November 25, 2019: UMass at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: St. John's started off strong in both halves to stave off runs from UMass and come away with the 82-71 win. Qadashah Hoppie led four Johnnies in double figures with 22 points. Bre Hampton-Bey had 16 points off the bench to lead the Minutewomen, who won the rebounding battle 33-30.

For crossing the streams, spinning right round like a record, rethinking things, exploring new depths, and traveling, join your intrepid blogger after the jump. There may be cake.

Just in case you weren't sick of me after the massive note dump this past weekend, we're back in the saddle again with a non-conference match-up against UMass. At least with UMass, I know to expect a presence behind the opposing bench, and all I can do is hope to avoid awkwardness. (UMass guard Destiney Philoxy is the younger sister of Seton Hall's Selena Philoxy, and I sorta feel like it might be a bad idea to run into SHU family while in STJ gear.)

More info on Alisha Kebbe: apparently it's her shoulder and she might be out for a while. Yeesh. Adventures in forward play ahead.

The ticket takers were late to the party, which meant a few minutes of drifting around and aimlessly reading plaques. Please tell me I'm not the only one who noticed “Your Are St. John's” on one of the trophies dedicated to Lou Carnesecca and that they're just politely ignoring it or the engraving company went out of business sometime in the last fifteen years. Or something.

Update:oh no, I think Papa Philoxy is the other person in our section. Fortunately, he and the family moved to the other side of the floor. This would have been awkward.

25-17 STJ end Q1. Qadashah Hoppie is doing Q things, with nine points and a pocket-picking of Destiney Philoxy so thorough I'm pretty sure she's now the owner of a UMass student ID. UMass has a big center who si extremely not ready for this jelly.

44-37 STJ at half. Q still has 9, but Tiana England has stepped her game up with 13. Paige McCormick has 11 to lead UMass, getting threes on good screens. Our defense loosened up in the second quarter, and I am not okay with this.

Star-watching in the crowd: hi, Jade! Hi, Aliyyah!

Shoutout to the person in the Logowoman hoodie. I love seeing more connections between the W and WCBB among fans. Love all the women's basketball.

There is an adorable tiny future-Johnny in a Red Storm bandanna, and I don't know what to do with this level of cute. (Other than keep it at a safe distance. Kids are cute as long as they're not mine.) (I think that was Sky's mom with the kidlet. Which means that might be Sky's kid. Out Of Cheese Error Please Redo From Start.)

The men's team showed up for a while, but they seem to have bailed.

Huh. I think the dasher boards on the other side of the court actually work. I can see the reflection of statistics in the boards opposite them.

I don't know if I personally would have gone with the sneakers, but Alisha Kebbe's outfit is otherwise pretty sharp.

Never change, Sky. I see you bobbing your head to the arena music during the commercial break.

65-51 STJ end Q3. Qadashah started off hot again and gave us some separation.

Dance team reversed the polarity of the rhythm flow, which is kind of refreshing, because I am not an ass woman.

The steals and turnovers are instructive- most of our turnovers are travels and offensive fouls, while most of their turnovers are on our steals.

UMass is an interesting team. They're technically sound in a lot of ways, although they need to do a better job not telegraphing their passes. They know their strengths, and they know how to play to their strengths. Their coach needs to maybe switch to decaf, and consider the teams I follow when I make this recommendation. I didn't catch his name during intros, so I spent most of the night referring to him as "Captain Stompy" from his sideline demeanor. It seems a little ridiculous to be berating the officials when the foul differential is 5-1 in your favor, for example.

Whether from lack of availability or lack of desire to do so, the Minutewomen did not go very deep. Bre Hampton-Bey provided the reserve guard minutes and got her points with speed and canny changes of direction- when that first step got her an inch of space, she turned it into points. She had a fantastic steal off an inbounds on a free throw- I blinked and suddenly she had the ball for a lay-up. She's got a little bit of a chip on her shoulder, but I'm kind of used to that with undersized guards. Angelique Ngalakulondi was very physical, sometimes to a fault (I realize "over the back" is not the actual name of a type of foul, but the way she had Alissa bent over on one rebound was as close a textbook "over the back" play as you'll ever see). She sets a good screen, and she knows how to use her height, which is definitely an advantage she has over her classmate Maeve Donnelly. She needs to learn to moderate her physicality a little bit, and I don't know if Captain Stompy is the right coach for that.

Maeve Donnelly is tall. Right now, that's about all she's got going for her as a Division I basketball player, at least based on that game. She couldn't hit shots close to the basket, and her attempts at a midrange game were laughable at best. She didn't rebound well. She did okay at getting position, but given that our tallest active player is three inches shorter than she is, that's not as difficult as one might imagine. 6-5 always has the potential to be a game-changer in WCBB, but right now, she's not ready for primetime. Hailey Leidel did a lot of hard, physical work on the boards and laid a smackdown of a block on Q. She's got a good long-range stroke, but I'm more impressed by her physicality.

Vashnie Perry ran point and got yelled at by Captain Stompy at least once. She did all right behind the line when she got an open look, and her teammates were good at creating open looks. Paige McCormick did a better job of taking advantage of them- her release seemed faster than her teammates'. Destiney Philoxy, on the other hand, was much more of a drive-and-sometimes-dish player, using bursts of incredible speed to get to the basket and convert, either by getting the basket or getting to the line. She showed quick hands and a lot of tenacity.

(I, uh. I think she might also have recognized some of the sounds from the audience. It maybe doesn't help our case that we borrowed the four-foul taunt from Seton Hall's band. But the husband swears we actually got a visible reaction from her when we made loud noises while she was at the line. Please don't kill me, Selena.)

I'm not used to this whole rotation concept Joe seems to have adopted. Don't get me wrong, I quite like it. I just find myself nervous that he's going to abandon it at the first sign of trouble and revert to running our starters into the ground. Going eight deep when you're already down a starter? Priceless.

I may have to start learning Swedish between seasons. Between Cecelia Holmberg and Amanda Zahui B, I'm going to have a lot of occasions to yell, "You didn't need to take that shot from Stockholm!" and maybe it'll get through that way. (Also, that way I can learn Swedish geography and make more informed international references.) (Look, at least I'm not making Swedish Chef jokes and I'm trying to discourage others that way as well.) She's going to take some time to develop, but once she figures out how to stay in front of her man, she'll be fine, and she'll bring a dimension we don't fully have yet. Unique Drake showed good driving ability, but needs to work on her decision-making a little bit (although to be fair to her, that was Cecelia's bad pass, not her turnover). Leilani Correa's defense wasn't as solid as it had been through the first few games, but she made up for it at the other end of the floor with backdoor cuts and corner threes.

I feel like Qadashah Hoppie may have been watching tape of Angel McCoughtry. I don't know if that's the comparison I'd personally have chosen for her, but the aggressive, high-risk/high-reward way she played the passing lanes brought McCoughtry to mind. This is the second game this season where she's come on strong early and dialed it back later, although in this game it was more that she started both halves strong and then didn't score in the second and almost didn't score in the fourth. It's sort of like a relay race- yeah, you want a strong runner on the anchor leg, but you also need someone to give you a head start on the first leg. Alissa Alston picked up a technical for taunting on her three-point shot late in the game- I didn't see the exact sequence, but my understanding is that she kept flashing the three signal all the way down the floor and did it in the opponent's face, which would count as taunting (but if Hampton-Bey clapping in the face of a downed opponent doesn't qualify, then I'm not sure we're even calling taunting techs anymore). She's quick and light on her feet, and she's stubborn as all get-out. She had a big offensive rebound that she turned into two free throws. Tiana England ran the show in her usual style- fast when we needed it, but way too slow way too often, and while one of these days I might figure out if the problem is her or Coach Tartamella, this is not that day. She's growing into her number, but those are mighty big shoes to fill, even if they're in different positions.

Kadaja Bailey is very quietly developing into a solid rebounder and starting to develop a little bit on defense, instead of being the offensive powerhouse I think we thought she was going to be. Her man-to-man defense is still a work in progress, but she anchors us very well. She was pretty solid on offense in this game, too. I've been hard on her to start the season; maybe it's time I reexamined her strengths and focused less on her weaknesses. Emma Nolan added another "the arrow is pointing in the wrong direction" jump ball to her growing tally. She put a block on Leidel that might just have hurt the poor Minutewoman's soul. I think she's getting used to the collegiate three-point line (it doesn't help that the men's line and the women's line are both on the floor at all times) and when that happens, her stroke will be even more deadly. Meanwhile, she's been stepping up big time for us to bring some of the interior play and interior defense that we've been missing with Alisha out. Kadaja too, but it's more noticeable with Emma. Maybe we just got a bad scouting report on her.

We got bogged down late in the game too often for my liking. I don't like when we commit shot clock violations. I like when we cause them (and yes, Captain Stompy, we did, that shot only touched glass). We need to stay on the glass harder- we got outrebounded again, despite winning the game. But the depth is real, and it's something we haven't had for a long time. We don't necessarily have height, but we have power. We need to consistently take advantage of that depth to hammer at our foes.

Not the worst crowd we've ever had, but it was hard to get any noise going.

If the dizzy shootout contest doesn't end with someone throwing up on the hype man, I will be very disappointed, because a) it is a stupid contest, b) the hype man is annoying, and c) the rules aren't clearly defined (one contestant only spun around five times before her first attempt from each location, the other spun around before every attempt, and she was still the better shooter).

I like how this team is coming together. Next stop, Vegas! (For them, not me. I have the sinking suspicion my next stop is Hackensack.)

(There is no cake. The cake is a lie.)

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November 22nd, 2019: Wake Forest at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: St. John's took control in the second quarter and never fully relinquished the lead in an 82-74 win over Wake Forest. Qadashah Hoppie had 23 points to lead the Red Storm, with Alissa Alston adding 20 points. Gina Conti scored a game-high 25 points before fouling out for Wake Forest.

