December 8th, 2019: Seton Hall at Iona

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Seton Hall came out of the gate strong and never looked back in an 89-37 pounding of Iona. Desiree Elmore had 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Pirates. Shyan Mwai had 13 to lead the Gaels.

For redecorating, reorienting, reordering, revisiting, and wrecking, join your intrepid and alliterative blogger after the jump.

We're back in the saddle again, apparently determined to take every train in the Bronx at some point this year. Seton Hall visits Iona, and that's a game I wouldn't miss for the world. As the song lyric goes, "we have history, or don't you remember?" That's where we got entangled in this ever-more-complex network of friendships and loyalties, back when Tony Bozzella coached the Gaels and Lauren DeFalco and Marissa Flagg were among his point guards. And that's where we finally gave up one of our core teams, when Alexis Lewis and her classmate Treyanna Clay transferred out and loyalty no longer compelled us to follow a coach we didn't respect.

Rumor has it there will be a slew of alumnae in attendance. I'm looking forward to some high-quality people-watching.

"Oh, you've redecorated," the "I don't like it" edition: Iona has added fancy new modern academic buildings without considering the aesthetic of the existing campus, and it looks like someone with no imagination was playing with Legos in the middle of a Christmas village.

"Oh, you've redecorated," the "I love it!" edition: the Hynes Athletic Center has gotten quite the makeover, with a change in orientation, new bleachers, fancy new seats, shiny new scoreboards, and a maroon paint job so fresh I can still smell it. Having but a single entrance for public use, and having that entrance lead directly behind the field of play (to the point where I was stepping around the mop) seems like a bad idea. It's a good thing we get in early. I can't imagine what that's going to look like ten minutes before game time.

There is a woman in the Seton Hall section with a purse made from a Spaulding basketball, and I mentally went full Gollum. We wants it, we wants the preciousssssss.

Iona's band is prepared for war. They have a piper. Yes. Someone just rolled up with a set of bagpipes. And they didn't even play the pipes.

Another member of the Iona-Seton Hall blended family, Aleesha Powell, is currently socializing behind the Pirates' bench.

Today I learned that platinum blonde dye jobs run in families! That is... wow, that's bright. If we stick her behind the basket, we might be able to distract Iona at the line. (I fully expect to be closer to the "Damika's Aunt Helen" end of the scale than the "polite visiting fan" end of the scale today.)

It's 39-17 Seton Hall at halftime, and I still demand more. Officials are letting a lot of contact go, and from the chirping, this is not a good plan, especially when they're calling cheap hand-check fouls. (Lauren Park-Lane is probably especially salty about her third, given that Iona traveled three steps with the ball before she made contact.) Shyan Mwai is the Iona offense, with 13 of their 17 points. Desiree Elmore has 12 for Seton Hall.

I know there are other alumnae here, but I don't recognize them. It's been a long time. And yet being in this building is enough to stir memories of "Let's go Gaels" and "I-O-N-A!" and "go, fight, win".

Not gonna lie, watching Selena Philoxy get her groove thang on to every piece of music she hears, even during timeouts, is a joy and a delight. Even if she probably should be focusing more on the content of the timeout meeting. And I'm also not sure what the protocols are around dancing to the other school's fight song.

That went about how I was expecting, except for our inability to hit free throws and maybe Iona's inability to shoot anything except their own feet. If you can't hit shots, hit the other team.

(New York subway justice: the dude blasting music from his speaker yelling at the dude with the cigarette.)

I shouldn't really be surprised that Jodi-Marie Ramil has fallen as far down the bench as she has. Her hands aren't great, and she missed multiple point-blank shots right at the rim. She slapped the taste out of a couple of weak shots right at the basket. But those shots came from players at the end of the bench, and something tells me most players are going to come at her stronger. De'jah Williams is a bruiser, and admittedly a good first impression is not attempting to put one of my players in a reverse chokehold. She has potential, or at least she would have potential if I thought she had a coach who would help her shore up her weaknesses. She's short for a post, but she's tough. Gabrielle Joseph's communication skills, especially for a sophomore, impressed me; she was out there relaying signals and calling out screens (I think it was her calling out a screen that got the refs to notice Selena Philoxy's screen was not as good as it should have been, resulting in an offensive foul). I'd like for her to pick on someone her own size, though; she put a couple of hits on Lauren Park-Lane that did not please me.

Lucia Becerra Perez popped off the bench and gave the Gaels good minutes at guard- she actually started the second half over Paulla Weekes. If she had better footwork, she'd be a good point guard. But she traveled, and she was careless with the ball. These are habits that can be broken, one presumes. Monica Barefield had a couple of good open looks from the left wing for three very late in the game, when Seton Hall was mostly just trying to avoid fouling. Again, I'm surprised she's slid as far down the rotation as she has, but then again, Billi Chambers's coaching decisions are best epitomized by the shrug emoji.

Juana Camilión has got to stop traveling. She got called for the extra step again and again, and there were at least as many times when she didn't get called for it. If she had a better grasp of the fundamentals, she'd be a star. But she doesn't, so she produces more turnovers than an average bakery instead. Shyan Mwai was the only bright spot for the Gaels in the first half, hitting threes and getting inside for lay-ups. We did a better job on her in the second half, but she also went the bad kind of wild when she had open looks and sent them everywhere but the bottom of the basket.

Tori Lesko is not the player she once was, and it's kind of sad to see. As one of the only players to make it through all four years with Billi Chambers, it seems like she deserves better But the knee injury has robbed her of whatever speed she once possessed, and she either couldn't or wouldn't shoot against our defense. I mean, we did match up well at her position, but still. You genuinely do hate to see it. Morgan Rachu did a good job on the boards, though some of it was as much hockey-style boarding as it was basketball-style boarding. She's not afraid to throw her body around. Her three-point shot was not going down, although her form is decent. Her choice in number pretty much forced that, I'd say. (Yes, I am still annoyed that anyone is wearing #14 for Iona. It's not like Damika Martinez finished among the top scorers in D-I history, after all. It's not like she owns pretty much every record in Iona history and MAAC history OH WAIT.) Paulla Weekes exists. She went out of the game pretty quickly, and I'm not sure she even played in the second half. If you want more than that, play more.

Today I learned that Jocelyn Jones is in fact playing this year for Seton Hall, as she checked in late in garbage time. My understanding is that she was injured, and she looked like a player trying to get herself back into playing shape. That's a whole lot of woman. Whitney Howell came in at the same time, and couldn't quite catch the high pass from McKenna Hofschild. Kailah Harris got some good boards down low. I like her and her stylish goggles. I don't know if the goggles do anything or not, but they look cool. Selena Philoxy brought her usual physicality and multiple moments of "WHAT ARE YOU DOING WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS". Alexia Allesch got a couple of good looks right at the basket and took advantage of them. I know she likes to take threes, but she really seems to have found a niche in the post, and I hope she becomes more willing to use it next year.

McKenna Hofschild ran a fair amount of point guard in the second half, and made it clear that she was looking to pass first and foremost. She showed off some fancy no-look stuff. Undersized with a penchant for showmanship? I can't imagine how she ended up at Seton Hall. Jasmine Smith shot a lot of threes. She shot a lot of them in the fourth quarter, which I don't think was Coach Bozzella's game plan. He did not look happy about the number of shots she took early in the shot clock, in any case. My Jackson got some good run early, which gave us the luxury of testing out the guards further back in the rotation in the second half. Victoria Keenan was the one everyone on the bench was rooting for, and when the first corner three went in, the regulars went a little nuts.

Lauren Park-Lane got into foul trouble in the second quarter on cheap reach-in fouls, and then the fourth foul in the third quarter got her extremely upset because it was a very cheap call that could have been a no-call or even an out-of-bounds on Iona. She didn't get a chance to prove much, but she doesn't have a lot to prove. Barbara Johnson was just about the only Pirate who had trouble shooting from the field- for whatever reason, even her open looks weren't going down.

Desiree Elmore started the game like a house on fire- in fact, looking back now, thanks to my color-coded score card, her eight points were more than Iona managed as a team for the first quarter. She got putbacks, she hit from the midrange, she drove and scored. Des is the queen of stealing the spotlight, and I mean that as a compliment. Put Shadeen Samuels on the watch lists? Des will put up the big numbers. Homecoming for the Iona exes? Des will steal the show. I don't know if she has a pro game, or if she's going to be stuck in tweener limbo. But she's been so much fun to watch for Seton Hall. Alexis Lewis was definitely too amped for this game in the early going- when she missed, she missed hard and she missed long. She made up for it on the offensive glass and with blocked shots. I recall one sequence where she got the block, the board, and a fantastic save, or something to that effect, and yelling, "Don't you wish you had someone like that? OH WAIT" at the Iona bench. Me? Petty? Whatever gave you that idea? Shadeen Samuels looks like she's still getting back into game shape- once or twice it looked like she wasn't getting as far up as she usually does- but you know, I don't think the kid from Ossining was going to miss the game in Westchester County. Pretty sure there's a bus you can take for that kind of thing. (My great Westchester bus adventure, which had a crucial transfer in Ossining, connected through White Plains, but I think there's an alternate route through New Rochelle.) She did an especially good job reading offensive rebounds.

