December 6th, 2015: Michigan at Princeton

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Michigan rallied for brief stretches, but Princeton controlled the game in their 74-57 win. Michelle Miller led the Tigers with 21 points and eight rebounds. Katelynn Flaherty led Michigan with 33 points, but no other Wolverine had more than 8.

For t-shirts, broken promises, hard bleachers, plaid, free things, a lack of hustle, matching grays, sore quads, and let-downs, join your intrepid and sore blogger after the jump.

Greetings, readers both loyal and disloyal! Your intrepid blogger is on the road again with her favorite allies, headed down to Princeton for the Tigers' game against Michigan. As always when an Ivy League institution takes the court, I will attempt to elevate the level of my discourse, to better suit the academic reputation of both Princeton and Michigan.

I'm currently writing from the back of a Suburban Trailways bus on the approach to the Lincoln Tunnel. It's a more fiscally sensible alternative to taking the train, costing less than sixty dollars, as compared to approximately seventy-five dollars in train fare. The bus was very slightly late, but well within normal parameters. Given that the Giants and the Jets kicked off at 1, this may prove to be a poor choice, but we'll see how the traffic flows.

Even if we didn't already have a source for tickets, we'd be able to get in free anyway; Princeton's holding a food drive today. We're bringing non-perishable food items anyway, because we can. It's what we do. (Today is also the post-game autograph session! Wee, another poster for the fancave! In other news, we're going to need a bigger fancave.)

We have arrived! We have a t-shirt! There are a lot of Michigan people here so far. We might very well end up filling the allocated seating, and there are additional Michigan supporters across from the benches.

Coach Joy coming through with the swag! Did not expect more t-shirts, but will totally take them.

My Sharpie and my spare pen are on loan to a family who's making a sign. I don't normally approve of signs on the road, but you know what? It's totally worth it.

I see the Guru is in the house.

All right, this is serious business. One of the Michigan staffers is going around with 3 cards and rolly-signs. We're going to make some noise up in here. (And apparently there will not, in fact, be noise. Everyone is ridiculously quiet. What's the point of showing up to support your team if you don't cheer for them?)

At halftime, Princeton is up 33-24, and it hasn't been pretty. I think they might have gussied the place up too much for ESPN- the floor is extremely shiny, and we've seen a lot of slipping and sliding, especially in front of the Princeton bench. I would greatly appreciate if someone other than Katelynn Flaherty could score, though.

There's a lot of work to be done for both of these teams. Michigan's overall youth showed up in this one, while Princeton still has work to do on their fundamentals. I really expected far better decision-making from two schools as academically inclined as Princeton and Michigan, though.

I think I have a new favorite Wolverine to replace the graduated Cyesha Goree, and her name is Danielle Williams. She needs to be a little more offensive-minded, but I love her work on defense, and I love how vocal she is on the floor. Michigan is looking for a leader, and she seems like someone who can at least lead by example. Boogie Brozoski did not make a good first impression, missing her first two shots very badly, but I like her spirit. She doesn't always know where she needs to be yet, but I think she can learn. Nicole Munger did not always make smart decisions with the ball.

Kelsey Mitchell, who I'm sure has considered the possibility of trolling that school in Ohio, had a solid few minutes, cleaning up on the glass from ill-advisd Michigan shots. Maria Backman showed a little spark on the offensive end, but definitely didn't look like she knew her place in the schemes yet. There was one play where the ball bounced off her hands because she wasn't ready for the pass. Sam Trammel gave a few good minutes on the board, and finished the half with a sweet putback.

I'm sure Madison Ristovski is a lovely person, but I have the strong feeling that if I were a regular attendee of Michigan games, she would drive me up the wall. She's timid with the ball, and every time I see her make a move, I fully expect it to be a turnover, whether on a bad pass, a careless dribble, a slip, a fumble- something will go wrong. Siera Thompson's attitude on the court disturbed me. Maybe it was just this game, but she didn't seem involved with the game or with her teammates, and like she was perpetually smelling something sour (which, granted, might have been Michigan's shooting). Near the end of the game, she was dominating the ball, which I can understand since she and Katelynn were the only ones making any reasonable attempt to score, but I don't have to like it, and I don't have to think that it's a good idea, and I don't have to think that she's not going to do it in situations where it's uncalled for. Katelynn Flaherty was the Michigan offense today. She has a beautiful stroke and some sweet handles, and she knows how to make space for herself. There were times when she tried to get her teammates involved, and that was when Princeton's defense was best able to strike. It was starting to wear on her by the end- she was tired, she was making mistakes on defense, she was getting sloppy.

