Basketball never stops. For some really big rings, testing out mobile tech, and dubious eggs, join your intrepid blogger after the jump.
Good morning! Or something like that. It's too early for this. It's always too early for this, but we were out the door at quarter to seven in order to make it to Fordham for open practice at 9. There are other associated events like a brunch and a football tailgate, but I don't need breakfast or a football tailgate. I just want basketball and a ring ceremony for your 2019 Atlantic 10 champions.
We're not going all the way out, but fans need practice too, so we're working on names, free throw timing, shot clock cadence, defense rhythm, and all that jazz. It's who we are. It's what we do. So I'm writing GNoD and he's doing names. I'm also getting used to my keyboard and trying to figure out why the shift key seems to occasionally be stuck. It's not just me running on permanent CAPS LOCK.
I think I saw one of the scout team players trying to work the officials. It seems to be working. We're having trouble not fouling the scout team. I'm not okay with this.
I like what I'm seeing out of Vilisi Tavui in this practice. She hasn't really had a chance to show what she can do, and she looks ready to prove herself. If we have a real center in this conference, with the guards that we have, we're in very good shape, even with the experience that we lost in Lauren Holden and Mary Goulding. Heh. Good eye by the ref noticing the shot clock hadn't started. Very professional, even in an open practice.
Now we're getting more whistles on both sides. (Kene was working the officials during the quarter break too, although it seemed to be more of a “this is what a travel is” tutorial.) And we've got our first egregious bad call of the season, with a collision between Kaitlyn Downing and Zara Jillings (both on the white team) somehow resulting in a foul on the scout team. It's not even November yet!
Next up: intros! Hi, everyone. The coaches introduced themselves, and then Coach Gaitley proceeded to sing their praises for them. Ice Young describing herself as “super old” was worth a giggle. Then there were trivia questions.
And now we have rings! Rings are the best thing. I'm pretty sure at least two players squeed. Alexa Giuliano and Lauren Holden returned for their rings. And hugs. There were lots of hugs. Everyone was hugging.
The floor was opened to questions, but people were pretty reticent. I know I couldn't think of anything to ask. Someone eventually asked the squad why they chose Fordham, and a frankly distressing number of the answers were “because it's close to home”, which made it funny when the mic got to Zara, who started her response along the lines of “unlike everyone else I'm not 20 minutes from home”. Vilisi openly said Fordham was the only door open to her and she took it with both hands.
I kind of get the sense that Coach Gaitley is way more gregarious than most of her players (except maybe Bre, who couldn't stop dancing even during the Q and A, and Ice). She was out there greeting everyone by name. So yeah, that was a fun event, short as it was, because it was actually basketball-related.
Saturday, October 19, 2019
October 19th, 2019: Fordham open practice
Friday, October 18, 2019
October 18th, 2019: Red Storm Tip-Off
Ticketing snafus, rocking with the band, jersey deliveries, possible alumnae, and a distressing lack of basketball. You know what it means.
WE'RE BACK MOTHERFUCKERS
We almost weren't. Ticketing has not been timely in getting out info for WBB season tickets and thus we were unable to secure tickets to Tip-Off in the usual manner. Politely and glacially speaking to various people got us in (the “someone dropped the ball” look on the DOBO's face when he saw us was something).
Delivering Shenneika Smith her old Sun jersey brought such a smile to her face. (I think I've brought this up before, but my first rule of buying player gear is that its original owner gets right of first refusal.)
Too much bass. Cannot cope.
The Nolan twins are a little, uh, creepy in their inability to be separated.
Q's pride in her heritage is awesome, and also helps us spot her family. Poor Machi is already hurt, walking around in a boot.
Okay, but does Sox get to keep the flowers?
Huh. Lotta transfers and double transfers on the men's side.
Hearing the PA guy try to hype up Machi is... uh...kinda obvious.
The tortured dance routines are also... something. They do show off everyone's footwork well.
