October 20th, 2024: Minnesota at New York (Game 5, WNBA Finals)

we back in this bitch and back on our shit  

A little late, but you didn't think I wasn't going to write about this, did you? So I don't forget. So we don't forget.

Of course there were Lynx fans in front of us. Perfectly nice people despite me passive-aggressiving all over them, but I sit in a section close to the Liberty bench and I keep expecting other people to consider sitting near their own bench when they travel.

When the shots were short and flat early... when the passing was sloppy and Napheesa Collier was playing like a woman possessed...it was such a strong feeling of "oh, no, here it goes again, should have known, should have known again". Game 4 against Las Vegas all over again. 2016 against Phoenix all over again. Nikki Teasley all over again. The inverse of the Charlotte miracle all over again. New York ain't for everybody, and in that first half it looked like it wasn't for the Liberty. 

But I forgot the one thing that's been consistent through this entire heavyweight title fight of a series, the one common thread. It wasn't about the first punch in any of these games. Every single time, it was about the finishing kick. And at the end of the first half, Leonie said, "Nein." And Jonquel said, "NOT AGAIN." And Breanna was there for the rebounds. 

Sabrina's shot in Game 3 is the most important shot in Liberty history now. Ruocco's statement, hyperbolic at the time, has been vindicated. But... mirrors. The most iconic shot in Liberty history came from a player who was never a shooter. The most important shot in Liberty history came from a player who is known as a shooter... but the performance that won her, won them, won us, a championship, was a master class in finding the right person at the right time, and in using every inch of her frame horizontally and vertically on defense. Sabrina played probably the most T-Spoon game of her life. 

Courtney Williams will probably hate me for quoting her in this place, at this time. But it's as true for the 2024 Liberty as it was the 2019 Sun: role players did that. The golden children who were supposed to lead us to the promised land couldn't hit water falling out of a boat- so they became role players in their way. Everyone forgot about Jonquel (including, sometimes, Sandy), but she powered through exactly when we needed her. But the biggest moments? The key pivots? Role players did that. Spare parts in multi-team trades did that. The second post off the bench did that.

 *sigh* yes, we will get this out of the way, because I strive to be honest where and when I can: the "REF YOU SUCK!" chant while Alanna Smith was lying on the floor once again trying to remember how her spine worked was completely unnecessary. That was a foul on Jonquel. Thank you to whoever in the crowd pivoted it to "WE ALL WE GOT/WE ALL WE NEED". I cannot speak on the final call in regulation, because I didn't have a good angle to see it. But refs in this league have always lagged well behind the skill, speed, and strength of the players. They've never been consistent and they've always been weak to pressure from the last person to yell at them. If you're in a position where you think you lost because of a call at the end of the game, there were other problems that were within your control to fix and you should have fixed them. 

Here is what I remember of the end of game: how clutch it was that Kayla had the ball when Minnesota had the foul to give, because she was in a position where either Carleton was going to foul out or Collier was going to foul out. And it was Collier who took the foul. I don't think Minnesota believed it. I don't think she believed it. And then the turnover. Leonie getting the steal. Time ticking away. Oh my God. They're not fouling. They're not- Buzzer. OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD! Incoherent screaming. 27 years. 27 fucking years. Hugging, high-fiving. Calling my mom down in Carolina to try and get a video chat going so she could join in. Finding the friends we've known for years, for decades. Hugging. High-fiving. Kissing. Calling my mom again and just screaming over and over again, "WE DID IT! WE DID IT!" at the top of my lungs, all lessons about projection and diaphragm usage forgotten. 

The players starting the MVP chant for Jonquel, who deserves the world. How stunned she looked to get that award, because the blocking sure looked like stats be damned, they were gonna feed the narrative and give it to Breanna. One hand on MVP trophy, one hand on championship trophy. 

The fans starting the "SA-BA-LLY" chant for Nyara. Oh my God. This is a city about the hustle and the grind. You put in the work and we don't care who you are, you belong. And Nyara should have gotten game ball. Really, Nyara should get whatever she wants and if she has to buy a drink in this town ever again, what are we even doing here? For her to come back from the injuries that she has, for her to be put on the spot and rise to this occasion... it's just so much. Everything is so much right now. She rose to the occasion, and her name thundered through the Barclays Center at the end of the night. Nobody else really got that. Even the MVP chants for Jonquel weren't as loud or as strong. 

27 years. There's going to be a post about that, too, about all we were then and all we are now. It's a series of jump cuts, crossing 27 years, 28 seasons, however you want to do the math. There's a lot of heartbreak in those years. There are a lot of good memories, a lot of bad memories. We've fallen down the mountain more than anyone else, and it's good, it's so good to finally be on the mountaintop. It's glorious. It's surreal. It's everything. 

 In conclusion I love everyone in this bar.

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May 9th, 2019: China at Liberty

Just the Facts, Ma'am: The New York Liberty answered a second-quarter run from the Chinese national team with a third-quarter run of their own in an 89-71 win at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Xu Han and Kia Nurse each had 19 points to lead the Liberty. Li Meng had 15 points to lead the Chinese side.

For free t-shirts, soft goods, defensive lapses, strong stances, DAT TOUCH PASS THO, dubious fashion choices, packing the house, getting the gang back together, and coming home, join your intrepid and joyous blogger after the jump.

You know what today is? That's right. Issa gameday. Sure, it might be a meaningless preseason game, and most of the players we're expecting to be rotation players are unavailable, but it's game day. More importantly, it's a game day in a real arena and essentially a test drive to see if Brooklyn is going to happen next year. It's the New York Liberty versus the Chinese national team. It's WNBA basketball, live and in color. It's a taunting, tantalizing, teasing taste of the life we should lead as fans of professional basketball before we return to That Dump. (Well, most of us return to That Dump. Your intrepid blogger will not be doing the full season there.)

I'm not thrilled with the requirement to check backpacks at Barclays, especially given how long the process is to get them back. Gotta speed that up. Also, cashless concession stands are the devil, should absolutely be illegal, are probably going to cost the team money, lock people out of purchases, and may generally utilize the left-hand egress.

Those are pretty much my only complaints about the venue. We had amazing seats- you probably saw my big stupid face behind the bench at some point, or at least saw my big stupid clipboard. I know someone heard us at some point, because when we let out our best, harmonized, Flava Flav "YEAHHHH BOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYD" we got a look from Reshanda Gray in her street clothes behind the bench.

I liked Reshanda's dress. I liked the cut of Amanda Zahui B's suit, but I'm not feeling the 19th-century prisoner stripes. Spoon remains a timeless national treasure. For the love of God, Katie, tuck in that blouse if it's juuuuuuust a titch longer than your jacket. Charmin's velour jacket was amazing.

Okay, the Fashion Notes of Doom are done.

I was honestly expecting a little more coherency from the Chinese side. I mean, I'm assuming they've played together before. I could be wrong. We didn't get rosters, so I had to pull everything together off the uniforms and the graphics (and the graphics took their time arriving).

I have belatedly realized that I've rendered the Chinese names in the traditional East Asian order of family name first, then given name. I'm choosing to leave them this way for the members of the Chinese national team, but reversing them for Xu Han while she plays for a Western team in order to keep her consistent with her teammates. If it turns out the WNBA, in its infinite wisdom- stop giggling over there on the other side of that screen- already reversed her names for me, I'll fix it at some point in the indeterminate future.

Both full rosters were announced before the game, and there were a couple of names that the PA guy didn't know what to do with. (He had the most trouble with Li Jiacen and Wang Xuemeng. And Talia Caldwell.) There was an exchange of soft goods. Somehow Brittany Boyd ended up with the ceremonial gift banner, and she looked like she was unsure of what to do with this and why she even got it in the first place. The more experienced international veterans appeared amused.

We saw the very end of the Chinese bench in the fourth quarter, after fouls had claimed Zhang Liting and Li Yuere. Wu Tongtong and Guo Zixuan did not impress. Wang Siyu actually got a couple of minutes in the first half, but I mostly remember her coming in at the end.

Yang Liwei made an impression on first entry into the game, but it was that of an aspiring actress, looking for fouls even as she threw elbows. She calmed down a little bit after some of the fouls started going against her, and her energy focused more successfully on going after loose balls. She picked up steam as the game went on. Zhang Ru made a great defensive play in the second quarter- I think it was an interception off one of our guards, but don't hold me to that. Zhang Liting played a lot of minutes in the high post, but fouled out in the end, and I’m not sure she was as effective as the minutes her coach gave her would have indicated.

Whenever Li Yueru reports to Atlanta, they're going to get a good one. There were moments when I was reminded of Zheng Haixia, but I think that was just how the jersey hung on her. She's strong, and she's got good power in the paint. If she can stay out of foul trouble, she'll be fantastic. Wang Xuemeng got going during the big Chinese run in the second quarter, and seemed to slip our defense at the most inopportune moments; she'd be the one at the basket ready for the pass while everyone else tangled in the scrum for the loose ball. Pan Zhenqi did all right, including a three off an amazing jump pass from Yang. It might have been the best pass of the game in a lot of games, but we'll get to that later.