For getting back on track, rounding up the Usual Suspects, sketchy contests, an insistence on committing unnecessary fouls, loud noises, and pace of play issues, join your intrepid and ever-so-slowly getting it together blogger after the jump.
It's a cold, windy sort of a night here in Queens, and the traffic on Jamaica Avenue is a nightmare. Maybe that's why no one is here to see St. John's take on Wake Forest. Come on, people, it's not like we get Power 5 teams in here every day, even if they're not very good ones.

I salute you, Wake Forest travelers. So long as all y'all stay behind your own bench, we're all good. On the other hand, I would appreciate the Deacs not attempting to pull down our rim. We've only got two, and we kind of need both of them. The sign might be a little overkill too, although nice job matching the gold.

One of the dance team members is walking around in Under Armour gear, and I'm not sure if that's a sign of rebellion or the dance team didn't get included in the Nike deal.

I've just been informed that Alisha Kebbe is not available for this game. I am not okay with this turn of events.

Okay, I am less enthused about the Wake Forest people now that more of them have arrived and there's the distinct possibility that we'll be outnumbered by opposing fans from one of the lowest-tier teams in the ACC. There are high school reinforcements arriving, but I'm not sure whose side they're on. We also seem to have an unexpectedly high student turnout. They must have been storming the dorms for the two games. (Volleyball had Senior Night earlier today and swept Georgetown.) The people in front of us have been warned.

It's 41-28 St. John's at half. Alissa Alston has 16 points to lead the Red Storm. Ivana Raca has 11 to lead the Demon Deacons. When our offense is moving with speed, we're doing well. When we get bogged down by looking like we've never seen a defense before, we run the clock down, take terrible shots, and either hit deep threes or give up rebounds. This does not feel like it should be rocket science.

That got closer than I'd like at the end, and I get the feeling that Coach Tartamella is going to have some long talks with our guard about fouling people in the final minute up three possessions. But our hustle is there. Our hands are there. Our consistency needs some work, but we're a work in progress. I'm okay with that.

Wake Forest used their height well to get rebounds, especially offensive ones. No rebound was safe- if we held it up too long, a Demon Deacon would be there to tip it around. Their execution at the basket needed work, but they were prepared for that eventuality and swarmed the glass.

Ellen Hahne came in at the end of the game when it was pretty much over. Olivia Summiel got similar minutes in the first half, with the addition of a foul. Christina Morra saw spot minutes in the first half as well. I completely failed a perception check and didn't even realize Raegyn Branch checked into the game at any point, so you can tell how much of an impact she made on the game.

Alexandria Scruggs brought size at the guard spot- she was able to body up less substantial defenders to get to the basket. If she could finish when she got there, she'd have been even more effective. Anaia Hoard got her first name pronounced a couple of different ways and launched threes. Pretty stroke, but when the ball came off her hands it was going every which way. Maya Banks has elbows and she's not afraid to use them. She was physical, and she caused us problems with her size. That was sort of a theme of the night.

Ona Udoh plays even taller than she is. Her hands were very busy, especially on the offensive glass. She erased a Leilani Correa shot like it had been retconned out of the timeline. Either I missed some fouls or some got reallocated without an announcement, because she went from two fouls to four fouls without appearing to have been called for a third foul. She eventually fouled out of the game, so that was important, but she didn't seem to object, so I guess she figured she had committed five fouls. Alex Sharp probably had the best dance moves of anyone on Wake Forest, and demonstrated the utility of such with a nifty step-through and turn along the baseline for a basket. Hugging the opposing player during the game crosses the line of acceptable behavior, though. They list her as a guard, but against us she definitely played more like a post. Ivana Raca laid a painful block on Tiana England (that might have been one of the ones at the end of the shot clock, but we'll get to a more detailed discussion of the Red Storm offense later, when I've stopped swearing a little bit) and demonstrated good touch from the midrange and at the basket.

Gina Conti never stopped playing. Even when all seemed lost, she kept driving and drawing fouls. She picked up three cheap points when Alissa Alston inexplicably fouled her on a three-point heave at the end of the shot clock. She made a really great defensive play to save a loose ball (I think that was the one where she whacked it straight off Alissa's chest, which looked painful but was undeniably effective). Kaia Harrison was the crowd favorite of the Wake Forest fans; she's from Long Island and brought a very large contingent that cheered only for her. It was, frankly, offensive; Our Girls Syndrome is one of my least favorite parts of basketball, but I can sort of meet OGS sufferers halfway if they at least pretend to care about their darling's whole team. These folks roared like crazy when Harrison was announced as a starter, then went quiet as church mice the rest of the way. She scored a couple of free throws, but hit no field goals, and there is a very petty part of me that is happy about that. She's got good speed, and if she can get some of the wonkiness out of her shot she'll be good offensively.

When momentum sits on a knife-edge: at the end of the first quarter, Wake Forest was down three, with the ball, and Harrison threw up a heave that bounced twice and didn't go in. If that buzzer-beater had gone in to tie the game and get the Long Island contingent going, I think the game would have gone very differently. We really didn't take control until the fourth quarter, and Wake Forest could have easily seized control in the second if they had that kind of momentum behind them.

Sophia Nolan and Shamachya Duncan picked up a couple of stray minutes in the first half. I'm pleasantly surprised by this, and at Joe's increased use of the bench this year in general. Sometimes mop-up minutes at the end of the first half are even more useful than the ones in the second half. Cecelia Holmberg got to take free throws today, and good grief there is a funkiness to her release that hurts my soul. The 19th century called; they want their set shot back. It's not present in her jumper, from what I saw. Her defense needs work. It needs a lot of work. She'll get there eventually, but she's not there now.

Unique Drake has got to finish at the rim. She wasn't great, but she wasn't as terrible as the non-existent stat line would indicate. She showed off some fancy passing. Leilani Correa's height was useful for us, and she did a good job getting to the line. Her release is slower than I'd like, and it got her shot blocked at least once. I love what she does when the defense presses, although we didn't use it as much as we did against Lafayette, which I think was a mistake. There are a few things I have issues with in this game, despite the victory, but we'll get to that in the wrap-up.

Kadaja Bailey's offense decided to join us this evening, including one spectacular bucket off an alley-oop from Tiana England. Her defense is still lagging, though; she's getting bodied by wider players, run by by quicker players, and losing the ball to taller players. I know she's better than the way she's started this season, but she looks badly lost. We've got you, K, but you've got to step up, especially if Alisha is out for any length of time. Emma Nolan stepped up to the challenge; while I'd still like to see her be less hesitant to shoot, she answered any questions I might have had about her toughness and her ability to use her build. She was aggressive and physical (almost to a fault- there's no tackling in basketball, and we're not even a football school). Her "hurray, I have forced a held ball, but alas, the arrow belongs to the other team" count is now up to at least four, just based on home games. She did a great job of matching Wake Forest's ability to knock the ball away from our rebounders.

Alissa Alston is going to kill me one of these days. Either that or I'm going to jump the rail and dope slap her upside the head, which I realize is not appropriate but at times feels distressingly necessary. I love her willingness to take the charge, but if she's going to do that, she has to get into position earlier and not still be in motion when the offensive player arrives. (I was in the minority regarding the block call. Other St. John's partisans felt it should have been a charge.) And when she committed the foul on the Conti three at the end of the third, I thought my head was going to explode. She's got swagger when she hits the deep threes, and full body sacrifice is a fantastic defensive philosophy I never want her to give up. I just need her to occasionally be more sensible, preferably before she breaks something. Tiana England showed off some flashy passing (I refer the reader back to the alley-oop to Kadaja) and got buckets off steals and fast breaks. But the offense got bogged down late, and once again I'm not sure if the problem is with her or with Joe. Qadashah Hoppie got off to another hot start, driving the lane and getting her points. She picked up the pace again in the fourth to help put the Deacs away. She, like most of the rest of the team, was better offensively when she was playing with a faster pace.

So we have to talk about the stupid fouls, don't we? Because this would have been a double-digit win if we hadn't gifted fouled Wake Forest on three different shots in the final minute and sent them to the line. Common sense, kids. Learn when to back off. Now, Leilani is a freshman, and she gets a partial pass. But Tiana and Alissa have no such excuse.

We also have to talk about the offense. Now, I do appreciate that there are times and reasons to slow down the offense and burn clock. And I understand that it's early in the season and we're incorporating four freshmen and a transfer who hasn't seen Red Storm game action before this year. I do understand these things. But at the same time, it's painfully obvious that when the offense slows down, everything goes horribly wrong. Everyone loses their willingness to shoot, the opposing defense has a chance to get set, and we look like we've never seen a live defense before in our lives. Like, yes, guys, the other team is allowed to play defense while you're running clock.

Officiating was inconsistent, but it was equal, or even in the Red Storm's favor. I can deal with that, I guess.

The kids who won the three-legged race cheated; they were barely tied together at all!

The "Red Storm Warning" klaxon is cute, although maybe we should not activate it while people are standing right next to it. Alex Sharp got an earful of it. But can we please dump the hype man? He doesn't bring anything to the table and is extremely annoying.

There's a lot of potential here, and for the first time in a while, I'm really optimistic about this team. We'll just never have to have a game with a margin between 15 and 30.

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November 13th, 2019: Lafayette at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: St. John's started strong and kept the lead up in a 76-44 win against Lafayette to open the home schedule. Qadashah Hoppie led all scorers with 22 points. Alexis Santarelli led Lafayette with 14 points and five rebounds.

For trying to get back in the groove, physical posts, and the fly in the ointment, join your intrepid blogger after the jump.


Good evening! We come to you on an entirely too-cold night from the cozy confines of the redecorated Carnesecca Arena, as St. John's opens the season against Lafayette.

