November 18th, 2018: Columbia at Fordham

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Jalen Cobb sank a floater at the buzzer to give Fordham a 70-69 win over Columbia and a tournament win in the Johnny Bach Classic. Nick Honor scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half to lead Fordham. Mike Smith had a team-high 15 points for Columbia in the loss.

For drama, guards, epic hair, charge bugles, and changing seats, join your intrepid and hyped blogger after the jump.

Basketball never stops here at Rose Hill, and it's time for the Fordham men to play some basketball, as they take on the Columbia Lions.

There was a bit of a communication breakdown regarding how far out of the gym we had to go. In order to avoid any unnecessary confusion, we've returned to the baseline bleachers we occupied during the neutral game. Honestly, we should probably be at the other end of the court, where the band is, but I don't like being by the opposing bench and I don't feel like walking anyway.

Good Lord, Columbia has a lot of players. I should not be distracted by the cute guy using the railing by our section to stretch. I'm twice his age and it's a very depressing thought.

Dance team's mismatched denim jackets look even less uniform from the back. It's not a good look. It also blocks my view of the baseline, which is not okay. I'm here for basketball, not dancing girls.

Fordham's staff is very sharply dressed. Those are some nice suits. They're the only team whose staff bothered to dress up for this tournament.

At halftime of a very competitive game, Columbia is up 34-33 on Fordham. It might help if we could keep Jake Killingsworth from hitting threes- he has three of them for a team-high nine points. We're having trouble keeping them from driving as well. Antwon Portley has three threes to lead Fordham.

Musical chairs is sort of bootleg when you don't actually have chairs. I'm just saying.

I already told you I could get my wrist and twist it like a stir-fry, find a new song. And, uh, okay, I just looked up the lyrics and while I have made stir-fry, I have never cooked crack.

What a finish! Just when you think it's over, it's not over! Five points in eight seconds! Never give up and never surrender. I'll be fair- Columbia outplayed Fordham for most of the game, but all that mattered was the fight and the spark.

So Jake Killingsworth can shoot a little bit from outside. I wasn't sure if anyone noticed, since Fordham let him keep doing it. I'm not okay with this, for the record. Nice shot. The Lions also got a little bit of that from Peter Barba in the second half and a whole lot of that from Quinton Adlesh all through the game. Maka Ellis made a good hustle play to get a bucket, and also drove your intrepid blogger to despair regarding that age difference.

Patrick Tapé was called upon for a lot of minutes in the frontcourt, thanks to foul trouble from the starters- he came in almost immediately in the first half, after two fouls on Ike Nweke. Randy Brumant pulled down offensive rebounds and put down dunks. You'll pardon me for not getting excited about that, both because I'm not the biggest dunking fan and because I was rooting for Fordham.

Ike Nweke couldn't stay out of his own way. You get two fouls to start the game, within the first three minutes or so, you're going to have a bad time of it. He's got size, and he's got good touch at the basket, but none of that helps if you can't stay on the floor. Rodney Hunter started, but didn't play a lot- they were getting a lot of offense off the bench from their shooters, so I guess it makes sense.

Mike Smith has amazing hair. It is a truly epic 'frohawk. Columbia's second half approach mostly consisted of him dribbling until he found a lane, then driving and either scoring, passing, or getting fouled and going to the line. He had a couple of really nice passes to Nweke in the low post. Gabe Stefanini gave them good cuts to the basket and good size at the guard slot. Tai Bibbs seemed to almost be getting a courtesy start.

In the early going, Columbia's offensive rebounding was ridiculously good. We were able to buckle down in the second half and defend the boards better.

The answer to "who was that masked man?" is David Pekarek, who was able ot body up inside for the Rams. The real star in the post was Chuba Ohams, who appears to be approximately 96% arms and legs and who slapped a couple of monster blocks, in addition to getting on the glass. He needs to finish better at the rim, but I'll take what we got.

Onyi Eyisi had a nifty offensive rebound in the first half. I kept thinking of him more as a forward than as a guard, but I'll admit that the size in the men's game often throws me off. It's all a matter of perspective, you know? Ty Perry was part of a lot of three-guard sets- Fordham seemed to be going with that a lot down the stretch. I can't say I'm surprised, to be honest.

Jesse Bunting is tough and physical, but after a couple of foul calls he disagreed with, I was surprised he didn't do something stupid, to be honest. He looked ready to. Ivan Raut's three set up the big quick comeback to finish the game. I have to admit, I wasn't expecting him to have that kind of touch from the outside.

Nick Honor kicked it up a notch in the second half, getting to the rack and hitting the midrange shots. That is also an amazing name, I'm just saying. Jalen Cobb has a nice shot, though his freshman-ness was showing during one possession when multiple people had to remind him of what position he was assigned to on that play. Game-winning shots are best shots, though. Antwon Portley fired up a lot of shots and gave some good hustle.

The men at Fordham play a faster and more open style of play than the women. That's not commentary on men versus women, but on different coaching styles. And for all the talk some purported basketball fans like to blather on about, there were very few dunks in this game. Maybe two worth mentioning? (There was also a little one from Brumant that would better be described as a dink.)

Block/charge confusion was the overall theme of the day.

Fordham's band has an impressive repertoire. They didn't dig into repeating songs until late into the second game. The "Charge!" horn at charge calls, or at what they believe should be charge calls, was fun.

That finish was definitely worth staying for. I thought it was over when Columbia hit the fast break dunk, but it just goes to show you.

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December 29th, 2017: Fairleigh Dickinson at LIU

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Balanced offense helped Fairleigh Dickinson pull away in the second half of their 82-71 win at LIU Brooklyn. Mike Holloway Jr. had 27 points to lead the Knights' charge. Joel Hernandez had 23 points and 10 rebounds to lead LIU.

For weird beards, an enthusiastic fan, autographs in the seats, dubious leggings, biting cold, and impressive foot-stomping, join your intrepid and wayward blogger after the jump.



And now for something very slightly different: as I type these words, the LIU and Fairleigh Dickinson men are warming up and stretching, which gives me a good forty minutes to finish up the women's notes.

I am really not feeling this unadorned navy that FDU is wearing. Nike let them down. That being said, the shorts fit very nicely and I am shamelessly ogling some cute college behinds, because this is a thing one does before actually seeing what basketball skills there are to appreciate.

(I don't necessarily object to appreciating an athlete's physical beauty. I do object to it being the only thing one values about them.)

Not gonna lie, ally-oops actually look cooler when they don't end in dunks.

The ladies have started dressing and trying to escape. Daisha, Seneca, and Ella seem to have gotten out unnoticed. Denisha, not so much.

And I stand corrected. There is a blonde in LIU basketball gear and the most hideous pink and purple leggings in the next section, and as a matter of fact I am judging her so hard right now. I think that's Seneca.

Meanwhile, everyone has found Jeydah and she has ridiculously neat handwriting.

FDU better be careful with those practice dunks. One of them shook the shot clock slightly out of position. Seriously, y'all are going to bring that shot clock down on your heads and I'm going to laugh SO HARD before worrying for your well-being.

Why is Tia in a boot? WHY IS TIA IN A BOOT? I am not okay with this!

I'm surprised one of the St. Francis players stayed. I can't see her bookbag, so I can't tell you who.

At halftime, FDU is up 39-36, behind 12 points each from Mike Holloway Jr. on the inside and Darnell Edge on the outside. Fast game, physical game, and sloppy game. I think there have been more deflections than there have been clean rebounds.

Shoutout to the loud dude in the upper deck. I hear you, man. Keep it coming, all positivity and all supportive.

FDU's warmups are plain, but the blue gradient on the shorts works.

That was certainly an energetic and enthusiastic game. Tempers seemed to be flaring and I'm surprised there weren't even more technical fouls than were already called. I don't know if I can say I honestly enjoyed the chaos.

FDU went deeper in the first half than in the second, as so many teams do. I thought they actually got good minutes from Nadi Beciri in his brief time. Tyler Jones was so forgettable I only happened to notice he was in because I didn't recognize his jersey number. Pretty much ditto for Pat McNamara. Be more memorable if you want me to write about you, deep reserves. Kaleb Bishop mixed it up a fair amount in the paint, and I'm not sure it was as ineffective as the box score might lead you to believe. He had a big block on Raul Frias in the first half. Elyjah Williams also gave them good inside play, though if I recall correctly, one of his baskets was actually granted either on a goaltend or an own goal by LIU. Neither would surprise me.

Jahlil Jenkins is very energetic and very quick. I'm not sure if calling a player a waterbug is a thing anymore, but that's the comparison that comes to mind, the one that people used to use for Betty Lennox. He had a few very nice steals off LIU's sloppy passing and sloppy ballhandling. Darian Anderson got handsy, which was a problem for him late in the game. Pretty three-point stroke, though. Darnell Edge, while he drove a bit, was mostly FDU's outside threat, and he got off to a hot start with a couple of early threes to spread the defense and make room inside for their big center.