I don't know what it is, but I like watching Li Meng play. She's got a pretty shot, even if it didn't go down as often as it seemed to in the flow of the game. She just seems fun to watch, like she has a sense of what she's doing on the court that some of her teammates might have lacked. Li Yuan made some good hustle plays going after loose balls, but looking at that box score, I'm not sure I would have defined her as the shooting guard and Li Meng as the point guard. She keyed hard on Brittany Boyd.

China picked up the pace in the second quarter and went hard inside. Our defense wasn't ready for the change, and our offense was a pile of hot garbage in that quarter. They did eventually key on Kia Nurse, but then Xu Han found her footing.

I see on the transaction wire today that Kolby Morgan was already the first cut from camp, and I don't know if I agree with her being the first. I don't think she had a place on the final roster, but at least she's fully functional. I don't think Kolby knew what her role was. She did have the one amazing touch pass to Xu for the amazing touch finish, but that was her one highlight. I know I come down hard on Kelly Faris for things that are out of her control, and if you're expecting me to apologize for it, that's a thing that's not happening. But she played in such obvious pain in this game that I almost wanted to hug her. I think I literally saw her have a back spasm on the court (at least that's the most logical explanation for why she almost went ass over teakettle into the lane during someone else's free throw) and at the end of the game she looked ready to cry. I respect her heart and her knowledge of the game, but it's time for her to go into coaching. Tiffany Bias looked lost and committed fouls she shouldn't have. Bianca Cuevas-Moore made a lot of great hustle plays and brought energy to the floor. I'm just not convinced she can consistently keep that energy pointed in useful directions. Tanisha Wright looked like she was auditioning for the part of Sugar Rodgers. The bad version of Sugar Rodgers. T's supposed to be the veteran showing the youngsters how to play the game; if that game was any indication of how her game has devolved since her year off and her subsequent detour to Minnesota, that's not a good sign. She took terrible shots and dribbled the clock into oblivion, and even her defense was shoddy.

Rebecca Allen, if you're going to take terrible stupid shots, have the courtesy to follow those terrible stupid shots for the rebound, please. You bring shame on our name otherwise. Megan Huff shows promise, but I don't think she can make it over the hump in this training camp. She needs some seasoning, but I can see her being a regular in camp, if not eventually breaking through and making a roster. She's got a good head for the game. On the other hand, I don't see Talia Caldwell making the team. She had a lot of trouble getting into and maintaining proper defensive positioning. (I'm just saying, it's probably a bad sign when a guard who's younger than you are seems to know where your post player butt needs to be on defense better than you do.) A couple of the fouls were terrible calls, and the blonde ref seemed to have it in for her, but overall I think I prefer Talia as a writer than as a rotation player. Avery Warley-Talbert had herself a day on the glass. Good Lord, did she get herself some definition since last we met. Are we allowed to make jokes about having a license to bare arms anymore? I'd have liked to see her finish a little better at the rim, but she's undersized and the primary Chinese posts were not. She is who she is, and she's very good at being who she is. Right now, we need who she is.

It's going to take me some time to get used to Asia Durr, because my brain is wired weird and I keep seeing Alex Montgomery when I look at her. Given that Alex was a defensive specialist and Asia is... extremely an offensive specialist, you can see why this is tripping me up. I see the potential. I see the firepower. I also see the learning curve against defenses that are better than college defenses. If she's got moves, she's going to have to use more of them instead of relying on her talent to power through, because it's not happening. Brittany Boyd ran into some intense Chinese defense, and it felt like she should have finished on more drives (and yet I only see her missing one shot in the box score). When she's on, she's playing the game at a better speed than everyone else. When she's not, it's Jessica Bibby and Sherill Baker all over again, and we can get that from Bianca. But even when her speed betrayed her, her hustle remained- she forced jump balls on players she had no business forcing them with.

We were down pretty bad in the third quarter, and then Kia Nurse decided that that was going to change. She put up 14 in the third quarter alone, and I think most of them were in the same run. Eventually China started sending a triple-team at her, and as a result we lost a little momentum, but until then it was her game and everyone else was just along for the ride. She was tough, and she was fearless, and she was determined, and she played like she wanted to prove she belonged on the posters next to Tina. Tina Charles did the Tina Charles things she always does. The husband noticed that her windup has gotten more pronounced, although maybe it was just this game. She got called for some dubious offensive fouls, as one does, and objected to them, as one does. She and Xu are going to have to get used to each other on the glass in order for them to rebound better as a team. Right now they seem to be filling each other's space. But I love what we're going to get from Xu Han. She's so raw, and she needs to strengthen up a little, but there's so much potential. Just the ability to find her in the airspace so few players can even reach will do wonders for our offense, and when she and the guards get to know each other better, woo-ee will this be fun. She moves with much more grace than you'd expect from someone her size. So many tall women don't seem to know what to do with their height, but she seems at least aware of it, if not necessarily comfortable with it. I'm sure she'll have growing pains. But I also feel confident that she'll grow through them.

It's training camp, so there's some disorganization to expect. We might have a better handle on it at Mohegan (and your intrepid blogger will be there to see it). I don't know if Katie knows what she has to work with yet. I don't even know if Katie has determined what she's going to do with what she has.

We got free t-shirts! Free t-shirts are best t-shirts! Except for the ones you somehow manage to catch because holy blessed Arceus I caught a t-shirt! (sorry adorable tourist lady, but it's an XL so I'm keeping it) BANNER DAY. (I like the design on the shirts they gave us, too.)

For whatever reason, the refs were just not calling lane violations in this game. It took pretty much every player involved falling into the paint to finally get one, and they just threw up their hands and called a double violation for a jump ball. The lack of numbers on the front of the WNBA jerseys is definitely throwing the refs off; there was a foul initially called on #33 Talia Caldwell that was actually on #3 Tiffany Bias (and was a terrible call, but I'm partisan), and one ref gave up on calling the Liberty players by number when speaking to the scorer's table.

Timeless Torches need a little more synchronization to incorporate the newcomers into the routine, but again, preseason.

The crowd really got going in the second half. It sounded like a real Liberty game for the first time in ages. We did notice that there were no "Let's go Liberty" chants, which might have been in keeping with the international friendly element. Then again, we had "DE-FENSE!" sound clips, so.

Xu bowed to both sides of the floor when she came off. I thought that was sweet.

There are definitely things the crew needs to work on, and I suspect it's going to be a very disjointed season as personnel drop in and out depending on international commitments, but I like the promise of our young players. I just want to see more out of our veterans, especially if that's the whole reason we brought them in.

(No, I didn't like the Tanisha Wright signing, thanks for asking.)

A brief respite, a rummage through the wardrobe, and it'll be time to hit Mohegan for all the games!

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December 10th, 2017: Lehigh at LIU

Just the Facts, Ma’am: LIU outlasted Lehigh in a 72-69 win. Four Blackbirds scored in double figures, led by 17 points from Denisha Petty Evans, a 16-point, 10-rebound performance from DeAngelique Waithe, and an all-around line from Drew Winter (12 points, nine rebounds, six assists). Camryn Buhr for Lehigh took game-high honors with 18 points.

For inexplicable calls, friendly security, Pokémon priorities, overpriced concessions, offensive miracles, unsung heroes, and defensive stands, join your intrepid and dual blogger after the jump.

Hello, Brooklyn! And other parts, of course, but this afternoon we’re coming to you from the Barclays Center, where LIU is playing their annual men’s/women’s doubleheader. The women are first up, playing Lehigh.

The security at Barclays is a little more elaborate than most arenas I’ve been to, but the people are really nice, as if to make up for it.

Fun fact: you can just barely reach the Barclays Center Pokégym from inside the arena. My new Machamp and I both appreciate that. (The Machamp may not have appreciated the windy weather that boosted my psychics, though.)

The anthem singer has a nice voice, but she took forever.

These officials seem to have forgotten, or perhaps never learned, about the existence of the charge circle. LIU’s had two baskets called back as charges for defenders who were thoroughly embraced by the arc. I am annoyed by this, especialy since we’re down five at the half, 40-35. Denisha Petty-Eavans has had herself a second quarter, with 11 points. Camryn Buhr has 14 to lead the many ponytails of Lehigh.

It got a little more exciting than I really felt it had to be, but we were able to pull it out. Lehigh made more mistakes than we did, at the exact wrong times.

Look, I’m going to be gauche here and say it: if your team is fairly monochrome, and no one has an unusual hairstyle or hair color, can y’all please put names on your jerseys? Please?

