Just the Facts, Ma'am: A'dia Mathies had 34 points, and Kentucky used a small first half run to take control of their second round NCAA tournament game, beating Dayton 84-70.
For MOAR hats, free drinks, bendy cheerleaders, redemption, and grabby hands, join your intrepid and clock-racing blogger after the jump.
Good evening, everyone! We're coming to you for the last time this season on the usual tape delay from Carnesecca Arena on the grounds of St. John's University, in some-yet-to-be-identified neighborhood of Queens, New York. Second-seeded Kentucky and seventh-seeded Dayton will be squaring off for the dubious pleasure of going to Bridgeport; on one hand, woo-hoo, it's the Sweet Sixteen, but on the other hand, it's Bridgeport. Hard to get excited about that city. (Sorry, Nutmeggers.)
The bands have officially opened battle. Dayton's band did "Crazy Train". Kentucky's band immediately followed up with "Crazy Train". The Dayton band did not look amused. Their version was better, anyway.
A fair amount of St. John's fans stuck around for this one. I'm impressed and pleased.
I also really want Ukari Figgs's shirt, but that's because I really like royal blue, though that is not why I am leaning towards Kentucky in this one.
At halftime, it's Kentucky, 40-31, and A'dia Mathies lives, with 15 points. They keep leaving her open in the corner, and she keeps hitting threes. Kentucky went on a huge run to bust open a14-all game, but Dayton's hanging tough. Andrea Hoover has 13 for the Flyers. Dayton is having a lot more trouble finding the open man than they did against us.
I think Kentucky missed the game tape from Dayton-St. John's on Sunday. They seemed inclined to let Dayton get back into it for a while, but then A'dia Mathies happened, as she did quite a bit that night.
Brittany Wilson played a little bit in the first half, but not again in the second, which surprised me; I would have thought Jabir would use her to bang with Stallworth and Walker a little bit and try to wear them out. Kelley Austria committed an exceptionally stupid foul and somehow missed the scouting report that getting trapped in the corner against Kentucky is a recipe for disaster. I did like the offensive rebound she sneaked out of the pack with on a Hoover miss, though. Olivia Applewhite at least brought good physical defense, even if she couldn't get her shots to fall. I like the way she plays, though she does have to work on her shooting.
Samantha MacKay, what are you even doing fouling a three-point shooter? This was not the greatest game she's ever played, to be polite about it. She was careless with the ball (which is never a good plan against Kentucky) and just threw up some very bad shots. Amber Deane looked like she was in a little over her head (which, since she's a freshman and Kentucky is kind of vicious, doesn't surprise me). She had one brilliant save on the baseline- she pulled off the "throw it off the opponent" move perfectly. Andrea Hoover did pretty much the same thing to Kentucky as she did to St. John's, only more inside the arc. Cassie Sant started off hot for Dayton, with midrange jumpers and moves on the baseline, but she got into a little bit of first half foul trouble, and I think that might have affected her confidence in the second half. Ally Malott was solid, but Dayton needed her to be more than solid if they wanted to spring the upset.
In general, Dayton looked rattled by the Kentucky defense, and hopeful when Kentucky overreached or slipped an assignment. Jabir was getting frustrated, too. "STOP FOULING!" he yelled at one point in the second half, when they went into the penalty.
Azia Bishop played very briefly, but I think she might have either gotten hurt during the game or been injured beforehand; she was holding her left arm tight against her body during the handshake line. Janee Thompson got minutes as part of the hockey-style line changes, but didn't make much of an impact. Jelleah Sidney mixed it up in the lane and got into a little bit of shoving with Dayton players. Brittany Henderson gave them some very good minutes off the bench as a tough, physical guard who boxed out well- if Pinkett had hit the three off that pretty pass she threw, the place would have gone off even more than it already was during that run. Bria Goss gave Kentucky the bulk of their bench minutes and was a spark on both ends of the floor.
We saw more frequent substitutions from Kentucky tonight, both in quantity and frequency. And Matt Insell is probably going to be gone in no more than two years. He did a lot of the yelling on the sideline, to the point where I thought the officials were going to remind him of his role and tell him to sit down.