Mike Holloway Jr. is a big dude, and a powerful one at that. He went in for buckets, and no one was going to successfully stop him on a regular basis. I was really surprised when he stepped outside for a pretty sweet-looking three-pointer late in the game. He was huge for them, both literally and figuratively. Noah Morgan played with a lot of emotion, which wasn't always to his advantage, given the double technical with Batts after he hit a big shot. He was also arguing with the ref a fair bit, even after the technical.

I actually sort of like the balance FDU brought to the floor- it's good to have both solid outside shooters and an inside threat who can clean up the mess inside.

The less said about Raul Frias's shooting, the better. I think it's best for everyone's dignity. Jamall Robinson came on and hit a couple of threes late to keep it close and keep LIU in the game. I'm trying to remember if he was part of the stretch of three or four offensive rebounds that ended with a turnover and no points. You could hear the crowd groan when the Knights came away with the ball. Eral Penn was ridiculously athletic down low, going up for monster dunks and big blocks. There's something to be said for the high-flying game in moderation. I don't know the context for the double tech with him and Holloway. I suspect someone may have said something about someone's mother, or something along those lines. I can understand why he switched to the bench- it's nice to have a change of pace off the bench.

(I don't understand why LIU carries so many players and plays so few of them. Is this coach handing out redshirts like a Starfleet security recruiter, or is there something more here that I don't understand?)

Julius van Sauers has one big problem that's not going to be tenable in the long term if he's going to start, and that's his tendency to get into foul trouble. You can't do that if you're going to start, especially if that's going to leave your team very thin up front. I don't think LIU wanted to go to Eral Penn as long as they did. He did have one play that I thought was really nice, a hesitation move where he timed it perfectly to force the FDU defender to foul him. I just don't know if he's a sustainable starter. Raiquan Clark took over the game in the second half for LIU, and I don't know if that was entirely a good thing. It seemed to get to the point where everyone was expecting him to make things happen and forcing the ball inside to him, instead of looking for the best shot. I do understand the concept of feeding the hot hand, but this looked a lot more forced than feeding the hot hand. I enjoyed watching him kick ass, and I think he might be my favorite of these gentleman Blackbirds. But I do also believe in offensive balance, and I'm starting to wonder if they do.

I still think that Julian Batts shot should have counted. I thought he got it off in time. Fight me. I don't care. Really quiet game for him, and that's a problem. This team's not good enough that a starter can go 0-fer from the field. Jashaun Agosto ran a good point guard game, choosing his moments to shoot well and making good passes. Joel Hernandez didn't force things for himself as much as he did the first time I saw this team this year, though he was the man with the ball in his hands at the end of the game when LIU was desperately chucking up threes to try and stay in the game. I think he might grow on me after a while.

Can I admit something? Something weird that most basketball fans might not get? Of all the differences between men's and women's basketball, the one that threw me off most, at least in this game, was the beards. There were a lot of beards and attempted beards in this game. Is Harden making that a trend? It's not a good trend.

The other sharp contrast between the second game and the first game was the number of deflected and contested rebounds. I would have to watch the film closely, but I think there were more contested boards than clean ones.

Let me tell you, if the women's officials had been calling the men's game, it would have been twice as long and both teams would have had twice as many turnovers. The footwork was abominable, and I think I actually did let fly a Bronx cheer when they called one of the few travels in the game. Most of the turnovers were off sloppy ballhandling, sloppy passing, and charges.

I wish more of the people behind the LIU bench had been at the women's game- they missed one heck of a game, and I mean, it's a rivalry, what's not to love? We could have used the noise. But I'll take the support for the school anyway. It's nice to see people at low mid-major games.

I'm genuinely surprised neither coach got a tech. LIU's coach was screaming at anyone who seemed to be vaguely near where he was yelling, and FDU's coach was stomping the floor so hard I swear Stephanie Del Preore was taking notes from the bleachers on how he got those acoustics. Given how double-tech happy this crew was, I expected someone to be leaving early at some point.

You're going to be hearing a lot about this team in 2018, but only because all of LIU's weekend games are doubleheaders, not because they're, like, super good or anything.

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December 10th, 2017: Fairfield at LIU

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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November 10th, 2017: New Orleans at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma’am: The Red Storm started slowly, but found their footing late, in a 77-61 win over New Orleans. Marcus LoVett had 23 points to lead St. John’s, 16 as part of a second-half surge. Travin Thibodeaux had 18 points off the bench to lead the Privateers.

For hard bleachers, gift disparities, crowd detachment, height miscalculations, intriguing guards, and the female gaze, join your intrepid and exhausted blogger after the jump.

On to the second half of our basketball double-header. It’s 37 minutes before tip-off and they’re already having staff members start checking assigned seats. I mean, really. I’ll move if and when they tell me.

New Orleans has a dude who is really, really tall, and really, really skinny.

To the dude in the red Mohawk- eff outta here. We got to campus at the same time, and yet I don’t remember seeing you anywhere in Carnesecca during the women’s game. I abhor these Johnny-come-latelies.

Someone has a custom St. John’s jersey with the #15 and “World Peace” on the back. Well played, sir. I’m not sure what’s up with the throwback Warren Moon jersey, though.

I’m starting to think something really is wrong with the rim closer to the men’s home bench (I still think of it as the visiting bench). UNO has had all kinds of practice shots go wacky over there.

I love that Qadashah has, like, a receiving line up behind section 11. Either she has a positively enormous family that’s going to be a joy for four years, or she’s already super popular.

Ugh, I knew I should have brought the butt pads. I haven’t gotten up in over three hours, and my ass is informing me that it does not approve of this state of affairs.

Seriously, where were all you jackholes two hours ago? There was basketball to be played and Johnnies to cheer for then.

I don’t know how I feel about the white warm-up hoodies. They’re a little something, but I don’t know what that something is.

At halftime, St. John’s is up 37-28 on New Orleans. I get the feeling we might not be good at the basketball. Justin Simon has been flying high, but Marvin Clark II leads the way with 11 points. Very sloppy play by both teams. I’m really impressed with New Orleans’s rebounding.

The Queen Mother joined me for the second half of the women’s game and the first half of the men’s game; her contribution to the commentary is that the men don’t seem to have very good communication on the floor.

I swear, the dad for this birthday party has spent more time standing up and blocking my view. Either sit down or go get me a hot dog; you seemed to be offering them to everyone else in the section.

I’m not thrilled with this upper deck corner seat, but I find it somewhat reassuring that the woman I think is part of Tiana England’s family didn’t get a much better seat. At least they’re consistent in their dismissal of women’s ticketholders.

Dude behind me had no idea that Mullin had taken over as head coach of the men. I swear. I don’t even go here and sometimes I think I know more about this team than the people who claim to be fans.

It’s petty, but for the most part the arena seems just as quiet for a men’s game as it does for a women’s game, except for the presence of a student section. The people in the upper deck just don’t seem to care about the action on the floor; they just want to be able to say they were there, to show the flag. It’s quieted me as a result (which mom thinks makes it seem that much quieter, ha-ha-ha, it is to laugh).

The birthday party has candy-coated Oreos that look like basketballs, which I did not know existed and now need to be an integral part of my life. I just wish the dad would have spent more than five minutes in a row in his seat.

Well, I can’t say that St. John’s is good, per se, but they’re certainly entertaining. When the passing game is on and Shamorie Ponds is hitting, they’re fast-paced and flashy. If Shamorie’s not hitting and the passes aren’t sharp, then it all falls apart in a hurry. I’m concerned about the rebounding, and I feel like most of the guys are still trying to figure out where everyone likes their passes.

I was very impressed with the Privateers’ offensive rebounding. They never gave up on a ball near the rim. They weren’t necessarily going to get it into the basket, but they were going to give it the old college try, as it were. Their ball control was not good. I love their heart and their intensity, though.

It seemed like New Orleans relied more on their bench than their starters, especially in the second half. Jorge Rosa got big minutes and scored buckets in the fourth quarter. (Well. What would be the fourth quarter if MCBB followed everyone else’s system. You understand why I might still think of it that way.) Bryson Robinson attempted to take a lot of contact and attempted to draw charges. He was, for the most part, unsuccessful in that goal. Near the end of the game, New Orleans started throwing in some of their deep reserve guards, and at least Damion Rosser had his free throw attempts to get him in the box score.

Travin Thibodeaux, who got his name pronounced two or three different ways by the PA guy (seriously, pronunciation guides, how do they frakking work) was strong off the bench, to the point where he got the second half start over Tyren Harrison. He tried to put the team on his back, finishing at the rim and even going deep occasionally. Bol Riek is very tall, very fast, and not very strong- the prototypical extremely tall mid-major center who would be somewhere higher up the ladder if he had fewer flaws in his game. He didn’t seem comfortable at the basket at all. (Granted, given how enthusiastic St. John’s was with defense at the rim, I can’t say as I blame him. We weren’t great at it, but we were certainly enthusiastic about it.)