Lehigh seemed to be fairly reliant on the three, with going to the tall forwards as a second option. Camryn Buhr was a partial exception to the rule, but for everyone else, that was pretty much what the options were.

Mariah Sexe has a really unfortunate last name. She brought good height off the bench, getting offensive rebounds close to the basket. She was one of the players who was able to jostle rebounds loose from shorter Blackbirds. Cameryn Benz also brought height off the bench, finishing at the rim but wildly off on her three-pointers. (Lehigh found all kinds of new and interesting ways to miss three pointers- off the back iron straight, off the back iron at an angle, off the backboard, short, long, and the usual shots off the rim.)

The Mountain Hawks went fairly shallow on their guard rotation- to be honest, I didn’t even realize that Mary Clougherty was in the game, unless she came in at the end to help eat up fouls and pressure the LIU ballhandler. And I don’t think Bernadette Devaney reappeared after the first half. I could be wrong. She was certainly busy in her minutes.

Camryn Buhr was the star of the show for the Mountain Hawks. She scored on long-range shots and on drives to the rim, as well as backdoor cuts. She’s got good quickness, which served her well on defense, including a big block against Denisha Petty-Evans. She got intercepted and picked a few times, though, because when I fall in love with teams, I fall for defensive teams. Quinci Mann was bombing threes most of the night, with less than optimal results. She seemed to like the corners better than other spots, but didn’t seem to object to other spots. Hannah Hedstrom had a big fourth quarter- she was part of the pressure that caused LIU to cough up the ball late in the game and keep Lehigh in it until the final possession. Very active on defense.

I thought they ran the press and the trap very well, and went to it at the right time to take advantage of our dubious ballhandling. Good job by the Mountain Hawks to take advantage. Of course, I can be more gracious about it because we won the game.

Seneca Richards was called upon both for her three-point shooting and her height, since these refs had some kind of height jealousy issues about all of our forwards. She had a big block on Devaney and is not as tall as her teammates seem to think she is sometimes. Ella Vaatanen looked like she was out of position all night. She’s too much of a tweener for my tastes, though I may feel differently about that if she has a good game. We needed someone, anyone to bring height, and she did that a little. Destoni Willock committed a couple of stupid fouls and one that should have been called a block (but boy howdy will we get to that later). She’s got good size, but she still needs a lot of work, as most freshmen do. I was very impressed with Tia Montagne in this one. I really like her defense (though she’s got to be careful with the reach-in fouls) and her speed. Her shot needs work- it’s a little wild and very high, but that’s something that might be teachable. I think she’s got a lot of potential.

Where did this offense come from for DeAngelique Waithe, and how can we convince it to stick around? The shots she could never get to fall are falling, and I think she actually hit a jumper at one point. Her rebounding suffered early in the game, but she buckled down in the second half and started seizing the boards with her usual determination. Plus we got to see her doing her marvelous inbounds defense, which is worth the price of admission all by itself. If this is what the rest of her senior year is going to be like, I very much look forward to it. Stylz Sanders did not foul out of the game, though there was a play where she thought she was going to get called for her fifth for the audacity of being in the way of someone falling on her ass, and she let the entire arena know how she felt with a loud “Oh my God!” (Turned out to be Tia’s fourth, which wasn’t much better.) She’s always undersized for her position, and always somehow makes it work, finding the right spot and holding it against opposition. I think she ended up defending everyone on Lehigh at one point or another.

If Jeydah Johnson is going to drive the lane and take floaters, she’s going to have to shoot them with a little more discipline, or else you might as well just throw the other team the ball. I like that the three-point shot is part of, or perhaps is becoming part of, her arsenal. It really gives her a lot of options on offense. Drew Winter’s ballhandling needs to improve, especially if she’s going to be the one bringing the ball up the floor, but I like her shot and I love her ability to get low for rebounds. She chases them down and makes sure they’re hers. She’s just got to do a better job on the next phase. I’m not exactly sure where or how Denisha Petty-Evans fits in this offense, but she finds a way to do so. It looks like she’s improv’ing a lot of her offense, to the point where I’m not always sure what was drawn up and what she decided to do on her own. Sometimes that can be a good thing. Sometimes, I don’t know.

So now we’re going to talk about officiating. I’m used to bad refs by now. I’m used to missed calls, and bad calls, and calls that make you wonder if the ref is watching the game you are. I think this might be the first time I’ve ever seen an entire crew that was blatantly ignorant of a rule. Twice, LIU drove on defenders who were planted directly in the charge circle. Twice, it was called a charge instead of a block. There was no ambiguity of positioning, no chance that there could have been an understandable mistake. No, these three acted like the charge circle didn’t exist. And I have a problem with officials who either don’t know the rules of the game they’re supposed to be calling, or behave in such an incompetent manner that it looks like they don’t know the rules. This is, of course, on top of the usual diet of dubious hand-checks and “we didn’t actually feel like getting involved in the scrum” calls. I was fully expecting Coach’s heels to be red with the blood of her enemies by the end of the day, instead of their more mundane red.

I’m a little bummed- it looks like LIU either lost the spirit squad, or merged them with the dance team. I kind of liked that element, even if I never had enough rhythm to essay their chants.

It’s nice to really start seeing the potential of this team. Their flaws are still very evident, but their passion on defense is undeniable, and if they can get the offense to click... this could be a fun team in the NEC.

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December 10th, 2017: Fairfield at LIU

Just the Facts, Ma’am: Free throws were the difference in Fairfield’s closely contested win over LIU, 76-72. Tyler Nelson scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half to lead the Stags. Joel Hernandez’s 23 points led the Blackbirds, who shot 25-37 from the line.

For missed shots, hammering home the point, a blown dunk, so very many fouls, and forcing the offense, join your intrepid blogger after the jump.

On to the second half of the show, which pits the LIU men against the Stags of Fairfield. A surprising number of people are leaving, though I think that might have to do with group sales.

The LIU men like to practice in their undershirts, and I am perfectly okay with this. I’m not quite old enough for it to be creepy yet, so I’m going to continue ogling biceps, if that’s okay with you.

Poor Fairfield equipment manager. Half a dozen basketballs have escaped, and he seems to be the only person in charge of wrangling them back into the rack. Don’t be messy, y’all.

The LIU men have the hooded warm-up shirts, and the way the colors are done on them, with a white top and black base, is very interesting.

It is 36-35 Fairfield at halftime, in a game that has been close but not necessarily good. Joel Hernandez has the points for LIU with 11. Ferron Flavors Jr. has been a scoring spark off the bench for the Stags with 10.

I don’t like kids and don’t plan to have them, so my advice may not be the best, but two adults to eight children, including two babies under a year old, does not seem like a good ratio. The people in front of them, who were getting hit with glowsticks, would certainly agree with that assessment.

I feel like Fairfield is showing us up somehow by wearing all black. Even their coaches are in black. Excuse me, but which of our teams goes by Blackbirds?

Dear Blackbirds: I don’t know you particularly well, but I know the band director and the band like to yell “Free throws win ball games!” before every free throw, and this is advice you should have taken even more than usual today. I don’t know that y’all deserved to win the game, but going 25-37 from the line is a pretty good sign that you deserved to lose.

I don’t know if Thomas Nolan is a human victory cigar or if Fairfield’s coach wanted to have a fresh set of fouls on the floor in the final few seconds, but I think he got maybe ten seconds of playing time. Omar El-Sheikh was inserted briefly in the first half, but I don’t think Fairfield’s coach was happy with the foul he committed (I think it was either a shooting foul on a shot that he had no chance of contesting, or a three-shot foul, the latter of which is the quickest way I can think of to infuriate a coach). I don’t think he went back into the game in the second half.

Kevin Senghore-Peterson was tough on the glass, but on two different occasions was very much the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time- once on a rebound, once on a blown dunk. (He was not afraid to voice his frustration with the latter, using language I try to avoid in this blog.) He had good looks and missed them, but I like his rebounding and his shoulders. Ferron Flavors Jr. was an offensive catalyst in the first half, but saw less time in the second and thus did less damage. I like his jumper. Wassef Methnani slid inside for rebounds, but mostly fouls. There were a lot of fouls. He finished well at the rim.

I also liked the shot of Matija Milin, who got off to a good early start, but ran into a spate of foul trouble in the second half and was rendered less effective thereby. Jonathan Kasibabu was physical on the inside, though we didn’t see him for long stretches because, you guessed it, foul trouble. I feel like a broken record, but three Stags fouled out of this game and another guy got four. I’m not sure it’s being a broken record at that point.