Another questionable game from Kastine Evans, though she was better on the defensive end than she was against Navy. She still seemed to be the target of most of Matthew Mitchell's criticism, though we caught a couple of other Wildcats being hollered at. Samarie Walker drove the lane well- except that any top-10-team level starter should be able to hit a lay-up from the left side. She blew one shot by forcing herself to go right and take the shot with her right hand. But she's a tough rebounder, and I guess I can give her a little bit of a pass, given what I later heard was the reason she had to switch into a throwback #22. (We didn't see her barfing, which I'm okay with, since seeing players barf at two games is more than enough for my history.) Jennifer O'Neill's passing was not particularly crisp, and she did seem to enjoy taking shots from somewhere in the vicinity of the Whitestone Bridge, but I still like how she runs her team. I'm sort of a sucker for floor generals who run their team with unmistakable authority, I don't know if you've noticed. And she did come up with a couple of big plays in the second half. DeNesha Stallworth was a stalwart in the post, plus she brought her jumper to this game.
And then there was A'dia Mathies, who seemed to have taken the lousy game from Sunday to heart and roared back to life with a vengeance, going down the lane for lay-ups and hitting three after three from the corner. She looked like the first round pick she has been touted to be. (Oh, and Bill Laimbeer was in the audience...)
The people around me who were cheering for Kentucky- both the Kentucky fan base and the St. John's fans who returned for the second round- were extremely upset at the officials for what they perceived to be unfair calls. The fact of the matter is that, yeah, Kentucky holds and reaches a lot as part of their defense, and if they get the wrong crew, they're going to be in a lot of trouble. The refs let everyone play in the first half, then tightened up in the second. (Not that there weren't bad calls against Kentucky; O'Neill has a case.)
Dayton added another hat to the band collection, a flight cap. Also, the band director's jacket was red and blue striped, with sequins and flashing lights. Seriously, Kim Mulkey would have thought it was over the top and a touch ostentatious.
Great fan support for Kentucky and from the Dayton band. I am all in favor of stomping on the bleachers.
Thank you for the free Diet Coke, person who got busted at the gate. I took it home with me afterwards.
On to Bridgeport!
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
March 26th, 2013: Dayton at Kentucky
Sunday, March 24, 2013
March 24th, 2013: Dayton @ St. John's
Just the Facts, Ma'am: St. John's came back from a 13-point deficit with 5:18 to go and forced overtime, but ultimately Dayton came away with a 96-90 win in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Andrea Hoover had 24 points, 16 in the first half, to lead the Flyers; Kelley Austria had 14 of her 21 in the second half and overtime. Nadirah McKenith led St. John's with 22 points, nine rebounds, and 10 assists.
For pride, hats, flags, red, and gutting it out, join your intrepid and serene blogger after the jump.
Why are there so many UConn fans here, omg. You guys had your own pod, stop stalking Samarie Walker already.
Dayton's band is hogging all the airtime. Come on, guys. Let our guys go.
Amber Thompson is probably going to kill her mother for the head-on-a-stick. Our Newark contingent has gone all out (they probably planned for that Trenton regional) with signs and ticket sales. And giant heads on sticks.
Okay, I'm enjoying Dayton's band, but I think I'd like them more if they weren't stepping on our time. I think our band is starting to get annoyed at them.
At halftime it's 43-30 Dayton, and if Joe Tartamella is not ripping his team several new ones based on their inability and/or unwillingness to guard the three-point line, I want his job because he's not doing it. Andrea Hoover has 16 for the Flyers. Shenneika Smith has 10. Dayton has done an excellent job of finding the open man when the double comes.
I'm not disappointed in the team, merely that I don't get to see them again. I'm not angry. I'm not ashamed. I'm sad, but that's it. You can't ask for more than everything, and they left everything on the floor. When I thought they didn't have enough left in the tank, they gutted it out of them somehow, and they never stopped fighting.