Be proud of me, loyal readers. I went the entire game without making any paradox puns about Michael Zeno. I’m learning how to pun responsibly. He got on the glass well; even when he wsn’t pulling down the rebound, he made it easier for his teammates to eventually corral the ball. I don’t really remember Makur Puou all that well, which is kind of scary given how much time he spent on the floor. I’m starting to understand why New Orleans seemed to have so much more confidence in their senior reserves than they did in their starters.Play the hot hand, and that’s how the Privateers rolled in the second half.

Troy Green ended up with a lot of fouls and a lot of disagreement with the officials regarding calls that may or may not have been made, the application of which as appropriate would surely have been to the Privateers’ advantage. Turen Harrison got benched in the second half, but did have a spectacular block on Shamorie. Ezekiel Charles didn’t really get going until the second half.

I’m sleep-deprived. These notes on UNO are bad, even for a team I know less than nothing about. And I’m embarrassed and sorry about that. They were a feisty team, and one that did a good job of taking advantage of the Red Storm’s mistakes in the first half, but one that didn’t have the talent or the depth to cope when Shamorie and Marcus were getting their shots to fall.

When I saw the starting lineup, I wondered why Kassoum Yakwe wasn’t starting. Then he came into the game and committed two quick fouls, and now I understand why Coach Mullin doesn’t start him. Ditto but more for Amar Alibegovic, who seemed unable to find a situation that he couldn’t somehow make worse. When he had open shots, he passed them up to teammates who were in worse positions. When he was on defense, he committed unnecessary fouls. He has the body of a brilliant inside player and I’ve seen his shot, but something just wasn’t clicking in this game.

Tariq Owens is ridiculously skinny. It’s surreal in a way, as if you could fold him up and collapse him into a framework for travel. He’s very active and energetic. His accuracy needs a bit of work, though, but I’m glad he was able to draw contact and get to the line. Bryan Trimble Jr. hit a three in the second half and came in fairly late in both halves, if my scorecard is to be believed.

Full disclosure: mom and I both spent a good portion of the pregame, once we were in our assigned seats, admiring Marvin Clark II’s arms. Dude is built. He had himself a great first half, very quietly. He took advantage of his opportunities and hit his shots. When you’ve got well-known star players, you need a guy like that, someone who can make the other team pay for hewing too closely to the original game plan. The guys behind me kept talking about how Bashir Ahmed was trying to do too much, and I can sort of see what they were getting at. He did have a distressing tendency to try and shoot on multiple defenders, with dubious results. His passing was also shaky. I think he thinks Shamorie’s taller than he actually is, which is not an unreasonable mistake to make, all things considered.

Justin Simon certainly likes to sky for those dunks. I think I now know who broke the rim, and I have to apologize to Tariq for accusing him without evidence. He was kept a bit more grounded in the second half, but that was okay, because that’s when the big guns started going off. Shamorie Ponds was able to get the speed game going in the second half, and the passes started getting a little fancier as he and Marcus got a little more confident. He had a fantastic steal where he just stepped into the lane and took the ball away like it was his destiny to have it. Marcus LoVett started raining threes in the second half, and it was a great and glorious thing to watch.

I get the feeling that this team is going to be a beautiful mess to watch; there will be days when they look like they have no idea what they’re doing, when the passes are constantly going into the bench or hitting the padding on the sidelines, when the shots don’t go down and the defense is lacking and the rebounding is non-existent. But there will be days that make those days worthwhile, when the offense is humming like a Ferrari, the threes are falling, and Justin Simon has cleared his flight plan with air traffic control over at JFK.

I could be wrong, but I wouldn’t think Marcus LoVett would have to go crashing into the sidelines to get close to the dance team.

At the start of the second half, Ezekiel Charles was having a bit of trouble getting his jersey back on, for whatever reason. I would have been perfectly okay with him spraypainting his number on his chest and going on with the game without his jersey. (I’m not quite old enough to make it creepy that I’m ogling a college junior, but in a couple of years it might be. But let me enjoy the eye candy while I can.)

Officials were letting a lot of contact go. I was worried someone might get trampled by the end of the game. I am not okay with people getting trampled.

Play of the game, in my opinion, was the snazzy pass by Shamorie that led to the three by Marcus that bounced off the rim and in. I might have had a different opinion if the shot didn’t go in.

Are fans in the upper deck always this quiet? There was almost no interaction with the game in my section. It’s like, why are you here if you aren’t even watching the game? Why aren’t you cheering?

I don’t think I have anything else to say about this game, or at least the atmosphere around Carnesecca, that wouldn’t be perceived as whining, so I think I’m going to stop here.

No, wait, one more thing. They advertised a season ticket holder gift during the game, one of those nifty seatback things that turns a bleacher seat into a cushioned and supported seat. I sit in the bleachers for most of my games, so that would be amazing. Except, as it turns out, that’s only the men’s season ticket holder gift. The women’s gift is a flag. In the retro font. Which the men use and the women mostly don’t. Oh, and it has the Garden on it. Where the men occasionally play. And the women don’t.

In other words, the gift for women’s fans is a giant symbol of men’s basketball. You can see why I might think this is inappropriate.

This is, of course, setting aside the fact that I have a flag already, and I think a flag signed by the whole team for something like three or four years running kicks the ass of any other team-related flag, even if it’s a weird shade of red and one of the grommets is about to tear out.

I think I might actually enjoy watching the kids who play for St. John’s if there weren’t so much goddamn baggage associated with the program, and if weren’t so often so problematic to see how the school treats the men’s program and the women’s program so differently.

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October 13th, 2017: Red Storm Tip-Off

For mispronunciations, tablets, dancing, and pretending to care, join your intrepid and cranky blogger after the jump.

I wasn't supposed to be here tonight. Tonight was supposed to be D&D night. But DM changed the session date, so here I am at Red Storm Tip-Off, laptop battery dead. Here's to 90 minutes of loud music I don't actually like, 15 minutes of WBB intros, 5 minutes of awkward dancing, 5 minutes of drills, and a whole bunch of men's shit I don't care about.

Damn it. I should be being my pirate (and Pirate) affiliated rogue right now.

Security should not be surprised at large numbers of backpacks at an on-campus event.

I'm in the second deck equivalent of my usual perch in section 2.

Looks like we're going to have, or have had, an alumni game. Uniformed people all seem to be dudes, but there are women on the home bench (well, the WBB home bench) who look like Day and Jade. They weren't

One ridiculously strong dude just one-handed a trey. Jade, if that is you, don't get any ideas.

Ugh, I forgot how gated STJ's WiFi is.

I'm not really following the alumni game. Bunch of guys trying to pull off moves they can't anymore.

We've reached the "make random noise for free things" stage, or at least the first such.

Guy behind me just had to explain who Anthony Mason Jr's dad was. I think my soul just aged another year or so.

WTF Sky where did you wander in from? I know you weren't on the long list of alumni announced at the start of the game. (And she was mostly decorative. Pretend to care, Sky...)

I don't do group activities that involve hugging or holding total strangers. WTF.

Oh, fantastic, home opener is a 4:30 Friday tip doubleheader with the men. Horse apples. And students can wander between the women's game and the pregame rally. It's not a pregame rally IF THE GAME IS HAPPENING.

St. John's, you make it really hard to love you when you make it clear the institution doesn't support the team. The more successful team.

Cheer doing their thing. Lifts are a little shaky, but ambitious.

Dance looks like they're next up. But I may strangle Dave the PA guy if I have to hear the announcement loop more than once more.

No, next is a mixed group. Dance has a dude again! And he is *built*. Insert George Takei saying "Oh myyyyyyyyy!" here. Maybe he'll get pom-poms. It's sexist for male dancers not to get pom-poms if female dancers do.

Dance is already in midseason form. Oh man, the competitive routines are going to be fire! I'm feeling another national championship. I'm hyped already!

Finally! We have the mixed intro video! Not bad.

Please God let Kayla be good, because oh my God that build, we haven't had a center in ten years. Maybe more. OMG.

Imma guess the other freshman is... I think that's the Guyanese flag? She rocked it.

If Brelove didn't have a career at VCU I'd swear Jade sneaked herself another year of eligibility.

Oh, good, the awkward group dance routines aren't just a women's thing.

I swear to God, that's not how you say Quinnipiac.

Machi looks like she's bulked up a bit, in a good way.

Andrayah doesn't seem to be into the dance thing. Woman after my own heart.

I don't think that's how you say Temecula, either.

Alisha has hair! Long, shiny hair!

Marcus Lovett entered through the seats, crowned and robed... and wearing 20. That is one hell of an entrance.

Huh. The guys have a lot of transfers in.

Poor sad dude on crutches. You make me sad too.

I don't think that's how you say Mali, either, but that one I'm not so sure about.