Men's soccer is in the Big East tournament against Providence (and has scored at least one goal) so attendance is scanty, to say the least. Most of the Usual Suspects, SJU Edition, are passionate enough about all Red Storm sports that they're at the soccer game and will be coming sometime after that finishes. So band appears to consist of one guy with a drumset, cheer appears to consist of four people, and dance has, like, two representatives. Well, guess we're going to have to work a little harder. Okay. Emergency reserve band has been revealed.

The new banners are very modern. The place still has that new vinyl smell. I don't know if I like them yet. Something rubs me the wrong way about having the Final Four banners and the NIT banners center-hung, but I realize I'm being irrational about this.

Magnetic schedules are pretty sharp. Already grabbed one for the door. The posters also look good, though that gets grabbed on autograph day and no sooner. I like that they're not the same design as the men, although a running motif with a coach that likes to slow down the offense is either misleading or indicates that Joe has maybe stopped playing scared.

At the end of the first, it's 22-14 St. John's. Qadashah Hoppie has gone nuts with 11 already. Defense looks good early. Yeah, the field goal percentage doesn't show it because when Lafayette has the ball long enough to get a shot, they can get a good shot. But we're doing work making sure they don't have the ball in the first place.

It's 39-25 Johnnies at the half. The freshmen need work, which makes sense this early in the season. Alexis Santarelli of Lafayette is probably not going to have a lot of friends in Queens by the end of the night.

So if a St. John's alumna who works for another Big East team shows up to a St. John's game, is she doing it in a personal or a professional capacity? Asking for a friend, or at least someone who says hi at games. (Meanwhile, I almost swallowed my Tootsie Roll whole {this is not a euphemism, it's medicinal} when I saw Curteeona Brelove approaching the bench with a warm-up shirt on, but it was one of last year's shirts and she kept going.

The rec life halftime game was plagued with turnovers, but hey, there were dunks, so there are people who almost certainly think it's inherently better than D-1 action.

I'm not sure what to make of Lafayette, except that they seem to know that they have tall, physical post players and want to use that to their advantage. Against a team that doesn't run a trap, or against teams that aren't as good defensively, they might be able to get their pick and roll action going on a more regular basis, and they might be able to use those screens to get their three-point shooters open more often. We are not that team.

Makaila Wilson was able to take advantage of her size in the post and put in some buckets- either she had a shorter defender on her or she had Kadaja Bailey, who couldn't make the turn with her in the paint. Jiselle Havas didn’t see a long stretch of time in one shot until the second half, at which point she and Tiana England seemed to be having some polite disagreements. Sydney Sabino saw time in the second and fourth quarters, though it was hard to tell sometimes (our PA guy needs to step up his game on substitution announcements). Tasha Vipond picked up mop-up minutes.

The stats aren’t great for her, and admittedly she got wrecked by the press, but I thought Sarah Agnello actually played pretty well. She looked the most in control of any of Lafayette's guards. The others were not particularly notable, especially at this late stage. (The catching up has been a nightmare.)

Alexis Santarelli definitely threw her weight around down low. She was able to get baskets close to the rim on offense and make space for her teammates with screens, some rather harder than others. Same deal with Natalie Kucowski, with somewhat less success. They brought a level of physicality to the floor that we couldn't match, even as we outplayed them on the rest of the floor.

So we got to see some of the deep bench in the fourth quarter, and the freshmen definitely need some work. Cecelia Holmberg doesn't have a sense where she needs to be on defense. Sophia Nolan made no impact. Emma Nolan got some good run, but she needs to be less scared to shoot. I don't know how many times we were yelling for her to shoot the ball. She forced three jump balls, and Lafayette had the arrow every time. Points for hustle, but a little help from the universe would be nice.

Unique Drake looks like she's fitting in pretty well. She wasn't spectacular, but I like her driving ability, and she didn't seem to be making too many mistakes. Honestly, sometimes that's what you want to see out of a freshman. I love the energy Leilani Correa brought on defense. She and Alissa Alston ran the backcourt trap and press to perfection. It gave me warm and fuzzy flashbacks of our old defenses. Shamachya Duncan hit a three and the squad rejoiced. Mascot is too strong and too dismissive a word for who she is to this team, but it's clear that she's their favorite.

There is a large part of me that loves Alissa Alston's policy of full body sacrifice, of going hard for loose balls and taking every possible charge. There is another large part of me that wants to scream, "Please stop breaking yourself, Alissa!" every time she measures her length on the hardwood. She's reckless and sometimes a little bit stupid, but I'm pretty sure I'll get used to it. So she'll be the Johnnies' entry in the "most likely to concuss your intrepid blogger via facepalm" contest. Tiana England had a nifty steal that she turned into a fast break lay-up, which makes me wonder why she doesn't do this more often. We keep blaming Joe for the team's tendency to slow things up, but there are times when I think it really is T's problem. Faster is better with this squad. Qadashah Hoppie bombed threes all night and kept the pressure on Lafayette. When she's on, she's so much fun to watch.

Alisha Kebbe continues to be rock solid and an all-around star. I love what she brings to the floor. Kadaja Bailey was the only real disappointment to me in this game. She was consistently a step slow on defense, she took bad shots, she couldn't get a hold of rebounds- basically, it seemed like wherever something went wrong, she was there. I know that sounds like a terrible thing to say, and I'm probably exaggerating. But she did not look good, and that worries me. She's a stud, or at least she has the potential to be one, if she uses it properly.

We've got to be better at dealing with physical contact. We have size, and we have players who are physical, but the Venn diagram of those two characteristics is a pair of non-congruent circles at the moment. Lafayette took advantage of that with their posts, and if a middling Patriot team can do that, then I don't know how we're going to deal with Mary Baskerville or Mary Gedaka.

That all being said, we have a lot of firepower if we just use it, and we have a level of depth we haven't had in years. I'm looking forward to seeing how this team develops.

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October 18th, 2019: Red Storm Tip-Off

Ticketing snafus, rocking with the band, jersey deliveries, possible alumnae, and a distressing lack of basketball. You know what it means.

WE'RE BACK MOTHERFUCKERS


We almost weren't. Ticketing has not been timely in getting out info for WBB season tickets and thus we were unable to secure tickets to Tip-Off in the usual manner. Politely and glacially speaking to various people got us in (the “someone dropped the ball” look on the DOBO's face when he saw us was something).

Delivering Shenneika Smith her old Sun jersey brought such a smile to her face. (I think I've brought this up before, but my first rule of buying player gear is that its original owner gets right of first refusal.)

Too much bass. Cannot cope.

The Nolan twins are a little, uh, creepy in their inability to be separated.

Q's pride in her heritage is awesome, and also helps us spot her family. Poor Machi is already hurt, walking around in a boot.

Okay, but does Sox get to keep the flowers?

Huh. Lotta transfers and double transfers on the men's side.

Hearing the PA guy try to hype up Machi is... uh...kinda obvious.

The tortured dance routines are also... something. They do show off everyone's footwork well.

Coach Anderson, in that rusty veteran coach's voice, calling out Sears as “lover boy” has me dead from lulz. (Sox still has the flowers.) He couldn't get Tartamella all the way out of his mouth, but I'll chalk that up to unfamiliarity and maybe a sore throat.

Tiana's trying too hard to be showy. Maybe it's the lack of pressure because it's only an exhibition. Maybe it's the pressure of there being people here.

omg Tart-let so cute. Headphones may be larger than child.

Men's scrimmage coming up. We'll see if the women get anything similar. It's been rough. Lot of missed dunk attempts.

I reserve the right to object to people wearing random Bulls or Houston gear. Just because it's the right color doesn't mean it's appropriate.

Dance is. not. messing. around. this. Year.

Not sure if T is in the crowd for social purposes or because they ran out of seats on the bench (since it's also being used for the scrimmage).

Hi, Gina?

Co-ed shootout now. Don't lose count.

And that appears to be the end of the basketball content this evening. They started setting up for the musical act, and since we were right next to the bass speaker, I opted to forego my annual attempt to determine whether I like the new music or not. It seems like every year there's less and less basketball, and it's really depressing. I just want to see my team. I like what little I saw, but there wasn't much to see!

There's no rest for the wicked, or the weary. Fordham's open practice is tomorrow!

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February 15th, 2019: Marquette at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: St. John's used a strong second half to overcome a 14-point Marquette lead in an 81-74 win at Carnesecca Arena. Tiana England led four Johnnies in double figures with 20, adding six assists. Erika Davenport had 24 points and 13 rebounds to lead Marquette in the loss.

For defensive stalwarts, unsung heroes, pink jerseys, and slowly but steadily catching up to real time, join your intrepid and squeeful blogger after the jump.

We'll see how this whole GNoD thing goes tonight. I'm two games behind and I feel like pounded crap.

The jerseys are very pink. I think we may have reused last year's and just gotten new ones for the newcomers; the three new jerseys have a glow around the numbers that the returners' don't. I think they managed to correct the spelling of Brelove, though.

We seem to have an official anthem singer now. I'm okay with this, because he's good.

It's 40-32 Marquette at half, and it could honestly be a lot worse. They're killing us on the boards, but they've had at least two possessions with multiple o-boards that have come up empty. We're stopping the big threats, the preseason POY and the likely POY, but Erika Davenport has 12 points and Amani Wilborn has 11 points.

Okay, not for nothing, but if we keep playing like this in the pink jerseys, I will turn my hatred of them into a campaign to become the Pink Storm. Remember, it's only crazy if it doesn't work, and right now it's appearing to work. Seriously. I can't remember the last time the question "Should we act like we've been there before or should we consider attempting to storm the court?" popped into my brain.