Adventures with intros! Credit where credit is due, Iona gave a warm welcome back to the two alumnae and former coach on the Seton Hall bench, and gave Lexi Lewis pride of place at the end of intros... which no one seemed to realize, because they announced Des and Lexi came out. Mildly awkward, but I don't think it was intentional.

Iona seems to get frustrated easily, and when they get frustrated, the shoulders go out and the feet slip out a little bit. The discipline is lacking, and that starts at the top. It really seemed like Seton Hall's bench was pushing harder than they had to in the fourth quarter, and I'm reminded of something Geno Auriemma once wrote about the end of the bench in blowouts. I'm doing a lot of paraphrasing here, but basically, he intimated that in a game where the margin needs to be managed, it might be better to have your starters in, because the reserves are out there trying to prove themselves and thus aren't going to let up on the gas, even when they're up obscene amounts.

Officiating was so-so. I thought they let a lot of things go that could have gotten ugly, with the elbows and the shoulders. I suspect Lauren Park-Lane agrees with this assessment.

I'm disappointed in what Iona's become. There's potential there- Chambers does seem to be able to recruit. But she can't retain and she can't coach.

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December 21st, 2018: Fordham at Iona

Just the Facts, Ma'am: A slow first quarter for both teams led into a second-quarter run for Fordham, and the Rams didn't look back in their 57-40 win over Iona. Bre Cavanaugh had 15 points and 12 rebounds to lead Fordham. Shyan Mwai and Morgan Rachu each had eight points to pace the Gaels.

For road tripping, avoided puns, procedural turnovers, discount Diet Coke, and being distracted by shiny objects, join your intrepid blogger after the jump.

I'd say good morning to y'all, but it's extremely not a good morning out there. There are no frozen cats, and nothing's been snapped off, but there are flash flood warnings all through southern New York, so I'd say it's still a wonderful day to play inside. It's up to Iona in enemy colors again, as the Gaels host a ridiculously early tip against Fordham. As you might expect, there are about two dozen people in the stands, and that's if I count gameday staff.

Ashley Martin, I admire and respect you, but what in the world have you done to your hair, and why are you trying to look like a cross between Sailor Moon and Betty Boop? (On the other hand, Halei Gillis's partial braids look really good on her. The 'do softens her face a bit.)

Ralene's out of the boot, at least, though she does not appear to be dressing out today.

The one thing I miss most about being on good terms with Iona is the wi-fi password, not gonna lie. At least I can tap into the Spectrum network from here.

This is your perennial reminder that #14 should be retired on the women's side at Iona, and Billi Chambers can go straight to sod off until such time as it happens.

I don't applaud recorded anthems, please don't side-eye me.

I should probably learn the name of the DOBO/PR lady for Fordham. She's lovely and she brought chocolate and pom-poms. What's not to like?

This is your perennial reminder that Monica Barefield, Ashley Martin, and any other player who chooses to kneel for the anthem has my unconditional support of their right to freedom of speech and expression.

At halftime, it's 29-18 Fordham, after a rough start for the Rams and a strong start for Iona. Bre Cavanaugh has put on her metaphorical cape, with nine points and six boards in the first half, most of that coming in the second quarter. Juana Camilión is the real deal for Iona, with seven points to lead the Gaels. She had a scary moment early in the first, when she slid hard on a wet patch on the floor and limped off. She came back in, but Iona's offense lost a lot of explosiveness when she was out, and didn't get it back when she returned. They're falling back on their volume shooters, Rachu and Mwai, and it's not going well. On the other hand, they're getting good penetration against our defense.

Quite a few folks have made their way here to support the Rams, but it seems to be a social occasion more than a sporting occasion. There's a dude a couple of rows behind me who's giving good commentary on the game, though; I think he's a youth coach. Katie McLoughlin has an especially big contingent on hand, one that got very excited when she got some first half run.

And now the wi-fi is acting up. Stop that, Iona.

So that turned out rather more satisfying than I expected, which is good, since it is raining and I am not the world's biggest fan of slogging around in the rain. Live by the three, die by the three, and some of our dubious three-point shots could have killed us against better teams. But we survived to tell the tale.

With about two minutes left in the game, Coach Chambers blinked first and sent in her deep reserves, at which point Coach Gaitley arranged a line change. I am not happy with how long it took her to sub out Bre and Lauren Holden. She's going to run those two into the ground if she's not careful. Waiting for the other coach to capitulate may be emotionally satisfying, but if you're up 15 with three or four minutes to go, it's probably okay to take out your workhorses, especially against bad teams or teams that tend to lash out in losses. I realize this is never going to change, but I'm going to rail against it anyway on the off chance that it does.

Anyway. I can't remember the last time I saw a bench this hyped for free throws, but the squad was loving Vilisi Tavui getting to the line (shame the shot didn't go in- that was a really nice pass from Halei). Some good hustle plays from Halei and from Catherine Polisano, even if Catherine got called for a foul on it. Lauren Murphy's free throw motion is not good, and she probably needs to work on that if she's going to move up in the rotation at any point.

Katie McLoughlin needs to extend her range just a hair- that long two could have been a three with another step or two back. I like her hustle, and she's got potential, but there are a lot of things she needs to work on. I'm glad Coach Gaitley is showing a little confidence in her, though. We could use a little more depth on the bench. Zara Jillings continues to bring the hustle- there was one play where Iona was loosey-goosey with the ball, and she was on it like a hawk. I wish she could have hit the looks she got, because they were good looks, if a little too quick. Megan Jonassen continues to develop. I really like how she's coming along. She's physical inside, and she had one little baby hook in the second half that got a few whoops from the crowd.

I also like how Kaitlyn Downey is coming along. She's finishing better on the inside, while still retaining the ability to step outside and hit the three. I think she was missing that balance early in the season. She's boxing out well, too. Mary Goulding is unreal sometimes. How she went from hands and knees crying with pain to back in the game and hitting in the paint, I don't know. She's ridiculously tough. She wasn't afraid to get into the scrum for rebounds, and there were times, especially in the second half, that scrum was the only applicable word.

I love how Kendell Heremaia's passing game has developed. I'm sorry it's coming at the expense of her once-sharp defensive game, but all things in life require sacrifices. She spent a lot of the game in foul trouble (the possession after she picked up her fourth, I was on pins and needles because we hadn't gotten the sub up in time, but then we forced the turnover and Lesko fouled to stop play) that hampered her effectiveness. Lauren Holden spent a good chunk of the game looking frustrated at foul calls both made and not made, or possibly at threes that weren't going down. I can understand some of her frustration, though; there should never be a sequence where Lauren is attempting to box out a player close to a foot taller than she is, and she got stuck with Gabrielle Joseph on a couple of sequences. This is not a good plan. Bre Cavanaugh continues to do Bre things. Her timing on the glass was exceptional, though, really, those are boards her posts should be getting instead of getting out of the way for her. (I don't necessarily mind Bre the double-double machine, but I am equally okay with Bre getting seven or eight boards if the balance of them go to Mary or Kaitlyn.) She killed Iona with her hesitation moves and quick hands. I just wish she didn't have to carry so much of the load.

I'm bummed for Amelia Motz. I don't think she's been recruited over, though I admit my bias here, but she seems to have been relegated to the end of the bench, only coming in at the end of each half for mop-up duty. She seems like a nice kid. She deserves better. I don’t know if Ashley Martin deserves better in basketball terms, but IMO she does in personal terms. Run! You can almost certainly do better!

I don't know if Monica Barefield has more than one speed or not, but the one speed she does have is fast. Very fast. She's got good, if inconsistent, shooting range. But her size is a liability, and it gets her in trouble as much as it keeps her out of trouble. She's the closest thing to a point guard that Iona has right now, and that's part of their problem. Shayla Middlebrooks drove hard into the lane. She got a little too fancy with her finishes and probably could have added another bucket to her tally if not for the flourish. She's physical, and I don't know if she's always on the right side of that line, but she does better than some of her teammates at trying to be. Jodi-Marie Ramil, on the other hand, is not so good at staying on the right side of the line, and admittedly, some of my thoughts about her play are ill-suited to a G-rated (or possibly PG?) blog such as this. Granted, Bre's teammates should have called out the screen, but it was an awfully hard screen. I don't know if Iona just wasn't going to her, or if we were able to shut her down when we weren't shutting down their guard penetration, but she could have been much more of a factor for them than she was, and I'm happy about that, believe me.

There are two different ways that Morgan Rachu's last name is pronounced in an alternate universe, both leading to the Pokémon Go joke that electric types are boosted in rainy weather. Unfortunately, in this universe, it's pronounced like a threat you make to a pile of leaves (rake-you) and I look like even more of a giant dork than I already am. She's got size, but her shot is just a mess. She's way too streaky, and when she's not on from beyond the arc, she doesn't seem to be able to contribute in other ways. Shyan Mwai penetrated well but couldn't always finish at the rim. Juana Camilión shows a lot of potential that I don't think she'll be able to fulfill at Iona. She's got a really nice crossover that she used to make space for herself, but she didn't always take advantage of that space. She'll have to be more aggressive in that regard going forward.