I think Imani might be coming out of her shell...

D'awwww. Aria has officially hit weapons grade adorable.

I don't think they thought the smoke all the way through.

Akina just hit a three from somewhere in Joliet. Kayla can't quite dunk, though.

I don't care about dunks or the goddamn DJ dunking.

Time for the men's scrimmage. Joy. Okay, Ponds swishing one from, like, Co-Op City was awesome. I could enjoy watching him. Lots of inside looks for Simon, too.

Responsible videoing: give your teammate the baby while you record, Maya. I have no idea whose baby that is.

I knew Sox wasn't going to contain herself forever.

Shooting contest of some variety next. 2 guys, 2 women, and 1 student, five spots. My money's on the team with Kina and Ponds. Closer than I thought, but I was right.

Oh, look, another year where the women don't scrimmage. Insert cranky face here.

I'll give the musical act a shot. Or at least I will if they quit delaying.

Men's/women's dance-off, because we weren't going to get away without awkward dancing. Didn't last long. I think they were red-hatting.

Couldn't make out the musician through the crappy mic. I left in the middle of the second number.

Nothing new, nothing exciting. It's abundantly clear where STJ's priorities are, and I don't share them.

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January 29th, 2017: Xavier at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: The Red Storm's second-half comeback fell short in Xavier's 82-77 win over St. John's. Shamorie Ponds had a game-high 23 points for the Red Storm in the losing effort. Trevon Bluett's 21 points and 10 rebounds led Xavier.

For confusion, seat squatting, dramatic refs, shoutouts, potential, and going through the looking glass, join your intrepid and mildly confused blogger after the jump.

And now for the spear counterpart to our first game.

I always forget how much bigger men's basketball is than women's basketball. There are so many more people on the court, and they're so much bigger than the women.

That was fast. Maya and the inactives are already out of the locker room.

I am perfectly okay with the men practicing without jerseys. Hellooooooo shoulders.

That is not how you use your head, Xavier manager.

This is a double-header. If you can show up an hour before the men's tip, you can show up for the first game of the doubleheader. Walking up to me and asking "what did the girls do?" Not going to endear you to me. Especially in a Redmen cap.

One of the dudes for Xavier is warming up in a vest. It zips in the front and everything.

At halftime, Xavier is up 32-25. It hasn't exactly been a sterling display of basketball. Edmond Sumner is the big scorer for the Musketeers today, with eight points at the half.

There was a little ceremony to honor the women's Big East title during one of the media timeouts. We squeed and cheered.

Halftime of this one honors the honor roll athletes, which is awesome. Congrats on that 4.0, Sandie! I see you out there getting ready to change the world. (A cynical part of me wonders if they did it during men's basketball because there were no MBB players to be honored.) For the love of God, someone give this man a pronunciation guide. (Wow, Moss is a volleyball badass and an honor roll student? Awesome.)

Well, that took rather longer than I was expecting. And it was rather closer than I was expecting. Can I just say that men's college basketball needs to join the rest of us in the quarter system as soon as possible, kplzthxbai.

I wasn't expecting Xavier to be the team that kept up with this weekend's theme of committing unnecessary shooting fouls. I wasn't expecting them to come so unglued. They have some great pieces, but if they're a ranked team, and if this game was anything close to characteristic of them, I don't want to hear about weakness in the women's rankings.

Shoutout to the women's basketball alumnae in the row behind us. We play for the ones who came before us and the ones who will come after us. (Or cheer, in my case.)

Quentin Goodin stepped up when Edmond Sumner went out with an injury. He shut the door with free throws and put away any chance of St. John's finishing the comeback. Sean O'Mara had family in the audience (his grandma had a sweatshirt and everything) and rewarded them with defense and a dunk. RaShid Gaston was tough as nails inside, boxing out and getting boards. He was a crucial piece for Xavier. Kaiser Gates did good work on the glass in the second half, but he and O'Mara both showed bad judgment in the fouls that they took.

J.P. Macura lists as a guard, but played much more like a forward, unafraid to get physical in the paint (or anywhere, really). Dude is tough. Tyrique Jones didn't play a lot, despite the start- Gaston was giving them a lot of good minutes. He made a couple of plays down the stretch, though.

Should I have heard of Edmond Sumner before? Pardon my MCBB ignorance, but the one or two times I've caught Xavier on TV, his was not the name that was being mentioned often. But he was brilliant until he left with the ankle injury, and I hope he's going to be okay. He penetrated the lane with ease and dished really well. Trevon Bluiett, despite the unfortunate last name, came up with big threes late in the game (I want to say fourth quarter, but the men's game doesn't have quarters). Malcolm Bernard came up with a lot of big rebounds late in the game; when Xavier missed, he was there to clean up on the offensive glass. Good speed.

Darien Williams came on strong for the Red Storm in the second half, making plays on both ends of the floor, but down the stretch he didn't execute. I don't understand why Tariq Owens, with four fouls, was out on the ballhandler when an intentional foul was called for. He had some monster, monster blocks out there (surprised he didn't get warned for taunting after the second in a house-rocking sequence). He's a strange-looking dude, gawky and maybe not yet completely sure how he got so tall. His teammates don't seem to trust him on offense yet. Richard Freudenberg wears Mullin's 20, and wears Mullin's flattop, but he doesn't seem to be ready for primetime yet. He needs to work on his shot, and on his confidence in his shot. Federico Mussini was inconsistent- glorious when the long shots went down, frustrating when he went 1-on-3 on the break. Judgment is the key here.

Coach really doesn't have much faith in Kassoum Yakwe- as soon as Yakwe got the fourth foul very early in the second half, he was on the bench, and stayed there even as the other forwards racked up fouls. I mean, I kind of get it- they were incredibly stupid fouls- but I'm not sure that's how I would have approached it. He's a great shot-blocker, but he can't block shots from the bench.

Four-guard sets always throw off my game notes. Harder to split up that way. Shamorie Ponds really has that finger roll with the extra oomph down. It's beautiful. There's a lot of potential there, but I don't know if he's ready to be the star of the show. I really enjoy watching him slash through the lane. Bashir Ahmed stepped up with big threes. I wasn't as impressed with Marcus LoVett as I though I should have been- he seemed very often to be overshadowed by his teammates. I think he and Ponds need another year together to be the superstar backcourt that I've already been hearing them touted as. On the flip side, I can't put my finger on a lot of Malik Ellison's plays, but he caught my eye. Sometimes a player has a knack for being in the right place at the right time.

We have to play smarter. We have to be sharper. The potential is there. I think Chris Mullin can do a lot to build this program as a recruiter and as a marketer. He's a great GM. But he's not a coach. He needs a strategist as his good right hand man, someone to run the X's and O's. I don't know enough about the men's college scene to know who's out there for him to partner up with, but he needs someone.

I say I'll never complain about women's basketball officiating again, but you all know that's a lie. But these refs were not good. I'm also not used to that much theatrical behavior from refs- every gesture seemed bigger than life, like they were enjoying being on the big stage.

To the gentleman at the other end of the row below us: your indecisiveness concerns me. You say at multiple points that Coach Mullin should not be working the officials, and yet you yourself scream at the officials. Which is the more correct course of action?

Crowd was about the same size as a Liberty game, but honestly, Lib fans get more into it. Even when St. John's was on a run, the noise didn't really ratchet up. Now, granted, they couldn't use the organ or other Garden sound effects. It was still a little disappointing. (That being said, can we add the rolls of thunder to the crappy version of "Thunderstruck" we use at Carnesecca?)

I'm not sure what to think of either of these teams. I'm kinda glad the sojourn into the strange land is over, though. I don't know if I like it there.

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January 14, 2017: St. Francis at LIU

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Iverson Fleming had 13 of his 16 points in the second half as LIU came away with the 65-58 win. Fleming was one of four Blackbirds in double figures, with Jerome Frink adding 15 and Jashaun Agosto and Nura Zanna each contributing 12. Rasheem Dunn of St. Francis led all scorers with 21, but he and Yunus Hopkinson (18 points) were the only Terriers in double figures.

For not dunking the ball, cheerleaders on the road, big plays, odd numbers, a mix of colors, and sweet revenge, join your intrepid and exploratory blogger after the jump.

Time for men's basketball now! Battle 2 will begin shortly, with LIU and St. Francis taking another shot at each other. We'll see if I can write anything about this game without my lingering RAAAAAAAAAEG at the first game bleeding through.

The size of men's players, even at this level, always takes me by surprise. It's not even the height so much as it is the width and the breadth. There are some very impressive shoulders out there.

Most of the St. Francis women have wandered out. LIU's taking a lot longer, but we still got to reassure Brianna Farris that she had a good game. (She really did. Four threes and strong defense.)

Because the benches typically reverse when it's a doubleheader, we're now technically in St. Francis territory, but I'm too tired to care. I have Game Notes to write; I don't have time to play musical bleachers. (Besides, I'm a sucker for Glenns.) And then it turned out the benches weren't reversed after all.

