March 7th, 2016: Creighton at Seton Hall (Big East tournament)

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Creighton finished strong in their 77-56 win over Seton Hall in the Big East semi-finals. MC McGrory had 23 points and eight rebounds to lead the Bluejays. Shakena Richardson had 20 points, 13 in the second half, to lead Seton Hall.

For frustration, questionable personnel choices, breaking the press, a recurring headache, trying too hard then not trying at all, and encouraging college players to gamble, join your intrepid and discombobulated blogger after the jump.


All right, here we go! Good afternoon from McGrath-Phillips Arena on the campus of DePaul University! We're coming to you from the semi-finals ofo the Big East tournament, where upset-minded seventh seed Creighton looks to extend their hot run, while the third-seeded Seton Hall Pirates look for their second straight trip to the Big East title game.

I'm glad Creighton is a Nike school, because our gear would be too similar otherwise. Our blues are already way too close.

This zone defense drill tht Creighton is running is pretty cool. (Also, in unrelated news, Marissa Janning is gorgeous up close.)

D'awwww. (No, you're not going to get more than that, I respect people's privacy.)

I kind of love the ceremony of Coach Bozzella getting the blazer and putting it on. Given that it has its own Twitter account...

The Creighton dance team and student cheer are getting hyped early. Well, one of their hashtags is #GetCreigh. And they're giving out swag to the kids' groups that are sitting near them, so this is going to be a bit of an uphill battle. That's all right. I can drink.

No sign of the borrowed high school band that was representing Seton Hall- ah, a band has arrived, and they appear to be a college of some variety. They're older. The big UIC on the drum kit and the flames on the drums should have been a hint of where they're from, huh? They're really loud and really jazzy.

The Sapphires and Seton Hall cheerleaders are now working on the kids in their section of the arena. We'll need all the help we can get.

There is no consistency to the way the teams are done on the scoreboard. Bluejays but SHU? Go either school name or team name, jeez.

At halftime, Creighton is up 29-21. MC McGrory seriously needs to hit Rivers Casino, because she's getting the most ridiculous rolls off the rim and deflections off the glass. Seton Hall's missing too many shots at the rim, and missing those shots at the rim has caused us to take too many shots from bad angles. We have to play smarter, not harder.

Apparently this was too much to ask for the Pirates. We took stupid shots. We tried to rely on our press, even when Creighton was breaking it easily. And I'm not sure about some of Coach Bozzella's decisions, either. We handled this game like the cakewalk we thought it was going to be because they got an upset and a #7 seed. You can't do that in the Big East.

Jim Flanery got to empty his bench near the end of the game, which I'm sure he was quite happy about. Myah Mellman seems to be a magnet for hard contact from opposing guards- she took a hard hit from LaTecia Smith near the end of the game. Ali Greene got herself to the line for a couple of free throws, even if she didn't hit the first. Olivia Elger committed a stupid foul in that fourth quarter that sent Smith to the line for an and-1. Once again, everyone for Creighton was hoping Tessa Leytem would score, and once again, they were disappointed. Brianna Rollerson played a lot less than I realized- she had a big impact in her limited minutes, owning her space on the inside. Lauren Works was great defensively.

I feel like this is a recording, but this is not a recording. MC McGrory is so tough. I think she likes contact more than she dislikes it. She hit one shot off the glass, and I'm pretty sure it was at the shot clock buzzer, that was a heartbreaker. Jade Owens is fantastic- she can be a little over-aggressive sometimes, but that fuels her team. She did a great job of finding her teammates to break the press. Sydney Lamberty was solid, and her three at the end of the third quarter was pretty much the backbreaker- we'd cut it back down, we were on a little bit of a run, and BAM. Right near the end of the clock.

Bailey Norby slipped around ahead of the defense and was available either for the lay-up ahead of the press or for the extra pass to the cutter. They use her so well. She's not called upon to be the star, but they don't need her to be the star. Audrey Faber had a monster block on Aleesha Powell (which I'll admit is a bit of a size mismatch) and was a match-up problem all day. She cuts well and has good range.

Creighton did a phenomenal job of breaking the Seton Hall press, and when that happened, the game was over. That's what the Pirates go to when they need to save a game, so when that doesn't work, there is no recourse- that was the recourse.

LaTecia Smith hit the paint well and was energetic on defense. Martha Kuderer is still not ready for the big stage, and I don't know why she got such extensive minutes (I would kill for +/-, because I think that would give a better picture and confirmation of my impression). Claire Lundberg was ineffective, but at least neutrally so. Jordan Mosley hustled on defense. I'm kinda sorry she didn't get the big send-off like the other four seniors did; on the other hand, that would have meant putting a starter back in the game, and Flanery might have taken that the wrong way. Jordan Molyneaux was a desperation move that was of limited effect.

And the reason Coach Bozzella had to make desperation moves and play forwards out of position and go as deep into his bench in the first half as he did was because he was getting pretty much nothing out of his frontcourt. Lubirdia Gordon's offensive rebounding numbers look good, but don't get fooled- most of those were off her own close-in misses. She's got to go up stronger. She can't bring the ball back down. And she has got to hit the bunnies at the rim. Tiffany Jones started off well, and smacked a Faber shot for great justice, but had double teams coming at her most of the day and never really found the moxie to work through them. Tabatha Richardson-Smith never found her groove, and as the game wore on, she started pressing more and more, taking shots earlier in the clock and further behind the line.

Shakena Richardson had herself a third quarter, pretty much single-handedly trying to drag the Hall back into the game, and one of the turning points was when Coach took her out. Kena never wants to come out, but I think I agree with her on this one- if she thought she could go, you have to ride with the hot hand until it cools off. You can't blast chill the hot hand and expect to win. My favorite play of hers was actually the jump ball she forced on Rollerson, if only because I love when tiny feisty guards tangle with big ol' posts. Aleesha Powell brought the speed, but her ballhandling was not up to par. I've never seen her dribble the ball off the back of her own foot before.

This was one of the flattest performances I've ever seen from the Pirates. They didn't go into this game like a chance to play for the title was on the line. By the fourth quarter, you could see from the body language that they'd given up. There was no comeback left. There wasn't going to be a hot minute like the Butler game. There was no fight left. Who's that on? Coaches? Team captains? I don't know.

Officiating didn't really help, but it didn't hurt much either. It certainly didn't make a difference in the outcome.

I think Seton Hall took this game too lightly. I think we thought it was going to be a cakewalk because we'd beaten them twice, including coming back once. I think we were looking ahead to the 'ship and either the top seed or the local rival. You can't do that in the Big East.