Gabrielle Joseph is another player with potential, but she's too tentative at times. Granted, she was being sealed off pretty well for stretches, but on the other hand, any post player worth her salt should be able to take advantage of a mismatch against Lauren Holden. She's also got to do a better job of getting out of the paint- she was getting for three-second calls, though she certainly wasn't the only Gael who lost track of time in the lane. There's potential there, but I don't know if she's ready for the starting position she so far has. Tori Lesko spent a lot of time playing out of position as the closest thing to a point guard in the Gaels' starting lineup. No one really seemed comfortable with the responsibility of bringing the ball up the floor, so it fell to her, and she took the bullet, for lack of a better word. She took charges, or at least attempted to, although sometimes I thought she crossed the line into flopping. She does that; she's done that for as long as I can remember. She took a couple of hard tumbles, including one near the end of the game that Coach Gaitley had to help her up from.

(As an aside: dear fellow Fordham backers, if you're talking about stepping on someone's fingers, you better either be talking about something I didn't see. That's not something you joke about a coach doing to a player. Seriously. Dudes. No. Miss me with that nonsense.)

Iona needs to shore up a lot of their fundamentals. They committed a lot of unforced turnovers like travels and three-second violations. Either they've got to react faster or they need drills on clock and spatial awareness.

Refs were letting a lot of physical contact go, but I can't fault their attention to detail on procedural calls. (Losing track of the foul count, on the other hand...)

Everyone's flaws were on display in this game, and something's going to have to give for Fordham, or it's going to be a very long A-10 season, at the end of which Bre will fall over.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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(belated) Senior Tributes 2018

I love all my seniors, don't get me wrong. Even the ones I vent my frustrations at, ultimately, I cherish as much as the rest of the squad. You have to be a pretty heinous excuse for a human being, the kind of person whose name will no longer cross my lips, to lose that. And usually those kinds of people get rooted out and tossed out summarily on their ear. Those, I do not miss and do not love; their betrayal is all the more bitter for the loyalty that was given.

But it's okay to love some of them more than others, right? And by a confluence of events, an awful lot of them happen to be in this year's class of seniors. These are young women who I may miss on the court as basketball players, but who I will miss even more as people.

That's the joy of this game: you meet some pretty great people. That's the exquisite pain of this game: you know your time with them is inherently limited.

I tend to bury the lede, in case you haven't noticed. The last shall be first and the first shall be last. I like to build up to what I most want to talk about. So we'll start with the furthest and circle back in to the heart and soul of why I write these tributes in the first place.

Michigan is mine because of their staff, and because of our mutual loathing of Ohio State. We don't get to see them a lot, so when we do, it's always special. This year, though, it's been extra special.

Katelynn Flaherty steals the show when she takes the floor. Her stroke is pure and her drive is unquestioned. We've been able to watch snippets of her run through the Michigan record books, and it's been a pleasure and a privilege to be along for the ride. She's adapted her game to the needs of her team, and not every scorer can do that. Playmaking for other people doesn't come naturally to everyone. She's a bright shining star, the brilliant herald of Michigan's rise.


But if you know why I'm a Michigan fan, and if you know why I wear the jersey I wear, you know who my favorite players are. Sure, give me a pretty jumper if you want. But give me grit. Give me hustle. Give me defense. Give me a head for the game. Give me the willingness to outwork your talent, to outwork your size, to outwork what the numbers say you should be bringing to the floor.

That's Jillian Dunston, jack of all trades, terrifyingly broad-shouldered for a guard, entirely too short for a post. No single element of her game is superlative- but that just means she has to think more about what she's doing on the floor. She works incredibly hard on the floor, usually in as literal a sense as possible as she scrambles for loose balls. I am completely unsurprised that she's in the "So You Want To Be A Coach" program and will be completely unsurprised when she's on a Power 5 staff in three years or less.



Iona only has one senior on the roster this year. And I keep thinking there should be two.

Let me make one thing clear: if Philecia Atkins-Gilmore were still on the Gaels' roster, no power on this earth would have kept me from Iona's Senior Day. Battle of Brooklyn be damned, long haul be damned, uncooperative bus schedules be damned. That date would be circled in red on the calendar. I'd probably even hit the following game, for the sake of it being the last, and walk over to the transit center to get the bus home.

There are a precious few people I have had the privilege of meeting in basketball for whom I would run through walls, whose team is my team and whose enemies are my enemies. Phee is one of those few. She is as determined and energetic a leader as I've ever seen. Even as a freshman she was leading her team on the bench, constantly supporting them, constantly bringing the noise.

I still remember Maryland. Do you remember Maryland? March 2016 was pure magic, pure joy. Everywhere I looked, a team that mattered to me or to a friend (and thus to me) was going dancing. We had three choices that March. We didn't go to Waco with St. John's, and we didn't go to Storrs with Seton Hall. We went with the team we knew was going to lose. We went to Maryland for Iona, because it was the first time, because this was what we had been waiting for. And Maryland did to us exactly what we expected- but Phee went down fighting, shooting three after three.

Injuries robbed her of some of her speed, of some of her motion- and they robbed her coach of her confidence, I'm certain. Phee kept leading from the bench anyway.

And then I looked at the roster at the beginning of the year, and after my initial reactions of "Why is anyone wearing 24?" and "Why is anyone wearing 14?" I noticed a gap between 10 and 14 where 11 should have been. My reaction to that was, shall we say, unprintable and would probably have earned me a ban on Twitter. They react badly to threats of violence, even if I doubt I would follow through with such threats. I'm a talker, not a fighter.

Love for a team is about the name on the front, not the name on the back, but for some people I make an exception. And I might have dropped Iona sooner- except for the days when I spotted Phee sitting behind the bench with the rest of us fans, exhorting her team with the same constant encouragement and advice she gave when she was still in uniform. Despite everything, she believes in this nearly winless team and this trainwreck of a season. And I believe in her.

That's why, if you look up, and you look through my Iona notes, you'll see that I chose my words carefully. Phee's not in uniform. She's not on the roster. But she's still the best leader her team has. And she's still my favorite.


So that leaves one senior on the Gaels' roster, and I'm starting to think Billi Chambers has a soft spot for the late bloomers, the ones who finally figure it out as seniors, when they maybe think they have no choice but to figure it out. It happened with Karynda DuPree, and I think it's happening again with Kristin Mahoney.

Kristin looked scared to even be on the court in the scant minutes she picked up her first few years. There are still times when she looks wide-eyed at the defense coming at her and you can imagine her life flashing before her eyes.

She's had to grow up this year, through one of the toughest seasons a team can have. If the losing grinds her down, I don't blame her one bit. But she gets knocked down and she gets up again. Like any good Iona Gael, she fights the good fight. And along the way, she's found a little bit of her footing. It turns out she's better when she's claling her own number than when she's trying to force things for other players. I'm glad she's figured that out. I want ot see her succeed.

It's been a long year. I wish her nothing but the best.



It's late in the year and the Rams don't have a lot of home games left. But if you have the chance to see G'mrice Davis, go see G'mrice Davis. Watching her rebound is worth the price of admission alone. (That's setting aside the work of her teammates, but most of them aren't seniors, so you'll have to find out about them for yourself.)

On her best days, G'mrice reminds me of Jonquel Jones, long limbs and a growing grace. She doesn't have Jones's outside shot, but what she does have is phenomenal rebounding skill. She seems to fly across the paint to claim the ball, and nothing will stand in her way.. Her relentlessness has allowed her to rise high on Fordham's all-time lists. She is a glory and a joy to watch, and if I have a regret about her it's that I let my distaste for Fordham's style of offense rob me of chances to have seen her in previous years.


About Asnate Fomina I can say little. It's been a rough year for her- she hasn't even had the chance to play, so far from home. She's been a steady hand for us at point when she has played, a good solid player who keeps the team grounded. I'll miss her, and miss the things she brought us, and miss the things she could have brought us.



We haven't had as much time as I think I would have liked with JaQuan Jackson. That's the one thing that's saddening about transfers. You get to know them just enough to wish you could have known them longer.

Fierce is the word that comes to mind for Quanny. There's something intense about her eyes that combines with her high cheekbones and the shape of her jaw and chin to make her stare flat-out terrifying when she puts her mind to it. (It also tends to make her photograph very badly, which is a shame, because she's very striking in person.) You get the sense she can intimidate an opponent just by looking them in the eye and making them back down.

Everything about her on the floor is fierce, whether it's her ability to jump the passing lanes or her relentless offensive assaults. She is passionate and electric and fiery. She's a jolt at the right time, or a lightning storm rolling over the opponent.