Jesus Cruz got a couple of shots to drop that I would probably call prayers if I didn’t think that was a cheesy pun even by my low standards. Big dude for a guard- he seemed about as tall and more strongly built than Milin, who lists as a forward. Tyler Nelson got ball-hungry in the second half, which had its advantages for Fairfield (he hit a couple of shots that put them up for good) and for ill (he had the ball near the end of the game and ended up committing a shot clock violation that could have put LIU back in the game). I got a bad first impression of him because pretty much the first thing he did was miss a shot and act like he’d been pushed down by a gale force wind at the first sign of contact. Y’all know how much I love simulation. But I’ll grant that he’s a gamer. Jerome Segura quietly went about his business, hitting lay-ups in the lane and making good passes. He was understated, but in the right spot at the right time most of the time. I like guys like that.

Fairfield played physical, though not as one-sidedly so as the foul calls would make you believe. They seemed to be making more mistakes than LIU, but they were able to hit their shots and their free throws, and that made the difference.

For LIU, Eral Penn was mostly in at the end of halves, and it looked like his job was to make sure the star players didn’t get hurt in the waning minutes. Jamall Robinson got run in the first half, and a little bit in the second, very late. I think he took one of the late fouls. Raul Frias shot threes, and there was one play after which he was so disappointed that he let loose a short, angry four-letter word that I could hear in the fourteenth or so row. Julius van Sauers played a lot less than I thought- he was sort of the Swiss army knife of substitutions, going in for everyone (but mostly the frontcourt, such as it was). He should have gotten credit for a putback, but the scorer determined that it went in the first time from

Zach Coleman cleared the glass well, but I don’t think we saw a lot of him in the second half. Either that, or that’s when he went invisible. Many things are possible, especially when your intrepid blogger hasn’t had a lot of time to work on game notes and there were no seats on the train. Raiquan Clark was rock solid on the inside, hitting shots in the lane and getting a nice steal that led to a basket. Big dude with a nice versatile skill set, who didn’t seem to be trying to force as much as some of his teammates were.

Joel Hernandez seems pretty tall and pretty solidly built for a guard. There were times when I thought he was forcing too much on offense, taking shots that weren’t necessarily the best ones and didn’t play to his strengths. I will say, though, when the threes went down, they were pretty- I just think he was pressing a bit, trying to make things happen that just weren’t happening. Julian Batts was okay for much of the game, then decided to do something stupid and continue shoving Tyler Nelson after the whistle, whereupon he picked up both the common and the technical foul, going from two fouls to four in the blink of an eye, and that was the last we saw of him until near the end of the game, when his offense was needed. Jashaun Agosto did a nice job of getting to the line, and for the most part did a nice job of converting there. There were times when I felt that he too was trying to create something that just wasn’t going to happen in the face of Fairfield’s defense.

LIU’s coach seems kind of loud, and a little bit angry. I don’t know if I can blame him, especially if this game was indicative of how they play in general. There seemed to be too many guys looking for their own shot and their own way to score, and not enough guys looking to pass to teammates. It’s a team game, and while explosive scorers who create offense only for themselves are fun to watch when they’re winning, they’re not nearly as fun to watch when they’re losing (and I suspect coaches don’t think they’re fun at all).

During the first half, I swear to you there was one official who seemed determined to single-handedly prove that travels are in fact called in men’s basketball. He calmed down a little bit on that front. While I wouldn’t exactly hold this game up as a shining exemplar of officiating, it wasn’t as bad as I was used to, and I still don’t know why the LIU fans were giving the refs hell on one call at the end of the game, when it looked like they got exactly what they wanted.

Maybe it’s just a small crowd in a large arena, but it really didn’t get loud until the very end, and even then that mostly seemed to be directed at the officials.

I should get used to these guys. LIU plays a lot of doubleheaders, so I’m going to be seeing a lot of them.

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December 21st, 2016: UMBC at LIU

Just the Facts, Ma'am: After an offensively challenged first half for both teams, UMBC came out strong in the second half to knock off LIU at the Barclays Center, 57-45. Tyler Moore had 17 of her team-high points in the second half to lead the Retrievers. Shanovia Dove came off the bench to lead LIU with 19 points and 10 rebounds, but no other Blackbird cracked double digits.

For clarinets, accordions, mediocre guitarists, excellent Diet Coke, so much dribbling, bad passes, biting the hand that feeds you, and deep concerns about interpersonal relationships, join your intrepid and pensive blogger after the jump.

On the road again, this time off to the Barclays Center for half of a double-header- we'll be watching the Blackbirds of LIU take on UMBC.

(Why only half the double-header? Because I don't care enough about men's basketball to get home at 11:30 when I have a meeting early the next morning.)

We've had fantastic music on this long R ride from Continental to DeKalb. First there was a clarinet player who did beautiful work on some Christmas tunes, then an accordion player who was really good. I love my city sometimes. Most of the time.

We're at T-minus 24 minutes, and there are maybe twenty to twenty-five people in the stands. And I think about a quarter of them are LIU band members. It's weird having a little bit of distance from the team, but I like having some perspective.

Lost Albany fan is lost. The women are playing UMBC; the men are playing Niagara. So think I can ask him for any tips on Imani Tate?

I don't think I like the Nets making all their banners black and white, even from the times when they were red, white, and blue. It just looks wrong somehow. At least the Isles are still rocking the city colors. (White, blue, and orange are kind of a thing with New York teams- see also the Mets and the Knicks. It's a flag thing.)

Looks like we weren't the only ones who made the trip out to Brooklyn from Queens. Hi, Veronica!

At halftime, it's 15-13 LIU. This... has not been an inspiring half of basketball in the name of Brooklyn hoops and the women's game. Six points and five boards for Aja Boyd for LIU; Taylor McCarley has eight out of 13 for UMBC.

The guy across the aisle from us knows his stuff. He agrees that LIU needs to be way more aggressive on offense. There's way too much passing the ball around, not enough attacking. And then Aja drops the ball.

It's kind of cool to have an entrance/intro video for once. LIU's normal scoreboard doesn't allow for one. The whole team was watching in fascination, including the staff.

So, uh. That was a thing that happened. The easy way out would be to say, "Look, I don't want to revisit this game, you don't want me to revisit this game, and Coach Oliver definitely doesn't want me to revisit this game. Let's just talk about the band and the arena and the overpriced but delicious Diet Coke." But I don't take the easy way out in GNoD, so you're going to get the cold hard truth as I see it from the stands.

UMBC's coach is kinda loud and seems fond of using his timeouts. I know you don't get to take them home with you for the next game, but if you're up eight with 11 seconds to go, it might be okay to leave one on the table.

Carly Harris and Kayla Hinderlee only came in at the very end- I think there were 11 seconds left. Come to think of it, that might have been why he called the timeout, which is kinda sweet, but at the same time, is eleven seconds really a reasonable amount of playing time? Hinderlee was so unprepared that she had to be called back to the bench to get her earrings off. Lucrezia Costa was awkward in the middle, picking up three very quick fouls in the second quarter. UMBC's coach went back to her in the second half, with slightly better results.

I honestly didn't notice Emily Russo in the game until the second half, so I don't really have much to say about her. She was probably scrappy on the ball, though- most of the Retrievers were. Taylor McCarley started off like a house on fire- she was pretty much the sole source of offense for UMBC in the first half. She's long and lanky, and used her length and speed to press ahead on fast breaks, slicing through LIU's defense like a hot knife through butter. She started the second half.

McCarley got that start over the other McRetriever, Allison McGrath. I liked McGrath on defense. I'm wondering if she got hurt; she didn't play at all in the second half, and I didn't think she had done anything worthy of being buried on the bench. I didn't see an injury, though. Amanda Hagaman should really have been much more effective- she had good looks at the basket and blew them. She made life difficult on the inside for LIU, though.

Laura Castaldo took her turn as the star of the UMBC offense in the early part of the third quarter, hitting from range. She was a demon defensively, leaping on the slow and telegraphed passes of LIU. (There were a lot of those, but we'll get to that.) When she cooled off slightly, there was Tyler Moore, hitting corner threes and scoring on the break. Te'yjah Oliver quietly ran the point and took contact. (There was one play where I thought LIU was backing off under the mistaken impression that Coach Oliver was somehow related to the Retriever guard and thus fouling her would be a Very Bad Idea.)

LIU, I can't even with the extra passing and the bad passing and the telegraphed passing. More importantly, I can't even with the endless dribbling, the cold-blooded murder by strangulation of a perfectly innocent shot clock, and the utter lack of urgency.

I don't know what Brianna Farris did to get buried at the end of the bench, only dredged up in the fourth quarter to take corner threes off the heel of the rim and devour fouls when the Blackbirds tried to extend the game. On the other hand, the way she played would not indicate that further minutes were deserved. DeAngelique Waithe remains my favorite, despite her occasional bouts of offensive ineptitude. I still like watching her play defense, especially when she drops monster blocks.