Marquette is good, don't get me wrong. But they didn't look the same without Allazia Blockton being her old self Without her explosiveness and offensive versatility, they lose a big weapon, and they lose a lot of their depth. And her shot looked rusty. She got into good position for offensive rebounds, but even then she couldn't put them back. She was terrifyingly hesitant, and that led to strips and steals from the Red Storm defense. Lauren Van Kleunen barely played and her main contribution was a very long jumper that seemed ill-advised. Isabelle Spingola provided stability and a three-point shot, but she wasn't as much of a weapon as I was expecting against our defense (we're usually pretty vulnerable to the three).

Sometimes Danielle King gets the rolls, and sometimes she doesn't. In the first half, she did; in the second half she didn't. On such things can upsets be built. She's quick, and she's fast, and she's hellaciously determined (there was a sequence where she smacked the ball right out of a substantially taller player's hands like a flying comet). But I think we took her out of her game, and that does a lot to undermine Marquette. Natisha Hiedeman was a non-factor, which might have been the biggest factor for us. We shut her down. The fact that she got off only four shots says a lot to me about our defense. I admire her awareness of time and foul count, and the sacrifice she knew she had to make when she committed her fifth foul. Amani Wilborn put the offense on her shoulders in the backcourt, drawing a ton of free throws on penetration. She got herself into a little foul trouble in the second half, and that always seems to get into her head a little bit. Once there's a call on her that she thinks is a bad call, she starts acting out.

Erika Davenport is so good at getting around bigger players. She just stretches and stretches like she's made of taffy until she's at the basket. She did a number on Curteeona Brelove offensively, and switching defenders on her was part of how we won this game. She's so good close to the basket. If more of her putbacks had gone in instead of spinning out, Marquette might have been able to parlay that rebounding advantage into a win. Selena Lott has a lot of potential, no pun intended. She uses her length well on defense- she opened the fourth quarter with a bucket, a steal, and another bucket, and she rocked Alisha Kebbe on a block. It's definitely going to be a rebuilding year next year for Marquette, but she's a good piece to have during the process. I like her versatility a great deal.

When Marquette could get out and run their offense, they were in control. But when we were able to slow them down, or take them by surprise in transition, they were out of the game. I don't think they were expecting this kind of a fight from us (which is kind of silly, because we've always had trouble with each other) and when Moochy hit the go-ahead shot they didn't know how to counterpunch.

Speaking of which, if you're only going to hit one shot in a game, the go-ahead shot that gives your team a lead it doesn't relinquish is just about the perfect shot. The husband argues that Jasmine Sina being the player to hit that shot gave it even more of a psychological impact for the team. I don't know if I agree, but it definitely showed that she was equal to the moment (which is good, because her first attempt in the first half was…not good). Kadaja Bailey continues to regress. I don't think she realizes that her handle is not yet good enough on the collegiate level. She has to work on it if she's going to use it on this level, because otherwise she's going to get stripped and she's going to commit a lot of unforced turnovers. Kayla Charles had herself a day defensively. She's always had the potential, but so much of the time she takes herself out of the game mentally. Not tonight. She took Davenport out of the game when she was on her, using her height and her length to her advantage- at least two of her three blocks were on Davenport. But more importantly, she was hustling after loose balls, racking up floor burns like crazy. One sequence where she rolled out a steal and got it to Tiana for the fast break lay-up comes to mind (if only because Tiana tried to give her one right back and she blew the bunny in the lane). She pulled down big boards and gave us incredible defense, and I can't credit her enough for the work she did.

(And for that matter, I have to give credit to Joe for sticking with her. I don't give him a lot of compliments, but he saw how the match-ups worked out and didn't just ride his starters. This is unusual for him and I want to encourage it.)

Curteeona Brelove had a nifty defensive play in the third quarter that got her a bucket, but it was a rough night for her overall. She got her buckets, but she had a lot of trouble defensively with Erika Davenport, and racked up a lot of fouls. Also, I realize she does have some perimeter game, but I really would like for her to stop jacking threes. She's at her best for us when she's throwing her weight around inside. Alisha Kebbe was a monster on defense- her work on Natisha Hiedeman was probably the biggest reason we won this game. She contributed on the other end of the floor, too, but her defense was the reason she was the woman of the match.

Tiana England had a heck of a game. She's come on strong here at the end of the season, finding the gaps to make the good pass and hitting her shots inside and out (mostly inside- if that floater's going, she's absolutely unstoppable). She's just looked so good. She's occasionally done it in an understated fashion, and then you look up and she's got monster numbers. She doesn't control the game as overtly as many of our point guards in the past have, but I'm starting to believe she might get to that point now, when I wasn't sure before. I think Akina Wellere is also starting to get more comfortable with her role, which might not be the best timing given that the season is almost over, but at least she's starting to figure out how she fits into this mess of a lineup we have. (Okay, mess is too strong of a word, but there are a lot of players being forced to play to their weaknesses instead of their strengths, and their flaws become more evident in this way.) I'm still not comfortable with Qadashah Hoppie's shot selection.

We won this game on our defense. We hit big shots, but our defense put us in a position to hit those shots. This is the team that went toe-to-toe with UConn, not the team that got spanked by Butler. This was this team at its best. I am insanely, stupidly proud of them. This win could put the team on the right track and somehow sneak us into the WNIT.

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February 3rd, 2019: Xavier at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: St. John's never trailed in a 70-41 rout of Xavier. Four players scored in double figures for the Red Storm, paced by the 15-point, eight-rebound performance of Curteeona Brelove and the 10-point, eight-assist effort from Tiana England. No Musketeer scored more than seven points in the loss.

For inexcusable lateness, cluelessness, and chemistry, join your intrepid blogger after the jump. Hey, I got here eventually, more or less.

Our weekend concludes with Xavier, finishing off our time with the schools of the Old Northwest. The weather has vastly improved from the frigid temperatures of the last couple of days, and hopefully that means our shooting will also heat up.

We've got a group of small Queens kids here, from Kayla's neck of the woods- they've been cheering enthusiastically for her and the game hasn't even started yet.

Same anthem singer as last game. This is a very good thing.

Xavier is playing this game like the team we expected them to be, not the team that whooped Seton Hall so thoroughly on Friday. Their outside shots aren't falling as much, and they haven't been able to stop our transition game. Everyone's already scored, with Qadashah Hoppie and Akina Wellere leading the way with seven points each. Xavier does not look to be very good at basketball. Their footwork is atrocious, and their shooting might actually be worse. Brian Neal looks like a man who has only just now come to the realization that his team is not very good at basketball, but not the related conclusion that he might have something to do with this.

It should not take three train stations for you to get your kid to stop crying, and it should not take literal bribery to do so. And this is why I'm not having children.

Olivia Jenkins wasn't even listed on the roster for Xavier on today's official scorecard from St. John's, so either she's a walk-on or she's very new. She got in at the very end of the game. Aly Reiff got in early in the first half and late in the second half, and did absolutely nothing worth mentioning in either stretch. Ashley Gomez came on in the second half and committed a foul, this being her only contribution to the box score.

I do not like Lauren Wasylson. I do not like her hitting people in the face, and I do not like her elbows. She's tall, but like most of her teammates, she had terrible shooting touch. But more importantly, please do not hit people in the face and then get offended that people are offended by you hitting people in the face. Maddy Johnson actually started the second half for the Musketeers, after coming off the bench in the first half. I get the feeling I should understand why, or have some idea of what she brought to the floor, but honestly, Xavier doesn't have names, almost none of them were memorable, and we decided to stop for lunch so things are kind of hazy right now when it comes to most of the Musketeers. If you want notes about your team to be interesting, you should try to be interesting. Carrie Gross didn't play in the first half (or if she did, her presence was not announced) and then proceeded to start the second half. Why? We just don't know. (Update: checked the play-by-play, and apparently she did check in late in the second quarter. I guess Neal decided to just run with the lineup that ended the half.)

Princess Stewart's light pink sneakers certainly befit her name. She's got good moves, but they'd be better if she had better footwork. I do think she's got potential, but she's never going to reach it with this regime. Deja Ross used her big body to get boards and box out on the glass. She was the closest thing Xavier had to a true paint presence, and it wasn't close at all. A'riana Gray and her incredible nerd goggles displayed a propensity for hopping or moving before she had properly gathered the ball, and for all the travels she and her teammates were called for, there honestly could have been twice as many called. I like the way she slashes in the lane, but she's not going to be as effective if she doesn't learn to control her feet.

I have no idea what happened with Tee Owens. I mean, she was taking bad shots, but if that were a reason for Brian Neal to bench his players, he'd be running the managers out there. I didn't see her get hurt, either. All I know is that she didn't start the second half and she didn't come into the game until deep into the third quarter. That was definitely an interesting choice there. Aaliyah Dunham is so tiny! She's small even compared to Owens, who isn't exactly a big guard herself.

I have to be honest with you here, o patient readers who have undoubtedly wondered where this weekend's notes have been. Writing about Xavier is depressing. They're not good, they show very few signs of being good in the near future, and they're not even bad in an entertaining way. They're just bad. So I've been avoiding this. But I figured I should probably try to wrap things up before the next hectic weekend of games begins, because there will also be Feelings.

So proud of Jasmine Sina! It was so nice to see her shot going in, and you could almost feel how badly her teammates wanted her to crack double digits. She looked confident. It was nice. Kayla Charles got good minutes and killed it on the offensive glass. She also had a very nice block in the second quarter. Kadaja Bailey was back to looking a little bit lost, but she hit a couple of good shots. I'm glad to see her getting good minutes. I think that's the only way she's going to learn.

I love the fire Alisha Kebbe has been playing with this year. She's going all out on defense (there was a monster stop) and on the glass (look at those offensive rebounds). Her offense is streaky, but it tends to show up when we need it most. She's come up so big for us so much. Really solid game from Curteeona Brelove, who found little resistance in the post from Xavier's interior players or lack thereof.