Oh, good grief, Angel, did you forget your backpack too? This is starting to edge into Tari Phillips space cadet territory. Stylz had to haul it along with hers.

At halftime, it's 23-21 LIU, but St. Francis has had the momentum for most of the first half. This halves thing is really confusing me. It's been a while. Yunus Hopkinson has 10 points for SFC, while Nura Zanna and Jaeshaun Agosto each have six for LIU. SFC has had a lot of opportunities at the rim and blown them with astonishing efficiency.

That game was entirely too close for comfort, but I'm glad LIU was at least able to salvage a split of the doubleheader. Big plays at the right time for Iverson Fleming and Nura Zanna, and SFC's persistence in missing at the rim did them in at the end.

SFC brought a lot of length off the bench, in general; I think all of their reserves were playing at the basket. Jagos Lasic gave the Terriers some good minutes late in the first half, rebounding and setting picks. Jahmel Bodrick really impressed me with his work on the offensive glass, which led to good hard putbacks. Josh Nurse had good length, though he was committing some rather stupid fouls. He had a wicked block on Jerome Frink in the second half. I'm trying to remember what Keon Williams did out there, and I think it was mostly being tall and rebounding.

Robert Montgomery had some trouble with fouls, so he spent a lot of time on the bench, which was what allowed those big reserves to shine. We were sitting near Glenn Sanabria's family, so I was kind of hoping he'd have some big plays, even though I was rooting for LIU, and he did have a nice three near the end of the shot clock. He kept getting in foul trouble, though. Gunnar Olaffsson lived up to his name for stretches, going deep early and often, but what annoyed me more about him was the foul that should have been a flagrant- you hug a guy around the waist after the ball goes up, there should at least be a review, because that's not a play on the ball.

What really shone for St. Francis was their backcourt. Yunus Hopkinson got started early, creating offense on the fast break and firing away from three. But even then, I liked the look of Rasheem Dunn more, though Dunn only had three points at the break. He broke out big time in the second half, creating his own offense and displaying a nice combination of range and ability to create his own shot. The two of them sparked the Terriers, and they're going to be fun to watch this year in the NEC.

The Terriers' coach needs to switch to decaf. That all being said, I think this young SFC team has a good chance to go where they have never gone before and take the honor of being a 16 seed crushed in the first round.

For LIU, Julius van Sauers was the utility post in the first half- whenever someone needed a quick rest or got in foul trouble, he got up for a little bit before it was time to go back to what seemed like the regular rotation. When Nura Zanna got a better grasp of his fouls, van Sauers was somewhat redundant. Raul Frias had a really nice putback in the first half and a little bit of speed. Raiquan Clark wound up a couple of monster blocks that got the crowd fired up (at least the LIU portion)- the one in the second half was especially spectacular.

Jerome Frink was rock solid down low, though he is not a guy I would like to see shooting long jumpers very often. He reminds me a little of Aaron Williams, back when I used to follow the Nets- not as chiseled, perhaps, but broad and strong on the inside. Nura Zanna needs to get back on the free throw line and keep practicing- there's no excuse for missing six free throws, all but airballing one of them. He made up for one of the misses with a powerful putback. His game is all about power and strength. He lacks finesse, but that's okay. I like post players.

I do also like guards, though, and though I spent the first three-fourths of the game wanting to smack Iverson Fleming upside the head for showboating and generally living up to his name and number in all the wrong ways, he was clutch late. He got the big baskets, both inside and outside, and stepped up on defense. His game is inconsistent, but well-rounded. Jashaun Agosto penetrated the lane and sort of sneaked up on everyone- I certainly didn't realize how much scoring he had done until I looked at the scoresheet. Julian Batts broght speed, and one big basket relatively late in the game, but was otherwise unremarkable.

I was really expecting LIU to rely even more on the power game than they did. They need to finish better; there's no reason they shouldn't.

The crowd was pretty evenly split, as one would expect when the two schools are so close together. I was surprised that there weren't that many more people there for the men's game than the women's game, though part of that was because most of the very large group of elementary school cheerleaders left after the women's game was over.

(Speaking of cheerleaders: you know it's a rivalry game when the opposing team brings their cheerleaders, and the cheerleaders bring their pom-poms. SFC's cheer squad was behind their bench.)

I couldn't find it in me to be upset when one of the St. Francis women got hit with a stray pass that went out of bounds.

This was a game worthy of the rivalry, even if the officials did their level best to look like amateurs out there.

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January 24th, 2016: Marquette at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: St. John's came back against Marquette in the second half behind a spirited press and hot three-point shooting, but it wasn't enough, as the Johnnies fell 78-73. Durand Johnson of St. John's led all scorers with 20 points off the bench, with Federico Mussini adding 19. Duane Wilson led Marquette with 17 points, while Henry Ellenson added 16 points, 18 rebounds, and four blocks.

For delays, resounding blocks, rim protection, strategic choices, fans sitting on their goddamn hands, bright colors, rude comments, and general strange thoughts, join your intrepid and slow blogger after the jump.


Since they're letting us stay, we figured we'd take in the men's game while we were at it. I always forget how much bigger men's basketball players are than women. Of course, Marquette might just look bigger because they're wearing such bright yellow shirts.

We'll see how loud it is appropriate for us to be; we're across from the opposing bench, after all, and there's a sextet of Marquette students in front of us, two of them wearing various flavors of retro Dwayne Wade jerseys.

Marquette, please don't break the clock. We don't have that many of them. (No, seriously, the Marquette men were doing their slam dunk line, and then suddenly the clock started spewing gibberish.)

Why is there a dude in a Syracuse shirt here? This isn't an ACC game!

At half, Marquette is up 31-23. St. John's has a lot of fight and a lot of heart, but we're hooked on three-pointers like a junkie on smack and we can't finish at the rim.

I want one of those basketball beanbag chairs. Finishing the game of musical chairs with a slam dunk? Boss.

I think we might have traumatized Akina a little bit. Most of the team is sitting by us, though Sandie has decided that her seat in section 10 is her seat, benches be damned, and Aaliyah seems to have found someone in section 11 (she's also wearing bright yellow, so maybe she's just practicing her camouflage). The upperclassmen have mostly left, leaving us with the freshmen and the sophomores. I think Jordan might have napped during halftime.

The dude in the Syracuse shirt doubled down- he had a Syracuse shirt under his shirt. How even are you still alive, dude?

The guys have a lot of potential, but they have got to work on their fundamentals. The ballhandling was awful, and too many shots right at the rim were missed. That can be coached. At least, I think that can be coached.

I find Marquette's blend of athletic guards and slabs of Midwestern beef interesting. They couldn't handle pressure well at all, and I'm sorry we didn't exploit that earlier.

Sacar Anim had a nice break in the first half, but didn't play much later in the game. Traci Carter attempted to play defense and was not strong at it. Matt Heldt made space in the middle- that was a theme with the bigs for Marquette, setting picks and boxing out. Wally Ellenson's primary job seemed to be confusing the daylights out of me (I didn't run up a custom score sheet for this, so I got lucky in both teams having names on their jerseys, but I was still 'what the hell, didn't Ellenson just come out of the game, wait, there are TWO of them, oh come on). Sandy Cohen III drove the lane hard and got rewarded for it often.

Duane Wilson reminded me a lot of Danaejah Grant- a solid shooter with driving ability who could rebound a little. He had a pretty good running mate in Haanif Cheatham, whose body control going to the basket reminded me very much of Aliyyah Handford. Luke Fischer was popular with the Marquette contingent in front of us- every time he made a good play, they would let out a "LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" Henry Ellenson was throwing up some really weird shots at the rim- I think he was trying to get around the shot-blockers- but he protected his own rim like a boss. No one was getting around him, no one was getting rebounds from him. Jajuan Johnson got most of his points off jumpers in the paint, though he was at the receiving end of a lot of shot-blocking pain.

Christian Jones had one monster putback that got the crowd going, but otherwise couldn't hit. Granted, he was shooting over taller defenders pretty much all of the time- dude's built, but for a post, I get the feeling he's not that tall. Durand Johnson heated up late in the second half from beyond the arc and really got the fans involved. I'm given to understand that this was an unusually good game for Malik Ellison, but I like his aggression on defense.

Felix Balamou got the start, but he didn't play much. I don't know if it's because his starting is a formality, or if he didn't fit Mullin's plan of "shoot threes and pray", or if something else is at play. I like his hair, though. Very noticeable. Federico Mussini is so tiny! The Marquette contingent in front of us was teasing him all night for his lack of height and width of frame. (I... may have shouted back that only insecure guys make fun of a guy's size, but I will neither confirm nor deny those assertions... but they stopped talking about his height after that.) He needs to work on his ballhandling- crossing one's self over is not a recommended course of action- but I like his speed and his shot. I seem to remember Ron Mvouika taking shots that did not seem to be in the game plan, but at this point it's Thursday and I might just be imagining things.