Shanovia Dove was unafraid to shoot, which was a marked contrast to the rest of her teammates. She was hitting from deep, as well as from the lane. She's always been streaky, and this was a good day for her. Coach Oliver rode her hot hand for most of the game. Stylz Sanders was extremely active on defense, especially early on. She deflected a lot of balls. Drew Winter, when she took her shot, had a good shot, but like many Blackbirds, she was tentative with it and took too much time to even work up the nerve to shoot.

I don't know if there are drills that a player can practice to improve their hands- their ability to catch passes and hold rebounds. If there are, someone please send a link to Aja Boyd so she can start doing them. She had good passes and fumbled them; she had rebounds and lost them. And she has to finish better in the lane. I think the latter is easier for a freshman to fix than the former. Gabrielle Caponegro was playing scared, and this isn't just my assessment- the guy across the aisle from us was talking about how she wasn't like this in high school. She was hesitant to shoot and unsure of her place in the scheme. I think she has a lot of potential. I don't know if she has the makeup to tap that potential at LIU.

Dionne Coe is going to drive me crazy if she doesn't either start hitting shots or stop dribbling. So much dribbling. So much wasted time dribbling, dribbling, dribbling. The problem was that either she would dribble herself right into a steal or throw the ball right to UMBC because the pass was telegraphed. She's not the answer at point- obviously not for the future, since she's a grad transfer, but I don't think she's even the answer right now, despite her experience. Victoria Powell was just as timid, but slightly more accurate, and at least you can excuse a freshman for being timid. Seneca Richards was in to shoot threes, and while her shot was pretty, it was all she brought to the floor. I'm not sure that a single-dimensional player is a luxury this team can afford to have in the starting lineup.

So, this team. We're in the NEC here. This isn't the Big East; this isn't even the higher echelons of the MAAC. You're not going to get players with full skill sets. If you do, or if you get a player who's only missing one piece, she's probably going to climb the ladder. Witness Jasmine Nwajei going from Wagner to Syracuse, or Sofia Roma going from Wagner to Duke. For that matter, LIU has a history of feeding the BCS, with Kim Mac Millan going to St. John's and Valerie Nainima going to South Carolina. At this level, there has to be a lot more teaching of the game. I'm not sure that's being done. Now, I'm only seeing things from the stands, so I'm not even getting one side of the story. I don't know if the coach isn't coaching, or if the players aren't listening, or if there's some other gap that's not being bridged. But there's a fundamental disconnect between what's being said and what's being done on the court. There's a stark difference between what the flow of the game might dictate and what's actually happening.

I want to get behind them. I really do. The game day experience at LIU is great- cheer is enthusiastic, the band's interesting, and nobody brings the noise like LIU's spirit squad. But I feel like the joy is being squeezed out of everyone once the ball goes up. It's hard to keep your own spirits up that way.

So, uh, Merry Christmas? Happy Hanukkah? Joyous Festivus?

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January 11th, 2014: St. Francis at LIU

Just the Facts, Ma'am: A team effort from the Terriers of St. Francis crowned them the queens of Brooklyn, as they knocked off the Blackbirds of LIU-Brooklyn 69-48 in the Battle of Brooklyn at the Barclays Center. Eilidh Simpson led the Terriers with 17 points, 13 in the second half; Leah Fechko had 12 with a team-high six rebounds. Cleandra Roberts of LIU led all scorers with 27, but no other Blackbird had more than eight points.

For smuggled goods, a contrast of styles, belated body paint, too much up and down, and kicking it mid-major style, join your intrepid blogger after the jump.


Good morning, everyone! We're back at the Barclays Center for the Battle of Brooklyn, the epic duel between LIU-Brooklyn and St. Francis College. $17 for general admission isn't bad, though generalish admission might be closer; they're herding people into the three sections behind the benches, center court. I think this game's on regional television, which is why they want it to look as crowded as possible (though given that we were the 49th and 50th tickets sold for actual-facts money, about twenty minutes before tip, I'm not holding out much hope for that).

This is an LIU home game, not just because LIU is wearing the white and St. Francis red, but because this is LIU's announcer and they're running the usual LIU ads.

St. Francis has a mascot! I've never seen the mascot at games before, so this is kind of cool. Rivalry games tend out to bring out all the stops for everyone- I remember Lafayette-Lehigh, when Lehigh's mascot and cheerleaders were in the stands at Lafayette's gym, in full game gear. So far the mascots haven't come into direct contact, but they've both been having fun. The Terriers' mascot danced with LIU's dance team, the Blackbird wandered around the empty seats on the other side of the arena.

At halftime, St. Francis is up 37-26, and they've been playing really well. It's a good, competitive game, though it was a bit shaky at the outset. St. Francis has had eight players score, led by the seven points of Leah Fechko. Cleandra Roberts leads LIU with 12. She's been gtting the back door and the baseline all day. Jessica Kaufman's been caught sleeping more than once.

Dude behind the St. Francis bench, why are you not wearing a shirt, you need to be wearing a shirt, you are not attractive Oh, okay, he's putting on body paint. A little late for that, son.

Lots of people here. The center section, where we are, is pretty well mixed LIU and SFC.

Awkward LOL moment: a loose ball in the first half bounced off about six players. I yelled "PINBALL!" at the same time and in the same intonation as the stranger behind me.

Seriously, y'all should have thought of the body paint earlier, it's almost time for the second half. They got it together before the under-12, though.

It was a surprisingly competitive game for a game without a competitive score. It was also one of the purest examples I've ever seen as to why a team effort will defeat a spectacular single-player effort almost all of the time.

St. Francis went deep into their bench at the end of the game, when they were up 20. Colette Hounshell showed good hustle going after a loose ball near the end. Olivia Levey didn't play much, but made a big impact when she did- she's not very fast, but she's very big, and LIU didn't have anyone who could realistically get in her way. Kiley Grabbe, who has the third most apropos surname I've ever seen for a post player (second being Jessica Anger, first being Sylvia Fowles) gave good defensive minutes on the inside. Jasmin Robinson ran a solid offense, though she had an extended brain fart with two quick fouls in the second half- boxing out a rebounder is a good plan, boxing out a shooter is less than effective. Nice shot, though- she hit a three in the first half off a pretty pass from Jaymee Veney. I honestly thought Sarah Benedetti started, but she just gave a lot of critical minutes. Didn't shoot well, but defended well enough. She went down with a foot injury late in the game, and I think her team was worried about her- the mascot was one of the people (creatures? Beings?) to check in on her while she was being tended to on the bench. The bench didn't necessarily produce great stats, but they kept the pressure on LIU and continued to execute.

I honestly don't remember Katie Fox. Her name never got spoken, and the NCAA box score I'm using to complement my bootleg scoresheet doesn't include assists. Eilidh Simpson kicked up the offense in the second half, getting open on the wing for quick jumpers and making things happen for her team. Jessica Kaufman didn't seem to be looking to score, but set a lot of good screens to get her teammates free. Jaymee Veney got in early foul trouble, which kept her on the bench and made her less effective. She was more of a factor in the second half, and I still want to know if she called glass on that three high off the side of the backboard. Leah Fechko had a big second half, coming up with jumpers and hustle plays- I saw a lot of the back of her jersey as she went after loose balls. I think she was the one who went into the flimsy seats of the front row after a loose ball.

St. Francis is not the most talented team out there, not by a long shot. But they work well together and execute well. They had a couple of nice passing sequences that led to baskets.

Genise Presley got good hard rebounds for LIU and set good screens, but some boneheaded defensive plays that were a little too physical for my liking. Sophie Bhasin looked to shoot, but for most of the game, she couldn't get that shot to go down. Demi Tomlinson had a really pretty three-point shot that she showed off early in the game, but her defense had much fault to be found. She flopped a fair bit. LIU cleared their bench near the end of the game, but none of them were memorable.

Cleandra Roberts did all the things for LIU. She was their primary, secondary, and tertiary offensive option, whether in the paint, on the wing, or cleaning up the endless misses of her teammates. Everything ran through her, everything was for her, everything was because of her. She's very athletic, not the best shooter, but a solid player. A little lazy on defense. Fanny Cavallo is an excellent rebounder, but a very bad shooter who relied a lot on the glass. Letava Whippy made a lot of hustle plays that turned into dead ends with missed shots or blown passes later in the possession. Kelly Robinson ran the offense when she was in, but I don't know how much trust her coach had in her today- it looked like Tomlinson was getting more of her minutes. Aleisha Myers was pesky defensively, but ineffective offensively.

LIU honestly looked like they didn't have a plan beyond "give it to Roberts", and while that was a very effective plan, generally success in basketball requires having a second plan in place in case the first plan doesn't work. St. Francis had plans. LIU, not so much.

The officials were really good, IMO, and communicated well with coaches and players on calls, though there were a couple of oddities. The strangest was on a St. Francis inbounds: a player was ready to throw the ball in, another player ran out of bounds to the end zone to receive the pass, and the first player passed to the second player, who inbounded the ball. I wasn't sure if that was a situation where that was permissible.

