December 29th, 2015: East Tennessee State at Iona

Just the Facts, Ma'am: A balanced, and not always pretty, effort led Iona over East Tennessee State. Aaliyah Robinson's 13 points were a team-high, but the Gaels also got strong performances from Joy Adams (12 points, 12 rebounds) and Alexis Lewis (7 points, 13 rebounds). Tianna Tarter of ETSU led all scorers with 19; Shomari Kendrick added a double-double for the Bucs with 11 points and 17 rebounds.

For red sweatshirts, questionably kept secrets, persistent beeping noises, big posts, lots of missed shots, stupid plays, cheering from the bench, and maroon, join your intrepid and liberated blogger after the jump.
The soundtrack for the next two days is "Scotty Doesn't Know", by the way. I had time off, two of my teams had ridiculous day games, you do the math. Today, this cold, rainy, winter-at-last day, I'm off to Iona to watch them take on East Tennessee State. I'm intrigued by ETSU, mostly because I used to know someone who went there.

On a rainy winter's day, the ride to Iona begins with a Gothic air, as the bus winds its way along the curves of Pelham Bay Park; the trees reach up in a mesh of bare branches, or sink beneath the weight of dead moss. There's a rusted, grown-over gate along the route; somewhere near the banks of the Hutchinson, someone has lost a beachball. Eventually one emerges from the Frost poem into the city of New Rochelle and its pride in the fleur-de-lys, but it's nice while it lasts.

There are more people here than I expected. Granted, that's still only about twenty people, but I didn't expect anyone.

Do your thing, blue-haired Buccaneer. Do your thing. Except when your thing is scoring on the inside. I don't like you anymore, Shomari Kendrick.

At halftime, Iona is up three, 30-27. This Iona team likes to get out to a lead, then promptly start playing remarkably stupid. The refs aren't helping, but when Philecia Gilmore (who might be the most basketball-smart person on this team, including the coaches) fouls a three-point shooter, it might be a long day.

Cassidee Ranger has disappeared from the team. I thought I saw her wandering around on crutches just outside, but if she was, then she's in exile and this is a thing that makes me sad. Y'all did not need to give me reasons to abandon y'all after this season.

Damika Martinez is here, wandering around at halftime and saying hello to people. I'm still waiting for her 14 to go on the wall next to the other one. When you make the record book your personal plaything, you get your number retired, this is a thing that happens, why is this a thing that has not happened yet?

One of the screens is broken; the upper right corner is dark and won't turn back on. They eventually managed to fix it during the third quarter.

Why am I doomed to love dumb teams? I mean, I don't love Iona the way I used to, but they're still one of my teams, but they're so ridiculously and sometimes relentlessly stupid.

We got to see more of the ETSU bench in the first half than the second half- although, more precisely, we saw more different players in the first half, and perhaps more minutes in the second.

Adriane Vaughn only came in in the second half. I decided to pay attention to her on one random possession, and she promptly committed a rather blatant hacking foul on Marina Lizarazu, so take that for what it's worth. She was also the emergency call-up when Chandler Christopher fouled out. Malloree Schurr was first off the bench in the first half and was worked in later in the second. I don't like her. I don't mean that in the sense of "she's doing things that are awesome against my team", I mean that in the sense of "stop whining and stop flopping, you not-so-little brat". I object to people who retroactively get technical fouls called against my team. I give her credit for her rebounding, though. Carley Lytton brought length, but nothing else of note.

Yamile Rodriguez is a big, big woman, and that's not including the big, big hair. She got a lot of looks because we were inexplicably sending guards at their big posts with big hair, but she really didn't take advantage of her size, and she didn't have a lot of stamina- she was only in for short stretches. She needs a lot of polishing. Raven Dean was first off the bench in the second half, possibly for defensive purposes? She didn't make much of an impression.

