November 3rd, 2012: Farmingdale at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Freshman Ashley Perez made a splash with 22 points, while Shenneika Smith flirted with a triple-double, and St. John's hammered Farmingdale State 99-24 in their exhibition game. Smith finished with 20 points, 15 rebounds, and seven assists.

For brrrr, wind damage, impressive freshmen, and getting back into the swing of things, join your intrepid and chilled blogger after the jump.

It was so good to have basketball back, you have no idea. I know there are tall people in long shorts playing basketball for large sums of money right now, but I'm not much of an NBA fan. This was my team, and it was good to see them all again.

All things considered, it was also good to touch base with people and see that they were all right. We got to chat with Nadirah McKenith's mom before the doors open- they made it from Newark. The Conn-tingent was also in the house (Keylantra Langley and Briana Brown's families, from Bridgeport and Norwalk). A surprisingly large crowd for an exhibition game on a campus that was technically closed and got hit a bit harder than the rest of the neighborhood. The banners at the soccer stadium were ripped from the fence, except for the one furthest east, and one of the flags dangled upside down. We could hear the rumble of machinery- maybe generators, maybe pumps- as we came onto the campus. The side streets got hit worse. There were at least three uprooted trees, and pieces of power line and cable were scattered across the sidewalk on one block.

St. John's had a donation box for food and clothing. We gave. How could we not?

Nice anthem. I don't even know if she needed the microphone.

When do we get a video? I mean, I'm sure it'll be ready for the 17th, but it's always nice to have it, and always fun to watch the kids watching the video.

I like the shadowing on the new jerseys. We also have the fancy back panels on the jerseys- it's just basketball netting, but it's there, instead of being plain like the jerseys were last year, and a closer match for the men's jerseys.

I'm working on the assumption that Wabiyn Ati and Waberte Ati are twins, on account of having the same build, being the same class, and coming from the same city. Both of them played, and both of them showed a little bit of power, but not much more. The only bench points came from Amanda Masson very late in the game.

I wouldn't be surprised if at some point someone approached Nicky Young about participating in field events involving throwing things. She has a very hard shot and can put some distance on it. I like her fire, but I'm not sure if she's always going to direct it in the right direction. She threw a lot of wild passes. Nikita Green was the only real offense Farmingdale could muster. She wasn't bad. Siohban Purvis did work on the boards. Lushanta Savadel did well getting to the basket, but couldn't finish.

It was pretty clear that Farmingdale was in over their heads and they knew it. But they kept fighting, and I like their coach. He stayed on them for the whole game.

*sigh* Big Love, we all love you. You're adorable and charming. But it's a bad sign when you look lost, awkward, and over your head against a mediocre D-III team. She got credit for two steals, but at least one of those was when someone else batted a ball into her hands. She's got to step up in some way this year, and to be honest, it ticks me off that she's shown no improvement- and even some regression- from her freshman year. Mallory Jones has no vertical. It's kind of scary. It's also counterproductive for a jump shooter, since there's a certain amount of altitude implied in the word "jump". I like her instinct on the boards, though. Sandra Udobi (it's hard to call her Sandie right now, all things considered) showed a lot of power and surprisingly good finesse for a freshman. I like her. But I love Ashley Perez's shot, her range, her slashing ability, her court vision, and her hustle. Yeah, I know, I know, we whooped a D-III team, and maybe it's a little early to anoint a freshman, but I like what I've seen of her.

Amber Thompson is looking great. I think she put on some upper-body strength, and it's helping her put some of the off-balance shots she missed last year on line. She's the barometer for this team, in my opinion; Shenneika and Nadirah will be Shenneika and Nadirah, and Gina will always be inconsistent, but if Amber can be the player she has the potential to be, there won't be the drop-off after this senior class graduates. Briana Brown hit the floor early and often diving for balls, and she had the shot working (however, take the step back next time; she had two different two-point shots with a foot on the line). Eugeneia McPherson was less involved on the offensive end than I would have expected, but it's not like she was needed to win this one. Keylantra Langley had the defense working, and got a little flashy on offense. Shenneika Smith filled all the stat columns, and it was glorious. The blocks were especially impressive, and then she was making an effort to find her teammates- she had one beautiful pass to Ashley in the first half that was right under the basket.

I don't know what Bri did to tick off the refs, but she ended up getting called for a couple of odd fouls in the first half. A lot of what my esteemed colleague at Swish Appeal refers to as "game management calls" in the second half.

I do wish Ced Gibson and Aliyyah Handford had been able to play. Ced's got a giant brace on her left foot, and that makes me sad. She's too adorable to be injured! Nadirah was limping, but it didn't look like anything lingering. Mary Nwachukwu also sat out, though I don't know why.

Somewhere around 72-12, I turned to my husband and said, "So this must be what it's like to be a UConn fan." When you have to do advanced arithmetic to figure out the deficit, you might be up a lot.

The guys came out and watched in the second half. We scared two of them away. Hey, we're going to chant and cheer. We have to be ready for the season too, you know. /hugs jersey

This was fun. Hofstra will be less fun.