I love the Battle of Brooklyn. I love this rivalry. I love the idea that, if LIU gets their act back together and Thurston can keep developing things at St. Francis, the NEC title game could someday be a deciding Battle. That would be boss.

St. Francis has really lousy facilities, but I think it might be time to pay them another visit...

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November 30th, 2013: Michigan at LSU (Barclays Invitational)

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Danielle Ballard's lay-up in the lane gave LSU the lead in the final minute, and Siera Thompson's halfcourt heave came late and short as LSU withstood a valiant Michigan comeback and claimed a 64-62 win. Shanece McKinney and Raigyne Moncrief each had 13 to pace the Tigers, with McKinney adding eight rebounds and Moncrief tallying four steals. Siera Thompson and Madison Ristovski each had 13 for the Wolverines, who came back from down ten to go up eight before LSU surged back.

For hustle, threes, steals, doing things backwards, pride, and a little more cowbell, join your intrepid and utterly drained blogger after the jump.


There's no such thing as too much basketball, though I'm starting to hit my limit. It's 9:30 and we're 12 minutes away from the tip of Michigan and LSU. The benches are switched from yesterday, which caused a bit of confusion among a pocket of LSU fans in the corner. They figured it out, though.

I feel vaguely insulted that wristbands for the seats directly behind the bench only seem to have been given out for the Rutgers game, so even if you're VIP for Michigan-LSU, they won't let you sit there. Though they seem to have chased off Michelle Edwards too, so maybe that's just them asserting their authority.

The free throw shooting contest tonight seems to be along team lines this time. Yesterday, it was more random- now they're actively looking for people in team gear.

At halftime, LSU is up 29-22, and frankly, it could be more. They've forced a lot of turnovers and controlled the pace of both offenses. But Michigan has come up with a couple of big threes- a three-pointer by Madison Ristovski, a three-point play from Nicole Elmblad- to keep it close. Shanece McKinney has eight for the Lady Tigers, Madison Ristovski 10 for the Wolverines.

Nicole's family is possibly crazier than we are, and I mean that as a compliment. Michigan's lucky to have them. A New York-based alumna with a cowbell came up and joined us in the second half, and then things got really loud. My hands and legs still hurt from that last stand in the final two minutes, but we had to stand our ground and show the late-shouting LSU fans that we weren't going to let them take over.

Rebecca Lyttle gave decent minutes at forward. Kendra Seto played briefly, only as a breather. Danielle Williams also made a brief appearance, when Siera Thompson got in foul trouble in the first half. Paige Rakers rocked the three-point line in the second half, pulling Michigan back into the game almost single-handedly. She needs to be a bit more consistent about following her shot, though. We needed her to come up huge, and she did, and yes, I'm aware that I just used the first-person for Michigan, I like these kids.

Siera Thompson's shot was non-existent in the first half, and it looked like she had lost confidence in her game, both as a shooter and as a point guard, as she had to do a lot of the ballhandling with Shannon Smith sidelined after suffering a shoulder injury. (Can you sprain a shoulder? Can I fit any more S's into this sentence?) She found more space, and her rhythm, in the second half, coming up with the game-tying three before the final basket. Nicole Elmblad seemed curiously hesitant to shoot, though I might have been hesitant in her place, given the way Coach was reacting to her attempt at a long two. Then again, that's pretty much how I react to a player taking shots from just in front of the line- you might as well take the extra step and try to add the extra point. I think she let the speed of the game and the physicality of LSU's forwards get to her. Cyesha Goree went strong to the basket, especially in the second half. She got a little overexcited late in the game- at least two of her shots were a bit too strong. Val Driscoll got the start in Smith's place, and though her offense was nothing to write home about, she was a rock defensively, coming up with big boards and massive blocks- she had a gorgeous one in the second half that got spiked to Thompson to start an attempt at a Michigan break. I think that was one we got tentative on, though- I think that was the one where the player under the basket irrationally decided to pass the ball back and it all ended in turnovers. She misjudged a few rebounds, but I'm willing to give her the willingness to go for them. Madison Ristovski was the big offensive threat in the first half, but she cooled down in the second- I think part of it was having to take over more of the ballhandling duties when Thompson got in foul trouble, because there was no other option.

I'll admit it- with everything I'd seen from Kim Barnes Arico in the past, I was expecting a lot more deep bench freshmen in the second half and a lot less comeback. They held it together much better than I thought they would, and when they weren't passing the ball to Raigyne Moncrief, the ball movement was crisp- a little hurried because of LSU's constant trapping, but when they were able to keep their heads, they played well.

Derreyal Youngblood played a little in the first half, but most of her minutes were taken up by Nikki Caldwell's smaller lineup and the hot play of Shanece McKinney. DaShawn Harden fired up the defense, ball-hawking and being a huge part of the traps. Danielle Ballard came up with the game-winner and was great cutting to the lane. She kept getting tangled up with Elmblad; unsurprisingly, the Elmblads sitting behind us did not approve of this. Jasmine Rhodes was quick getting to the paint- she came up with a fairly big shot late in the game. I don't know what Anne Pedersen was supposed to bring to the game, unless it was a matchup problem, but whatever it was, she didn't seem to be providing it. Shanece McKinney did a spectacular job of cleaning up on the boards- I think three of her makes were putbacks on offensive rebounds, and a couple of her misses were too. Her bulk inside turned the tide in LSU's favor.

I'm assuming that Theresa Plaisance was injured in some way, shape, or form, because she came out of the game very quickly early on and was not the same. She looked very soft, unwilling to take contact or to make the extra move to get her shots to go down. One of the Michigan folks thought they saw her crying on the bench, but I'm not certain of this. Still, it lends credence to the "injured but playing" theory. Jeanne Kenney is a gamer. She wasn't looking for her shot in the first half. In the second half, we left her open and she hit three after three. She also took a big dive into some rather flimsy chairs in the first row (the same ones that Minta Spears wiped out in the first game) and there was a bit of a delay as she dealt with soda on her shoes and on the court. Raigyne Moncrief looked more interested in getting her teammates involved, and sacrificing some of her shots to do it. She jumped the passing lanes beautifully. Sheila Boykin barely did anything worth remembering. I think that was part of why Caldwell went to a smaller, faster, more guard-oriented lineup. Rina Hill looked a little less in over her head than she was in the first game, but she was mostly the second body in the roving traps set by Moncrief, Harden, and Ballard. Those were merciless.

LSU seemed to rely too heavily on their defense. I mean, it worked for them in this game, and if they can convert their opponents' turnovers to points on a regular basis, they'll be dangerous. And Caldwell seemed to adapt her personnel well to the style of play and who was the hot hand. But they're going to need Plaisance to be more consistent and healthy. Those big posts don't have the stamina to go a full 40.

We were not pleased with the refs, but the people we were sitting with took it to levels usually only seen in Rutgers-land. It's not a delay of game if the court really does need to be cleaned, guys.

Devotion to duty: Paige Rakers took a cut to the forehead, held the pad in place, and scooted over to rejoin the huddle as the trainer continued to tend to her.

I'm proud of the Wolverines, and proud of the fans who answered the (cow)bell to support them. We out-yelled the LSU fans until the last two minutes, when the LSU fans decided to join the party. It was an almost-perfect ending to a day full of basketball.

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November 29th, 2013: LSU at Rutgers (Barclays Invitational)

Just the Facts, Ma'am: It wasn't pretty, but LSU came away with the 69-65 win over Rutgers at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Raigyne Moncrief led LSU with 27 points, including 15-20 from the line, seven rebounds, and seven steals. Rutgers was led by the 16 points of Kahleah Copper. The teams combined for 51 fouls and 51 turnovers.

For ugliness, purple hair, point guard leadership, emphatic fashion statements, and a pass whizzing by your head, join your intrepid and inexplicably hungry blogger after the jump. Why do I want jammy dodgers?

ALL THE BASKETBALL.

On to game 2, LSU and Rutgers. To be fair to the Rutgers fans, a fair amount of them got here for the first game. Lots more of them arrived in the middle. It's confusing to see lots of people in red for a team I no longer cheer for.

There were entrance videos for both teams, but no stats. I'll take that as a fair exchange, because I was starting to get a very strong feeling of having been an afterthought, and if you're going to schedule a tournament double-header, it's uncouth to make one game seem like the undercard.

Essence Carson is in the house, in an extremely dashing black longcoat.

Oh, hey, we have stats now. So Michigan and Texas Tech get entrance videos tomorrow, right?

This was not a pretty game, to put it mildly. Entirely too many turnovers, many of them unforced passes to the third row or fumbles (I'm pretty sure Kahleah Copper committed a buttfumble, but with her own butt, not her teammate's). A distinct lack of court awareness from both teams.