I do not know where Assertive, Aggressive Ashley Perez has been all season, but I would absolutely adore it if she stuck around for the next three years instead of Slightly Scared Mouse Ashley Perez. She hustled hard on defense, to somewhat more effect than usual- and then the shots started falling. Turns out the problem was that she was taking them too close to the line; once she took a couple of steps back and started hitting them from Nassau County, she was into her groove. She also was more willing to drive, though her shot selection was a little shakier there. She carried us through the second half and the first overtime, but in the latter part of the overtime, she started to falter. It's been a while since she's had to go that hard that long. She started heaving up panic shots that fell short. Still. Good to have her. Keylantra Langley was a step slow on defense and kept leaving her man open. Not good when one of your primary duties is to play defense. Would have liked to see her be a little more assertive on offense. Mary Nwachukwu played sparingly, just to give Amber Thompson some relief from foul trouble, and was not particularly effective. I'd yell at her that she needs to rebound the ball, but that was the last game of her senior year, so she doesn't have to rebound anything anymore.
Briana Brown kept getting out of position on defense. This was not a good match-up for her, and I think it affected her offensive confidence as well as her defensive confidence. She went to the floor for loose balls as always, though. She's tough. She'll rebound. Aliyyah Handford had some issues with her handle, but when she went hard to the paint, no one was stopping her. If that tip-in had gone in at the end of the first overtime... but it didn't. She played hard. She tried to keep us in it during the second overtime. Amber Thompson had a lackluster first half and then exploded in the second half and overtime. Suddenly the easy shots she'd missed were going in. Suddenly she was pulling down rebounds with authority. She took over in the second half. That's the Amber I know and appreciate and look forward to two years of.
The seniors get their own paragraph, because they were awesome and I'm not going to be able to write about them again, and that makes me incredibly sad. Shenneika Smith put on a show to open the game, countering on seemingly every Dayton run. She was slashing, she was taking jumpers, she was being the star that we knew she could be. Her hands were up and active and moving. And then Nadirah McKenith pretty much took the team on her shoulders. Scoring, rebounding, dishing, stealing, hustling, defense... Nadirah did everything and anything she could to pull St. John's through. When she fouled out on the charge (which was a call I couldn't argue with, though many around me did), she was inconsolable, head buried in her jersey, shoulders shaking, needing to be pulled out of her chair to join the huddle at the next timeout. My heart broke for her. She's been such a rock for us... it hurts when she's hurting. We chanted her name when she went out of the game, and I know it wasn't enough, but maybe she'll n the huddle at the next timeout
Okay, I guess I should talk about Dayton, because they played just as hard and were even better than we were. But it's hard, because they're not my team and I don't know them as well because I didn't have a roster, and I'm still entirely too proud of my team to talk about the team that beat them. But seriously, Dayton and their fans and their band were fantastic, and I look forward to their eventual inclusion in the Big East.
Olivia Applewhite killed us on the boards, and that bucket in the second overtime was a backbreaker. I was very impressed with her, although she's got to be more careful about staying on the bench when she's not in the game. I like her toughness. Kelley Austria was a steady consistent offensive force for the Flyers off the bench, getting the job done on backdoor cuts and drives down the lane. She owned the show in the second overtime. Brittany Wilson was a tank- I still don't know why she set that screen on Nadirah away from the play, but whatever. I wouldn't have expected her to swish that three, though.
We could not get a body on Andrea Hoover for the entire first half. She just kept slipping loose and getting open on the right side. It was exceedingly frustrating. She was less of a factor later in the game, but by then Samantha MacKay was stepping it up. Amber Deane looked like a player with a lot of potential, but I'm not sure if she felt like she was ever in the game. She was steady, but she didn't leave much of an impression. I think the scouting report keyed heavily on Ally Malott, because she didn't get a lot of opportunities. Cassie Sant didn't hit a lot of shots, but the ones she hit were well timed.
It's hard to get a handle on Dayton because of the lack of names on either jerseys or roster. (I need to whip up a scorecard one of these days, for games when a program is $10 and I have no idea who half of these people are.) In general, their passing was sharp and crisp and they were great at finding lanes. Just a very solid team that's run well.
Officiating was interesting. Not necessarily in a good way. To be fair, I thought Dayton got the short end of the stick in regulation (except for getting the timeout granted the second time they tied it up), but I was really not happy with the charge that fouled Nadirah out of the game. Neither was the crowd. But ultimately, the refs didn't decide the game.
The crowd atmosphere was amazing. I wish I could have bottled it and saved it for next year, because it was the kind of cheering we so rarely get at Carnesecca for a women's game. Stomping, cheering, chanting, screaming... can we carry it through without Shenneika and Nadirah?