Coach Anderson, in that rusty veteran coach's voice, calling out Sears as “lover boy” has me dead from lulz. (Sox still has the flowers.) He couldn't get Tartamella all the way out of his mouth, but I'll chalk that up to unfamiliarity and maybe a sore throat.
Tiana's trying too hard to be showy. Maybe it's the lack of pressure because it's only an exhibition. Maybe it's the pressure of there being people here.
omg Tart-let so cute. Headphones may be larger than child.
Men's scrimmage coming up. We'll see if the women get anything similar. It's been rough. Lot of missed dunk attempts.
I reserve the right to object to people wearing random Bulls or Houston gear. Just because it's the right color doesn't mean it's appropriate.
Dance is. not. messing. around. this. Year.
Not sure if T is in the crowd for social purposes or because they ran out of seats on the bench (since it's also being used for the scrimmage).
Hi, Gina?
Co-ed shootout now. Don't lose count.
And that appears to be the end of the basketball content this evening. They started setting up for the musical act, and since we were right next to the bass speaker, I opted to forego my annual attempt to determine whether I like the new music or not. It seems like every year there's less and less basketball, and it's really depressing. I just want to see my team. I like what little I saw, but there wasn't much to see!
There's no rest for the wicked, or the weary. Fordham's open practice is tomorrow!
Friday, July 26, 2019
July 26th, 2019: All-Star Skills Challenge/3-Point Shootout
Las Vegas too hot for bebe.
Fan Fest is pretty cool so far, although the beverage prices are an obscenity. $6.50 for water?
Shout out to the lady in the Shock shirt from Oklahoma, to the San Antonio jersey, and to the lady in the home Wicks jersey. So far I've seen gear from Connecticut, Dallas, LA, Las Vegas (obviously), Minny, New York (not us), lots of Phoenix, lots of Seattle, and Washington. I thought I saw Chicago, but now I'm not sure. No Atlanta, no Indiana.
Merchandise selection is a bit limited. Hoping for better on game day.
One of my friends has informed me that a) Helen Darling, of all the random alumnae, is here, and b) her triplets are 17, and I object to this reminder of my mortality when I'm on vacation.
The passport stamp idea was cute, but the inconsistent requirements were annoying. The stamp at Kaiser Permanente is especially obnoxious.
I don't think Stefanie Dolson's calling is the DJ booth.
Mandalay has a very nice arena, but the seats are uncomfortably narrow and there is no leg room. Security was quick at least.
We've added Atlanta and confirmed Chicago, so the only team missing is Indiana. Do better, Fever fans.
Awesome jersey spotting: the entire Big Three, home Holdsclaw 23 Mystics, an honest to God Mabika jersey, the Kelloggs Swoopes jersey.
Looks like Bird is commentating and Stewart is ambassador-ing. I think Mama Taj and Michele Van Gorp are both working. Jasmine Thomas, on the other hand, is probably here to cheer on her teammates.
Shekinna Stricklen just went by on a cell phone. That's not what they mean by being dialed in from long distance, Strick.
There appears to be a shooting contest involving fans from every team. Minnesota won, but it went to a tiebreaker, and watching the Sky players' enthusiastic support of their representative was awesome. (although that nominal Sky fan was married to a Sparks fan, which would be a strange relationship unless built on shared nostalgia for Kristi Toliver, so way to break kayfabe, guys)
Shock of shocks, Griner took an excuse to dunk. She still lost the round.
Can we talk about that three by JJ with the ball guy impeding her?
Well played by the DJ, mixing in the instrumental from “Touch the Sky” after deShields won the skills challenge.
Spotted a fan in a Dupree tee (a Dutee?) so the collection is complete.
There are enough Liberty players, current and former, to declare quorum. I love it.
Apparently that *was* what they meant by being dialed in. Well done by Strick. Loved seeing Jonquel Jones film her post-event interview.
I don't want the nachos. I don't want the popcorn. I want that bowl, though.
The Sky players, both All-Stars and not, were adorable cheering on their teammates. Get you a squad like that.
Seeing the camaraderie among so many of these players makes me wish they'd done an open practice. I know they streamed it, but that's not the same as being there.
