Bradford is a big body, and she's not afraid to use it, but she's got to be more aggressive on offense and lay off the elbows. For a freshman- sorry, Columbia, first-year- she's not bad, and I'm looking forward to her banging in the post with Rasheed at Princeton. I'm not sure what Brianna Orlich brings to the table that she should be starting- whatever it is, she didn't bring it today, unless it was the ability to actually get to the line. Lauren Dwyer got two early fouls, and I think that affected her o the offensive ed. Defensively, she used her body very well, taking advantage of the fact that only one player on our active roster is her height, and, um, LOL Jennifer Blanding. (Which I mean in the nicest way possible. Please don't hurt me, Jennifer.)
Our freshmen are definitely freshmen. All three of them showed their rough edges tonight. Right now, Briana Brown shows the most potential of the three. I love the way she hits the floor for loose balls. Keylantra Langley really needs to work on her ballhandling. It's never a good sign when you're messing up on the drill. She's showing better shot selection than she did last game, though. Zakiyyah Shahid-Martin needs to be ready or the pass. If it's the last five minutes of a twenty-point game and the other team's deep bench players are on the floor, expect the guards with some common sense to attempt to feed you so you can get a basket in the game. If you have position in the lane, don't let the pass bounce off your hands. She only committed the one foul tonight, which was an improvement over last game. She showed a lot more confidence in the scrimmage- I'm wondering if she's worried she might get hurt or something. Amanda Burakoski had one stretch where she had three steals in something like a minute. She was just getting into the passing lane and making like she was, I don't know, Darrelle Revis or something. She really has a knack for being in the right place at the right time. I love that about her. Jennifer Blanding got a nice little steal at the end of the game. She needs to be more assertive with her build- when you're the biggest player on the team, you've got to be willing to do more than just box out so players with a little more pep in their step can get the rebounds. Eugeneia McPherson's threes were both exceptionally well timed, though I'm not thrilled with the number she's hoisting form that distance. Then again, she wasn't doing so well right at the rim- she's got the vertical lift, but somehow she wasn't able to get the shot off high enough. A couple of her lay-ups were short of the rim. It was sad. I expect better of her than that. I loved her defensive intensity, though. Then again, I love this whole team's defensive intensity.
All right. Sky Lindsay is one of my favorite people on this team. She knows how to work a room, she's got a great personality, and she's got a way with people. I'm happy to have her in a Red Storm uniform. All that being said, if she doesn't hurry up and get her head... back together, let's just say, because SB Nation is not so fond of profanity, she's going to find her senior privilege revoked and Eugeneia or Buzz starting for her. She came out very flat in this game, and she made some stupid plays that I'm not thrilled about a senior making. We only have two real seniors on this team (I'm not counting Tesia Harris, because she's a transfer). We can't afford to have them messing up. Now, on the other hand, if Coco Hart keeps up what she's doing, I stand ready to take back just about every bad thing I've said about her in the last few years. I know we've been playing smaller teams, and maybe that helps, but the way she's been hitting the offensive boards is phenomenal. If she could convert some of those putbacks, or at least improve her free throw shooting to guard-level standards, she might make herself into a Euro prospect. Nadirah McKenith's decision-making was not up to her usual standards, but everyone has an off day and I'll blame it on the two hits she took to the face- the second one definitely looked like it rung her bell. Again, she was short on her lay-ups. Shenneika Smith's been taking the opening tip the last couple of games, showcasing her athletic ability. She looks like she's been sharpening her offensive moves. She looks really good, like she's got something to prove. And she's playing both ends of the floor. Da'Shena Stevens very quietly got things done. I found it hard to believe she had six steals, but that might just be scorekeeper's choice; a lot of those defensive plays took two or more players to get done.
Officiating in this game was extremely loose. I don't necessarily mind the travels not being called, but please don't hit our starting point guard in the face. Twice. Columbia started the second half very physical, and once they hit six fouls, the officials seemed unusually disinterested in calling fouls on them. Were there plays that should have been called against St. John's? There always are. (Nadirah, I'm looking at you for that stupid reach.) But when there's a hip check that seems like it should belong in the Rangers game, we have a problem.
Favorite small things: Buzz, knocked flat on her back on a play, tracking the arc of a ball and getting up in position to help get the board. Shenneika's gorgeous pass to Coco. Da'Shena's authoritative blocks and recovery. Sky getting some of the pep back into her step. The fact that Trevor Arico is a pretty darn good player for his age.
Of course, since it was a kids' day/Girl Scout Day/whatever day, that meant that today was the autograph session. That was another thing it would have been useful to know before the game so that I could pack my nifty season subscriber gift, which is a mini-ball signed by Coach Barnes Arico. I figured that might make an interesting change of pace from the innumerable posters that decorate home sweet home. Of course, that's a bit hard to do when your ball is in Fresh Meadows and you're in... um, whichever of the myriad of possible neighborhoods that St. John's is claiming to be in this week. Fortunately, my mom is also a season subscriber, and picked up her gift that day. We're swapping balls at the next game. I always try to be friendly at these things, say "hey, how are ya?" to everyone so they're not feeling so much like they're on an assembly line, let them know how much they're appreciated. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it takes a little time. Traffic got a bit clogged in the middle because people got sent the wrong way down the line. Did I mention that the middle was where gregarious Sky was sitting? So we chatted a little, and she commented on my haircut.