Fierce and fiery and indomitable, Quanny is the spearhead of the Seton Hall attack. She's a long way from home, and we're glad she came to join us for the time that she did.



You're probably reading this and thinking I wrote things in the wrong order, because ever since this tangle fell upon us I've held Seton Hall close in my heart, as close as I can without giving up that first and deepest loyalty I hold to St. John's.

But there's something about this LIU class of '18 that's special, something I can't help but love, something that calls out to the things I love about basketball. Yes, even in one year, in Nish's case. They don't have the talent of the upper echelon teams, but what they have is grit and determination that would make any coach proud.

What I enjoy most about Denisha Petty-Evans is the family she's brought us. It's good to get a crew together and bring the noise, and they support the team whole-heartedly. They feed the whole team energy. That's not always the case with player families, and it says a lot about Nish and her family that they do.

Nish is fearless. She's gonna keep shooting no matter what. Sometimes that's a bad thing, and usually I'm the first person to call it out. But LIU is a defensive-minded team. We're tentative offensively. Someone needs to step up at that end of the floor, and most of the time Denisha's been the one to do it. We brought her in to lead, and in both deed and word she does so.

It's been a pleasure and a privilege to have her on board, and I'm sorry it couldn't have been for longer.


I've often used the example of Stylz Sanders to explain the plight of LIU, and to remind myself that all complaints about a team's lack of size are relative. After all, how many teams can say with a straight face that they start a 5-9 power forward?

Watching more of LIU than ever this year, I've grown to appreciate the leadership and grit Stylz brings to the floor. She guards whoever, wherever, whenever. I've seen her out on the perimeter, dealing with distance shooters, and I've seen her on the inside, banging against posts who have half a foot on her. She does a little bit of everything, even knowing she's going to be overmatched. You can't measure that kind of heart. You can only quantify its results: floor burns, bruises, ice packs, loose balls recovered, minutes played.

But more than that: while our other two seniors step up with their younger teammates, Stylz is most often the team captain working with the officials, talking to them before games, calmly trying to get calls during games. She's not afraid of letting the officials know she doesn't like a call, but she mostly keeps her cool. She defends her teammates, and that's one of the things I've grown to love about her.

If she wants it, she has all the tools to be a fantastic coach- a good head on her shoulders and a great sense of the game. Maybe there are advantages to being a 5-9 power forward after all.


I can't tell you the exact moment when I decided DeAngelique Waithe was my favorite, but I can tell you what that moment probably was. Almost certainly, it had to be while she was defending an inbounding opponent, arms windmilling in the air, legs kicking out, the arrhythmic call of "Ball! Ball!" serving as a distraction. That is always the clearest picture I have of Angel, defending on the sideline, hands up and right foot out.

There is, of course, much more to her game than this. You don't get a D-I scholarship just for defending inbounds passes. She's a fantastic rebounder and a ferocious shotblocker. For much of this year, she's played with an incredible sense of urgency that has helped power this squad through a good chunk of the year. You see that sometimes with seniors, that sudden realization that this is it, so they kick it up a notch to take advantage of every last moment they have left to them.

I'm finding it hard to come up with words for Angel, not because I've seen so little of her or because there's nothing I can say about her game. It's because so much of it can be summed up in one phrase: I just love to watch her play. Seeing her on the floor makes me truly, deeply happy. I love her defense, I love her power moves in the lane, I love her rebounding. And I feel like I should find a more profound way to describe her play, but sometimes you just don't want to complicate things, you know?


So these are my LIU seniors. They're not rewriting the history books. They're never going to make a ripple in the NCAA tournament, or even in the WNIT. In the grand scheme of women's basketball, they're barely a collective afterthought. But they're my seniors and I love them for what they are, and what they've done, and everything that they've meant to this program.



And, always, at the last, we come to St. John's, to my Johnnies who I love and support beyond all reason, beyond any of my other teams, the ones for whom I will always go to the wall. Even if they didn't start with us, they finished with us in the end. Having chosen, so defined.


I would have loved to have been able to cheer for Maya Singleton for a full four years. It's been pleasure and privilege enough to do it for two. Maybe over four years I would have become jaded, accustomed to her monster blocks and the intimidating staredowns that so often follow them. Maybe I would have demanded even more ferocious rebounding from her, even more of the rim protection and intense defense that she brings to the floor.

It makes sense that she's got military in her family, because there's something almost mission objective based in how she takes the court. She has a job to do and the job will get done. Other teams will throw obstacles in her way, and she'll get through or around those obstacles as they come, because she's not going to let them stay in her way. Her intensity is a sight to behold on the court, and I wouldn't want to be in her way.

But like many an enforcer, her off-court personality is completely different from the intimidating presence she has on the floor. The high cheekbones that turn her stare into a thing of terror also turn her smile into a thing of joy. She can light up a room when she wants to.

We've been blessed to have her for two years. It's not enough, but better that than to have never seen her at all.


Imani Littleton has been the steadiest, or at least the most constantly present, of our seniors. She's been here all four years and has the scars on her knee to prove it. She's suffered for us, been knocked down and picked herself up again for us. I think she might be the senior it's been hardest to get to know. She's quiet, introverted where her classmates are extroverted, polite but clearly uncomfortable in public situations. In some ways she's the least expressive player we have; her face always reflects the same cool, distant concentration no matter what's going on out there. But the rest of her body language is as easy to read as the rest of her... well, isn't. She'll slap the floor when she goes for a steal and misses, or swing her arms on a foul call.

Of our seniors, she's the one I think I would like to know most as a person, and to ask how she's changed in college on the other side of the country from home. There always seems to be a lot going on behind her eyes.

That's not to say she isn't also a damn fine basketball player. The torn ACL took away some of her mobility, and early on, maybe some of her confidence. But she's learned to adapt. She's the heart of our defense, the shotblocker down low to shut down paint penetration. She's not a scorer, and there are times when her missed lay-ups are intensely frustrating. But that doesn't make us love her any less. She's sacrificed too much for us not to cherish her. She's a fighter, and she brings that to the floor every night.


If you know me, you know I'm superstitious about jersey numbers. Numbers mean things, after all. I get a little testy when legendary ones are given out, and tend to see patterns where there probably aren't really any. So it's maybe not surprising when I describe Tamesha Alexander's personality as, "Like Sky Lindsay's, but without Sky's shy and retiring nature."

The joke, of course, is that Sky is one of the most gregarious people in the history of St. John's women's basketball, and possibly in overall Red Storm history.

Sox is just as outgoing as Sky, albeit a teeny bit less sarcastic. Maybe that's just the difference between New York and Philadelphia. She's got a personality bigger than she is, a quick laugh, a smile for everyone. She's a joy to be around, a social butterfly nonpareil. For four years she's been, at best, a second-string point guard, never a huge part of the team's on-court plan. By sheer force of heart and will and personality, she became one of my all-time favorites.

Because here's the thing about Sox as a player- she doesn't shoot the ball. Late in games, when the team's trying to get everyone on the scoreboard, they'll give her the ball- and she'll promptly pass it back. She seems genuinely happier to get the assist on someone else's basket, or to make a good defensive stand. I don't know how many games we've played where she's the last Johnnie yet to score- and refuses to shoot the ball. That's who she is. She doesn't want to run it up. She doesn't want to be the center of attention on the court.

I love Sox to itty-bitty pieces, not for what she does, but for who she is.



It's taken a long time to write this. Part of it is general basketball-related despair. Part of it is a general malaise. But I think part of it is simply denial. I don't want to lose these seniors, even though it's too late and they're already gone. This is, as it always has been, the price of college fandom: we know the clock is always ticking.

Some of them have been undeniable program-changers. Some of them have been game-changers. All of them are valued and treasured, and all of them will be missed.

And we get to do it all again next year.

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February 8th, 2018: Fairfield at Iona

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Despite a strong fourth-quarter push, the Iona Gaels fell 78-68 to the Fairfield Stags. Khadidiatou Diouf started off strong for Fairfield, with 12 of her 20 points in the first half, but it was Samantha Cooper who led the way and shut the door, leading the Stags with 29 points and 12 rebounds. Alexis Lewis led Iona with 21 points.

For three-point shooting, running low on gas, starting to dislike the county, late arrivals, early departures, the travails of youth, and running out of words, join your intrepid and shell-shocked blogger after the jump.

It's entirely too early for this, but I'm doing it anyway, because despite all their efforts, I still do love Iona. So I'm currently on an uptown 6 train in the Bronx. It's 8:42 AM. I've been up since 6:30 and traveling since 7. This probably means I shouldn't be dealing with small humans, but it's Kids' Day against Fairfield, so dealing with small humans is inevitable. I brought protein bars, though, so I probably won't eat them.

Taking the 6 to Pelham Bay Park to catch the 45 is a constant exercise in counting, balancing the number of stops left with when the bus leaves. Eleven stops in thirty-three minutes seems doable, but those are famous last words.

If they're holding a Kids' Day and only half a dozen schools are coming, I reserve the right to laugh, and laugh, and laugh some more. I mean, I don't mind having the elbow room, and I can't do weeknight games, but still. It's just silly.