Friday, October 12, 2018
October 12th, 2018: Red Storm Tip-Off
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. It's also called being a St. John's women's basketball fan.
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and of course our non-binary readers of all ages and qualities! College basketball is around the corner, which means that it's time for St. John's to put on their annual spectacle featuring music that is entirely too loud, an MC exhorting noise from indifferent students at every turn, the aforementioned students basically only coming for the free stuff, too much filler programming, and a passing pretense of caring about women's basketball.
The old fart in line a few places behind us can kindly sod off with his Redmen sweatshirt and its racist caricature of a Native American.
Seriously, the kid in front of us thought tonight's event was a game and seemed shocked that it was just Tip-Off. My dude, read your ticket.
We're starting tonight's festivities with an alumni game. Unlike the last few, there are multiple women, and they're mostly actually involved in the offense. I mean, yeah, y'all did not Shenneika Smith was going to be shunted aside, right? She's bombing threes for the red team Sky Lindsay and Jennifer Blanding are out there for the white team, which is actually kind of nice, given that Big Love never did quite finish up properly. The game's at about the speed you'd expect from alumni, but it's still fun. It'd be a little more fun if the dude were announcing every basket so I'd know who the dudes are, but hey, whatever. Oh, hey there, we have another woman in the game, and yes, that's Nadirah McKenith! Got the gang back together!
Kadaja Bailey's family/friends/whoever are out here with custom #30 jerseys, and I think they might have just had names added to replica men's jerseys, which just makes me grin. Antagonizing MBB fans at St. John's is a secret (or not so secret, I guess) joy of mine. My family expresses love through passive-aggressive behavior.
The band already sounds pretty good. We'll see how much of this is alumni influence and what happens a the semester break, though. Recruiting is apparently a bit of a problem.
The dude who won the musical chairs shootout was named Jordan. I think on the Internet this is known as "username checks out".
Cheer looks like they're doing ambitious routines, but haven't gotten them down pat yet, which has pretty much been their MO.
They just showed a really cool all-athletics ad for St. John's. 'sup, DSPN?
Hi, Imani!
Swapping seats with the husband left me with less room for laptop, so you don't get any live shootaround or scrimmage notes. Physically, Kadaja Bailey reminds me so much of a younger Shenneika Smith that it's crazy. Alissa Alston looks like she wants to be Deanna Nolan when she grows up, which is a most laudable on-court goal and a terrible off-court life choice. I still don't know how to pronounce Curteeona, and I couldn't make out whether the PA guy was calling her Tee-Mo, Ree-Mo, or Mee-Mo. At least he's finally figured out how to pronounce Temecula. Justin Simon must be relieved.
'Kina, I do love you dearly, but you do not have mic skills. I realize that beating things into the ground is the STJ approach to talking to the fans, but stop trying to make fetch happen.
I should be worried that Coach Tartamella is aware of my... ah, concerns... about carrying insufficient players to actually have a full second unit. Then again, I reiterate the point that we have nine eligible scholarship players and this is not a good plan. I harp on the Southern Miss game, because the memory of being down to four players is quite indelible, at least to me. Yes, Joe, I know we won, but that would be because we built a 20-odd-point lead before our entire starting lineup went out injured and there were only about two and a half minutes left. No, Joe, I don't care that we made Sports Illustrated for it; I'd rather make it for things like Shenneika from the corner or Aliyyah in the lane or Briana from beyond the arc.
Somewhat fraught moment with Tiana regarding our split loyalties, but given the ambient background noise, we might have been misinterpreting each other's tones. Really glad we dumped Iona by the side of the road at this point.
I could write more, but let's be honest. It's the same nonsense year after year. I thought with Neika and Nana actually making plays in the alumni game, we might actually have something that resembled equality. But we get a shootaround, and the guys get a scrimmage, and the shooting contest was a hot mess. I don't know why I keep going to these things, except someone has to give a damn about St. John's and it might as well be us.