The Dayton band has a ridiculous number of hats. At least four. We tried to trade with them, but they didn't have any extras. :( I think my favorite was the one with the giant airplane on top. They use the same cheer cadence as Villanova, which is very confusing.
The second half, I thought we were done. Dayton was up 13 at the half, and for most of the half, we'd score a basket, then let Dayton take it right back, then cut it to 6 or 7, then Dayton would pull it back out to 13, wash, rinse, repeat. The last couple of minutes happened in what seemed like a blink.
I'm so incredibly proud of my team and the year they pulled out. It would have been easy to strike the tents after Gina tore her ACL, but we surged back in Big East play. Our young players have gotten valuable experience, and we'll be back.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
March 9th, 2008: Atlantic 10 semifinals
You gotta be tough to survive, and tougher to advance, in the Atlantic 10- just ask Temple and Dayton. But you can have a sense of humor about it too- just ask George Washington and Xavier.
Day 3 (well, day 2 for me) dawned far earlier than it should have, thanks to Daylight Savings Time and insufficient sleep the night before. Nevertheless, we hied ourselves hence to Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse for the semifinals, where we met up with and introduced ourselves to the lovely and dedicated dwalkfan. Had we been just a hair more emotionally invested in Temple, we would have bought the awesome t-shirts- "REPO" on the front, with Hooter on the back clutching a net and the A-10 trophy in his talons.
Because the games were on CSTV, and because attendance had blown several large chunks the night before, one whole side of the arena was closed off (later, Charlotte would settle into there, but I don't think that counts so much towards paid attendance, and I wouldn't want to chase the one upset team from quarters out- isn't elimination enough without insult?) to compress the fan base and make the place look full. The Temple fans and the Dayton fans got into it early and often- oh, not fan-on-fan violence, but competing chants. Lots of noise as background to the broadcast, which I'm sure made the execs happy.
Dayton got a lot of breaks in the game; it seemed like a lot of questionable out-of-bounds calls and block/charge calls went their way. They just couldn't get through the Temple defense to capitalize. I… really don't know what Dayton's coach was thinking, to be completely honest with you. Remember how I said that Kendel Ross was the best player for Dayton in the Charlotte game? She was hitting shots, she was getting offensive rebounds, she was doing her share and then some to carry them over the 49ers. For whatever reason, he didn't give her all that much run, even though I see I missed her initial entry into the game. Still, I would have gone with what worked until she proved that it didn't, you know? This time the hot shooting came from Kiki Lund (who also played well in the Charlotte game), but 'most all of the Flyers were shut down.
Lady Comfort stepped up big in this game- Shanea Cotton got into major foul trouble in the first half, so she had to be all the muscle. She completely owned the paint against Dayton, and showed flashes of being more than just a goon. Ashley Morris got hers, but she really showed both her Philadelphia roots and her mentoring by Staley in this game- a lot of her passes were too much for her teammates to handle, and she was a little faster with the ball than her feet were. In that sense, she reminded me of a young Staley, although she doesn't have quite the same build. But leave it to a New Yorker to save a Philly team's bacon; in the second half, when Dayton had taken a one-point lead, Lindsay Kimmel hit back-to-back threes to give Temple the lead and room to breathe with it, and that was enough for Temple to survive, because those two threes gave Temple a five-point lead, same as the final spread. I think that put the swagger back in the Owls' step.
Major awesomeness from Hooter today- he seemed much more enthusiastic than he was yesterday, even getting into a routine with the cheerleaders that ended with the Owl up in a lift. That takes big brass ones to do in a mask that completely covers your face.
I don't envy the Dayton fans having to go back to Ohio and that large snow system that's waiting there for them, but they have nothing to be ashamed of. Their team played well, and if they can just make a run at one of those Chaminade-Julienne kids, they might seriously be something someday soon. And if I'm Temple, I'm not real cocky after this game, because they damn near choked it away, up thirteen with three and a half to go. Their opponent for the A-10 crown shows no mercy and will go for the jugular if they sense weakness.
