November 9th, 2018: St. John's at Iona

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Kadaja Bailey's double-double in her first game powered the Red Storm to a 61-35 win over Iona. Bailey had 14 points and 13 rebounds off the bench for St. John's. Morgan Rachu had 16 points in her debut to lead the Gaels.

For admittedly biased remarks, a new eatery, pressing defense, road trips, and thinking ahead, join your intrepid and pensive blogger after the jump.

Good evening, fellow basketball fans! We're coming to you live and in every possible cliché from Hynes Gymnasium on the campus of Iona College, as the Gaels host the Red Storm of St. John's.

So, yeah. This is our first Iona game since dropping Iona from our stable of teams. (We decided we were going to stick around through Alexis Lewis and Treyanna Clay's senior year. Then both of them transferred. So yeah. That happened.) It's an unpleasant experience, coming into an arena that used to be home, that part of me feels should still be home, and coming in road colors. But my first team will be St. John's until I move or until they do something truly unforgiveable. And as far as I'm concerned, Billi Chambers can take a very long walk off a very short pier.

Ran into some of Kadaja Bailey's family at the ticket line. Technical difficulties.

Sure, Iona, start off the season with a poster of #14. Damika or GTFO in that regard. The fact that that number still hasn't been retired for the incredible career Damika had galls me. Okay, I'm going to get off this train of thought or else I'm going to start swearing, and we're still forty minutes out from gametime.

Kathy, don't get me wrong, that's a very nice outfit. I'm just saying that one of the highest ranking athletic administrators at St. John's shouldn't be wearing something very close to Iona maroon to a game against Iona. Clearly the squad agrees, because she had to grab a spare warm-up jacket.

At halftime, St. John's is up 30-17, but I can understand if Coach is doing a whole lot of yelling in the locker room. Both teams came out very amped up, shooting and missing long. St. John's has brought an intense press in the backcourt for stretches, but I don't know if it's one we can keep up when we're only carrying nine eligible players. We've forced three shot clock violations from the Gaels, but they've drawn four charges on us.

Am I the only one uncomfortable with the "Iona dance team" versus the "Iona black student union dance team" branding?

Pretty good turnout for the Johnnies. Q and Machi's family showed up, as did Kadaja's. From the cheering behind me, we may also have folks here for Tiana England. Imani Littleton is in the row in front of us, sitting with someone I feel like I should recognize and will probably punch myself in the face for not knowing.

Iona is performing a lot of embarrassing flops, and that makes me sad. It's not that I'm still rooting for them, but I want things to be better. I don't know these kids, but it doesn't mean that they don't deserve better.

I'll give Chambers credit for one thing: she doesn't bar her players from kneeling for the anthem. Ashley Martin still does, and she's been joined by a teammate. Watching their teammates navigate the logistics of keeping the line linked was somehow very amusing. I think the teammate is Monica Barefield, but I don't know the Gaels well enough to recognize anyone other than the few returners from last season.

I realize that it's early and I shouldn't be judging a team that's almost completely turned over on one game against a higher-caliber opponent, but good grief, Iona looks like a hot mess. No discipline. No ball thought. Minimal court awareness. Terrible clock awareness. They look like a team of leftovers and afterthoughts coached by someone who doesn't actually know how to coach people. Okay, the zone defense is actually pretty good, so props to whoever's in charge of that.

Gabrielle Joseph played just about long enough for me to wonder about the pronunciation of her name, though that was an ongoing issue with the PA guy. The only sub that got extended minutes was Shyan Mwai, and if I had faith in this coaching staff, I'd be interested to see how she develops. She reminds me a little bit of a very young Damika, but much less disciplined and much less sure of her handle. I'd also appreciate it if she would not throw forearms into her defender. That would be great.

If Monica Barefield can get her handle under control, she'd be fantastic as a point guard. She's got speed, and she's got some moves, but she's all speed and no sense so far. Shayla Middlebrooks can miss me with all the unnecessary shoulder blocks and forearm shivers. She's got a decent shot, and she can muscle her way around in the paint as a guard with her big body. But there's a difference between being physical and being dirty, and if she didn't cross the line, she sidled right up to it. Morgan Rachu is never going to be my favorite, for reasons that are completely not her fault. She's got a nice shot and she hustles well. If I had any faith in the coaching staff, I could see her developing into a nice little shooting guard by her senior year. But I have no faith in this staff.

Tori Lesko looks like she's lost a fair bit of confidence after her injury. From everything I've heard about Iona, I can't say I'm surprised. Maybe it's seeing her as an opposing player for the first time, but she hits people a lot more than I remember her doing last year. It's almost like she's trying to substitute physicality for skill, and I know Tori's better than that. She's still hustling after every loose ball, going to the floor and sacrificing her body, but there's a dramatic element to her charge-taking now that wasn't there before. Jodi-Marie Ramil gave the Gaels some okay physical play inside, though I'm not thrilled about her taunting on an and-1. She'll be useful for them.