Welp, not only do I not see Tori Lesko, I don't see Jayden Eggleston. Maybe it's not time to panic yet; Iona can be cagey about injured players sometimes. But it would fit the pattern of this season for Jayden to break out and then either get injured or disappear in a puff of smoke. Okay, there's Tori, but that makes the lack of Jayden even more disturbing.

Things I miss about being in with the in crowd (aka the ops people who get things done): not fighting with the wi-fi because I had the password. But that was a long time ago and probably two computers in the past.

There are not nearly enough Gaels here. At least Jayden is present and accounted for.

At halftime, it's 35-27 Fairfield. It could have been worse, but Jayden had the presence of mind to throw up a three at the buzzer; even though she missed the shot, she drew the foul on Khadidiatou Diouf and got two of the three free throws. Diouf has 12 points for the Stags, 10 in the first quarter; she was pretty much going bucket for bucket with Iona by herself for stretches. Toyosi Abiola has 11 to lead the Gaels. Things might get better when we actually get more than three minutes out of Trey Clay.

We have a dance performance from one of the campus dance groups. It seems like fun. It finally occurred to me sometime in the third quarter that BSU probably stands for Black Student Union and the performance was vaguely related to Black History Month.

Trumpet solo anthem. Started strong, but lost breath in the middle. He got through it, but I think it would have been better with the whole band.

And now one of the school groups is doing a step performance. I don't know how I feel about middle school step teams; good stepping takes a lot of synchronization and a lot of time to learn, but these kids aren't bad.

Okay, putting up with several hundred kids screaming the lyrics to "Let It Go" was worth it for watching Olivia Owens (our freshman with dangerously good taste in numbers) join the singalong, complete with dramatic arm gestures.

Well, I can't say we didn’t have our chances. We had a chance to tie the game in the third quarter and we blew it. We had momentum behind Alexis Lewis and her ridiculous three-point shots, and we couldn't cash in. We ran out of gas. Happens when you don't have a lot of players and a lot of the players you do have are in foul trouble.

For some reason, our PA guy kept pronouncing Kendra Landy's last name like there was an R in it. I understand that Landry is a more common last name, but either that is one funky pronunciation, or our dude didn't get Fairfield's pronunciation guide. She made an impact pretty quickly, laying a block on Toyosi Abiola as one of her first moves. She always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. Kristen McLaughlin lists as a guard, but more often than not she was subbing for one of the forwards. She brings a lot of length off the bench. I don't honestly remember much of what Sam Lewis did.

(I'm sorry. I'm not in a good mental place right now, especially in terms of women's basketball and Westchester County. I have a semi-professional obligation, but these are not going to be my finest game notes.)

Macey Hollenshead seemed to get the benefit of the doubt an awful lot of the time from the ref, especially when she hit the floor. That should not have been a charge on Toyosi. Casey Foley argued with a lot of the calls on her. Yes, Casey, sometimes you commit fouls. It happens. Sam Kramer was efficient from the elbow, though full disclosure forces me to admit that I kept getting their Sams and Samanthas mixed up, at least the short ones.

But this game was about the bigs for Fairfield. Khadidiatou Diouf took over in the first half with nice moves in the paint, including a beautiful baby hook that took my breath away. Long-time readers know of my infatuation with Elena Baranova and her hook shot, and that I am always a sucker for hook shots. But the one who stepped up every single time the Gaels got momentum going, the one who shut down every "DE-FENSE!" chant that the crowd tried to start, the one who killed us in the paint and even stepped outside for shots, was Samantha Cooper. She's got touch, she's got toughness, and she's got good size. We couldn't stay on her, even when we had a roving double keying on her. She's a gamer. Not much you can do about that.

You know what happens when you're in the intentional foul derby and four of your top six players have four fouls? Absurdity happens. The final couple of minutes of play-by-play are undoubtedly filled with subs. I think Coach may have waited too long to press the panic button and bring in Tilasha Okey-Williams; T's only job was to make sure that Jayden wasn't on the floor to pick up her fifth foul. We could have used some of her offense. Kristin Mahoney looked tentative on offense, almost like she wanted to call her own number but couldn't quite do it. And then at the end of the game, when it was intentional foul time, she thought it was a good plan to just give a good hard tug on the back of her opponent's jersey. That earned a video review and an unsportsmanlike conduct foul. Admittedly, it was weak, but you have to at least be pretending to go for the ball on that play. If you yank the jersey in front of two refs and a savvy veteran coach like Frager, you're not gonna get the benefit of the doubt.

Amelia Motz showed a whole lot of moxie on the offensive glass, charging in after missed shots like there was no tomorrow. Someone's got to do something with her shooting motion, though, especially on free throws; she puts way too much spin and not enough follow-through on the shot, and it goes wherever it wants, which may or may not be where Amelia wants it to go. She had better luck driving the lane and putting up lay-ups. Alexis Lewis started bombing threes in the second half, including one from the A in the giant Iona logo at center court, so a fair 27 or so feet out. I love to watch her shoot. I think she started running out of gas in the fourth quarter, though- she looked like she wanted a chance to get out of the game and Coach Chambers didn't think she could afford to give it to her.

Rebekah Justice couldn't get going, both in the sense of momentum and in the sense of actual literal motion. We needed her size to counter Diouf and Cooper, but she simply couldn't keep up with them, and they went around her like a stream going around a rock. I don't blame Coach Chambers for not starting her in the second half. She's got nice touch around the basket if she wants to use it, but she's too enamored with her outside shot for my liking. Treyanna Clay doesn't go up as high as her teammates think she does, but she's a fighter in the paint. She was swarmed by the Fairfield defense in the second half, getting doubled and tripled. I think it wore her down in the end. Jayden Eggleston brought rebounding, but a bit of timidity on the offensive end. I'm not thrilled with her taking shots just over the three-point line, either- either step back and take the three, or step forward and take a better-percentage shot. But she's a freshman. She'll learn.

Toyosi Abiola was on fire in the first half, but ran out of gas in the second. You could tell she was leaving shots short and not getting enough elevation. She had a crossover move that backed her opponent up so far that the kids were oohing and aahing. She hasn't put all the pieces together at once yet, but she's a freshman. That's been one of the only things getting me through this season, to be honest. They're so young, and yet next year they'll get Tori back (I'm almost certain she's going to redshirt this year, there's no reason to bring her back and I'm pretty sure she's missed enough games). I think they'll win more than one game next year. Well, if we bring in a point guard. We don't really have anyone on the roster who fits that role well. Adrienne DiGioia's still struggling to find where she fits, and I think Coach Chambers is losing patience with her.

We gave it everything we had to make it a game again. I know I've overplayed the "fight the good fight" line, but that's Iona's motto and it sure seems to be this team's philosophy. Even when they're down big they never give up.

I swear the oldest of the three refs thought the kids were there to see him, the way he was blowing his whistle on even the slightest contact. Dude. Staaaaaaaahp.

I do like how Iona organizes the group exodus, by bringing up one bus at a time.

Admittedly, I'm a little disappointed that this wasn't an autograph day, the way so many Kids' Days are at Iona, but it is what it is. I guess I'll have to wait until next year to ask Rebekah Justice where she stands on the Becky nickname. (It's a Rebecca thing, no matter how we spell it. We all seem to either embrace it or hate it.)

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January 28th, 2018: St. Peter's at Iona

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Iona got off the schneid, breaking their 20-game losing streak with a 52-42 win over St. Peter's. Treyanna Clay and Alexis Lewis each had 12 points to lead a balanced Gael attack, with Lewis adding 10 rebounds. Zoe Pero led the Peacocks with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

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How best to wash the taste of failure out of one's mouth than to head to a game where the two teams have four wins between them? And one team has all the wins? But always and forever, to heck with Patty Coyle. Iona should probably be able to beat St. Peter's. I certainly hope we are.

It's raining.

I swear St. Peter's actually changed the shade of their blue warm-ups between November and now.

I think that might be Talah Hughes in a boot for St. Peter's. Hey, we might actually have a chance.

I realize that we're the home team, but it still seems kind of rude to hop on the visiting team's bike to nowhere.

Tori Lesko is still in a boot for the Gaels. I'm sad.

It's halftime and we're leading and the world hasn't ended. It's only 25-23, so I should probably still be expecting us to screw it up somehow. Alexis Lewis has seven points and six boards to pace iona, while a whole flock of Peacocks have notched five points each. I'm worried about passing- theirs is better than ours. But I think we're shooting better. And if you put a gun to my head and told me I had to have either Billi Chambers or Patty Coyle as my team's coach, I'd take Chambers.

Pretty solid anthem. She hit her stride right at the end.

St. Peter's did not appear to realize there were two doors to enter the court from the locker room. The dance team did not appreciate having their tunnel crashed. It appears words may have been exchanged, and cheer seems unusually vindictive today. (I'm okay with that, especially the one cheerleader whose ululations drew a missed free throw from St. Peter's.) We're not sure if it was deliberate gamesmanship or if Coyle was in fact too stupid to realize there was another door. I'm a Liberty fan. I remember.