On to game 2, after a TV-mandated 40-minute break (as compared to the twenty minutes that were afforded the day before). This was the George Washington-Xavier matchup, and it was an utter blast more for the fun in the stands than it was for the action on the court. See, both teams had their bands… and both bands were really into the game… and both bands had eclectic repertoires. George Washington won the first sally with their transposition of "Bohemian Rhapsody"; by the end, the Xavier band had their cell phones in the air. Then Xavier gave Kimberly Beck hell for airballing an early shot- she heard the "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaairbaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall!" chants all night. Of course, at the other end, GW's fans and band were giving Special Jennings all kinds of grief for her name. And then Xavier started in on their rather traditional "spell out your school name" chant during free throws. Well, the George Washington fans weren't having with that, so they did it too. Yes, that's right. G-E-O-R-G-E-SPACE-W-A-S-H-I-N-G-T-O-N-SPACE-U-N-I-V-E-R-S-I-T-Y. Yes, they added the university part. Yes, they actually said "space!" between each word. Xavier struck back with their cheerleaders and the routine they have with spelling out the school name with their bodies. The GW fans had no answer for that, and of course, Xavier won the most important part of the whole episode.
At one point near the end of the game, I declared to the world at large that Ta'Shia Phillips could not be allowed to score anymore, as I was running out of room on my bootleg scoresheet to record her points. She went on to add a field goal and a free throw. I was not amused. She had her way in the paint, although some of the bullshit foul calls on the Adairs did not help one bit; by the end of the game, all three major frontcourt players for the Colonials had four fouls. Amber Harris took a hard hit in the second half and came up looking like… well, not so much "who am I and what am I doing here" as "ooooh, pretty colors!" After that, while she had a couple of late shots, she also started racking up stupid fouls. Xavier also got big shots from Jerri Taylor, and Maureen Harter, as she did in the first game, took care of all the team's whining needs- she's one of those players who would swear on a stack of Bibles that she never committed a foul in her life. Perhaps Jennings was disconcerted by the loudness of the George Washington fan contingent calling her name, because she didn't seem to be as much in control of the game as she was against St. Joseph's; of course, GW is also a higher-quality opponent, and she faced a better defender, and she did get her assist numbers.
As mentioned above, both Adairs were hobbled by bullshit fouls- Parrish also had four, but I can think of three calls against the Adairs as a combination that were pure, unadulterated crap. And they weren't effective on the other side of the ball, either. A lot of GW's problems on offense came from trying to force the ball over the top into the post- this is not a brilliant notion when the Musketeers' defense is anchored by a six-five forward with a ridiculous wingspan. Beck didn't play particularly well, I felt; she tried to force too much and let herself get rattled. I don't know if this was a coach's decision or a point guard's decision, but they waited too long to get Lawrence and Allen going, preferring to go into the post instead of onto the perimeter. Why play to Xavier's strengths?
Rule of thumb, dear crew: if you have caused Joe McKeown to swear at you? YOU HAVE MADE AN UNSPEAKABLY HORRID CALL. There were a couple of plays where he got quite animated, and one where I'm fairly certain he dropped the word "bullshit!" Then again, does the name Roy Gulbeyan ring any bells? I thought it might…
I still believe GW was the better team- they just didn't play like it. I'm not as sold on Beck as I was yesterday, but I do think she'd make a great backup for someone in the WNBA.
Temple and Xavier for the title belt. Shanea Cotton and Ta'Shia Phillips should be billed as the undercard; those two deserve each other, with the elbows and the hips they throw, and I wish I could see Morris versus Jennings.
March 8th, 2008: Atlantic 10 quarterfinals
The Atlantic 10's new slogan: We know where our towel is.
I don't want to say that I was psyched up for this road trip, but I was up at three in the morning the day we were scheduled to leave, and I haven't slept yet, except for the occasional catnap in the car. So if these notes are a little loopier, a little less coherent, and a little more oddly phrased than you're used to seeing from this prolific note-taker, there's a very good reason for it- I've been up for almost twenty-four hours straight. At least for the first three games of the fourplay. The balance are being written from the familiar confines of the 718.
Part of why I'm a little disoriented is because the quadruple-header tipped off almost two hours late because there was a leak in the roof that came down right over the lane in front of the high seed's bench, and a secondary leak near the scoreboard. Fun times for all as one brave gentleman went up on a cherry-picker several times to sort out what the problem was. He first attempted to hang a bucket from the rafters, but it didn't stick. Somehow, though, stretching a towel between two rafters seemed to do the trick without sagging into collapse for seven hours. I wish I knew what kind of material that thing was made of…
It was very hard to take the PA announcer seriously, because he sounded like a slightly higher-pitched Bullwinkle J. Moose. Same intonations.