Iona Faels Moment of the night: Kadaja Bailey is called for a dubious foul on a Middlebrooks three-point attempt. Middlebrooks goes to the line for three. She bricks all three. Lesko pulls down the offensive board and is fouled on the putback. She misses both. St. John's pulls down the defensive rebound. Second place is probably the play where Jasmine Sina- all 5-5 of her- leaped clear over Lesko to tap the ball to Kadaja.

No one on this team seems willing to shoot with the clock running down. No one seems aware of the concept that the clock can run down. There's no sense of urgency. Well done, Billi.

We got our first look at Jasmine Sina in Storm red. She had an unremarkable game- her three-point shot was off, but at least she held down the fort. While she got a good bit of run in the first half, she didn't come back until very late in the fourth quarter. Same for Shamachya Duncan. I'm a little bit worried about this, but I have faith in Machi and Mooch to step up when needed, and for the rest of the guards to do so if not.

Kadaja Bailey certainly made a splash in her first game, didn't she? She was ferocious on the glass and deadly on the drive. I'm not necessarily thrilled about the three-point attempts, but I recognize that it's an important part of a small forward's game and she needs to be able to stretch the defense. She reminds me so much of Shenneika Smith that it's crazy, and I'm so glad that the actual Shenneika is on the staff right now to mentor her. She has the potential to be something truly special. Kayla Charles didn't play in the first half, but then soaked up most of the third quarter minutes until she hurt her foot at the end of the quarter. She came back, but she was hurting for a while. (FYI, assistant coach, when a player is grimacing in pain as the trainer tapes her foot back into some semblance of shape, she is probably not terribly receptive to your advice on how to box out.) She had a very solid outing. She looked like the player I thought she could be for stretches last year, and I hope she's building on this.

Tiana England threw up some dubious shots in the paint (it is probably not a good sign when a guard is tossing up a sky hook). Even her own family was questioning her shot selection. She did have a gorgeous pass to Kadaja for a big finish that got our part of the crowd going. Alisha Kebbe was going hard after every loose ball- she hit the deck quite a few times, and I'm pretty sure she and Lesko were about ready to spontaneously sponsor NCAA women's wrestling. (The grappling kind. Not the WWE kind.) Like most of the squad, her jumper was AWOL, which is going to be a problem going forward, but her defense was on point. Sometimes I get the feeling she would be extremely happy pressing all the time. Qadashah Hoppie bombed threes at the right time, but seemed rather eager to go for them, even at moments we didn't need them, such as when Middlebrooks cut the lead under single digits. She knows how to light up the scoreboard, I'll say that.

Akina Wellere had good open looks from deep, and they just wouldn't go down. Live by the three, survive a lousy team by the three, I guess. We're not going to be able to get away with some of this stuff against Big East competition; I'm not even sure we can get away with it against Yale or Delaware State. I am definitely not a fan of her at the four. Or the five. This is a bad plan, Joe. Curteeona Brelove still has some work to do before I stop grumbling about her choice of number. She gives us a big body in the middle, but I need her to be more assertive. And I'm not thrilled with her rebounding, either. Maybe she just had an off game, but I was not impressed, and I was expecting to be impressed.

I realize you're looking at a 26-point margin and wondering why I sound so down on so much of the team. But let's be honest, we played a team that could best be described as a traveling trainwreck, one that only managed to win two games last year and promptly either graduated or caused to flee screaming pretty much the entire rotation. There were things we did really well- our press was great and our fast break offense looks really good. We held Iona to one field goal each in the first and fourth quarters. The chemistry is good. And it helps to see our flaws laid bare this early in the year, when they can't hurt us and can be corrected before the big guns come calling. But if we can't put a body on Ramil in the post, what's going to happen against Kiah Gillespie or Kimi Evans? And any long-term injury or illness is a disaster- we have to have a starter in the game at all times, literally, because otherwise we don't put enough players on the floor.

Officiating was a disaster. I honestly think the refs weren't sure which circle they should be using, and thus called everything a charge in the first half and a block in the second half. It also helps when you can count to ten- Iona got away with a blatant ten-second violation, on a possession that ended with a St. John's foul followed by Joe Tartamella letting the officials know exactly how he felt about the whole situation. He wasn't wrong, either. This is going to be a long year, isn't it? (Also, either Neika played against Stephanie Barksdale, Barksdale reffed a lot of her games, or Neika needs to not flirt with the ref before the game.)

I don't know how I feel about being able to order concessions from your seat at Hynes, but I also don't know if the feature was active for this game.

Nice of you to show up after the game was done, Killian. It was a men's-women's doubleheader, but still. That means there are two games. Two games, Killian.

The pocket schedules are weaksauce. I get the feeling they were run off on an office printer.

We did find a really good barbeque joint a ways down North Avenue that had amazingly cooked ribs

It was good to see the squad, since we don't get them at home for another three weeks or so. It's going to be an interesting year, it's going to be a tough year, but I don't know if it's going to be a long year. (Except I think Seton Hall will sweep the Awkward Bowl, which is going to suck for me personally.)

On to the next one. See you next time, patient and loyal readers!