Friday, July 27, 2018
July 27th, 2018: All-Star open practice
Scattershot notes from open practice, featuring late arrivals, hair commentary, the running gag of Allie Quigley hitting shots, and twerking.
Good afternoon, folks! We're coming to you in stereophonic sound from All-Star open practice at the Target Center.
So far I have spotted Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Seattle gear. And, of course, Lynx gear. C'mon, everyone else, step up!
There are two constants in my life: basketball and the EDD Watch Me Work ad. At least I finally got to see the Tina Charles one. The behind-the-scenes looks are fun.
I am still not used to Crystal Robinson with long hair.
Add New York and two small Dallas fans to the count. And we've got a Dream shirt!
Here we go. Introductory remarks from the president of Rasmussen College, which is sponsoring the event, and Coach Reeve. Who just gave my husband an enormous shoutout. She teased a group of Merc fans, too.
Lynx fans got up for intros and haven't sat down. Makes it hard to see, but I love the passion.
Mama Taj is here and got a huge cheer from the crowd.
Kayla, what did you do to your hair?
Griner hits a dunk after Stewart misses one. The crowd goes wild. I was more impressed with her flicking up the half court shot.
Dan Hughes is out here drawing up plays like anything is going to be seriously run in this game. “And now you've seen the entire playbook.” Fair enough.
Time for Five Spots! Coach has asked us to keep count. “They've been known to cheat on this drill.”
Half court shot contest with a $1000 donation for BHA at stake. So far, McBride and Delle Donne have hit and we are in a shoot-off. Delle Donne take it on the fourth round.
T-shirt tossing time! (after a detour to the second row of seats from Big Syl) The stakes just got raised. Signed warm-ups are going up, spearheaded by Fowles.
I think the dance-off is next. Brittney, please keep your shirt on, this is not that kind of dance contest. Not everyone participated, and the split weirded me out a little bit.
Seimone, the “Whose house?” “Our house!” call and response is not effective when there are two Lynx on each All-Star team.
Aaaaaand I am on the wrong side of the arena for the Inspiring Women symposium.
I'm not sure about the “support all women” thing. I mean, Betsy DeVos is a woman, but she's also evil.
Yes, bring up the importance of diversity on a panel of extremely minimal color. And that's a generous inclusion there. It was interesting, though. I wish the Liberty had had Michele Van Gorp longer. She's very well spoken.
Team Parker is off to a late start.
Awww. Chiney Ogwumike and Candace Parker are FaceTiming Nneka into the festivities.
Mama Loyd and her signs are here.
Upnod of respect to the woman in the Comets jersey.
Five Spots again. Shockingly, the half of the team with Allie Quigley is better at shooting threes.
Brondello is running the squad through basic plays nominally from every team's playbook. I think Liz is bored, though.
On to knockout, with a Rick Barry twist. Chelsea Gray seemed to take great glee in knocking Candace Parker's put back off line. The three point version has led to some wacky rebounds. Shockingly, Allie Quigley won a three-point contest she was involved in.
Half court shots, same rules as the other team's, $1000 to charity. Shockingly, Allie Quigley won another shooting contest. Granted, a halfcourt shot taken much like your average jump shot is pretty spectacular.
Trick shots now. It's not going well. Maya Moore tried a few standing on the scorer's table, Skylar Diggins-Smith did the seated shot, Chelsea Gray took hers from the stands, and Jewell Loyd hit one from behind the shot clock. Either Candace Parker absconded with someone's kid from the stands, or she brought out Lailaa.
Sideline interview with Liz. Interviewer brought up the 53-point game. Cue up the ball spike from Tina and play-wrestling. Somehow this led to Liz giving Tina a piggyback ride for the team photo.
God bless you, random dude in the Fever shirt. Bless and keep you. We also spotted someone in an Aces shirt, so it looks like the last stragglers are Connecticut and Washington. Step your game up, Eastern Seaboard!
Post-practice notes, only because we are literally the next table over from Mama Taj and people keep bothering her. I'm being good.