At this point I can't come up with specific details for the guards, but the backcourt came through. I approve this message wholeheartedly, though I'm a little worried about Qadashah Hoppie's shooting (but she does seem to end up with the ball at the end of the shot clock a lot, which can't be helping her shooting percentages, and does put a bit of a damper on Tiana England's running of the offense). One of these days I'm going to stop kvetching about T's amazing ability to kill time and pound the air out of the ball, but today is not that day.

I don't know how much a blowout against the worst team in the conference can truly say about us, but I can be optimistic about the chemistry we demonstrated on the floor, and I can hope it carries through the rest of this season, through the most challenging pod in the conference, then two road games, then senior day against a rival.

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February 1st, 2019: Butler at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: St. John's took another close loss in conference, 73-68 in overtime against Butler. Whitney Jennings had 29 points, including five threes, to power the Bulldog offense, with Tori Schickel adding 23 points, nine boards, and five blocks. Qadashah Hoppie led St. John's with 24 points in the loss.

For wild shots, bad calls, and déjà vu all over again, join your intrepid and emotionally exhausted blogger after the jump.

Good evening! We come to you live from the frozen tundra of Queens, where St. John's hosts Butler. Okay, we're not frozen compared to the Midwest, so I guess the teams from Indiana and Ohio would rather be here than home right now. But I would still like to register a protest with the Weather Bureau.

We're partying like it's 2010 up in here. Sky Lindsay is doing the broadcast, and none other than Sky's mom is sitting right at center court. Sky's mom was always a hoot and a half, so I'm happy to see her.

Fantastic anthem to get things going.

For whatever reason, Section 6, the endcourt section near the visiting bench, is locked down tonight. Guys, if this is in response to the Villanova thing, then I had the student section wrong.

We've got some good noise going tonight. I approve.

It's 32-all at halftime, which is honestly better than I was expecting. Alisha Kebbe is on fire, making defensive hustle plays and leading the way with 10 points. Tori Schickel has 13 to power Butler, with Whitney Jennings adding eight on a couple of quick-trigger threes.

New hairdo appraisals: Tiana looks fantastic, but the new looks are not going as well for Kayla and Jasmine.

Today I learned St. John's has a kick line in addition to a dance team and a cheer team. They're pretty good!

So it happened again, and I'm getting a little tired of losing these games in the final minute, in overtime, right at the end of the game. I don't know who lacks the closing ability here, if it's the players not having the finishing kick or Joe not being able to draw up proper plays or we just run out of gas because we don't have enough players. I don't know what it is, but I don't like it, and I'm getting tired of these reruns.

Butler did a good job of creating mismatches, and any defense is going to struggle when a shooter is launching from outside and hitting with the regularity that Whitney Jennings was. Tori Schickel is a dangerous weapon for any team to have, and she finishes well. It's always good to have a backup plan.

Butler went with an interesting approach with their reserve forwards- I think Sarah Humphrey got all her minutes in the first half, while Ellen Ross only seemed to come into the game after halftime. Humphrey gave them an interesting element of length on the floor, though she needs to finish better at the rim. Ross was stockier and seemed more defensive-minded, making hustle plays at the edge of the floor. Naira Caceres gave the Bulldogs a shot of offense early on, but in a game where travels are being called, I can see her being more of a liability because she's in love with the Euro-step. There was one possession where it felt like we dodged a bullet because Butler missed her in the corner.

Good gracious, Whitney Jennings has a quick release. She was feeling it tonight, and that did as much to end our night as anything. As soon as she had a moment of daylight, the shot was up and good. She's small, and she's quick, as so many successful small players are, and she killed us. I'd appreciate if she weren't throwing elbows, though. (One sequence, she threw the elbow, I yelled, "HEY JENNINGS WATCH THEM 'BOWS!" and she got called for an offensive foul in rapid succession. I was amused, but that’s also because I'm easily amused. Michelle Weaver got called for a hilariously disproportionate number of fouls in the fourth quarter; for most of it, she was the only Butler player with fourth quarter fouls. She stepped up her defensive intensity late in the game, doing as much to secure the win for Butler as her teammates' offense did.

I'm not even sure what spot in the starting five Kristen Spolyar fills. It felt like the three she it was a back-breaking kind of shot. She seems to have bulked up, and not necessarily in a good way. I honestly expected more development from her. Shae Brey hit the boards hard- she was in on a key multi-o-board sequence that led to a big bucket for Butler, and got a steal that led to a fast break lay-up. She's really tough. Tori Schickel was solid in the rim and huge on the glass. She's not the quickest player, and that's going to hold her back at the next level. And she's got to convert her free throws. But she's got good touch, and she knows how to play to her strengths. I wish her all kinds of success. The Big East is better as a conference when everyone's successful.

Butler responded really well to everything we threw at them. We pressed them for a while, and it worked for a while, and then they adjusted. They figured out where the weak points were in our defense and attacked them. They're not spectacular, but they're solid.

Jasmine Sina's minutes mostly came when Alisha Kebbe came off the floor limping after a hard crash. She put up a three that went in and out and broke the hearts of everyone on the bench. I keep having to resist the urge to lapse into 'net-speak and call her a smol. I feel like we could have gotten more out of Kadaja Bailey if she'd played more. But I think she's having another crisis of confidence, and someone's got to help her through it, whether it's one of her teammates, one of her coaches, or someone not on the team. We believe in you, Kadaja! Kayla Charles started the second half, for reasons known only to Joe Tartamella. She did okay around the rim, but the second Schickel got a step on her, it was over. She finished well at the rim (I want to say it was Kadaja who set her up on one particular beauty) and blocked shots, but any time something didn't go her way, whether it was a call or a non-call or a missed defensive assignment, she was out of the game and into her feelings. She's got to understand that inconsistent officiating is a universal constant in women's basketball and learn to let it roll off her back. Otherwise she's going to lose minutes, she's going to lose opportunities, and she's going to get herself in trouble with her mouth. I believe she's got so much potential, but she doesn't know how to get out of her own way.

Curteeona Brelove kept getting called for fouls, and there was one that I definitely agreed with her disagreement on. I think that was why Joe opted to start the second half with Kayla, because I didn't see any injuries for Meemo. But I could be wrong. It's been known to happen. I really don't like the number of plays that are ending with her taking a long perimeter jumper late in the shot clock. I understand the necessity, but we shouldn't be in that position in the first place, and she's not the right player to have in that position. She's the closest thing we have to power on the inside until Kayla gets her act together. We need to use her that way. Akina Wellere came up with loose balls in scrums that were somewhere between steals and rebounds. She did the best she could, but she got stuck in too many bad match-ups. Maybe her three-point stroke is coming back. It would certainly be welcome. Alisha Kebbe started the game like her hair was on fire, but she couldn't sustain that much intensity on both ends of the floor. Her shots started getting wild, even as she kpt cranking up the D and the hustle. Her line doesn't look good, but I blame her for nothing.

Qadashah Hoppie was dealing from outside. She was the biggest reason we were in the game most of the night, hitting threes at key moments. These are the games we need to have from her pretty much every night to have a chance, and I know exactly how unrealistic that is. She's streaky, and when she's on, she's amazing. When she's off, she still thinks she's on, and that's when everything falls apart. Tiana England was on a roll, finding her teammates on the fast break and making the extra pass. She didn't do it with flash, and she didn't make a big production of it, but she racked up the assists. Sometimes it looks like she's getting the hang of this whole point guard thing, and then she dribbles the air out of the ball and she's out there killing time like some kind of serial temporal murderer. Her confidence seems streaky, and that's not a good thing for a point guard.

I do love to see pushing the ballhandler out of bounds not called a foul when the other team does it, and then having it be called a foul on the next possession when we do it. All I ask for is consistency, and I'm fully aware I'm never going to get it. I can still be salty about it.

Shoutout to the youth coach who had his team gathered around him immediately after the game and was lecturing them on the things they could learn from that game- and letting the people who hadn't been paying attention to the game know that he a) had seen them not watching, and b) most extremely Did Not Approve, in the most level, intense tone possible. It sounded like a fantastic teaching moment, and I love how he handled it.

These notes have taken a long time to write, ironically because they're so much of the same thing over and over again. Players have tendencies, teams have tendencies, and when times are bad, they fall into them. I've written this story before, and it's tiresome. We don't have enough depth. We have all the clock management skills of an inept watchmaker. We spend too much time in our feelings and not enough in the game. We have players being forced to play out of position and not succeeding at it. You've read this before. I've written it before. Why should I do it again?

Maybe the story will be different against Xavier. Spoiler alert: it was. But even if we do get this thing turned around against the only team in the Big East worse than we are, who's to say we can do it on the road against Georgetown's defense or Villanova's system? I hope we can. I want this team to do well. I just don't know that we can.

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January 27th, 2019: Villanova at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Villanova rolled most of the way in a 73-57 win over St. John's. Mary Gedaka had 23 points to lead the Wildcats. Tiana England had a team-high 18 points for St. John's.

For shaming the PSAL, bad body language, bad language in general, shooters shooting, and being Very Tired Of All This, join your intrepid and PG-rated blogger after the jump, where she uses bad words a couple of times.

Basketball never stops, or at least the Big East never stops, or at least it doesn't stop on weekends. It's time for the back end of the Eastern Seaboard pod as St. John's takes on Villanova. Since the men are playing at the Garden, we're going to have a skeleton crew and no attendance. And Villanova fans are the worst. Ugh.

It's fun to watch players animate at their favorite jams, to see Akina Wellere bouncing up and down at one track like a boxer, then Kayla Charles putting on her swagger with the next track.

Nice touch by Alisha Kebbe bringing in the midseason transfer to the huddle. I don't think we're supposed to officially know about Raven Farley yet, but when you know a 6-4 forward has left LSU, someone says she's transferred to St. John's, and suddenly there's a very tall person in sweats on the bench, it doesn't take a rocket scientist, or even an English major, to figure things out.