Jasmine Rhodes impressed me off the bench for LSU. For a guard of her size, she's not afraid to drive the lane and hit the boards. She had a good eye for going after her teammates' missed shots (and dear lord were there a lot of missed shots). Derreyal Youngblood was plenty happy to throw her weight around down low- she got lucky she didn't get called for an elbow on one play. She could stand to trim down a bit, but she's tough. Shanece McKinney came in to clean up lots of missed shots and get rebounds late in the game, as part of the offense/defense substitution. Anne Pedersen, I think, was supposed to be a shooter, but that didn't go well. She looked out of place on a lot of the plays.

Jeanne Kenney has no fear of anything. I think she hit the deck hard four times and got up ready for more. If the ball was loose, she tracked it down, even if it was in the third row. She's a steady hand, both with the ball and with her teammates. There was a point late in the game where Raigyne Moncrief had missed two crucial free throws and looked like the pressure of the Rutgers fans and the closeness of the game were getting to her. As soon as she was on her way back from missing the second free throw, Kenney came over and talked to her, as if to tell her to brush it off (at least I assume that was the meaning of the hand across the headband). Theresa Plaisance missed entirely too many easy shots for a player of her size. A 6-5 post player should not be throwing hooks over the basket. When she got her shot, it was beautiful, and she had spectacular speed on her first step spin move. But she needs to be consistent if she's going to be a serious prospect. (Really, though the daughter of a coach should know better than to bring the ball down when there are guards around.) Rina Hill got point guard duties a lot, and I don't know if she's ready yet. Maybe there was some miscommunication on the plays, but her passes were not going where they were supposed to be going.) Sheila Boykin either didn't play a lot or was really unmemorable when she did. I think Caldwell felt she needed to bring more size with McKinney and Youngblood against the big Rutgers posts. Raigyne Moncrief put on a show. She's still very raw and needs some mechanics on her jump shot (as in, any, at all, in some variety, because oh my God she looks like a spider when she leaps on the jumper) but she moves like someone took Allison Hightower and plugged Marie Ferdinand's speed into her. Her vertical is spectacular, her reflexes like lightning. She slices to the lane beautifully- if she can get a mechanically sound, or at least reliable, jumper, she'll be unstoppable. She'll need to bulk up a little if she wants to survive in the pro game, though. And yes, the fact that I'm saying this about a freshman this far ahead says a lot.

Tyler Scaife has the fancy moves- the wraparound pass to Briyona Canty for the lay-up was a thing of beauty- but I don't know if she has her coach's confidence yet.. I mean, she's only a freshman and it's only November, so maybe that'll come with a little more time, but it still seems odd that someone else is bringing the ball up if she's on the floor. Precious Person gave decent minutes in the first half, though she didn't play much in the second, part of a questionable series of coaching decisions by Coach Stringer. Christa Evans got first half minutes as well, picking up a basket and some picks. Ariel Butts is very, very loud. I think she's the only person in the arena who actually screams louder than my dashing reporter. She most definitely did not approve of her fouls. Alexis Burke missed two free throws, was pulled, and that was the last that was ever seen of her.

Betnijah Laney rebounds spectacularly well, which is probably why she's listed as a forward, but her shot is all kinds of funky. I like her hustle, but shes' got to work on her aim. Rachel Hollivay brought some resounding blocks, especially in the second half, but Coach Stringer seems to be riding herd on her by pulling back her minutes when she gets fouls- I think she sat the entire rest of the first half after picking up her second foul. Kahleah Copper has one reliable move in he paint, and she'll keep going to it as long as she can. It worked very well today- it seemed like she was always heading for the offensive glass. Briyona Canty seemed to be the focus of much of the offense- it looked like more plays were designed for her than for Copper, though Copper ended up with as many shots. Syessence Davis was very active on defense, even for a Scarlet Knight (and you know that's saying a lot with Rutgers's defense and ability to generate steals). Quick hands and fast feet- she made a lot of LSU turnovers happen.

Offensively, this game was a clunker, even in the second half when things loosened up a little and people actually started hitting lay-ups. It wasn't just good defense, except in the most abstract sense. There were a lot of bad passes and bad mechanics- I don't think more than half the players in that game had proper form on their jump shots. If you want to blame the bad offense on the good defense in the sense that both teams were in each other's heads and therefore they were rushing everything to get the ball up before someone else got their hands on it, that's a fair argument, but I think it's more likely that these are two defensive-minded teams that don't place a high priority on offensive flow. Not quite North Carolina, but right up there. Down there. Whatever.

Neither team was happy with the officials, and given the number of fouls called in this game, I can't say I'm surprised. It got very physical out there. I can't be sure any of those fouls were unearned, to be honest.

Rutgers fans were very loud. They didn't even wait for musical cues before starting the fight song. At least we waited.

Points to Nikki Caldwell for not going the obvious route in wearing team colors- her dress was tiger-striped. Also, points to Coach Stringer for her imposing longcoat- not quite as impressive as Essence's, but still extremely cool.

For the sake of everyone who has to watch basketball tomorrow, I hope both teams got the ugly out of their systems today.

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November 29th, 2013: Texas Tech at Michigan (Barclays Invitational)

Just The Facts, Ma'am: Michigan withstood an early challenge and a second-half run from the Lady Raiders of Texas Tech to come away the victors, 82-71. Siera Thompson led all scorers with 24 points, adding five assists. Amber Battle led Texas Tech with 23 points and seven rebounds.

For crankiness, free shirts, a lack of respect, mild confusion, and lots of family, join your intrepid and blue blogger after the jump.


Good morning, Internet! We're coming to you on our usual tape delay, this time bright and early from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the Barclays Women's Invitational.

We are not, however, coming to you quite as early as we would like, as the Barclays Center was not ready for us until 10 AM. Well, we're still not sure about that, given that we were told three different opening times before they finally let us in at 10. One security guard decided to take pity on us and try to let us in, but another one turned around and made us go out again. My legs are still cramped. Then they tried to tell me I couldn't use my laptop in the seating area, but a guest services person named Candice and I negotiated it down to not using it during game play (which, duh, my favorite Michigan women did not hook me up with tickets to stare at a computer during play). Still. Barclays does not seem thrilled at having to deal with fans this early in the morning. Fine, I'm not thrilled with dealing with power-tripping security staff this early in the morning. We're even, and you're not getting money from me.

Anne Donovan is here (so ha, my laptop wouldn't be the most view-obstructive object in the seating bowl anyway).

Excellent anthem. Was amused that the color guard was facing the completely empty side of the arena across from the benches.

Michigan is up 12 at the half, on a solid team effort. Siera Thompson has 13, Shannon Smith 11. Amber Battle has been very impressive for Texas Tech.

Funniest moment of the day so far: they played the Michigan fight song, your dashing reporter led a sing-along… and the security guard posted behind Michigan's bench said, "What the [firetruck] was that?" Poor Guest Services Candice... maybe that's why she rotated to another section. Note that the Texas Tech fans didn't reciprocate at the next timeout.

Something smells really good, but I'm still not giving these people money. Even if they do have the hardwood equivalent of a Zamboni. That gives my heart glee, but I'm still not giving them money.

The game got a little too interesting in the middle of the second half, but one good run helped Michigan regain control, and when it got close again it was because Michigan had gone to their reserves. Saw a couple of young players this time around that I didn't see at the Iona tournament.

The Schneiders (who I'm assuming are sisters) are awfully skinny. Everything might be bigger in Texas, but not necessarily thicker. Haley Schneider had a couple of nice defensive tips. Jasmine Caston got the second half start, coming off the bench in the first half, and provided a little boost of offense with both long-range shooting and moves in the lane. She's got pretty good speed. Audrisa Harrison played more in the second half, mostly committing fouls on defense- very handsy overall. Ivonne Cook-Taylor came in when the game was already decided and took a quick three.

Minta Spears started the game shooting well from beyond the arc, but she seemed to press her shot more in the second half- her followthrough was much more exaggerated, and I think it threw off her shot. The one time she attempted to slash to the basket was epic fail, compounded by a bad foul call. Tiny Diamond Lockhart showed a lot of fire and ran her team well. I think they were trying to run the offense through Marina Lizarazu early on, but she was in over her head- bad passes, unnecessary turnovers, poor judgement. Shauntal Nobles was a decent presence on the inside, but she didn't get a lot of shots up. I liked her rebounding. But the one Lady Raider who impressed me on both ends of the floor and drew almost all of my attention was Amber Battle. She went hard after rebounds, hit shots from all over the floor, and displayed impressive foot speed on defense. She pretty much kept Texas Tech in the game single-handedly. In build and playing style, she reminded me a little of a miniature DeWanna Bonner, but with somewhat more awareness of her shot.