It's happening! It happened! We are no longer winless! Alert the media! Fire the party cannon! Release the hounds! Wait, don't release the hounds, that's a different meme.

I should not have been surprised that we beat a team coached by Coyle. Let's be honest, the nicest thing I can say about her is that she's had some phenomenal coaching support around her. She didn't quite ice her own shooter this time, but she was about two possessions late on doing the endgame things a coach should do, like timeout to advance the ball or foul to extend the game. (C'mon. It's 1.9 seconds left and you're down 10, make like Elsa and LET IT GO.)

You could tell it was "I'm frustrated, time to throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks" time near the end of the third quarter when Coyle abruptly went to Anna Maguire and Precious Featherston. Featherston got tagged with a foul on a rebound. Maguire needs to either bulk up or tone up. One of those. She's very skinny. Samantha Meier brought physicality in her brief minutes, and I might have used her more if I were St. Peter's. She's reasonably good at setting screens, so maybe she could have done something to set up one of their shooters.

Much as I don't always understand the logic of bringing Alexis Lewis off the bench, I really do not understand the logic of bringing Sajanna Bethea off the bench. Does this mean St. Peter's has written off this season and is just trying to see what the freshmen have? Or is this some strategy I am just not elite enough to see? Her passing eye has gotten sharper- she seems to be looking for angles for her teammates more than for herself. Her shot seems to have somehow gotten slower, or the MAAC's gotten faster around her. A lot of things are possible. I think she was not well used in this game, though I don't think that's the only reason we won. Sammy Lochner does not believe the opponent should be accorded personal space, especially around the midline, although KK does it better. Haley Dalonzo was aggressive driving the lane, sometimes to her detriment- there was a very late charge call against her that helped seal the deal for the Gaels. She did not take well to being called for fouls, even less than most players do. She's got potential, though.

Zoe Pero has some nice moves inside, but someone has to teach her how to use the backboard more consistently. She had more weird bounces off the inside of the rim, both in her favor and not, than anyone I've ever seen. She did a great jbo cleaning up both her misses and her teammates' misses close to the rim. With some coaching, she could be very good. But, well. She picked St. Peter's, didn't she? Maybe Phyllis can step in. I think Daijah Martin might be being groomed to replace Bethea, at least positionally, but she's not nearly as good, or as assertive. She's got the body type to do some damage inside, but couldn't get going.

Brianna Tarabocchia got a lot of cheers when she was introduced and there was a lot of heat from the corner behind the St. Peter's bench when she fouled out during the foul derby, so I think her family came over from Jersey. She's not afraid to take them from deep- maybe a little too deep sometimes. Aggressive on defense, too. She's a nice piece for the Peacocks. Alyssa Velles started the game on fire, and I thought that was going to be how we got blackjacked, since we weren't able to find her out on the wing. But she cooled off and the defense tightened up, and once you take away her shot, she's not all that useful. D'Aviyon Magazine looked to penetrate and found few openings. Most of her shots were contested and off.

Someone really needs to get St. Peter's a shooting coach. With just a little fine-tuning, they'd probably average another eight to ten points a game. Then again, I'm okay with them being a mess of a team as long as I have a team in their conference.

Amelia Motz drove the lane for two quick points, then picked up two quick fouls and that was the last we saw of her for this game. Gotta be smarter than that, Amelia. Kristin Mahoney had one of the most confident games I've ever seen out of her and I'm just so proud of her right now! It turns out all along her bread and butter shot wasn't the three-pointer, like we were trying to make happen- it's the finger roll down the lane from the left side. If after three and a half years, either Kristin or Coach Chambers has figured out that she's not a pure distributor- well, I'm just glad she's finally finding her footing. Alexis Lewis, sporting brighter, bigger hair, was all over the glass. She plays bigger than she is sometimes, using every inch of her build (possibly including the hair) to get boards. This time, she was able to rein in some of her ballhog tendencies and not just chuck the first shot that came to mind.

Adrienne DiGioia wasn't quite ready for this. I feel like this is not the first time I've said this this season. She has her days when she looks like a good distributor, but she's not reacting fast enough to even mediocre college defenses. Fortunately for us, today Kristin was up to the challenge. Toyosi Abiola still has to work on her ball control, and on her accuracy. These are not new complaints. But she dove all out into the passing lanes (I think she was the one who ended up draped over the scorer's table at one point- she and Alexis both wear a lot of leggings and were diving into the passing lanes) and was disruptive on defense.

Rebekah Justice was not nearly as effective as she could have been on the inside. She's got to use her body more. I swear to the sweet hypothetical baby Jesus, if she launches one more three with that awful release, I may have to make her change her name. We have standards here in the sisterhood. She had chances to back down Pero- who's tall and not a twig but a lot smaller than Rebekah- and couldn't get through her. I have a problem with this from a 6-5 player. I understand why she didn't get a lot of minutes. Treyanna Clay took a lot of contested shots in the lane, and for some reason thought a straightaway three from the top of the key was a brilliant plan. No one asked you to unleash the dragon, Trey. Jayden Eggleston seemed to get stronger on the glass as the game went on, pulling down huge offensive rebounds to extend our possessions. I think I could live with this being the role she plays for us. She's got to be a little more accurate on her shot, especially since most of her shots are coming fairly close to the basket, but that should come with time.

I also can't say enough about the positive energy the crew on the bench has been bringing. Olivia Owens may already be on the all-time list of great dancers my teams have ever had, to the point where if you told me she won the rights to #14 off Damika Martinez in a dance-off, I might actually believe you. (And then demand video footage, for great justice, or at least lulz.) She and Shayla Middlebrooks have kept the mood light through stoppages and way up during big runs. And Tori Lesko's been continuing to be a leader in the huddle. I love Tori and I'm really bummed she's been hurt for so long.

Officiating wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great. I thought we got the benefit of a couple of dodgy calls, but on the other hand, I don't think Coyle even got warned for being out of the box when she was up to the midcourt line, so there's that. They were unusually attentive to three-second calls.

Our PA guy got a little enthusiastic about a couple of long jumpers and thought they were threes when they were actually twos. I mean, really, Rich. Kristin was practically in the key.

Dance team did some pretty ambitious routines, and I couldn't help but wonder how St. John's would have pulled them off.

Shoutout to cheer and band for bringing the noise. We did what we could. I should probably pop a cough drop at some point.

Oh, and the rain had stopped by the time we got out of the arena.

We did it! We did it! We did it! Now let's do it again!

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January 20th, 2018: Siena at Iona

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Siena took off in the third quarter to win going away, 70-48, at Iona. Kollyns Scarbrough had 23 points to lead the Saints. Alexis Lewis's 21 points and 13 rebounds weren't enough to keep the Gaels in the game.

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I'm a glutton for punishment and an optimist sometimes when it comes to my team, so we've taken the multi-step trip up to Iona to see if they can get off the schneid this time, as they take on the Eight Nation Army of Siena. (No. No, it doesn't have the same ring as "Seven Nation Army", does it?)

If you went to the march instead, fabulous and tell me all about it. One of these days I'll get my act together and get my politics on.

Look, I get the point, but "Sexual assault is never your fault" does miss the fairly obvious conditional clause of "unless you're committing it, you unspeakable jerk".

I think I have some deep-seated issues with the choice of this particular song in the pregame mix.

Band is not yet ready for the anthem, though it's growing, and is at least good at the things they're good at.

Between her enthusiasm on the bench and her generosity off the court (she donated her hair before the season, which explains her crop of curls) I could really get to like Olivia Owens. I just can't get past her taste in numbers. And I know that's not her fault, because someone would have had to tell her about Damika, and clearly no one has. (I am now, however, open to the theory that she won the rights off Damika in a dance-off.)

At halftime, it's Siena by nine, 33-24. Our defense keeps breaking down and it's very frustrating. Kollyns Scarbrough has 12 to lead the Saints, with Sabrina Piper adding 10 off the bench. Balanced scoring for the Gaels.

Well, we can put that in the column of "welp, that was a thing that happened". We've put too many marks in that column this year. You'd think we'd have fewer communication problems than the team with five different languages in the rotation, but what do I know?

I do not like Anna Lundquist. She was a little too willing to give out the elbows and the trips, and not willing to take responsibility for the contact she did commit. I'm also not the world's biggest fan of people chucking threes when they're up 20 in the final minutes. She's physical, but she seems to be kind of a tweener, and I'm not sure where she fits in their scheme. Marilena Gerostergiou got hot in the fourth quarter, going with power in the paint and forcing our PA guy to get his tongue around her last name. I'm Greek and that one was giving me trouble. She's a big forward, broad-shouldered and not afraid to use it. Candela Hermida got into the game late and did a lot of moving around the three point arc. I don't know if that's her strength or not. Her teammates seemed to be giving her a lot more instruction than other players on the floor, but that might be a freshman thing. There were very many freshmen today. (I almost typed "there were very freshmen" and that wouldn't exactly be wrong either, but we'll get to that later.)