Somebody needs to train Hallie Thome out of bringing the ball down. She's 6-5- there's no reason for her to equalize the playing field by bringing the ball back down to where the guards can get at it. She's very tentative right now, and that needs to get smacked out of her in practice right quick. (So much for my plans to elevate my diction.) Jillian Dunston doesn't seem to have a position, or if she does, she's not fully sure of what it is. She's got a very solid, thick build that seems to indicate she should be hitting people with it, but she spent too much time for my liking floating around on the perimeter. When she did shoot close to the basket, the results were ugly.

I think Michigan is in dire need of some ballhandling drills- too many fumbles.

Courtney Banghart really didn't go into her bench for long stretches- it was almost as if she were trying on different looks with most of her guards (although, to be fair, the way Michelle Miller was playing, I wouldn't have wanted to take her out). We saw Tia Weledji first in the first half and last in the second half, just to give you some idea of the shift in rotations. Taylor Brown gave the impression of small quickness. I really didn't get a strong sense of Qalea Ismail's play in her brief minutes.

Leslie Robinson came off the bench for the first time in the second half, and she lit a fire under Princeton. She had a nifty steal for a fast break lay-up, she had a sweet pass for a basket- in a short burst of time, she got a lot done. And her teammates were loving it- they gave her the kind of cheers you usually only see when the last player off the bench scores her first basket in a meaningless fourth quarter shift. Taylor Williams saw the bulk of the bench minutes and produced some strong rebounds and stifling interior defense, using her length to ruin people's shots.

Amanda Berntsen has some slick, sneaky moves. She knows how to get to the ball, and how to get the ball to the basket. She's a little reckless, and her gambling started to get her in trouble in the fourth quarter, when she started racking up the fouls. I like her flair, though. Vanessa Smith started off well, and she was all up on the ball like white on rice. Princeton's defense was tough, and she was a big part of it. Michelle Miller was feeling it, both from deep and down low. It felt like she couldn't miss, though I know she did. She had the shot of the game for Princeton, an absolute back-breaker at the shot clock buzzer that was so ridiculous that it'll get its own little bitty paragraph.

Alex Wheatley has one of the most unusual free throw wind-ups I've ever seen- it's like she studied part of Rick Barry's routine at the line, but not the whole thing. She has some nice left-handed moves near the basket, including one nice reverse that I still don't know how she got into the basket. Annie Tarakchian looked more out of place than I've ever seen her in a Princeton offense. Her shots were off, and badly off- way too strong. She hustled on the boards, as did all of the Tigers, but it was strange to see her so out of place. I guess that's one thing we can at least partially credit the Michigan defense for.

Princeton stayed on loose balls. They were aggressive on both ends of the floor. They were the ones who never gave up on plays.

Play of the game: beyond the shadow of a doubt, Michelle Miller throwing up a three-pointer over her shoulder as the shot clock expired and hitting nothing but net. The Michiganders around me made a reasonable argument that Boogie had played stifling enough defense that five-seconds-closely-guarded would have been the right call, but that shot was so awesome I can't take it away.

Officiating was the usual round of inconsistency. Film at eleven.

The post-game autograph session was fun. They had little bitty autograph books for the kids- I almost snagged one for the collection, but they'd been in the box too long and the covers were starting to wear off. So we got a poster instead. Unlike most teams, almost every Tiger signed with her first name only, or even a nickname (apparently Alex Wheatley is "Wheaties", which is apropos and funny at the same time). Tarakchian recognized us from the trip to Seton Hall last year, which was a bit awkward, but you shouldn't give clues to an Ivy League brain. The aforementioned poster was for all Princeton winter sports; Taylor Williams (I think) made a point of checking off which event this was. Tarakchian was the first to sign, and she signed on the little sliver that was devoted to WBB. So periodically, as the poster went down the line, there was a laugh and an exclamation of "Annie signed on Meesh!" (I, uh. It was funnier in real time. I swear.)

Then, of course, the bus broke down in New Brunswick. My life, loyal readers. To be fair, it was a pretty quick turnaround to get a new bus out, but stiiiiiiiiill.

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January 12th, 2008: Penn at Princeton

The New Jersey rivalry weekend continues on the campus that time forgot. Meagan Cowher is her father's daughter, Addie Micir is a pleasant surprise, and there's nothing quite as pathetic as watching a guy try to get to his feet with a full bass on top of him.