Monday, March 26, 2018
(belated) Senior Tributes 2018
I love all my seniors, don't get me wrong. Even the ones I vent my frustrations at, ultimately, I cherish as much as the rest of the squad. You have to be a pretty heinous excuse for a human being, the kind of person whose name will no longer cross my lips, to lose that. And usually those kinds of people get rooted out and tossed out summarily on their ear. Those, I do not miss and do not love; their betrayal is all the more bitter for the loyalty that was given.
But it's okay to love some of them more than others, right? And by a confluence of events, an awful lot of them happen to be in this year's class of seniors. These are young women who I may miss on the court as basketball players, but who I will miss even more as people.
That's the joy of this game: you meet some pretty great people. That's the exquisite pain of this game: you know your time with them is inherently limited.
I tend to bury the lede, in case you haven't noticed. The last shall be first and the first shall be last. I like to build up to what I most want to talk about. So we'll start with the furthest and circle back in to the heart and soul of why I write these tributes in the first place.
Michigan is mine because of their staff, and because of our mutual loathing of Ohio State. We don't get to see them a lot, so when we do, it's always special. This year, though, it's been extra special.
Katelynn Flaherty steals the show when she takes the floor. Her stroke is pure and her drive is unquestioned. We've been able to watch snippets of her run through the Michigan record books, and it's been a pleasure and a privilege to be along for the ride. She's adapted her game to the needs of her team, and not every scorer can do that. Playmaking for other people doesn't come naturally to everyone. She's a bright shining star, the brilliant herald of Michigan's rise.
But if you know why I'm a Michigan fan, and if you know why I wear the jersey I wear, you know who my favorite players are. Sure, give me a pretty jumper if you want. But give me grit. Give me hustle. Give me defense. Give me a head for the game. Give me the willingness to outwork your talent, to outwork your size, to outwork what the numbers say you should be bringing to the floor.
That's Jillian Dunston, jack of all trades, terrifyingly broad-shouldered for a guard, entirely too short for a post. No single element of her game is superlative- but that just means she has to think more about what she's doing on the floor. She works incredibly hard on the floor, usually in as literal a sense as possible as she scrambles for loose balls. I am completely unsurprised that she's in the "So You Want To Be A Coach" program and will be completely unsurprised when she's on a Power 5 staff in three years or less.
Iona only has one senior on the roster this year. And I keep thinking there should be two.
Let me make one thing clear: if Philecia Atkins-Gilmore were still on the Gaels' roster, no power on this earth would have kept me from Iona's Senior Day. Battle of Brooklyn be damned, long haul be damned, uncooperative bus schedules be damned. That date would be circled in red on the calendar. I'd probably even hit the following game, for the sake of it being the last, and walk over to the transit center to get the bus home.
There are a precious few people I have had the privilege of meeting in basketball for whom I would run through walls, whose team is my team and whose enemies are my enemies. Phee is one of those few. She is as determined and energetic a leader as I've ever seen. Even as a freshman she was leading her team on the bench, constantly supporting them, constantly bringing the noise.
I still remember Maryland. Do you remember Maryland? March 2016 was pure magic, pure joy. Everywhere I looked, a team that mattered to me or to a friend (and thus to me) was going dancing. We had three choices that March. We didn't go to Waco with St. John's, and we didn't go to Storrs with Seton Hall. We went with the team we knew was going to lose. We went to Maryland for Iona, because it was the first time, because this was what we had been waiting for. And Maryland did to us exactly what we expected- but Phee went down fighting, shooting three after three.
Injuries robbed her of some of her speed, of some of her motion- and they robbed her coach of her confidence, I'm certain. Phee kept leading from the bench anyway.
And then I looked at the roster at the beginning of the year, and after my initial reactions of "Why is anyone wearing 24?" and "Why is anyone wearing 14?" I noticed a gap between 10 and 14 where 11 should have been. My reaction to that was, shall we say, unprintable and would probably have earned me a ban on Twitter. They react badly to threats of violence, even if I doubt I would follow through with such threats. I'm a talker, not a fighter.