Sabrina Piper was a burst of offense off the bench, a long slim player with a nice jumper and some slashing skills. Looking at the numbers and the minutes, she was a straight-up direct replacement for Aaliyah Jones, which makes a lot of sense, considering their respective years. I was wondering why Piper wasn't starting, but it makes sense if Jones has senior privilege and Piper gets more of the minutes, or if the hot hand gets more of the minutes and we just didn't see Jones be the hot hand. DeAnna Winston came in late in the first half and early in the second half. I don't remember much about her on the floor except for her gold-tinted pouf of hair chasing the ballhandler. Hayley Winter tended to be late in the rotation. The one shot she took was a corner three.

Maddie Sims did very well when she didn't have Rebekah Justice going pound for pound and leap for leap with her. She had her share of blonde moments (though, to her credit, I don't think she was one of the players fighting for the ball with her own teammate) wherein the ball would go off some part of her body that she wasn't prepared for. She fought well for rebounds near the basket, and I'm pretty sure her hands were responsible for a couple of the Siena team rebounds. Aaliyah Jones played sparingly, and I don't think coming down funny on a rebound and tweaking her ankle helped very much on that front. She has very short shorts- I didn't even think it was possible to wear them that short without the ref looking at you funny.

Have yourself a day, Kollyns Scarbrough. She went shot for shot with Alexis Lewis in the second half, and she had gotten off to a better start. We couldn't keep up with her defensively, and she made us pay on the drive, in the midrange, and from deep. She got open, or her teammates got her open, and scoring resulted. Joella Gibson was aggressive on defense- a tough little guard, but not one of the slight itty bitties you sometimes see. Deja Rawls kept the pressure up defensively as well, and did a nice job running the point to direct Siena's offense.

I find myself wishing I wasn't giving Siena's other guards such short shift, but Scarbrough was just so damn good, especially when she broke the game open in the third quarter, that she tended to draw all of my attention. Just not the defense's...

Ashley Martin needs to work on tucking in her elbows on screens- she got called for one offensive foul and probably could have been dinged for two. I like the kid, and I admire her commitment to social justice, but I have yet to see Division I play out of her. Kristin Mahoney got into the game, threw a pass to an unprepared Treyanna Clay, and got pulled out of the game on the ensuing stoppage. I thought she'd been in for longer when she did that, but I guess not according to the box score. That benched her for the rest of the game. Our senior point guard, ladies and gentlemen. So what do you do when your point guard doesn't know what's going on and your other point guard is even more of a hot mess?

Well, you improvise, which was why Amelia Motz was running point for stretches. I love her instincts on the glass, and I love her hustle, but her offense is a problem. She scraps, but so far she just doesn't have the oomph to get to that next level. Tilasha Okey-Williams was surprisingly hesitant to shoot, but got low for loose balls. It's an interesting reversal of roles, but I like it. I'd love to see her develop into a two-way player. Alexis Lewis got hot in the second half, hitting midrange jumpers with fancy footwork. She rebounds with panache. Sometimes I get the feeling she's doing her own thing out there, and that's not always a good thing. But she's not the only person who has to understand that her teammates are out there to help her.

Toyosi Abiola has got to follow her shot. I understand that this might be difficult, because she has a high-arcing shot that's hard to get a read on once it leaves her hand. But you can't just stand there and watch it. She's got to either follow it or get back on defense, one or the other. I love her slashing to the lane, but she's got to convert. She was scrappy on defense, which I like, but someone needs to get her to a shot doctor, whether it happens here or in the offseason. Adrienne DiGioia is still too hesitant at pretty much everything. I know time cures that in freshmen, but I don't know if we have time for her to figure it out like that.

Treyanna Clay did work underneath, scoring on offensive rebounds and pulling down boards. She and Alexis Lewis have good chemistry on the floor, which shouldn't surprise me with the whole classmate thing. I'd like to see more plays run for her, and I'd like to see her get in better offensive position to have those plays run for her. I think we tried to get it in to her in less than optimal spots. Jayden Eggleston seems to have found all the confidence her teammates have lost. I'm not necessarily sold on her perimeter game, but she's bringing a lot of energy on the glass and she's finishing down low. She's finding her teammates, which is a very nice element to her game. She's growing on me. We'll see if she can sustain this, but I hope she can. Rebekah Justice has to not commit stupid reach-in fouls. I grant that an understanding of what risks to take comes with time, and she's only a freshman. I'd really like to see her do a lot more work inside and not take perimeter jumpers until she's solidified her interior play, or until she has another consistent rebounder in the game beside her- if she's out at the elbow taking jumpers, it's a lot easier for the other team to get the rebound underneath.

There were entirely too many sequences of dubious Iona shots where all that was underneath were people in green jerseys. Look, guys, Trey and Lex can't really do it by themselves. Someone's gotta track those shots.

Our crew chief had a flair for the dramatic. I'm pretty sure they could hear him announcing calls from the other side of campus. Not the worst thing in the world, all things considered. I thought they got a little tight on the touch fouls in the second half, and I'm not sure how much attention they were paying to Iona's dubious ability to get the ball over the midline neatly. Other than that, I was okay with the calls.

Nice to hear the band getting into the game. Stomp those bleachers, guys! The wood resonates fabulously.

I think it was admissions week, and I kept hoping one of the tour guides would take their group to the game.

Alexis Lewis seems to have a fan club. I can't say I'm surprised. She's sort of good at this basketball thing. She was honored before the game for hitting 1000 points (which we got to see a couple of weeks ago- I guess whoever they get the commemorative balls from has a long production time) and seemed pretty verklempt about it.

I still don't think this is a team with the ability to drop the table. I keep thinking they'll find a win somewhere. Somewhere along the line the pieces will fall together, or they'll run headlong into someone worse than they are.

Keep fighting the good fight, Gaels.

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January 18th, 2018: Iona at Manhattan

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Iona staged a 17-point comeback in the second half, but it wasn't enough, as Manhattan came away with the home win 67-63. Taylor Williams had a game-high 18 points for the Jaspers, while Kayla Grimme notched a double-double with 14 points and 15 rebounds. Alexis Lewis tallied 19 points for Iona.

For country music, the courage of one's convictions, team colors, finding friends, WTF face, ballistic freshmen, dissonance, and fast breaks, join your intrepid and stardust-laden blogger after the jump.



Whether they want me around or not, I'm determined to love the hell out of Iona, at least through the end of Treyanna Clay and Alexis Lewis's careers. I still believe in Phee and Phee still believes in them. This is why I'm sitting in a Five Guys somewhere between the Upper West Side and Harlem, typing up pregame notes before I hie me to Manhattan for some MAAC magic. (Can't call it MAACtion. The Mid-American Conference might get upset. And I like them.)

Granted, I am also hieing me the long way around because I want to put some distance on my 10K eggs in anticipation of the Pokémon Go double XP event on Saturday and because I need to grind stardust, but there's no reason I can't multi-task, right? I get to have the spiritual superiority of having caught a Kyogre before the difficulty nerf, and yet have the chance to get more before month's end. Today is so far a good day.

Getting to Manhattan was a little more complicated than usual, and I did have to abandon the bus plan midway through. One of the elevators at Manhattan is broken, which led to a couple of flights of stairs, but let's be honest, I could probably use the extra cardio.

Unfortunately, I didn't get in in time to determine which bench is which, and I don't remember from the Fordham game. Well, if I'm on the wrong side, I'll move over, but the team just came out and the staff seem to be on this side.

Shoutout to whoever's picking the music for the game, because they are rocking out. "Superstition" and "Centuries" in the same mix will make me a very happy blogger. And we've just segued into "You're Unbelievable".

Tori Lesko is still in a boot. Poor Tori. I do believe that's part of how we've lost our way; she's the closest thing we have to a leader on this roster, but she's the kind of leader who has to be on the floor to be at her most effective.

I don't know if Manhattan ran out of ticket paper or if that's just how they roll, but my ticket was printed out on paper with a bar code. Whatever floats your boat.

There are a surprising number of people here, or maybe it just seems that way because the kids around me haven't run out of energy yet. There's an awful lot of running to do, indeed.

Anthem singer didn't quite have the voice for what she wanted to do. (Also, I'm proud to report that Ashley Martin kneels on the road as well. I love seeing young people with the courage of their convictions.)

This could be worse than it is. It's 33-28 Manhattan at halftime. Alexis Lewis has 13 for the Gaels, with Jayden Eggleston adding eight. Gabby Cajou has seven to lead the balanced Jaspers attack. Their drive and dish to the corner has been exceptional tonight, and we'll see if Iona can adjust at the half.

Even the Boys and Girls Club biddy game is themed to this game, with "Iona" and "Manhattan" teams.

Manhattan's band has a very jazzy sound to it. Pleasant but not exactly inspiring. And St. John's does "Chelsea Dagger" better by light-years.

The student section is very full but has mostly been very quiet.

