February 12th, 2016: Villanova at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Clutch three-point shooting spurred Villanova to a 71-59 road win over St. John's. Alex Louin had 18 to lead the Wildcats, with Caroline Coyer adding 17 and Megan Quinn putting in 15. Danaejah Grant led St. John's with 22.

For mild frustration, playing into someone else's hands, defensive lapses, three-shooting, seething with rage, dance, historical facts, and choral performances, join your intrepid and hustling blogger after the jump.


Good evening! We're coming to you from Carnesecca Arena on the grounds of St. John's University, where the Red Storm play host to the Wildcats of Villanova University. It's currently halftime, and the St. John's mixed chorus is performing, which is certainly better than most of the non-dance team halftime entertainment we tend to get.

Today is the Red Storm's celebration of Black History Month, so a lot of black student groups and organizations have put in an appearance. One of them is currently doing a dance performance, which is also way better than most of the non-dance team entertainment we get. (Ah. It looks like all of them will be doing quick performances.)

One thing we noticed about some of the Villanova shooters during shootaround was how far back the shooting hand goes- it was especially noticeable with Alex Louin and Katherine Coyer. With Louin, it looks almost like an old-fashioned set shot. I think they might maybe need to examine shooting film of someone other than Shelly Pennefather (not that Pennefather wasn't an epic shooter, but she was double-jointed {I read a lot, okay?} and that's not realistic for most humans).

Everyone on Villanova shoots threes, except maybe Harry. We could maybe guard the arc a little more? Just a thought?

I try not to throw the word "hate" around lightly. It's a nasty word. It's not just the next level of dislike or distaste or loathing or disdain or any of those other words. It should be reserved for special occasions, for a given value of special. It should only come up when it genuinely affects one's judgment.

God damn, I hate Villanova. I hate the way Harry Perretta yells at everything, and I hate how their fans usually behave like Philadelphia sports fans (though today I didn't see any issues), and I hate the way they strangle the life out of the shot clock, and I hate when possessions become the Watch A Guard Dribble For Twenty Seconds Show, and I hate when they hit shots at the end of the shot clock, and most of all I hate that they usually beat us when they do it. There are very few institutions of higher learning that engage in athletic activity at the Division I level in the NCAA that cause me to shake with rage when I see their athletic teams engaged in such endeavors. Ohio State is one. Villanova is another. So I'm not sure these notes can be as fair and balanced as they should be. But I'll try.

Adrianna Hahn is tiny but fierce. Her shot has that ridiculously high arc you so often see from short players. She needs to work on her defense and positioning, though; at least that's what I gleaned from Perretta yelling at her. Jordan Dillard wanted more calls than she was going to get. Kendall Burton played briefly in the first half, as did Kavunaa Edwards. I was surprised to see so little of Edwards, but they relied so heavily on Caroline Coyer that Coyer was switching guard positions instead of coming out.

This is probably not going to surprise anyone, but I don't like Alex Louin. No, it's not just the four three-pointers. It's not even the ridiculous wind-up. She's very physical- there was one play where her arm was so thoroughly around Danaejah Grant's waist that I thought she'd have to buy her a drink afterwards. She comes off as very oddly sized- almost too bulky for the position she plays, but maybe it's just in comparison to smaller guards around her. Katherine Coyer gets the little things done, and when she's presented with an open lane, she'll certainly take advantage, but tonight was not her night offensively. She's a damn strong defender. Caroline Coyer is annoying and frustrating and really good. She takes ridiculous shots and hits them. She takes threes and hits them. She's a steady hand and a hard worker. She's the kind of player you want on your team and love to loathe if she's not. I got tired of watching her dribble, but maybe we could have fought through screens a little more to not let Villanova run away with the game from beyond the arc.

Megan Quinn sets really tough screens- she freed up Coyer more than a few times. She's convinced she can shoot threes, but I'm not so sure- her form isn't great. Samantha Wilkes went to the basket hard and came up big in the fourth quarter.

We spent entirely too much time watching guards dribble at the top of the key. It's really depressing.

Jade Walker brought offense and rebounding off the bench, but also brought a bit of her tendency to make boneheaded plays on defense. If you're going to get called for a foul, don't let it be a cheap foul. Akina Wellere lost some of her reluctance to shoot, though I don't know if this is the game I would have had her launching threes; I really don't think we should fall into the trap of playing to the other team's style.

Crystal Simmons got the start tonight, which made sense from a match-up perspective. (I think Sandie Udobi was a scratch as well, but we didn't even think about it until around the third quarter.) She brought a lot of defensive intensity, but not much else- she's got to be more assertive on both ends of the floor. Aliyyah Handford started off strong, but by the end of the game, those drives were going wild off the front or the left of the rim. I'm worried about her. She still has that phenomenal slashing ability to cut through defenses like a hot knife through butter or a bat out of hell, but she's been less accurate. Plus she's committing stupid fouls, and we all know how I feel about stupid fouls. Aaliyah Lewis was hot early, and seemed to enjoy having Hahn on her, but got stuck on a lot of bad defensive mismatches because of her size.

Danaejah Grant continues to be solid shooting- she had a few really bad defensive lapses that led to easy baskets for Villanova, though. Can't be having with that. Imani Littleton got caught off her man one too many times- she had to come out for what we like to euphemize as "teaching moments" (which is code for coming out of the game after a dumb mistake to get yelled at). She and Jade both did well recovering broken plays.

We can't fall into the trap of playing the other team's style. We're not a three-shooting team by nature. We shouldn't be a slowdown team, no matter how much of a control-freak Joe likes to be about the offense. And we need to hit our free throws. I found it unconscionable that the team taking threes also ended up with more free throws, but at the same time, 3-9 from the line is inexcusable.

I find it interesting that almost pulling a player's arm out of its socket is a jump ball. I really do expect better from Denise Brooks and Dennis DeMayo. Louin was grabbing and holding all night, with barely half the calls she earned. I am still cranky.

Tomorrow is another day. We've got to come back strong against Georgetown. There's no other option. We need to play like ourselves.