Don't know how many teams sent representatives, but even from a distance, we recognized Catherine Proto and Nick DiPillo from the Liberty's coaching staff. Methinks they were scouting Beck; DiPillo was definitely taking more detailed notes in game 3 than he was the rest of the time.
First game was #1 Temple versus #8 Richmond. Richmond brought a fair contingent, and their mascot (who's revamped their costume and looks more like Jessica Drew than Peter Parker, if you follow what I mean) was very animated. The Temple fans were out in force, of course, what with this being Philadelphia and all. One of them brought a title belt emblazoned with the A-10 logo and they hollered "YOU CAN'T HAVE THIS!" when the Spiders came out for practice. Temple, like the other high seeds in the tournament, brought their band, as well as their mascot. Made for a nice loud crowd.
Richmond found themselves forcing shots against the tenacious and physical Temple defense- but I'm definitely not saying that Richmond was innocent in these matters. There was a lot of hitting by both sides. I got the distinct sense that neither team was particularly fond of the other. Unfortunately, the Spiders got the worst of a lot of the calls. Temple's extremely physical style… well, put it this way: if they weren't coached by a Philadelphia legend who's also an Olympian and a WNBA All-Star, I sincerely doubt the Owls would get the benefit of the doubt as often as they do. I was all set to cheer for Temple- home team of sorts and a Board Junkie on the bench- but I was so put off by the rough play that I threw in my lot with Richmond.
For Richmond, I loved me some Brittani Shells- nice aggressive shooter, filled the stat sheet decently. I also liked Christina Campion's all-around game. Most of the offense went through those two in the first half, and in much of the second half, although Joanna McKnight saw fit to make her presence felt in the second, scoring all ten of her points in the second half. I think Crystal Goring has potential if she can put a little meat on her frame and work on her footwork. Also, dear Spiders, please stop going over the top to people who can't catch passes. IT DOESN'T WORK.
Temple was rough, as I've mentioned; the ironically named Lady Comfort, along with the more normally named Shanea Cotton and Shenita Landry, were throwing their weight around freely. Cotton kept putting me in mind of a loaf of Easter bread with her thick plait of hair that kept coming undone, to the point where she actually had to be subbed out to retie her hair. I was impressed with Staley's careful balancing act in handling her post rotation, as Cotton and Comfort both picked up four fouls early in the second half, while Landry played with three fouls for most of the game. She managed to keep all three of them in play for most of the game until Cotton picked up her fifth on a really stupid attempted block. Ashley Morris, while I like the way she runs her team and fears nothing, is not 5'5". 5'3", maybe. On a good day. With Dawn Staley's stilettos on.
I knew Richmond was done for with about twelve minutes left in the second half, when they had four chances to tie or take the lead on this one possession (I don't remember the exact score at the time) and completely blew it. They would keep drawing closer, and then they would lose it. And they don't have time, because while Shells is only a freshman, Campion is a senior. I think Richmond will stay competitive in the conference, though, because they keep getting players and their coach does know how to use them- of course, a solid coach in the A-10 always has the chance to move up on the ladder, if you know what I mean.
Dwalkfan did a superb job mopping up during a set of free throws when the towel dripped slightly. Excellent job camouflaging the Richmond-blue sweater with that jacket, chica.
Gulbeyan worked this game as crew chief, and I think that did affect the officiating in Temple's favor, as mentioned earlier. I'd love to take apart Temple's record and check out the foul differential in wins and losses, see whether that's one of the critical factors.
Game two of the fourplay was #5 Dayton versus #4 Charlotte. From a fashion standpoint, I almost wished Charlotte had been the lower seed, if only because their road uniforms are far more attractive than their home whites. But then they wouldn't have been able to bring their most excellent cheerleading squad and a band that could transpose "Iron Man" into something for marching band and still make it recognizable, so there's that to be said for tiebreakers.
This was a much faster-paced game than the first- it was one of the fastest of the four. Both teams liked to run it a lot. Made it more interesting. Unfortunately, the refs did their damnedest to make it less interesting as a game and more interesting in terms of tournament seeding. Not amusing.