And already we've got two Nova fans who tried to park themselves in our student section and seem to think sitting next to the band on the home bench side is appropriate. FFS. Kick rocks with no shoes.

And now I think we've got Nova family parking in our section. Game hasn't even started yet and I am THISCLOSE to breaking the no-cussing rule.

The no-cussing rule got fully officially broken near the end of the second quarter when a group of Villanova fans started a defense chant while we were on a run. I am done with this nonsense and I will not, in fact, be letting these assholes get away with that.

Halftime features a mediocre biddy game and either a terribly sped-up/remixed version of "Empire State of Mind" or the world's worst cover thereof. Never again. It's 34-23 Nova at the half. Our defense has been soft, porous, and spongy. At least Villanova's shooting is down to 52%.

On the plus side, abandoning my usual section for the student section has led to two missed Villanova free throws. On the down side, I think I cut my palm when my clipboard came open as I used it for percussion. I may be attempting to express my seething frustration at these assholes in a more positive fashion than starting a fight with people I'm fairly certain are player family.

Seriously, there are a couple of Villanova players I might be able to like, except that I'm fairly certain the assholes I was trying to get away from are related to them. And, yes, if your progenitors prove themselves to be trash, I will assume that you are, at best, a recyclable plastic.

Honestly, if I had stayed in my regular section, this would probably have been the first non-GNoD game in a very long time. I've been itching for a fight, and this dude trying to hustle on the F train is not helping at all. No one cares whether or not you're looking for a job or what your sob story is. All of this is to say that I have spent most of the last couple of hours in a state of inchoate rage and it's very hard to pick out specific things from the actual game that don't descend into swearing or yet more kvetching about Villanova's fans. You, the few, the proud, the certifiable, the loyal or disloyal readers of this here blog, deserve better.

Brianna Herlihy got her minutes in the first half and did not impress- she made a couple of bad decisions on defense and with ballhandling that sent her back to the bench for the rest of the game. That left time and space for Emily Esposito to provide instant offense off the bench. It seemed like Villanova wasn't always happy with how quickly she was shooting, even when shots didn't go in, which actually makes sense; if you run a very specific and very regimented system that may or may not be older than the players executing it, you want to make sure a freshman, even a redshirt like Esposito, knows how to execute it, not just freelance. Harry doesn't necessarily mind a freelancer clogging the lane for the outside passes (remember Taylor Holeman? Pepperidge Farm 'members) but I don't know if that's the role he has in mind for Esposito. Raven James is small, and quick, and I think all of her fouls were a result of being in the wrong place in the wrong time. She's got no business guarding Kayla Charles. She anticipated really well on a terrible pass from Jasmine Sina to get the steal.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, or if I'm about to blow up Villanova's Sekrit Wepn or something, but Kelly Jakot shoots threes real good. She's got just enough range that she can take a step back from the arc, get separation from her defender, and still hit the deep ball. And for whatever reason, be it height blindness or Kayla Charles leaving her brain in her dorm room or the entire damn squad forgetting that Villanova likes to take threes, she kept getting really good looks. I keep forgetting about Jannah Tucker as a three-point shooter, and apparently so did we. (Apropos of Jannah Tucker and her collegiate career, shoutout to the lady in the full-on "We Back Pat" shirt behind the Nova bench.) I also do not appreciate her hitting people in the face. Adrianna Hahn seems to have regressed from her first couple of years at Villanova. You'd think a senior point guard would have a better grasp of the system, but she seemed to be going it alone early in the clock a lot more than it looked like she should have been. Her ferocity is impressive, and if she can hit, her shot is nice. But she did not take good shots.

I really like, or at least objectively admire and respect, Mary Gedaka's touch around the basket, both as a shooter and as a rebounder. She has no offensive rebounds in the box score, but her tip to (I think) Esposito is responsible for one, and she likely had other, similar plays. She's very good at that. She sliced us up inside, getting that extra step on the defense. Bridget Herlihy had a big block on Alisha Kebbe, and I think she was one of the players I successfully disconcerted at the free throw line, but other than that I don't remember the impact she had on the game.

Villanova's slowdown game becomes much more apparent when they have the lead. If they get enough of it, they'd rather take a violation if it means strangling thirty seconds off the clock, and I don't think we understood that about them. We seemed happy to let them do it.

(Different train. Different panhandler. Sir, I think part of the reason you're unsteady is the waft of alcohol following in your wake.)

I take back every complaint I had about Joe cutting Kayla Charles's minutes and I take back almost all of the nice things I've said about her. Kayla, I would like for you to be my favorite because I like post players and I rep the PSAL, but if you're going to hang your head at the end of the game, and if you're going to not rebound, and if you're going to act like defense is one of the seven dirty words, you are not going to be anyone's favorite. Get it together, Kayla. Get your head out of your ass and into the game. I know you can do it. I believe in you. I'm disappointed in Jasmine Sina's shot selection- she threw up stuff she had no reason to throw up. She's not ready for the position she's been thrust into, but we have literally no one else unless someone can scrounge up an extra year of eligibility for Tamesha Alexander. Kadaja Bailey seems to be getting the hang of the press that we don't use nearly often enough, but she was tentative enough on offense that I saw Shenneika Smith attempt to headdesk without a desk on one possession. Shoot your shot, Kadaja! You have talent! You have potential! You can do it!

Tiana England took a lot of the offense on her shoulders. I'm not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, I do appreciate her being more assertive offensively and more aggressive. On the other hand, it felt like there was a lot of one-of-one play going on and not enough team play. That's not just on her, but it was more noticeable when she was doing it because she was the most successful at it. Qadashah Hoppie did not, at least, try to go one-on-four again, but it still felt like she was forcing too much on her own offensively and making terrible decisions that led to fouls defensively. Bad things are gonna happen if you have your back to the offensive player and you still body into them.

The good news is that Alisha Kebbe seems to have taken to heart my concerns about her shot being too strong and thus going long against Georgetown. The bad news is that she overcompensated in the other direction and left an awful lot of her shots short. She seemed to be taking a lot more threes than normal, which makes sense with Villanova's defense. But her outside shot is streaky, and on this day it did not streak well. I will still and forever love her hustle, and the leadership both supportive and disciplinary she's been providing on the court. (Hoo boy, when Kayla crashed into her going for a loose ball and the resulting possession went to Villanova, Alisha was extremely Not Happy.) I continue to be unsure of what we're doing with Akina Wellere on offense, and Akina herself seems to be unsure of what she's doing with herself on defense. She's not even a true tweener and she's stuck playing the tweener role, and it has ruined her game. She did a good job of getting to the line, but I think a lot of those were when Villanova was already in the penalty, and might have been fouls on the floor otherwise. Curteeona Brelove found too much inspiration in her outside jumper and not enough in her power game. She seemed to be getting a little frustrated at times, but she didn't let it take her too much out of the game.

I'm just saying that if we ran the press before the last five minutes of a game where we were down twenty, the team might have a better concept of how the whole thing works and who's supposed to be where in the trap. Kadaja and Kayla were both coming in for their share of flak in that regard.

You know you have done your job as a fan disconcerting the free throw shooter when the other team goes 2-4 from the line, someone over by your bench exclaims "JESUS!" at the ruckus, and someone on the bench gives you a sign of approval. Perching over the basket provides a better vantage to analyze the shooter's wind-up and perfectly time that moment of pure raw distraction. But it's harder to watch the whole game that way, and my left eardrum is still a little numb from being directly next to the band.

I don't like our body language at the end of that game. We got outplayed, and our response was to let the whole world know we got outplayed.

All the fouls were on Villanova in one quarter, all the fouls were on St. John's the next, and then the refs seemed to remember that they could call fouls on everyone. That was weird.

We really need the full spirit squad, our one-to-three-man student section, and basically our full attention from the school on days against Villanova, or we need the Villanova game to be assigned seating. If that means making it camp day, so be it then.

On to the next one, and the road doesn't get easier with Butler coming to town. Hey, at least we get Xavier. We should be able to beat Xavier, right?

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January 25th, 2019: Georgetown at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: A strong second half powered St. John's to a 59-51 win over Georgetown. Curteeona Brelove had 17 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Red Storm. Brianna Jones came off the bench to lead Georgetown with 14 points.

For defensive stands, ill-advised behind-the-back decisions, grinding on the glass, power games, and fanny packs, join your intrepid blogger after the jump.

Good evening! We're coming to you on our usual tape delay from Carnesecca Arena, where the Red Storm start the front end of the Eastern Seaboard pod by hosting Georgetown. Your intrepid blogger has a two-bus commute now, so pregame notes will be thin on the ground.

We're at halftime, and St. John's up 24-23. Alisha Kebbe and Akina Wellere have provided the bulk of the offense for the Johnnies, while Georgetown's offense is a bit more diffuse. The Hoyas are relying mostly on their swarming defense and a lot of motion that frees up shots in the lane.

The Hoyas are getting hosed by the refs- they've had two fouls that should have been three-shot fouls instead of two-shot fouls. The refs have been letting both teams play, for the most part.

Georgetown's bench is noisy. Objectively I don't object. Subjectively I don't want to hear it in my building and we need to get louder.

Kadaja Bailey ended the first half with a phenomenal defensive play wherein she deflected the ball right back into the would-be inbounder, and almost topped it with a halfcourt shot, but the shot went off the rim.

Huh. The Hoyas just came out of the locker room doing stretches. I'm not used to this sort of a reset.

I'm not actually quite sure how we pulled away in the fourth quarter, only that it happened. I'll be satisfied with that for now.

I'm assuming that Brianna Jones did not start for non-basketball reasons, because she played heavy minutes and started the second half. She's very determined and demonstrated a nice midrange game. Anita Kelava's height in the post caused us some problems, as she blocked a few of our less well-thought-out shots and picked off boards at the rim.