Amar Alibegovic was another popular target for the Marquette crew. Look, dude is never going to make a GQ cover, but calling him ugly just seems uncalled for. I like his toughness and his willingness to fight for his shot, but he's got to hit them. Kassoum Yakwe has great timing on blocks, but I don't know if he's worked on timing anything else. He seems more inclined towards the flashy Mutombo-style blocks than the smooshes that end up in the defense's hands. I think if he put a little more effort into his defense at the rim, and a little less into making his blocks as forceful as possible, he could be really tough down low. Plus he's got to finish. I know this is a thing with St. John's posts, but come on.

I think I understand why Mullin didn't go to the press immediately- they're short on players, and it is an energy-draining system. But it worked, and it works really well. What I liked was that everyone seemed to contribute to it, even the big men, which I'm not used to seeing from a pressing, trapping defense. (Well, except for Sue Wicks, but that was a long time ago in another land, or at least another island.)

Live by the three, die by the three. It's exciting and heady when they go in, but frustrating when they don't go down and the other team's off to the races on the break from the long rebound. I feel like we might better served teaching the big men some moves in the lane, but that's a long-term solution.

Refs are refs, refs gonna ref. The one really bad call I can remember was in the Red Storm's favor, a foul on Marquette that should have been a travel on St. John's.

We all know Lavin left the cupboard bare. We know there were an astounding number of academic issues to clean up in his wake. We know there are injuries and sundry other absences. It's still kinda rough watching them be so raw.

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January 12th, 2013: Georgetown at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Georgetown won 76-61. And it was kind of shitty.


Time for the annual doubleheader at the Garden! The new Garden looks very shiny. I'm still hoping to find traces of the Liberty in it- not a lot of luck yet.

At least this time we're not completely surrounded by Georgetown fans, which might be because we got the tickets through Dig for a Cure, the Red Storm volleyball team's BHA event. The husband's currently chatting up a St. John's men's fan and using his knowledge of the men's team to win him over. We haven't had a chance to bring up the women's team yet, though. :/

We're so far away from our homies in the band. This makes me sad. They sound much tinnier in the Garden, though that might be because the Garden is mostly empty so far. Our seats had vendors in them before we arrived. But there are tickets sold everywhere but the new blue seats (which are more of a powder blue than the old blue-green).

No scorecards make me sad. I think it's Bri's turn. We'll see come the Pitt game.

At halftime, it's 36-19 in favor of Georgetown, and for a while it was a lot worse. St. John's actually found some offense for a stretch between the under-eight and the under-four, and made some great defensive plays. But the offense has, for the most part, been a hot mess. These guys don't seem to actually know each other. It took to the under-twelve media timeout before I saw screens being set with any regularity. So far, Chris Obekpa's blocks and D'Angelo Harrison's quick hands have been the only highlights for this hot mess for St. John's. They don't know how to stay out of each other's way on defense and don't communicate on offense. Joe, I swear I'll lay off your coaching for at least one game after seeing this debacle.

The bright white sneakers with the black suits: is this a thing I should not be mocking because I don't know the backstory of it? Because from where I was sitting, it looked like a really unfortunate fashion choice. At least wear black sneakers! Black goes with everything!

The team I really came here to see is on the other side of the arena. Hi, guys! At this rate, we'll have people staying so they can see a St. John's team win.

At least we started off with the dulcet tones of the Metropolitones. And the Garden, unlike the Prudential Center, is a Coke arena. I've missed having my caffeine at a game.

Well, that was a hot mess if ever I saw one. St. John's put together a flurry in the second half, including their first threes of the game, to make it look respectable and interesting, but when you can't hit threes until the last four minutes of the game and you go 6-16 from the line, you're going to get your butt handed to you repeatedly and painfully. If you want me to become a men's fan, this is not how you go about it.

But the intro video is way better than the one they did this year for the women. I'll give the guys that. It's tied to New York and works better with the song they chose than the women's video does with the theme and video they chose.

D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera is a lot of name (more than I realized when the game was on; I thought his name was just Dante) and he played a lot of minutes. He always seemed to be in the middle of something or another with the St. John's players, whether it was a confrontation or a defensive play. Moses Ayegba also seemed to be in the middle of a lot of things, though that's just a function of the center position. Aaron Bowen always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's the only reason I can think of for how he got so many fouls in such a short time. I don't remember much else about the Georgetown bench.

There's something I like about Nate Lubick in a basketball sense, though I can't completely put my finger on it. I mean, I'm always going to like a guy who dives full length for a ball after hitting a basket, because that's the kind of fan I am, so maybe that's it. I just always remember seeing him in the right place at the right time; he does stick out with that thick build and bright blonde hair, so that might also be it. (Actually, he looks like a guy I knew in high school, but his name's not Thomas and he didn't go to NYU, so I know that's not him.) Mikael Hopkins got into it with Jakarr Sampson in the second half, which was the fifth foul for both of them, and thus may not have been the best decision either of them ever made in their lives. Markel Starks threw me off because I'm used to Markel being a woman's name, but I like his shot. Otto Porter worked the paint well for a guard, forcing a lot of fouls from an unprepared St. John's defense. Jabril Trawick didn't play much; I think JTIII liked what he saw out of Smith-Rivera and rode the hot hand.

I have no real vested interest in the St. John's men, but I do want to be at a game where Marco Bourgault scores, if only to do a call and response with his name. Jamal Branch came off the bench with the most deceptive 16 points you will ever see. I think all those points came in the second half, and most of them came in true garbage time, when Georgetown was up more than twenty and no longer really cared about defending a shot that St. John's had shown no previous propensity for hitting in this game. My lingering impression of him is his long dribbling, including one series where he dribbled in and around the lane like the Georgetown defenders were cones and he was just lazily running a drill. Felix Balamou committed stupid fouls that made me sad. Sir'Dominic Pointer played well off the bench, turning in one of the more well-rounded performances I saw, though he didn't always exercise the best judgment; don't swipe at the ball if you already have four fouls and the officials seem determined to make the game last as long as possible.

Amir Garrett did not play the brightest game I've ever seen him play. Stupid shots, stupid fouls, just generally not in the right place at the right time, which is a phrase I feel like I've been using too much in these notes, but fuck it, these aren't getting posted anywhere but my personal archive. I did like the centerfield play he almost made on one rebound. Nice ups. Phil Greene IV did not play well, though I commend him for staying for the women's game. Pointer played most of his minutes in the second half, and deserved it, believe me. D'Angelo Harrison played well in short sharp bursts of intensity, but couldn't get his shot going, like most of the Johnnies. In the first half, he, Pointer, and Chris Obekpa looked like the only guys who wanted to compete. Obekpa blocked everything that came near him and worked incredibly hard on the boards. Couldn't get anything to drop, but I will forever have a soft spot for defensive-minded posts who can't score to save their lives. At least he was making things happen that kept the crowd somewhat into the game. Somewhat. Jakarr Sampson put up the numbers and made the offensive plays that kept the score from being a complete embarrassment, but somehow he didn't keep my attention the way Harrison and Obekpa did. I don't know what it is either.

It got a little rough and it got a little chippy, and I think the double foul near the end of the game that knocked Sampson and Hopkins out kept things from getting any uglier than they could have.

It was such a blowout that even the Georgetown fans really didn't get into it until the end. We only heard “Hoya Saxa” once or twice, and once was at the end. Of course, this might have been because this time we weren't in the opposing student section, we were in a section with Red Storm season ticket people, where the women's team apparently sometimes sits at men's games. I swear, that's probably not why we sat there. (But if it is, it's because St. John's hooked us up well.)

My general impressions: disappointment. Georgetown didn't even play all that well, and they still won going away. St. John's looked like they were still in November and hadn't had an opportunity to get to know each other yet. I'm not sure what Steve Lavin is doing with this team, but it's not coaching. They were making fundamental mistakes that any coach worth his salt would have knocked out of them by now.

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January 15th, 2012: Georgetown at St. John's

For kvetching, potential, a lack of senior leadership, and jackassery, join your intrepid blogger after the jump.
I will be brutally honest. I am not interested in men's basketball- at least, not to the extent that I'm interested in women's basketball. The Madison Square Garden doubleheader is my least favorite game on the women's schedule. I'm paying more money for worse seats, the stink of beer wafts over the whole scene, I'm crammed in with way too many people, and inevitably, the largest and most vocal fan base in the building belongs to the men's opponents, with whom I have nothing in common.

Today, it really doesn't help that I'm in the wedge behind the Georgetown bench, which means that the Hoyas have two rows of students behind us, so the call and response of “HOYA!” “SAXA!” has already rung out behind me once. It also doesn't help that the Georgetown fans have had a lot more to cheer about. I have to grit my teeth and wait through the Hoyas' cheers and all these people everywhere for the game that I paid a ridiculous amount of money to see.