Sidebar: at the end of last season, I had hair down almost to the small of my back. I got it cut in September, and right now it rather resembles Katie Smith's 1999 look with the Lynx. We're talking about going from the Utah Starzz' Dalma Ivanyi to the San Antonio Silver Stars' Dalma Ivanyi. It's a pretty drastic change, to be sure.
But, y'know? The last time Sky, and Coco, who also commented on my hair, saw us was back in March. It means a lot to a fan to be remembered like that.
It was also nice that Mary the-redshirt-whose-name-I-need-to-copy-and-paste-to-get-right and Tesia Harris were with the team for the autograph session. Usually the kids who aren't eligible don't join the party. To me, that suggests some cohesion among the group. Yay cohesion!
So life is good. I get to rest up before Thanksgiving and the game on Friday... except, wait, LSU visits Seton Hall tomorrow. On to the next one, on to the next one, on to the next one...
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
November 16th, 2010: Manhattan at St. John's
Hi, everyone! Did you miss me? I tend to go into hibernation when the WNBA season is over, catching up on real world concerns like housekeeping, fiction writing, reading, and wedding planning. But the Game Notes of Doom are back like they never left. Which is good, because it's so good to be home. You have no idea.
For free stuff, tiny Aricos, sore throats, hypothetically kicked puppies, and other scattered thoughts, join your intrepid and pensive blogger after the jump.
It didn't start raining until after the game, so my mood was better, but my lovely posters were more endangered. (The poster this year is a great group shot. I like that. We need to be a team-oriented team.)
As a proud St. John's season ticket holder, I got my choice of gifts. I could take either a lovely white St John's mug, or a mini-basketball signed by Coach Barnes Arico. What do you think I chose? The ball will come in very handy during the annual autograph session, and there's always a chance they'll have mugs left at the end of the season.
Not to say that we dress out for games, but my fiancé and I both wore our St. John's t-shirts under our work clothes today. He brought his hat and a towel. I brought a soccer scarf. My clipboard is already broken. I love my team.
They did a banner unveiling to show off the 2010 addition to the tournament banner. It would have been a lot more impressive if they hadn't already added it before the game, and it hadn't been visible during the big Tip-Off Event that any fan who could call themselves a fan would be at. Still. We went to the tournament, and it was awesome. (Now we need to get to the Sweet Sixteen so they can add a banner. TAKE THE SHOT NEXT TIME, NADIRAH.)
There was a moment of silence for a couple of program supporters, including the lady for whom Taffner Field House is named. The team also had black memorial ET patches on, which gave me a bit of a start, given that Eric Thibault was supposed to start with the team and wasn't listed on the coaching staff.
Excellent anthem, although hearing the name Michelle Cleary in a women's basketball context sort of makes me wonder why this redhead is on the floor, and where the blonde Australian wandered off to.
I think Manhattan's coach was using this game as a learning opportunity as much as Coach Barnes Arico was. He used a lot of different players and a lot of different lineups, and tried a few different things. That intrigues me, and makes me think that Manhattan might be a team to watch this year or next in the MAAC. He does need to let Brandone Roberts know that Manhattan doesn't have a football team, though. Her first action in the game was to slide tackle Eugeneia McPherson. Rule of thumb: this is generally a bad idea. Did I mention that this was while an eventually-successful free throw as in the air? Maggie Blair came off the bench in the first half, but started the second half for Lindsey Loutsenhizer, who had three fouls in the first half. Alyssa Herrington annoyed me, but that was as much because we kept leaving her open for threes. Hey, guys, she canned two and here comes the third one, maybe you should put one of the freshmen on her or something? She wasn't afraid to mix it up, which was a surprise, given her build. I was surprised that Alicia Marculitis didn't play; I recalled her being memorable the last time we saw them play.
I don't know exactly what Abby Wentworth's problem is, but she came into this game with a chip on her shoulder the size of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. The first few plays of the game, she was playing rough against Nadirah McKenith like Nadirah had personally set her puppy on fire and drop-kicked it into a pit of broken glass. The second half, she and Herrington went after Eugeneia like they thought it was Eugeneia who had kidnapped the puppy in the first place. She's got a nice stroke and good hustle, though. Nadia Peters was a tough presence inside, when they remembered to get the ball to her. Schyanne Halfkenny impressed me with her versatility. Monica Roeder's screens were the strongest part of her game- that's not a slight on any other part of her game, that's a comment on how good her screens were and how well-timed they were. She also had a wicked block on Da'Shena Stevens. The player who impressed me most for the Jaspers was Lindsey Loutsenhizer, who, despite her big build, has a beautiful stroke from outside. She's not afraid to throw her weight around, either, and I like her instinct for the ball.
