December 7th, 2016: Rutgers at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Rutgers scored the first basket of the game, but St. John's answered with a 20-0 run and never looked back in their 65-39 win. Akina Wellere had 19 points, 12 in the first quarter, to lead St. John's. Kandiss Barber had 11 points to lead Rutgers.

For fail fonts, defensive pressure, seeing all the players, indifference from the top, Cagers, and keeping the pressure on, join your intrepid and slightly confused blogger after the jump.
Once upon a time this was my Awkward Bowl, back in the days of Essence Carson and Joy McCorvey, of Kia Vaughn and Kia Wright. Rutgers was my first college team, for my dad and for Suuuuuuue, and every so often I get a little sentimental about them.

This usually wears off around the first time I spot Coach Stringer and the absolute lack of give-a-damn she's been evincing lately.

Moment of silence before the anthem in memoriam of Pearl Harbor. It still lives in infamy.

At halftime, St. John's is up 42-17, and we were 54 seconds from holding the Scarlet Knights without a field goal in the second quarter. Akina Wellere got the party started with four threes in the first quarter, and the Red Storm have kept the pressure on. Rutgers does not look like a Big Ten team right now. To be honest, they don't look like a Big East team, either.

The Cagers brought a group; about two dozen RU boosters are in the section behind the visiting bench. One may hope that their bus ride was without incident. They are... displeased with the state of Rutgers women's basketball, and well they should be. I think there were points in that game where we as St. John's fans cared more about the success of RU than the woman who's paid seven figures to work with them.

Victoria Harris was physical, and reckless, and that's why she managed to foul out before the end of the third quarter. Jordan Wallace was also very physical- there was a point in the fourth quarter where Maya Singleton was talking to the ref about something, and it might have been Wallace's relentless use of wild forearms. She mixed it up down low but couldn't hit the bunnies in the lane. Jazlynd Rollins was called upon to sub for Aliyah Jeune whenever Jeune was in foul trouble, and gave off the impression of great speed. She had a nice steal that led to a fast break lay-up. It looked like they were trying to set up Alex Alfano for shots, and she wasn't taking them.

Aliyah Jeune seemed to be on the shortest leash of all the sstarters, and not just because of foul trouble. I don't know if Coach Stringer just doesn't have faith in her, or if she's the less talented half of a package deal (no, seriously, I know nothing about her, this is what happens when RU goes to the Big Ten), or if this wasn't her night, but she never really found her groove. Shrita Parker seems to have regressed since the last time I saw Rutgers- she had a nice defensie play in the second quarter, but any semblance of fundamentals had long since left the building. No handle, no head for the game, no judgment. Khadaizha Sanders was okay defensively- my goodness, but Coach Stringer seems to have gone in for the tiny guards. (Part of me is also grateful I didn't have to hunt down RU's pronunciation guide for her first name- she goes by KK.) (I feel like I've been harping on pronunciation guides lately, but if I'm presented with unfamiliar names, and I'm not 100% sure of what vowel sound I should be applying, I would like further information. It's only polite to get someone's name right.)

Desiree Keeling is powerful at the basket, but dear Lord, the woman cannot shoot. 1-11 from the field is completely unacceptable from a center. She had multiple chances on multiple occasions, and came away empty. Given a little bit of time, she can turn into a big solid pivot in the middle for RU the way Ariel Butts or Kia Vaughn was- the person who brought the pain so everyone else could score around her. But someone has to work with her. Kandiss Barber was unafraid to shoot, and I liked that about her. Something about her sinewy build reminds me of Kahleah Copper, but she has no speed- she was getting beaten consistently on defense, not able to move around with the rotations.

I don't normally call out opposing coaches with this level of vigor, and I think it's because Rutgers was my entrée into WCBB. But if you had told a complete stranger that a Hall of Famer was coaching one of these teams, that complete stranger would have probably asked you where to procure the unquestionably excellent illicit substances you had been ingesting. Rutgers was sloppy. They were careless. They were technically and fundamentally unsound. My impression was that Coach Stringer prided herself on being a teacher- if that's the case, then why does it seem like she's given up on teaching this group? She looked like she had fallen asleep on the bench at one point. I'm not even a Rutgers fan anymore and I'm embarrassed by their performance.