It's hard to imagine what benefit St. John's thinks the Garden has for them these days. What kind of draw can it be to go into your “home” arena and have the opponents' cheers roaring out? Does playing at the Garden mean that much to a player that it doesn't matter that the crowd's not behind them? Honest curiosity.

Show up on time and sit down. Don't hang out on the concourse during play, and don't get irked that people are asking you to sit down during play. This is not rocket science.

Georgetown killed the Red Storm with depth. Not that they're insanely deep like the Stanford women are, where there are legitimately three separate lines like a hockey team, but eight players put up double-digit minutes, which is more players than St. John's put on the floor. I'm working under the assumption that Otto Porter either had the game of his life, that he doesn't usually come off the bench, or that he's their strike-fear-into-the-hearts-of-men reserve that I've always coveted for any of my teams. He's a baller. I was very impressed with him. Since I didn't buy the scorecard, I don't know what year he is, so I don't know if this is the culmination of four years of polishing or if he's a top-notch underclassman. They also got some quality minutes out of Greg Whittington.

It's very wrong to be going to a game at the Garden and seeing a Starks on the floor who, 1) is not wearing #3, 2) is not someone I'm supposed to be cheering for. Henry Sims had surprisingly nice touch for a center. Hollis Thompson killed the Red Storm from beyond the arc- any time they tried to mount a defense of their dignity, he hit one, and the Georgetown fans roared, and the St. John's fans went silent. (Honestly, people. I'm not even all that much a fan of the men and I was louder than half of you. Shame, shame, shame, shame on you.) Since I didn't buy the scorecard, and since I was trying to drown out the Georgetown fans behind us, I don't have much better detail than that, other than the fact that their rebounding was damn good. They stayed hard on the boards, especially as the game wore on and St. John's got tired.

Amir Garrett has potential, but it's pretty clear that he's still shaking off the rust, and that he's got a lot of rust to shake off. Given time to be fully incorporated into the team's plays and to gain familiarity with his teammates, he'll be a valuable part of the team (if he doesn't leave for one reason or another; sorry, guys, but at this point this is almost a required disclaimer). Malik Stith was not making good decisions with the ball, which is never a good sign from a senior. He should know this by now, whatever 'this' is.

D'Angelo Harrison should not be a top option for this team. He's streaky, he doesn't make smart plays, he takes shots he shouldn't take- for a team that had a full range of personnel, he'd be a situational shooter, but he's in a position where either he has to gun or he's allowed to gun, and neither of those is good for St. John's. Phil Greene, do not be scared of the ball. It isn't going to bite you. I've never seen a guard pass up an open lane. A shot from an open lane, yes, but backing away from an open lane until you're at the arc, and then passing off, in a shot clock situation? Seriously? God'sgift Achiuwa looked like a guy who can play, but one who was outmatched by the Georgetown front line (I hear the Hoyas are known for centers). He wasn't awful, which is more than I can say about a couple of his teammates. Sir'Dominic Pointer impressed me on the defensive end of the floor, and hey, at least he got to the line and hit his free throws. Definitely a keeper, and hey, we know he'll probably stick around. Last, but most definitely not least, wow, Moe Harkless. He's only a freshman? Seriously? Can we get the birthers on this? Guy's got to be at least a junior, the way he plays. Granted, he commits stupid freshman fouls, like his fifth (which hurts even more because he backed off the play the first time so he wouldn't get it, then went back in on the offensive rebound by G'town). If he stays, and if St. John's can get him a good solid second option so he doesn't have to do everything around here, and if his teammates can be allowed to play the complementary roles they're more suited for... this team can be for real.

I do wish Dunlap had given the walk-ons and the guys who are there just to make muster a little time at the end of the game, when it was 20 points. It's MSG. It might not be the only Garden game they get, but don't run your guys into the ground in a game that's already dead and buried. Is margin really that important?

To whatever idiot set off a firecracker in the men's room: may you step on Legos in the dark every night for the rest of your life, and may you be afflicted with explosive diarrhea in a traffic jam.

Can't say much about the officials in this one- it's hard to see the finer points of play from the 300s. That's one of the things I miss when I'm in the higher seats. Seems like St. John's wasn't getting the calls, but the Red Storm didn't do as much to draw the fouls as the Hoyas did.

If I got into men's basketball, I could get into this team next year.

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January 12th, 2011: Syracuse at St. John's

Boys? In my blog? It's more likely than you think. It's also more Orange than you think, what the hell?

Hello, Rumble in the Garden readers! I don't think we've been introduced, unless you were over in the comment thread from the explanatory post. My name's Rebecca-call-me-Becky-and-you-die, but around these parts, I'm known as Queenie. You can call me either- heck, you can call me anything so long as you don't call me late for dinner. I've answered to a wide range of nicknames, mistaken names, profanities, and the ubiquitous “Hey you!”

If I go to a basketball game, I write Game Notes of Doom. I've done this for the NBA, the WNBA, men's college basketball, women's college basketball, and a couple of international friendlies. I can usually be found over at Swish Appeal, but in honor of the doubleheader, I'm making a guest appearance here.

Be warned that I'll be approaching this game more or less like a novice. What I know about the St. John's men's team this year can be summed up as follows: they have a lot of seniors, they have a new coach, the women's team gets along with them really well, and Shiz Evans does a pretty good Ric Flair impression. There will probably be more questions in here than usual.

Today's notes will be coming from the vantage point of the endcourt seats in section 20, fairly low down. I expect to be able to see a lot of post play and three-pointers.

I was wrong about the seats. They're what we refer to as the sucker seats- deceptively low-priced low-level seats that face onto the seats. We've sat over here once before, in a memorable Maggie Dixon Classic game where Kia Vaughn puked her guts out in front of us. Fun, laughs, good times. Because the Powers-That-Be-Flaming-Idiots decided to reverse the benches for the two games, we have the distinct displeasure of being squeezed in among Syracuse fans and drunken idiots. Bonus points for those who combine both. I'm really hoping the switch is real, or I'm going to have some very pointed words for our connection in the marketing department who got us these tickets after two months of waiting. I'm also hoping a goodly number of the fans from Syracuse leave so I can see the goddamn game, because I've had to rely on the big screen far more than I like.

Things I have noticed: no one can shoot tonight, though Syracuse found their stroke in the second quarter. St. John's does not appear to actually know where their players are supposed to be. Kris Joseph's getting hot for Syracuse, which is not a good sign for the Red Storm. Burrell's got nine in the first half for St. John's, but it's on volume as far as I can tell. Megan, come and save me from this hell! (And in an exceptional moment of good timing, guess who's two sections over chatting up some more important people?)

So, remind me why the Garden is a recruiting draw for St. John's? “Come to New York! Play in front of thousands of opposing fans!” I'd say Syracuse fans outnumbered St. John's fans at least two to one. There were multiple audible chants of “Let's Go Orange!” How exactly does this work as a benefit?

C. J. Fair is the first player I can honestly say strikes me more as a point guard than he does as a forward- not even a point forward, but a straight-up point guard who's playing the forward position for reasons understood to no mortal man other than Jim Boeheim. I like his court vision- he made a couple of very pretty passes. Baye Moussa Keita was the first guy off the bench for the Orange, but I don't recall him making any plays worth remembering. James Southerland shows promise, but I might be biased because he's a Queens boy and we Queens kids have to stick together. Dion Waiters brought some canned heat off the bench.

Boy howdy can Kris Joseph shoot. He had some incredible shots in the lane, and a couple of nasty blocks on defense as well. Scoop Jardine also showed off his array of moves. And here's one of the differences between the men's and women's games- 6-2 and 190 in the women's game translates to a fairly hefty post with occasional delusions of three-shooting. I love to watch him work, though. Brandon Triche kept bringing the big shots whenever St. John's had some notion of making a run. I was also impressed with the work of Rick Jackson in the middle, setting screens and making room for his teammates to work. I like seeing a post player set things up for his teammates, doing all the little things so they can do the big things. He's the kind of guy who will have a solid game that no one will look at because someone else is always having a phenomenal game. Fab Melo has either the most ironic or most appropriate name for a Syracuse player ever. I'm honestly not sure which. I think I recall him doing some good things on the boards- I know that whatever he did, he did it in the middle.

Boeheim's zone is not nearly as much fun to watch from the endcourt corner. Since that's the only thing I like about Syracuse, this is sort of a depressing realization.

By the end of the game, Steve Lavin was throwing things at the wall to see what would stick. We saw a few rotations and bench players in the second half who didn't even think about taking off their warmups in the first. Justin Burrell had himself a very nice first half, albeit on volume. He put in a lot of work on the boards, but the man seriously has to improve his dribbling and general ballhandling skills. He lost a few boards out of bounds because he couldn't keep his hands on the ball. Paris Horne brought the blend of stylish moves and boneheaded plays that I remember bemoaning the last time I took in a men's game at Carnesecca Arena. Malik Stith didn't have a bad run near the end of the game, but it was the end of the game, and it's not always easy to tell whether a player can work under pressure when he's not under pressure.