Tatiana Thompson gave Georgetown a little heft in the post, though she's not terribly mobile. Her power was a little bit of a problem for us, but we were able to keep up with her. She seemed to be one of the loudest people on Georgetown's bench- and I respect that. I may not like it, but I take it as a challenge to shout down any cheering or chanting coming from the visiting bench. Cassandra Gordon got most of her run in the first half. She seemed okay, I guess. Nothing too terrible, nothing too exciting.

Nikola Kovacikova started the game, subbed out fairly quickly, and then disappeared until the fourth quarter, where she committed a foul and took an ill-advised three-pointer. It seems like she still needs a lot of work, or that her coach was doing some experiments with his lineup that weren't working. Morgan Smith was present on the glass, a big-bodied guard who boxed out well. Dorothy Adomako demonstrated dubious shot selection and fantastic defensive skills. She had a couple of nifty blocks and a steal that led to a fast break. I keep wondering what she could have been if not for the injury last year and for the cavalcade of coaches that has run in and out of Georgetown. She's got a lot of natural tools and a nose for defense; if she'd been able to hone her offensive skills a little more, she'd probably have a really good chance at an overseas career, and I can still see her being that player who gets it together after a few years overseas and surprises the WNBA in training camp. I mean, Georgetown's almost due for their next W player, right?

Mikayla Venson got off to a pretty strong start, and seemed pretty solid for the Hoyas. I can't put my finger on what she did, precisely, but she always seemed to bein the right place. Dionna White was ridiculous on the offensive glass- there was one sequence where she had two of the three offensive rebounds that eventually got Georgetown a bucket. She's so quick, and she's so relentless. Defense has been Georgetown's calling card through multiple coaching changes, and she and Adomako are exemplars of that philosophy.

Georgetown presents a lot of of length and a lot of defensive intensity- most of how they stayed in the game for the first few quarters was by hassling us and leaping on loose balls They forced us to take gambles, and then took advantage of the mistakes we made on those gambles. But they didn't have an offensive go-to player, or at least not one that showed herself in this game.

I don't understand what Joe is doing with Kayla Charles's minutes. We have, like, two post players and she's one of them, and Joe sat her the entire second half. I don't know if she's not putting in the work in practice, or he's dissatisfied with something she's doing, or if she's giving him lip, or if he's getting ready to run her off, or he just doesn't like the color of her socks, or what. Yes, her touch around the rim needs work and she makes some terrible life choices sometimes. But she's got potential and she can rebound. What are you even doing, Joe? Kadaja Bailey had a rough time with her handle in this one, but she did amazing work on the offensive glass to secure rebounds on loose balls and tips from her teammates, and when she finished, she finished with style. She seems a little more sure of who she is now, and I feel a little more confident about her future here. Jasmine Sina left one shot short, but not the other, and we all went a little crazy for her. She's a nice kid, as far as I can tell, and I wish her the best. With Machi Duncan's injury keeping her out of the rotation for the nonce, it's good to have a guard with some experience to spell the crew for a couple of minutes. I mean, yes, I'd rather Joe have actually brought in players he trusts so our starters aren't all playing 30+ minutes every night, but I'm starting to understand I should set my expectations low in that regard.

Qadashah Hoppie understands that she doesn't have to do it all herself, right? As much as I like that take-charge and can-do attitude, sometimes she's got to slow down and maybe not try to force a 1-on-4 fast break. She showed handles and she showed moves, but she just couldn't finish. Tiana England strangled the shot clock for a while, which we're all used to by now, but there were occasional moments where she was willing and able to accelerate to the basket, and I cherish those moments when she does that.

Akina Wellere got off to a pretty good start inside. There was one possession where I think the only people who knew that she was open in the corner were here and Shenneika, because no one else seemed to notice, either her teammates or her opponents. She did have a couple of "oh no what is you doing" moments on defense. Curteeona Brelove came out in the second half like a house on fire, hitting inside and out (something tells me that foot-on-the-line jumper was a "no, no, YES!" moment for Joe). The power of her game really gives us a different dynamic when she gets going. Alisha Kebbe was intense She's killing it on the glass. I think she might be getting a little too amped on offense, because so many of her shots are going too long, too hard, or too strong. Her scrappiness on the boards cannot be understated. She's found another gear this year.

I was not expecting a higher-tempo offense to serve us well against Georgetown's defense, but it seemed like once we were able to get through the first wave of pressing and trapping, and get the ball in motion, we were able to really be most effective.

There were some really weird ref calls in this game, and we got the benefit of most of them. This crew was especially fond of long continuations. It was a physical game. Georgetown's not afraid to push the limits, and while there was one moment where I thought Adomako slue-footed someone, most of the time their limit-pushing isn't egregiously dirty.

Dance should have won Nationals. Delaware can go pound sand.

Sponsor pens are very nice. Actual name brand!

The fanny pack is interesting. I'm not sure how I feel about this, other than "can't sleep 80s will dress me".

I'm honestly not sure what's going to happen with Villanova. I don't know if I want to know.

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January 13th, 2019: Creighton at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: St. John's fought hard, but came up short again in their 65-63 loss to Creighton. Alisha Kebbe had 18 points to lead the Johnnies, with Kadaja Bailey adding 10 off the bench. Temi Carda led the Bluejays with 22 points in the win, while Audrey Faber added 17.

For ruling the roost, backdoor cuts, polite bumping, an inability to hold the line, piercing whistles, and devotion to duty, join your intrepid and frustrated blogger after the jump.

Good afternoon, ladies, gentlemen, boys, girls, and otherwise-identifying folks of all ages! We're back at Carnesecca Arena, where St. John's will be taking on Creighton in the back end of the We Couldn't Find You A Better Travel Partner schedule pod.

(In case you were wondering, I think of the pods as the following: Eastern Seaboard {Villanova/Georgetown}, Great Lakes {DePaul/Marquette}, Old Northwest {Butler/Xavier}, New York Metro {STJ/SHU, aka Awkward Bowl}, and The Leftovers {Providence/Creighton}. We really need two more teams for this to work properly.)

Our team looks so sparse during warm-ups. It makes me sad. Creighton looks like they've been hit by the injury bug, too, with three players in the tees and sweats of the inactive.

Solid anthem. I approve.

It's 31-22 St. John's at the half, and there are moments I'm still wondering how. Scoring is pretty balanced for the Johnnies, with Alisha Kebbe's nine points leading the way. Temi Carda has nine to lead the Bluejays. We've been able to force them into turnovers, and even capitalize on those turnovers! There have been some rough moments, and I'm pretty sure Q is playing sick. I can't see us continuing to stymie Creighton the way we have so far, and I can't see us maintaining this level of shooting. Creighton uses a lot of movement and has gone deep into their bench. Technically, we've gone as deep into our bench as we can, too, but that just means giving Jasmine Sina meaningful minutes.

Machi, when Debbie says to shoot 'til your arm falls off, you know that's a metaphor, right? That's not what she literally wants you to do. She's got a torn muscle in her shoulder. This is not good.

I am completely here for Meemo's WTF face at the PA announcer butchering her name. It doesn't rhyme with Oneonta.

Welp. That was a thing that happened. We did so much right, and yet here we are, having a game come down to a call in the final second. This time we got the foul in our favor, and we still couldn't capitalize. It's exceedingly frustrating.

I'm starting to think these two teams don't like each other very much. There was a lot of bumping going on, more than I'm used to for either team. Nothing that went too far over the line (and in fact, there was a moment where Payton Brotzki bumped Meemo and promptly apologized profusely), mind you, but it was unexpected.

Chloe Dworak got some extended run in the first half- it was a little hard to tell initially because there was some confusion with the subs. She ran some point. I wasn't impressed. Brooke Kissinger got the start in the second half over Jade Owens, and took over point guard duties. Her shot did not join us for this game, for which I am extremely grateful. Rachael Saunders provided some offensive pop for the Bluejays off the bench, and Coach Flanery rewarded her with big minutes down the stretch.

Payton Brotzki probably still needs to get into collegiate shape, but she's got a lot of potential for the Jays. She drove the lane hard and finished pretty well. Morgan Turner is tall, and when she gets the hang of Creighton's motion-heavy system, she's going to be very useful for them. She might not put up the big numbers, but she'll make sure that her teammates have the opportunity to put up the numbers- she had a particularly nice screen on a three-point attempt from Carda.

I have no idea what happened to Jade Owens, or why she went from starting the game to not playing at all in the second half. I didn't see an injury, though maybe there was something that I didn't see. She didn't play well, but not badly enough to be completely passed over in the rotation. Jaylyn Agnew had a large wrap on her right hand, and I think it might have affected her shot a little bit. She's fast, and explosive with that speed, which makes a lot of things happen for Creighton. Temi Carda used hesitation moves effectively to get space and finish on pull-ups and floaters. She had a knack for finding the places where we weren't and scoring from those spots.

Gracey Griglione got herself into foul trouble early in the game, and with the guards being more effective off the bench, Creighton could afford to go smaller. She'll be useful for them after a year or two. Creighton gets a lot of use out of tall forwards like her to free up their shooters and slashers. Audrey Faber cleaned up on the offensive glass, and took advantage of terrible defensive match-ups to slice us up inside. She also had a couple of big blocks, including one on Alisha Kebbe right near the end of the game.

So much cutting. So much movement. So many mismatches. Creighton isn't necessarily the most talented team in the conference- in fact, on sheer talent, I think we might be better. But they executed well, and they forced us into bad situations.