Jennifer Blanding, whatever in the world possessed you to do that to your hair, get thee to a priest and have him exorcise it out of you, because holy God, that frosted gold on top of the dark brown is some kind of indescribable ugly. It didn't help her cause that she had an awful game in her limited minutes off the bench. As much as we've been screaming for some post players to come in and relieve Da'Shena and Coco Hart, Jennifer is not the answer. She let rebounds and passes go off her hands, missed her assignments, and looked like a waste of a 6-3 body. It's a bad sign when your center isn't lined up for the rebound when the opposing team is shooting. Especially when she's one of the four posts you have. Zakiyyah Shahid-Martin looked like she was trying to go for an NCAA record for quickest foulout, but Jennifer came in for her after her fourth foul. I'm not enamored with the idea of Amanda Burakoski as a four though clearly Coach is. On the other hand, that gives her time she might not otherwise see with the number of guards on our bench, and with her instincts, I'd like to have her on the floor. For all that I remember her having an intensely blonde moment when she was a high school senior and got hit in the head with a t-shirt while sitting in the stands, she's really developed into a smart, observant player. She notices a lot of little things, and always seems to be in the right place at the right time. I'll admit that Keylantra Langley rubbed me the wrong way even before games started, for non-basketball reasons, but her play tonight bore out my dislike of her. She didn't seem to be aware of the plays, and looked too much for her own shot when teammates were open. Briana Brown, who's wearing a hard number to follow (#12, which was Kia Wright's number), still has some of the wide-eyed freshman about her, but I love her willingness to dive for loose balls. In that, and in her ability to be in the right place to make the right play, she reminds me of Sheree Ledbetter.
It's official. We need to introduce Nadirah McKenith and Ticha Penicheiro. They would get along like a house on fire. Pass-first point guards with flashy plays and quick hands- yes, they have quite a lot in common. When she went behind the back to Eugeneia for the lay-up, I thought the arena would explode. Da'Shena Stevens had a quiet game for her, which meant just seven boards. I was worried about her ankle, though; she came out walking gingerly and had it iced on the bench. This is actually part of a larger worry about Day's fragility in general- either she has a low pain tolerance or she breaks very easily, and that's not good for a great player like her. She has some of the most interesting facial expressions when she's frustrated, though. After a gods-awful shooting game against Kansas State, Shenneika Smith showed a bit more judgment in the shots she took, and took advantage of her height, build, vertical, and quickness to go towards the basket, almost playing as a tweener at some points. This intrigues me, because she'll probably be a three if she's looking towards the next level (though in two years, who's to say the guards won't be bigger?) and I like that she's working on all elements of her game. Coco Hart makes me crazy sometimes, no denying that, but she's really stepped up to the plate as a leader in her senior year. And she's killing those offensive rebounds. Every time I looked, she was on the glass. Sky Lindsay is never going to fix her shot. She's a senior and she still has no spin. I officially give up. I think she realizes that Eugeneia's gunning for her spot in the starting lineup, and I don't think Eugeneia particularly cares whether Sky graduates before she takes it or not.
Play of the game for St. John's: either the behind the back pass to Eugeneia for the lay-up, or Shenneika's emphatic block. The general play of the game would be the Red Storm's incredible ability to come up with a steal or a loose ball as soon as we started chanting some variation of "DEFENSE!"
Moment that almost killed me in the bleachers: near the end of the game, the bench players were in. Buzz was open on the wing for a three. Briana and Keylantra, to put it politely, didn't notice. Coach Barnes Arico very much wanted Buzz to get the ball. You haven't lived until you've seen a coach repeatedly screaming "OVER HERE!" about an open player, complete with energetic finger-pointing at said player. The freshmen never managed to find her, and the possession ended with Keylantra fumbling.
We were sitting behind Nadirah's family, or so I ascertained from the loud cheering whenever her name was mentioned. I think one of the kids running around was kin to Shenneika, though. Oh, and the Aricos sit over there too. I think Trevor and the younger girl inherited their mom's... ah, sometimes fiery... temperament. It's adorable, but please watch your water bottles, people.
Fairly solidly reffed game- nothing I can really argue with other than the slide-tackle by Roberts and Wentworth's inexplicable distaste for Nadirah. One thing stuck out to me, though. Aliberti has always been a great ref, someone whose professionalism and eye for the game tell me that this is going to be a well-called game. For the last couple of years, Aliberti was a Janice; tonight, Aliberti was announced and listed in the box as John. Don't know if that's an error at our end or if there's been a change. (Or hey, maybe there are twin NCAAW refs who are both great officials and run good games. You never know.) Which, hey, more power to you, ref. You're damn good no matter what your name is or how you identify yourself.
So tired. So happy to be home. Now I'm going to sleep. Hopefully I'll dream of beating Columbia on Friday.