So on to the Johnnies, who all got to play, yay! I'm glad Jordan Agustus is back with the team- she was AWOL last game, or at least hiding. She's got the power dribble down to an art, but she's got to work on ball security. I'm surprised she only got tagged with two turnovers, but I think there were a couple of possessions where she got down on the ground and she or one of her teammates saved the ball for St. John's. Shamachya Duncan brought hustle and defensive pressure. I get the feeling she's going to step right into Aaliyah's shoes in the "awwww, adorable small guard!" role that warms mothers' hearts. Kendyl Nunn looked like she was out there to have fun, and she definitely did that with the little behind the back flip to Sox. She's got a good head for the game; I'm sorry we only get her for one year. Tamesha Alexander was scrappy, and got herself a little bucket in the lane, which is always nice.

Quietly, Sandra Udobi had herself a nice little game. She doesn't have ups, or her rebounding numbers would probably have doubled, if not more. She was very active inside, deflecting rebounds and finishing on the other end, but she couldn't get up to finish plays and pull down those boards. I'm still thrilled to see her looking like her old self, and I hope that's a sign for the future. In some hypothetical alternate universe, somewhere nearby, Maya Singleton is on a collegiate wrestling team and succeeding admirably at it. She got down for loose balls and she fought hard. She did not commit the smartest fouls, and there comes a point when you have to realize that you committed a stupid foul and accept it. Andrayah Adams still needs work, but I'm starting to see that it's a matter of time with her- she seems like the kind of player who can break out her junior year, once she's gotten all the rough edges smoothed out and worked on her shot a little bit more. And now I understand the deal with the devil that Crystal Simmons made for that three-pointer to be so sweet- her free throws are atrocious. I'm kind of tempted to ask if she trained at a Pop-a-Shot machine at an arcade. She was great defensively and ran offense on the fast break well.

(Tangential thought: are there free throw drills out there that more accurately reflect game action? Are there coaches who have their players practice FTs with visual and audio distraction? If not, why?)

I don't know if someone on RU said something about Akina Wellere's mother, or if someone from the staff blew her off during recruiting, or if RU's defense wasn't prepared for the three pointer, or she just found their uniforms personally offensive, but she went off like a firecracker in the first quarter, dropping threes like she'd been OD'ing on Golden State game tape. She finished the first and the third in style. She put in a lot of work. Aaliyah Lewis broke out the ankle-breakers, getting her trick dribbling on in style. I think she might even have been talking trash. It was nice to see her get some rest- Joe has a tendency to run her into the ground. It looked like she had free rein to get things going and rack up the score in the first quarter, then ratchet it down in the second quarter.

Alisha Kebbe read the boards really well. She went hard to the basket, but her shot selection when she got into the paint was questionable. Just because you're getting the calls, that's no reason to chuck random crap at the basket. Jade Walker saw vulnerability inside the defense and attacked it- she took a lot of contact, but they weren't the worst shots in the world. That being said, I may lose my temper if she continues to jack straight-away threes. Those are not good shots for her; if she's working on them in practice, I commend her, but she's got to know when it's game-ready and when it's not. Imani Littleton continues to impress me with her movement on defense. She needs a little more vertical to pull down those rebounds she and Sandy were tipping around, but she was really assertive inside. I love it. I feel like she's starting to come into her own, both as a player and as a person, and the second part is just as important as the first.

The best thing: Imani and Crystal trapping in the backcourt, with Aaliyah in coverage downfield and whoever else is on the floor denying as appropriate by their position on the floor. Rutgers looked like they never saw a defense before.

We turned down the volume slightly at a 30-point margin, but never really let up where we were. Whether RU takes it seriously or not, we take this rivalry seriously, for local bragging rights. I broke a pen in the first quarter, before we broke out the 20-0 run.

But at the same time, I have to be realistic about one thing: we got the benefit of the doubt from the officials. We got away with travels and push-offs, and Akina committed an over-and-back that was missed. If Rutgers was upset about the officiating, they had a right to be- but I don't think it exactly made a difference.

I love that our reserves all got a healthy share of minutes, and I love that we were able to execute on defense. I'm almost sad for Rutgers, because I know what they were and what they can be.