Jasmine Sina got some run at the end of the first quarter into the beginning of the second, which I actually agree with; short-handed as we are, especially if anyone's under the weather, stealing a few minutes here and there can't hurt. And she hit the three! We were so happy for her! It's kind of hilarious how small she is on the floor- I have to resist the temptation to lapse into netspeak and refer to her as a smol. Kayla Charles has got to do a better job of finishing at the rim. We need her to play heavy minutes, especially on days when Meemo is in foul trouble. This didn't happen today, but it's still disturbing. I like her work on the glass, but she still has to finish. On the other hand, Kadaja Bailey looked like she might be finding her stride again. She was at her best on the fast break, both leading it and finishing it. When she's on her game, she's so smooth.

Alisha Kebbe has really stepped up her game in the last couple of weeks. Her three-point shot has improved (though we've established I'm still not the world's biggest fan of it) and today she maintained her intensity on the glass. She got blown by defensively more than I'm used to, and I'm going to need to keep an eye on that going forward. Qadashah Hoppie came off in the first half at one point, looking ready to throw up, which is what makes me think she's under the weather. She had a rough game shooting, and she made some dubious decisions on defense. But if she wasn't at 100%, then I can't really complain too much. Tiana England had a solid game at the point, at least passing. I'm not sure how I feel about her shot selection, or how many of them were desperation shots at the end of the shot clock because too much of it had been run down in hesitation. But it's not just her, or at least it's not just her anymore.

Because we need to have a talk with Akina Wellere, or at least with Akina Wellere's shot and her confidence in said shot. It's something we noticed in the Friday game, and I see it more now that I know to look for it. For whatever reason, she's not taking open shots; instead, she's letting the defense come to her, and then not taking advantage of the open teammate. She used to be faster, I know it. I don't think she was ready for the responsibility inherent in being the lone four-year senior on the squad. Curteeona Brelove had a couple of communication issues with Q, including one at the end of the first half that led to Meemo taking a long two and both of them barking at each other as they came off the floor. She played well on the inside, but I do wish the box score had blocked attempts so I could see how much Creighton's length bothered her.

To borrow a popular memetic mutation, I just don't know what went wrong. For that matter, I just don't know what went right. We were able to force them into dead-ball turnovers, but we tried to cross them over too many times and lost the ball for our troubles. And when we lost the gamble, Audrey Faber going backdoor happened.

Officiating was the standard hot mess, and I'm pretty sure that if they didn't call the last foul to get Qadashah to the line, Joe might have actually lost his mind, given the way the Providence game ended. As it was, the crowd was irate that it wasn't a three-shot foul (which turned out to be crucial, since Q missed the first), but I thought she was not in the motion. There were terrible calls favoring both teams- we spent most of the fourth quarter lambasting the officials only to see Creighton get nailed on a terrible call. (Not the last one, though. One about a minute of game time earlier.)

It's kind of a shame the game got off to such a slow start, since it was a pretty good crowd. I don't know if this was the kind of game that would encourage people to come back.

Not that the call in the Providence game was a sore spot, or a dubious call, or anything of that nature, but Akina didn't even realize it was on her until well after the fact.

Today was another autograph session, and since we don't need anything else autographed, we just rolled through to give our regards to the squad. They had an impressive array of posters available, though. I was impressed.

I just don't know what to do with this team. I love them dearly, but I just don’t know what to make of them, where they're going, or if they're even completely certain of who they are. There's the potential for passion- we saw it in the third quarter when the bench woke up a little. But the word that comes most to mind right now is "dutiful", and I don't know if that's a good defining attribute for a team.

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January 11th, 2019: Providence at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: St. John's was up as much as 11, but couldn't hold on, and Maddie Jolin's free throw with 0.7 seconds left in overtime made up the margin in Providence's 67-66 win at Carnesecca Arena. Jolin had 19 points to lead all scorers, with Mary Baskerville adding 14 points and 10 rebounds. Alisha Kebbe had a team-high 16 points. Curteeona Brelove had a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds.

For too many kids, comfortable seats, rolling signs, lunch, cruelty to the common clipboard, and an inability to hit shots at the rim, join your intrepid and frustrated blogger after the jump.

Good morning! Again. I'm not built for morning games, even when they have my team. We're coming to you on the inevitable tape delay from Carnesecca Arena, where St. John's is osting Providence.

Okay, St. John's has handled ticketing well this year. Unaccompanied majors have their own section, in the chairback seats, center court. (Y'know, as opposed to unaccompanied minors.) So we have good seats and we're not directly surrounded by screaming children. I'm okay with this.

That is... okay, the blue suspenders and paint-splattered-looking white blouse is definitely something, but I have not had nearly enough caffeine to figure out what that something is. She's on the Providence bench, whoever she is.

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They're playing the "baby shark" song, and I feel like I have died and gone to a special hell.

Team just came out, and Machi Duncan's arm is in a sling. Machi, what did you do to yourself?! So we're down to eight players. This is why you bring in more than ten players. Or at least bring in walk-ons.

Oh, cool. There's a digital board on the other side of the court that lists the players on court at any given time. I never saw it before because I'm usually behind it.

And never mind the previous point. There's a group in front of us, but at least they seem to be older, so there will be less indiscriminate screaming. I don't mind screaming as long as it's vaguely focused.

The only thing more annoying than jerseys with no names on the back is jerseys with fake names on the back. Providence all have "Friars" in place of a name.

Well, really, would it have been an official Division I women's basketball game if it didn't turn into a refshow at some point? I think not. But we shouldn't have been in a position for the game to be in that spot in the first place. We had opportunities at the rim and we blew them, plain and simple.

Providence certainly doesn't mind slowing the game down and using every ounce of clock, which shouldn't be a surprise (and really, we should be prepared for). They showed a lot more heart on the glass, and I think their key players were fresher at the end than ours were.

Alyssa Geary certainly is tall, isn't she? She didn't seem to know how to be much else in this game, but her arms were up on defense and against a short team that can be enough. Andrea Cooper provided a contrast in styles, being stockier and shorter than Geary. She had a good interception in the third quarter.

I don't think Earlette Scott got into the game in the first half, though I could be wrong- I wasn't on my sub game because my view of the waiting area was obscured and the PA guy was off his game. But I like the energy she gave them in the second half. She read long Providence shots very well and cleaned up the offensive glass so that Providence could reset their offense. Chanell Williams does not seem to believe she has ever committed a foul in her life, nor that she has ever traveled. Sometimes it's like that, Miss Williams. Kyra Spiwak got her buckets close to the basket, sneaking behind the defense.

Is it just me, or does Yo-Yo Nogic always seem to have a bad game when she plays St. John's, even though Providence otherwise has our number? She gets all the preseason accolades and then shoots really badly and commits fouls. I don't get it. I don't know if it's that we did this one thing right and did terribly at everything else, or she just doesn't match up well with us, or what. She did have a big block on Akina Wellere at the end of the third quarter. Maddie Jolin killed us from outside. She started hot and hit a dagger in overtime. Providence's solid switching gave her a lot of mismatches to exploit with her size. Mary Baskerville is very raw and still needs a lot of development- her touch around the basket on offense could be a lot better- but something about her glass work and her build reminds me of Lubirdia Gordon from Seton Hall. She laid a monster block in the OT to help seal the game for Providence.

Their smaller guards were less impressive. There's something about Olivia Orlando's attitude I actually kind of like. Kaela Webb is small and fast, and I'm not sure how well she fits in this offense, but clearly something is working here. I get the sense this team can be really streaky, and if they get stopped, they get extremely stopped. But if they see an opportunity, they're going for your jugular.

Hey, at least writing about the bench will be easy, since Alissa is sitting out a transfer year, Machi's arm is in a sling, and Moochy was DNP-CD. And for whatever reason, Kayla Charles was on a really short leash. If she made a mistake, she came out quickly and didn't come back in for a very long time. No, she wasn't playing super great, but we needed her, and I don't think she got enough time to work through her mistakes. Kadaja Bailey had a pretty good game, all things considered. It's good to see her possibly turning the corner and finding her groove again. I'd like her to finish better at the rim- she had chances, and she didn't seem to be going up strong on the glass. Too many good looks, not enough makes.

I'm really disappointed in Akina Wellere this year. She's moved away from her strengths and not shored up her weaknesses. She doesn't have a power game, and her shot from the outside has gotten slower. It's very frustrating. Curteeona Brelove missed some easy ones at the rim, but her midrange game got stronger as the game went on. I can live with that. I don't think I can live with the dumb fouls that ultimately led to her being taken out of the game.

Qadashah Hoppie also made some dubious defensive decisions that got her into foul trouble (and honestly, there was at least one rake where she should have been called for a reach-in). Her driving game was strong, but her three-point shot was AWOL, and I wasn't impressed with her on defense- I know she can do better. Alisha Kebbe was cold-blooded from the corner. I don't know how I feel about her becoming our three-point specialist, but if it works for her, then I can't be too upset. I just feel like it takes away from one of her strengths on the glass- if she's not in there mixing it up and boxing out, we're not getting rebounds. Tiana England drove well when she drove, but she spent too much time hesitating, even when Joe was encouraging the team to run (and that seems like a pretty rare thing).

But sitting this close to the bench highlighted a point I've seen before- this is one of the quietest teams I've ever seen. No one seems to be cheering each other on. No one's calling out encouragement or screens or the shot clock from the bench. Is there a leader here? The most passion I see is Joe yelling at the refs or Shenneika being frustrated. (There was one sequence where she was ready to slam her clipboard against the railing behind the bench, then seemed to realize that that would be a bad idea and brought the clipboard down with a marked speed decrease.)

I can't speak to the call that gave Providence the winning free throw, because I missed the entire sequence because the group in front of us chose that moment to leave. But it seemed like a cheap way to end the game. This crew had trouble counting steps much of th etime, but we got the benefit of some no-calls on reach-in plays.

This is my team, and I love them, but it's getting harder and harder to do so when it's not entirely sure that they love themselves the way they should.

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