Charlotte goes full throttle in everything they do. They brought a sizeable, if not very loud, fan base; their cheerleaders were the most athletic out there (and at one point, they proclaimed themselves to be fuckin' metal); their band was among the most enthusiastic; their team, until approximately the fourth quarter of their game, left it all on the court. Remind me again why the Sting couldn't draw in the same effing town? The 49ers, at least in the first half, went after every loose ball and played tough, sticky one-on-one defense. I loved senior forward Sabrina Gregory, who had a way of running her team and was the linchpin of their defense. Guard Shannon McCallum also impressed me; I liked the way she looked for her shot. In general, though, Charlotte played a very balanced game; everyone scored, and looking at the boxscore, everyone played at least ten minutes, so there's that to be said for their coach's style. On the other hand, Charlotte doesn't seem to know what to do when things go bad. They got a lot of crappy calls against them on the offensive end, and when Dayton started to pull away on the strength of free throws and three-pointers, they just wilted. You could almost see the intensity level drop. It was a sad, sad thing.
Dayton looked like they weren't quite sure what to do with prosperity. Even at the end of the game, when they were running away with it by damn near thirty, they were taking threes with time on the shot clock. This is not on, people. This is not on. Running up the score on Charlotte is not going to make Temple quake in their sneakers; it's going to make Lady Comfort flatten you against the stanchion. Dayton looked to be a "live by the three, die by the three" team, and they survived by the three. That being said, I loved sophomore forward Kendel Ross, who came alive in the second half on the offensive boards- she had two that spring to mind as fierce follows, and one amazing pass to Nikki Oakland that resulted in an assist. I think she recognized the urgency that her senior teammates were playing with, recognized that Dayton needed this game to be even seriously considered as a tournament at-large, and kicked it up a notch, and I like that in a player.
Sometime during the game, the refs just turned on Charlotte like the 49ers owed them money or something, and it got ugly fast. At one point, when the foul differential was something like 8 to 3 with a lot of time left in the second half, I caught Gregory looking at the scoreboard and shaking her head in frustration. That was about the time that Charlotte took it down a notch, and it's a crying shame to see a team brought that low that easily, though I'm sure the onus is as much on the coach as it is on the uneven calls.
The worst part about the way the first half of the fourplay shook out is that I don't want to root for Temple, I don't want to root for Dayton, and I can't even root for the flaming abyss, because I don't want to end up in the flaming abyss myself, and also, where would they play the second game? I like GW. I don't want them to end up in a flaming abyss.
Speaking of George Washington, game three pitted the #2 Colonials against #10 Rhode Island (who, fortunately for GW's sanity, knocked St. Bonaventure out in qualifiers). GW does things right, man. Their band has jerseys with their class number on them, and they rocked out pretty hard. A big loud fan base came down for the game- makes sense, because they were pretty certain that they'd be around for the whole weekend- but it's still pretty damn awesome. They brought their mascot, and while they didn't have their cheerleaders, they did have their dance team, and strangely enough, I can see parallels between the dance team and the basketball team: they go about their business competently and classily, they're very good at what they do, they work well with each other, and there is a minimum of wasted motion in everything they do.
Rhode Island was in over their heads, and I think they knew it, but that didn't keep them from trying to make it interesting, and I salute them for that. Definitely didn't help their cause that their leading scorer was held to 1-12 shooting and got into foul trouble early. That all being said, I loved LaQuanda Brandon, who decided in the second half that she was going to do her level best to make this a respectable game. She seemed to be everywhere. This is a good thing. They also got great shooting out of Amanda McGrew, although GW seemed to figure her out after her third three. I enjoyed the bench play from Rhode Island more than their starters, actually; Brandon, Sierra Cooper, and Ebony Evans brought a lot more intensity and passion than the starting five.