I'm not impressed with Dwayne Polee yet. I see flashes of potential, but he's got to bulk up if he doesn't want to get broken. Dwight Hardy scored a lot, which was helpful, but he had some incredibly dumb shots and a lot of shots that he should have hit that he left short. I would have liked to see Dele Coker produce a little more than some free throws. It's a bad sign when a post player doesn't have any fouls- that sounds counter-intuitive, but if he's not banging down in the post and not using his body, then he's not helping his team. Malik Boothe did not appear to have actually shown up, other than for fouls. This is not something you want out of a guy who starts. At least Justin Brownlee had a decent game.

The Syracuse fan behind us made a couple of really good points. Why run with a team that can run? Why play a zone and leave a team open for threes that specializes in the zone on the other end of the floor and has a reputation for hitting threes against the zone? (Of course, my view of that is based on the McNamara teams, so if I'm out of date, please let me know gently.) I do wonder if Lavin's inexperience with the Big East came into play, and will continue coming into play- you don't necessarily know what these guys are going to throw at you if you haven't been going at them for years on end.

The officiating was odd. They were really letting them play, especially St. John's, as I thought the play was equally physical on both ends of the floor and Syracuse had more fouls for the bulk of the game. At the same time, there were some pretty rough plays that weren't called. Maybe that's the difference between the men's game and the women's game. I don't know. I'm not enough of a connoisseur of the men's game to judge it, and I doubt I'll ever be.

So that was disheartening. I don't like having my arena invaded by opposing fans, and the Garden is always my arena (the other team of my heart is the New York Liberty, and except when they're getting their house renovated, they play at MSG too).

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December 13th, 2008: New Hampshire at Long Island

Long Island University Blackbirds 76, New Hampshire Wildcats 72

Stealth doubleheader is stealthy! The Game Notes of Doom re-enter the strange world of men's basketball and find themselves a robin in the midst of a flock of Blackbirds.


I had no idea when I planned this trip that this was a doubleheader with the LIU men. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed that I could stay for the second game I paid for and still get home in time for dinner. So I shifted seats to my preferred view, bought a thing of nachos and a hot dog, and prepared for another couple of hours of LIU basketball.

Oh! I probably should have mentioned them in the women's notes, given that they were there for both games, but it turns out that LIU does have a dance team, and a pep squad in the stands. The noise was unexpected, and a refreshing change from the depressing deadness that had filled the place for the holiday tournament.

The women wear their colors at home, but the men don't. And apparently the women don't always wear their colors at home either. I'm now officially and completely confused.

So, the New Hampshire men play nothing like the New Hampshire women (who also visited LIU; I swear I thought they'd left the second Turkey Classic game on the ticket by accident when I bought my general admission). Live by the three, die by the three, be resurrected and stalk the earth by the three, geez. I liked their big center, DiLiegro. Nice presence in the middle. Tyrone Conley had a wicked block- I keep thinking I've heard that last name before, and I don't know why. Solid play and nice range from Radar Onguetou. But, um, can I assume that Alvin Abreu was coming off the bench for disciplinary purposes? Because he kicked ass, and he kicked a lot of it in the second half- his shooting was one of the big reasons why New Hampshire made the game so dramatic at the end. Someone really needs to lace their Gatorade with Valium, though. I was betting random spectators the cost of a soda that he'd either have a heart attack or get a technical by the end of the game, given how far out he was wandering onto the court. Amazingly, he avoided both.

Daaaaaaamn, David Hicks. Just. Daaaamn. One-man highlight reel, this guy. Great ups, fancy moves, and one spectacularly flashy steal. Culpo got the start, which I don't think he did when they went to St. John's- he played well early, but was benched until late in the game for Jaytornah Wisseh and inexplicable reasons. Adomaitis was unimpressive, but he did what a center needs to do for a team with a lot of small, quick guards- he made space. I'm sure he did it more than once, but I have noted down an especially nice screen that left Kyle Johnson open for three. Speaking of Mr. Johnson, I'm pretty sure there actually isn't enough that can be said for him. He stepped up his game big time in the second half. Julian Boyd also had some great plays, though his were on the defensive end- he took a couple of key charges and had a blocked shot that kept the game manageable for the Blackbirds. As for the rest of the bench- you recall the "inexplicable reasons" crack about Culpo being benched? Wisseh had a really, really bad game. Flashy but stupid. As one of the folks behind me said, he was putting his head down too much, which meant that he wasn't watching the clock, his teammates, or the defenders around him. One of the worst mistakes a guard can make.

Pretty savvy observation for someone in the stands to make, right? Well. And we're into awkward moment number two. In my defense, I didn't actually plan to sit right in front of most of LIU's women's basketball team. They showed up after I did. Seriously, there are few things more awkward than sitting right next to a team while wearing the gear of the team that just shot 51% on them. Unless it's hearing one of them make devastating and accurate mockery of your complaints to the refs. I tried to keep a low profile, I really did, but it's hard to keep a low profile when you can't shut up, and oh yeah, you're wearing bright red. Did get to wish them good luck this year (and I did mean it; there are far too many Connecticut teams in that conference, and New York needs to take them down a peg, not to mention that I enjoyed watching them play and I'd like to see them do well). And the t-shirt drama will keep me giggling for weeks on end.

Gotta give a shoutout to the young lady in the Liberty shooting shirt, especially since I'm pretty sure that that was Marika Sprow. See, this is why we need the WNBA, so even reserve guards for mid-major schools have a dream to look up to.

I'm still not a fan of men's basketball. It's just kinda there for me. It's faster, higher, bigger, stronger than the women's game, that's true. And the boxscores will tell you that the passing is sharper. But so much of that faster, higher, bigger, stronger seemed like sound and fury, signifying nothing. I'll stick to my game.

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November 14th, 2008: Long Island at St. John's

St. John's Red Storm 73, Long Island Blackbirds 63

The Game Notes aren't all that fond of men's basketball, but find themselves drawn to small, spunky guards.


Because it was a doubleheader, I stayed. Figured, what the hell. First time for everything.

Very, very different atmosphere. For one thing, there actually was one. People started showing up at halftime of the women's game and kept on coming in. There was an actual student section. There's never been a student section at the women's games. I kept wanting to shake these people and ask them where the fuck they'd been, but I eventually decided that I'd rather not share my gameday experience with people who think it's appropriate to chant "Herpes" to disconcert opposing free throw shooters. Unfortunately, the tactic worked, so they kept going back to it. I admit that I was tempted to ask the young ladies behind me how they knew the VD status of an LIU player, but I felt that might be a little embarrassingly personal to inquire about.

Kyle Johnson was very impressive for LIU. If he were slightly larger- he's six-four and two hundred- he'd probably be higher up the food chain than the NEC. He put that team on his shoulders and carried them to an impressively close game. Pretty short rotation for the Blackbirds, which surprised me; I always thought the way to deal with bigger size was to wear them down with speed and a lot of subs. Then again, I'm not a coach, so what do I know? They also got solid play from Jaytorna Wisseh, another small guard, and some nice three-point shooting from Michael Culpo (you guessed it, another small guard- if there's one thing I've learned from women's basketball, it's that you don't leave the little white guard open beyond the three point arc. Considering St. John's Malik Boothe, maybe that should be expanded to the little guard, period). The Euro center, Aurimas Adomaitis, was a lot meaner than I expected from a Euro, but he's Lithuanian, and I've read that they're extremely serious about basketball, so maybe that makes a difference.

For St. John's, why have I not heard about D.J. Kennedy before? I was very impressed with him. Nice shooting. Malik Boothe's got a pretty shot, too. Both of them did a nice job of running the offense; not sure which one of them is the point guard, but maybe that's the point, no pun intended. Sean Evans is a load in the middle, daaaaaaaaaaaamn. You'd need a bulldozer to move him. I mean that as a compliment. I like big solid post players. Burrell was in the same mode. They just overwhelmed the Blackbirds. Young Mr. Mason strikes me as less physical than his father was, but he had one awesome "not in my house, bitch" block that got the crowd roaring. I like his style. The bench wasn't terribly impressive, and Paris Horne looks like he's been watching too many Becky Hammon highlight videos. I was darkly amused when he fouled out.

To be honest, I was tempted to root for LIU, being as they were underdogs and a lot of the men's St. John's fans were assholes, but then it turned out I was sitting with Victoria's family, and it would have been really tacky to root against St. John's with a Red Storm player sitting right there. Especially when said player is a post player. We do not fuck with post players.

Gary Payton was at the game, sitting behind the Red Storm bench. I'm assuming that was his stretch limo parked outside the arena after the game was finally over.

So yeah. Not doing that again. And I'm not sure exactly what makes that team worth $33 and the women's team worth $7.

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