So for part two of our Jersey Rivalry Weekend, we headed southish to Princeton, where the Tigers were to host the Quakers of Penn. An hour's drive or thereabouts from the RAC brought us to the picturesque town and the stunning campus that shapes its aura. In the beginnings of dusk, it was quite beautiful; I'm sure it's even more lovely in daylight, but since Ivy League conference games are all on Friday and Saturday nights so as to not interfere with academics, I doubt I'll have the chance to see the exquisite work during the day. Construction on campus cut off the normal routes to Jadwin Gym, so- with help from a very nice band member- we cut through the concourse of Princeton Stadium and across the track, past an ivy-covered wall, through a wrought-iron gate, to the arena (which looks more like an opera house or an independent theatre than it does a place where sports occur).

No food in the bleachers. This is a wonderful idea and I wish more schools would adopt it. For those who wanted to snack during the game, the upstairs balcony allowed food in the seats. Jadwin Gym is intriguingly set up, for the facility is primarily used for indoor track; basketball and the like are afterthoughts, so while the court is set up properly, on three sides here are gray screens that cut off the vast bulk of the building; looking over the screens, you can see men's and women's track banners, and at the foot of the screen behind the benches, a couple of lanes of track are visible. Seating was only available on one side of the court, facing the benches- bleachers on the lower level, seats on the upper. Quaint, old-fashioned digital scoreboard with quirky graphics.

Signs that you might be at an Ivy League game, #1: the pep band has a bass. They were wonderful and we ended up buying their album.

Penn brought a lot of power in the paint- perhaps not surprising, considering their coach is the former Georgetown coach who was there for Rebekkah Brunson's tenure. Perhaps they recognized that this was a weakness in Princeton's game- especially with Meagan Cowher very much off her game in the first half- or perhaps it's Knapp's style. I don't know enough about him to judge, only that Penn beat Princeton in the paint for the entire game, and the differential was most noticeable in the first half. I was most impressed with the junior Maggie Burgess, who provided a lot of that power as the first Quaker off the bench- she's big, surprisingly mobile for her size, and actually got stuff done. But Penn seemed very discombobulated, as a lot of their passes went out of bounds, off players' hands, or over anywhere they could be caught. I was surprised nothing went over the screens, to be honest. Whether it was a bad game by Penn's distributors or well-played defense by the Princeton guards, the Penn offense was pretty much choked off right where it would normally have started up.

Signs that you might be at an Ivy League game, #2: the only individual award that's prominently placed so that it can be clearly read is the Academic All-American award.

I admit that one of the reasons I wanted to see Princeton this year was because of Meagan Cowher. With her sports bloodline, and with Princeton pretty much scheduling a suicide slate for their out-of-conference part of the season, I figured she'd blow me out of the water. Not so much. Maybe she wasn’t up for this game. Maybe she came down with something. We all have off nights. But I was not impressed with her. Yeah, she hit her averages, but most of her points came after her teammates had built the lead. She had some deplorable defensive lapses and way too many turnovers, plus the mind-numbingly stupid foulout with twenty seconds left on a pointless offensive foul. She's aggressive, and when she showed her moves she showed that she does have them, but I think it's going to take an attitude adjustment for her to make it in the WNBA, and with a coaching pedigree and a Princeton degree, I can't see her bothering to make it. No, the player who really impressed me for Princeton was Addie Micir- a beautiful stroke, enough aggressiveness to both hit the boards and play solid defense, and only a freshman, so little flaws like questionable footwork can be improved upon. Again, for all I know, I've seen the best game she'll ever play in her life, but I liked what I saw out of her. I also liked Whitney Downs, a junior forward with great instincts. Running backwards to properly get back on defense seems to be a lost art, but she has it. Princeton got a lot of their points from the line, some of which were the result of incredibly stupid or blatant fouls by Penn. Most of the rest came from outside the arc- they bombed eight threes. They were also very good at taking advantage of Penn's mistakes, though a faster team would probably have converted more of the fast breaks that were potentially there.

Signs that you might be at an Ivy League game, #3: point guard Jessica Berry impressed both me and the boy with her great handle and court vision; true points are rare today in basketball, but she had an air about her that, if she walked onto a court anywhere, you'd know she was a point guard without her saying a word. We were surprised to find that she'd only played in two games this year, and this was her first start. We thought she might have been injured, or perhaps hadn't lived up to the school's academic standards for the first semester. I happened to be reading a game recap on the Princeton site while compiling these notes… turns out that she was fine and her grades were fine- she was unavailable because she was doing her fall semester at Oxford.

The band did a postgame show, which was also awesome, although there's nothing quite as pathetic as watching a guy with a full bass on top of him trying to get back up from lying (and playing his instrument) on his back.

To quote eBay lingo: A+ viewing experience, would attend again. Perhaps next year, when Micir's matured a little more.

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