Kimberly Beck. Mother of mercy. WANT. SO MUCH WANT. She could do with some muscle, especially on her toothpick legs, but WANT. She's one of those players who, as soon as she walks on the court with her team, owns the game and is clearly and totally in control of her team. Love her court vision. Love her defense. Love her shooting- she had one amazing clutch three as the shot clock was winding down, although I hesitate to use the word clutch when it comes to a game that was won by 27. Love her hustle. Love her intensity. I hope she's around with our second first-rounder. I think she'd be a great complement to Loree Moore. But George Washington brought a full team effort, and I think Whitney Allen may have played herself into the attention of WNBA scouts with her shooting and rebounding. Sarah-Jo Lawrence started off hot, but she got hurt in the second half and never came back in (though, granted, that might just have been because there was no reason to bring her back, but we'll know more about that during the semis). The Adairs are… well, the boy described them as a poor man's Paris twins, and I suppose that's true in a sense, but McKeown seems to have a rule that there must always be an Adair on the court, but almost never more than one; either that or he likes to screw around with PA announcers, because they were almost constantly in and out for each other. I think the better one came off the bench, but both of them seemed to be in the mold of big girls who are simply just big. I also don't think GW is going to lose as much as people think in terms of point guard play when Beck graduates, because I like Rivera; she just needs to get some of the rough edges smoothed out.
On to game four, Xavier versus St. Joseph's. If you're exhausted from reading these notes, don't worry; I was just as exhausted the day of the game, and by the time this matchup rolled around, there were kids asleep in the bleachers. This was a game that I thought St. Joseph's had a decent chance of stealing, since I wasn't sure how good Xavier was, and St. Joseph's has pulled interesting upsets on their home floor in the A-10 tournament before. The crowd wasn't as big as I would have expected it to be, but then again, there was that giant delay, and Hawk fans might have considered it a lost cause. Besides, a fair number of GW fans stuck around, so the arena looked halfway decent.
I really don't like the way these Musketeers handle themselves. I don't remember them having this kind of arrogance the last time I saw them, in the A-10 tournament two years ago. I'll admit that I'm a little biased because I don't like the way Xavier's been recruiting lately- the Purdue situation, the transfers from Rutgers- it all makes me uneasy about what McGuff is doing or promising. But they seem to carry themselves with a large chip on their shoulders. Honestly, if I were a Purdue fan and I saw this team, I'd be relieved that Ta'Shia Phillips wasn't on my team. She's nasty. Talented, don't get me wrong, but she plays dirty. She and Amber Harris seriously seemed to have it in for one of the Hawk forwards, and I don't understand why. Harris… she's freaky. She looked so out of place on the court because of her size that it was frightening. She reminded me a little of Garnett in her build. St. Joseph's had no answer for her, or for Phillips. Bear these words in mind. I liked the backcourt tandem of Taylor and Jennings, especially Taylor's shooting. On the other hand, while I enjoyed watching her on the court and the way she ran her team, I cannot take anyone named Special seriously. Yes. Special Jennings. I wish I were kidding.
Most of the Hawks had been wandering through the building throughout the elongated quadrupleheader, so I grew quickly fond of the tall, eccentric redhead who spent a lot of time shaking her booty to the music coming over the sound system. She turned out to be the hustling and oft-whacked freshman center Sarah Acker, who did her best against the bigger, stronger, and more aggressive Harris and Phillips. I'll say this for St. Joseph's: they embodied the essence of their school, the whole "The Hawk will never die" thing and the motto on all the banners around the campus- "The faith and strength to dare". They never gave up, even when Xavier was up big at the end of the game and showboating. Amy Wold's shooting and Loschiavo's playmaking impressed me- I think St. Joseph's, if they didn't have the rest of the Big Five to compete against in terms of recruiting, could do very well for themselves with the coach they have, if she doesn't decide to leave for a better position.
So after the second day, four teams were left to dance for the A-10 title: Temple, Dayton, George Washington, and Xavier.
Awards for the first day, from yours truly:
Best players: Ashley Morris, Temple; Kendel Ross, Dayton; Kimberly Beck, George Washington; Amber Harris, Xavier
Best coaching job: Dawn Staley, Temple
Best cheerleaders: Charlotte, by a mile- their squad was classy and athletic.
Best band: George Washington by a hair- the jerseys put them over the top. But all four top seeds brought great bands.
Best mascot: Richmond. Spidey actually worked with the Richmond cheerleaders on a couple of routines.
Best fan contingent: Close between Dayton and GW. Sorry, Philly fans, but you're going to have to do a lot more than you did to get the award.