Shamauria Bridges shot the ball and played on offense like she was used to being far more athletic than anyone else on the floor. She's quick as lightning, which is really cool, but I don't know that she's ever had the basics of the game fully drummed into her head. Tianna Tarter impressed me- I like her instinct for the game, though her late-game clock management needs a lot of work; ETSU might have had a chance to go one more round in the foul derby if she hadn't held the ball as long as she did. (Please tell me someone in the SoCon, somewhere, sometime, has made a "Brush away the Tarter" sign. Or a sign with some other tartar-related pun. This needs to be a thing that has happened.) Chandler Christopher was there, and out there a lot, but I honestly don't remember much about her, except for the part where she fouled out.

Shomari Kendrick had a big first half, showing off a pretty hook shot and a lot of toughness in the lane. Karynda DuPree got on the case defensively in the second half, but Kendrick was still pulling down the boards. I feel like this might be someone I should keep an eye on going forward. Sadasia Tipps got in foul trouble in the first quarter, sat the rest of the first half, got a quick foul early in the third quarter, and I think spent the rest of the game on the bench.

Alexis Lewis lists as a guard for Iona, but today we were all reminded that she's got a fair bit of height to her, and she likes to rebound. I'd like it better if she could hold on to the ball when she gets it, since she wasn't always doing that so well. The volleyball tip only works if your teammates know to expect it. (And at least three of her offensive rebounds were off her own missed shots, on the same possession.) Treyanna Clay saw limited time, and showed that she still needs to learn the defensive schemes, but her time wasn't as limited as the other two Iona posts. Aurellia Cammock and Ashley Murray both seemed to be under the "one strike and you're out" protocol, both making brief appearances in the second quarter and both getting pulled after one bad play.

I have watched a lot of personally frustrating players over the years, but Karynda DuPree might be one of the most frustrating. There are moments when she seems to put it all together, when she rebounds well, when she makes the backdoor post play that used to be an Iona signature, when she's blocking shots with authority, when she looks like the 6-4 center her body says she should be. And then there's the rest of the time, where she watches rebounds go to other players, where she takes jumpers without following them, where she misses bunnies by the basket, where she looks lost and confused, when I want to tear my hear out. She had some of both today. Joy Adams is also up there on the list of players who frustrate me. She rebounds amazingly, and she can make plays athletically that make my jaw drop. She can make things happen. It's just that those things tend to also include committing stupid fouls, missing shots in ways I never knew they could be missed, and panicking at the sight of triple-teams. Schurr embellished the contact, but Joy probably should have been called for the technical for the elbow, simply because you don't put yourself and your team in that position late in the fourth quarter.

Marina Lizarazu drives too much to the left, but to be fair, sometimes I understand why she might be reluctant to give up the ball to her teammates. She made some nice defensive plays today, using the edges of the court as her defensive partners. But when she drives that ball, she's got to do better than just randomly throwing it up. She and Aaliyah Robinson both drew the short straw a few times, having to guard the far, far bigger Kendrick and Rodriguez. (I feel like I'm harping on this, but honestly, it looked ridiculous.) Aaliyah made some big plays on defense and hit a couple of baskets in the fourth quarter to stretch the lead out. Philecia Gilmore was in and out all game- I think she was nursing something, because she spent a fair amount of time on the bike to nowhere and the training table (usually yelling encouragement to her teammates while she was there). I love her leadership.

Why do we take so many threes? Especially when they're not falling? I know ETSU had big posts who were clogging the lane, but we've got to look inside more. (Granted, we also have to hit those shots. But then, we weren't hitting so many of the threes, either.) And why do we commit stupid fouls late in the game when all we have to do is sit on the clock? Joy and Marina both committed shooting fouls that allowed the Bucs to score with the clock stopped. If you're up six with under a minute, you're probably okay giving up the two.

Officiating was very inconsistent today. I recognized enough of these officials that I expected better of them. I don't like seeing hard body contact get ignored while touch fouls get called. It's dangerous.

No cheer squad, and dance team wasn't much interested in leading cheers. So noise was sort of generalized.

Maybe I'm being too hard on Iona because I've soured on them. After all, they led for most of this game. They rebounded well. Why am I only seeing the negatives?