Ran into DSPN. I guess my secret's out, inasmuch as it was going to be a secret.

If I'm reading the end of the sequence correctly, drummer got so enthusiastic that one of the Iona family folks had to go get his drumstick.

All I want out of life is a good wi-fi connection. Is that so hard to ask of schools? Just set up a good guest network and let me pull up Twitter and the scoreboard.

I think I have sacrificed one of my Iona pom-poms forever, but it's for a good cause. One of the Manhattan band kids thought she was being slick offering Ashley's baby brother a Manhattan-colored pom-pom. Well, we couldn't be having with that, and Ashley's mom agreed. Don't worry; I have another one and a rally towel. (As it turned out, Jackie returned it after the game; she has plenty more at home, but she just needed to make sure her son didn't get attached to the wrong color. Truly, she's raising them up right.)

We fought the good fight. That's our motto. That's who we are. That's what we do. We made Manhattan flinch. Moral victories don't go in the record book, but they go a long way towards getting the ones that do. I keep getting "Find Out Who Your Friends Are" stuck in my head, but it's more about finding out who you are when the deficit keeps growing and the shots don't fall.

I'm very glad that Ashley Martin's family finally got to see her take the floor for the first time in what seems like forever, but perhaps throwing her directly at Amani Tatum went past "baptism by fire" straight into "baptism in Mount Doom". She wasn't ready for that. Better players have been not ready for that. I don't know what Amelia Motz did, or didn't do, to get thrown in the doghouse as thoroughly as she was in this game, though she was eminently forgettable in the minutes she did play. Tilasha Okey-Williams, to me, indicates that Coach Chambers is starting to panic and needs someone who's willing to shoot without hesitation alongside Lexi. She's the desperation move, the panic button made flesh. That sounds like a terrible thing to say about a person, now that I put it in written form, but it's more a statement about her role than about her personally.

I'm starting to think I understand why Alexis Lewis has been consigned to the bench. Yes, she's electric offensively, but she's inconsistent and she's streaky. I'm also starting to think that Lex has decided that the playbook is not relevant to her interests- it looked a couple of times like she was ignoring the play call and taking it herself. I sort of understand the urge, but I also understand why the coach might object and act accordingly. Kristin Mahoney, for a senior and a point guard, has a lot of trouble finding open players, especially when inbounding the ball. She really looks like she's going to freak out if she doesn't have someone by the two-second mark. (At the same time, if you have a choice between two equally mediocre point guards, all things being equal you should probably start the senior. Your only senior. Since you chased off the other one.)

(Yes, I'm going to harp on the Phee thing until someone gives me a good reason not to.)

Adrienne DiGioia is not yet ready to ride this ride. Her vision isn't there, her handle isn't there, and she doesn't have the gravitas to drag the team with her. Manhattan pressed her, and she either coughed up the ball or attempted to pass to people who were guarded by Kayla Grimme. Do not attempt to pass the ball to people who are being fronted by Kayla Grimme. Toyosi Abiola really, really needs to work on her handle Being one of the fastest people on the floor does you little good if you don't bring the ball with you. She also seemed lost on the floor- there were a couple of sequences where pretty much everyone in maroon was yelling at her where to go. I know, I know, she's a freshman, and freshmen are sort of clueless, but she either isn't picking up new schemes quickly or still hasn't quite picked up the old ones.

I love everything about Treyanna Clay's WTF face except the things that cause her to make it. She got tagged with some touch fouls that limited her minutes in the second and third quarters. I though Coach Chambers handled her foul trouble well in the fourth with good subs. She's moving better than she was the last time I saw Iona, which I consider to be a good sign. I'm not the world's biggest fan of her taking deep perimeter shots except when they go in. I was much more hyped about the slick backdoor cut as part of the fourth quarter run. Rebekah Justice is a big girl, and if she can adjust to the pace of the college game and maybe convert more of that mass into muscle, she can be a major presence for us on the inside. There were moments when she was going head to head with Grimme and holding her own on the glass, but they were only moments. This was probably the strongest game I've seen out of Jayden Eggleston- not just the best, though it certainly was that, but the one where she went most confidently to the basket and got buckets. She was fantastic tonight, and for the first time I was genuinely impressed with her. If we can get more of that out of her this season, we're not going to drop the table. Keep going to the hoop, Jayden! Take that away from this game!

I think Coach Chambers's interpersonal skills leave a lot to be desired, but I was impressed with some of her tactics in this game. She managed minutes well and rode the hot hand (which is why Alexis Lewis started the second half over Rebekah Justice).

Dear Manhattan: if you're going to play people with diacritical marks in their names, could you make sure you play them enough minutes to be worth writing about? My keyboard isn't equipped to write about Julie Høier. She gave them a couple of brief minutes, as did KellyAnne O'Reilly, whose primary function seems to be annoying the hell out of the ballhandler for one play per game on the baseline. Alex Smith is an absolute load in the middle, and not a particularly mobile one. We were able to get around her enough that Coach Vulin decided she wasn't worth the risk and sat her down. If she had anything that remotely resembled stamina... well, let's be honest, she'd probably still be at Middle Tennessee.

(My dude. You are not supposed to smoke on the train. This... is not complicated. There's a pictogram and everything. Yes, it bothers me. At least he put it out when he noticed me holding my nose, because smoke and I are not friends, but dude. You are not supposed to smoke anything on the train.)

Sini Mäkelä got looks for three from the corner and hit them. She's a spot shooter. It's who she is. It's what she does. Her teammates get her open and she hits shots. Mikki Guiton had an absolutely perfect screen wasted by a missed open Cajou jumper. I mean, c'mon, Fun Size Moriah Jefferson, you get that much open space from a screen, it's your responsibility to hit that shot and make your post player feel good about it. I'd say Guiton gives them more of a perimeter game, but Grimme's no slouch there herself. Gabby Cajou is very, very fast. She probably stripped the ball while you were reading this sentence. You didn't think I was comparing her to Jefferson just because she looks like a smaller version of her, did you? She's a different kind of offensive player, but she has a nice balance of drives and jumpers, and she's a nightmare in transition.

Amani Tatum is very intense and a little bit terrifying. She goes after everything with everything that has to offer, and that makes her one of the most dangerous players on the floor. Her shots weren't falling, but she more than made up for it on the defensive end, igniting the fast break with steals and either taking it to the basket herself or dishing it ahead. After those two missed free throws left the door open for Iona, I'm pretty sure she's either already back in the gym at the line, or she's going to be at the earliest possible moment; she strikes me as that kind of "no imperfections allowed" player. (Like I said, very intense and a little bit terrifying.) Lizahya Morgan is tiny and a little bit cute, and when Coach Vulin runs her in the backcourt with Cajou, there is too much tiny for me to handle. I think I see what her coach might see in her potential-wise, but I think I'd still take Cajou over her. Taylor Williams was hitting three-pointers all over the place (but not from "way" downtown like the PA guy was enthusing; bro, she was barely behind the line on that one). She's tough, I have to grant her that.

Kayla Grimme was impressive today. She got into position in the paint for rebounds, and no one was getting them away from her. We don't really have anyone who can compete with her in terms of size, but that's not to diminish the numbers she put up. Having a big body doesn't mean you know how to use it. See above regarding Alex Smith, or two and a half years of me yelling at Karynda DuPree. We attempted to drive on her. This did not end well. We sent her to the line. This did not end well- she has a surprisingly nice stroke from the line for a post player. She's big for them in every way she can be. Courtney Warley brought a lot of energy on the glass, deflecting sure offensive rebounds for the Gaels and keeping Jasper possessions alive. She's toned down some of her wildness from the early part of the season.

Manhattan did two things really well on offense tonight: drive and dish for the three, or get the steal and run the fast break. Setting things up other than that didn't go well for them, but they really didn't need too much other than that.

Jayden should really go apologize to the Manhattan dance team for crashing into them like that. It looked like one of the dancers took a really hard fall (and Jayden may have given her an additional shove, whether intentionally or not- that looked rough). Play nice with the people on the sidelines, Jayden.

Officiating was more or less okay. They were lax on travels and a little too harsh on touch fouls, in my opinion.

If you're going to fill the student section, fill it with people who'll actually start making noise before the 19-point lead kicks into place. That was pathetic for stretches. It's not like there were even that many Iona people to out-yell. I mean, at least put some effort into it. (As an aside, the listed attendance actually looks low; I wonder if Manhattan didn't count comp tickets or something. I was impressed with the size of the crowd.)

I don't know if this Iona team has the moxie to match them, but this year reminds me so much of the step back St. John's took after the 2006 tournament bid- a lot of freshmen, a couple of upperclassmen, the inexplicable loss of a team leader, key injuries at all the wrong times. 2006-07 wasn't easy in Jamaica. But you find out who you are in times like these. You find out who has the mettle and who has the ability to lead even as an underclassman. You find out who can't deal with the losing. You find out who's going to bend and who's going to snap.

This too shall pass, Gaels. In the meantime, we fight the good fight, because that's what we do.

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