Rebecca Lyttle got called for two quick fouls when she finally got in in the second half, the second of which I felt was completely uncalled for. There's something I like about her, and not just her name. Danielle Williams showed good hustle in her second half minutes, but again, got dinged for a foul that seemed to come out of the blue. Don’t break the underclassmen, officials, we're going to need them for tomorrow. Val Driscoll really needs to work on her footwork, but was solid defensively- she had a beautiful block/deflection that led to a Nicole Elmblad steal that I'm pretty sure led to a Michigan fast break. Kendra Seto played late, and was not memorable other than an ill-advised attempt at a trap on the sideline. Paige Rakers had her shot going off the bench, and mixed it up inside on the boards- a lot of the time, only the headband made it possible for us to tell her apart from Nicole Elmblad, who is at least nominally a forward. But Michigan can't rely on Rakers to be their entire bench, especially not wih the injury to Shannon Smith.

I'm starting to wonder if Madison Ristovski hit a late growth spurt and she's still trying to adjust to it. She dribbles like she expects to be about three inches shorter, and it sort of makes her look like a young horse, all arms and legs and falling over. She shot well in the second half, though. Shannon Smith shot really well, both from outside and in the lane. She left in the second half with an apparent shoulder injury after a collision landed her hard into Elmblad's leg. She was holding her right arm absolutely motionless when we saw her after the game, and that's going to be a problem for tomorrow, because she seesm to be the only player with the confidence to bring the ball up the court. Siera Thompson shot lights out, especially in the first half, and always seemed to come up with the big shot whenever Texas Tech made a run in the second half. Cyesha Goree had to deal with some very tough fouls (I'm really not sure what that fourth foul was, other than inaccurate) but seemed to take the right message from the refs getting into her head and took the ball strong to the basket once she got back into the game after the fourth foul. (It also amuses me that she seems to be in charge of carrying young Aricos; that job used to belong to Joy McCorvey at St. John's. I assume Joy gave her pointers on how not to drop Coach's kids.) Nicole Elmblad was solid all around- didn’t necessarily stand out, but didn't screw up.

There were a distressing number of times when Michigan seemed to ignore the play that had been called, ignoring open players and going one-on-one to the basket. Repeatedly ignoring the coach's play calling is not a good plan when that coach is Kim Barnes Arico. She tends to shriek. Use your teammates, guys. Good things happen when you use your teammates.

We were not impressed with the officiating crew. It got really tiresome whenever Whittaker started complaining about the officiating, given that Michigan usually started out in a deep hole, foul-wise. I'm pretty sure one of them was an Enterline, and it was funny when he photo-bombed someone in the front row, but referees aren't supposed to be funny, they're supposed to be ignorable.

Minimal timeout entertainment, so no real commentary on that.

Depth worries me for Michigan tomorrow. For Texas Tech against Rutgers, I'd be concerned about their shakiness at the point and how one-dimensional their offense seemed to be.

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March 16th, 2013: St. Joseph's at Fordham

Just the Facts, Ma'am: St. Joseph's overcame an eight-point halftime deficit, turning up the defense and heating up the offense to take the Atlantic-10 title over Fordham, 47-45. Natasha Cloud had 15 points and six assists for the Hawks, and Chatilla van Grinsven had eight points and 10 rebounds. Marah Strickland had 16 to pace the Rams.

For tight squeezes, forgotten souvenirs, horned helmets, hard picks, and pivotal moments, join your intrepid and congested blogger after the jump.


Good evening, everyone! We're coming to you on tape delay from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, host of the A-10 tournament final between Fordham and St. Joseph's.

The A-10 did a pretty good job turning around as fast as they did between the men's semis and the women's final- the men's semis ended about forty minutes before the scheduled tip of the women's game. I think they're encouraging people to stay to make the crowd look bigger- we've already been asked once if we wanted to move down. No, thank you, I like being able to see the big screen and to see the plays as they develop.

So far Fordham's showing great support, which doesn't surprise me, since all you have to do to get here is get on the D and keep going. And I like the arena. There's an abruptness to it that's very New York- once you're through the lines, BANG, the court's right there, so you can get caught up as soon as you walk in the building (though I'm sure that security is a touch more thorough at Nets games).

Great anthem to open things up. The crowd has been loud for both teams. Great atmosphere. Fordham got a 12-0 hole shot on the Hawks, and they're up 24-16 at the half, but I'm worried about the way they ended the half, and the way they've been running the clock down over and over again- Griffin is a good enough coach that I can see her team taking advantage of that in the second half.

Ilze Gotfrida got physical in the post. Surprising from a Euro. I don't remember much of Mireia Vila did other than the one foul.. Cindy Griffin really relied on her starters.

Ashley Robinson started the second half; I don't remember if she started the first half. She was a long-armed defensive presence who flicked away rebounds and affected shots. I wasn't terribly surprised when the one foul she committed was a stupid one; it does sort of come with the territory of the name. Erin Shields's shots looked good coming off her hands all the time, but she didn’t always get the roll, though sometimes she did. She reminds me a lot of her sister around the face. I think Ashley Prim let the one bad foul call early in the game get into her head a little bit. She still stayed active on defense, though. Chatilla van Grinsven got stopped up by Fordham switches, but on the other end she was a defensive mis-match for pretty much anyone she was up against- they had her on Erin Rooney or Arielle Collins, and you could tell that the extra height was affecting the Rams' view of the court. She's good. She's probably kicking herself about the missed free throws, though. Natasha Cloud ran the offense well, finding her teammates and going for loose balls.

St. Joe's adapted very well in the second half. I think in the first half they remembered they were no longer playing on their home floor and were in fact playing in New York. In the second half, they held it together and made the big plays that their team needed.

Charlotte Stoddart was great on the boards. I like her hustle. I don't know if she was the player on the bench who was getting the defense chant started, but if she was, then I like her even more, because the Fordham bench was really loud. The Rams leaned heavily on their starters- I think Christina Gaskin and Emily Tapio only came in when Arielle Collins and Samantha Clark fouled out.

Erin Rooney had some very good drives that didn't end the way they should have- one rolled off the rim, one got blocked- either of those could have been the difference. I like her instincts but I'm not sure if she's an A-10 player. I really like Samantha Clark, though; she's only a freshman, but there's something in her build and her style of play that reminds me of Erin Buescher. She needs to hit her chippies and stop thinking so much about the three-point line, but it's rare to see a mid-major player be as physical as she is; usually a big player like her ends up at a mid-major because she won't bang. Arielle Collins and Abigail Corning were both very active on defense, with Collins also drawing the duty of pounding the ball for fifteen seconds until Fordham started their offense. Marah Strickland started the game off hot, then drew a lot more defensive attention and started taking some bad shots.

I really don't know what to think about Fordham's offense. It reminds me unpleasantly of Villanova's offense, except that they don't have the three-point shooters that Villanova has. It reminds me just as unpleasantly of Rutgers's offense, but they don't have players who can create their own shots like Rutgers once did. Time of possession does matter in basketball, but not if you don't do anything with the ball after you control it.

The officiating in this game was decidedly interesting. When it starts out with the kind of arm hooking that would make Plenette Pierson blush and ends with an offensive foul called off the ball from across the court, that's the only word I can think of. Both coaches yelled at the refs a bit, and I don't blame them.

People around us kept running away for some reason. Look, I know I'm not in Fordham gear, and I know I'm loud, but I'm going to go hard for my city. Ne York has to represent, especially when dealing with Philadelphia.

A-10 legends honored at halftime, which was cool, followed by Drums of Thunder, which was very cool. I miss those kids.

Got to meet some Butler fans and welcome them to the Big East; should have done the same to the guy in the Xavier cap.

I still don't know what the offensive foul call was on Samantha Clark, but it essentially decided the game, especially when Fordham hesitated on the intentional foul. How you make the call from the other side of the floor, I will never know.

We're watching the awards ceremony now. St. Joe's is running around with their hats and shirts. All-championship team includes a kid from Temple, Rooney and Strickland from Fordham, and van Grinsven and Cloud from St. Joe's. Rooney looks like she wants no part whatsoever of her little trophy. Cloud is MOP of the A-10 tournament. That is a really shiny championship trophy. They announce each member of the winning team, then get their rings. Huh, I didn't think rings were that soon.

Okay, that's the one classy thing the St. Joe's band and students have done all day- they're chanting Cindy Griffin's name as she gets her ring.

And there goes the net, to a chant of "The Hawk Will Never Die!" I think the students are going to chant each player's name as she gets her cut. But we didn't stay for the whole thing, because the first person to go up didn't quite know how to cut the net- she started from the bottom and tried to cut vertically as her team shrieked directions at her.

The rolls in this game were truly bizarre for both teams. I guess you can expect that when two Jesuit schools play shortly after the selection of the first Jesuit pope. Shots were halfway down and went out, shots were all over the rim and in- it was crazy. And it was for both teams evenly, as if God wanted to prove that He didn't play favorites.

It wasn't the prettiest of games, but it was a solid game and worthy of a championship.

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