Love for a team is about the name on the front, not the name on the back, but for some people I make an exception. And I might have dropped Iona sooner- except for the days when I spotted Phee sitting behind the bench with the rest of us fans, exhorting her team with the same constant encouragement and advice she gave when she was still in uniform. Despite everything, she believes in this nearly winless team and this trainwreck of a season. And I believe in her.
That's why, if you look up, and you look through my Iona notes, you'll see that I chose my words carefully. Phee's not in uniform. She's not on the roster. But she's still the best leader her team has. And she's still my favorite.
So that leaves one senior on the Gaels' roster, and I'm starting to think Billi Chambers has a soft spot for the late bloomers, the ones who finally figure it out as seniors, when they maybe think they have no choice but to figure it out. It happened with Karynda DuPree, and I think it's happening again with Kristin Mahoney.
Kristin looked scared to even be on the court in the scant minutes she picked up her first few years. There are still times when she looks wide-eyed at the defense coming at her and you can imagine her life flashing before her eyes.
She's had to grow up this year, through one of the toughest seasons a team can have. If the losing grinds her down, I don't blame her one bit. But she gets knocked down and she gets up again. Like any good Iona Gael, she fights the good fight. And along the way, she's found a little bit of her footing. It turns out she's better when she's claling her own number than when she's trying to force things for other players. I'm glad she's figured that out. I want ot see her succeed.
It's been a long year. I wish her nothing but the best.
It's late in the year and the Rams don't have a lot of home games left. But if you have the chance to see G'mrice Davis, go see G'mrice Davis. Watching her rebound is worth the price of admission alone. (That's setting aside the work of her teammates, but most of them aren't seniors, so you'll have to find out about them for yourself.)
On her best days, G'mrice reminds me of Jonquel Jones, long limbs and a growing grace. She doesn't have Jones's outside shot, but what she does have is phenomenal rebounding skill. She seems to fly across the paint to claim the ball, and nothing will stand in her way.. Her relentlessness has allowed her to rise high on Fordham's all-time lists. She is a glory and a joy to watch, and if I have a regret about her it's that I let my distaste for Fordham's style of offense rob me of chances to have seen her in previous years.
About Asnate Fomina I can say little. It's been a rough year for her- she hasn't even had the chance to play, so far from home. She's been a steady hand for us at point when she has played, a good solid player who keeps the team grounded. I'll miss her, and miss the things she brought us, and miss the things she could have brought us.
We haven't had as much time as I think I would have liked with JaQuan Jackson. That's the one thing that's saddening about transfers. You get to know them just enough to wish you could have known them longer.
Fierce is the word that comes to mind for Quanny. There's something intense about her eyes that combines with her high cheekbones and the shape of her jaw and chin to make her stare flat-out terrifying when she puts her mind to it. (It also tends to make her photograph very badly, which is a shame, because she's very striking in person.) You get the sense she can intimidate an opponent just by looking them in the eye and making them back down.
Everything about her on the floor is fierce, whether it's her ability to jump the passing lanes or her relentless offensive assaults. She is passionate and electric and fiery. She's a jolt at the right time, or a lightning storm rolling over the opponent.
Fierce and fiery and indomitable, Quanny is the spearhead of the Seton Hall attack. She's a long way from home, and we're glad she came to join us for the time that she did.
You're probably reading this and thinking I wrote things in the wrong order, because ever since this tangle fell upon us I've held Seton Hall close in my heart, as close as I can without giving up that first and deepest loyalty I hold to St. John's.
But there's something about this LIU class of '18 that's special, something I can't help but love, something that calls out to the things I love about basketball. Yes, even in one year, in Nish's case. They don't have the talent of the upper echelon teams, but what they have is grit and determination that would make any coach proud.
What I enjoy most about Denisha Petty-Evans is the family she's brought us. It's good to get a crew together and bring the noise, and they support the team whole-heartedly. They feed the whole team energy. That's not always the case with player families, and it says a lot about Nish and her family that they do.
Nish is fearless. She's gonna keep shooting no matter what. Sometimes that's a bad thing, and usually I'm the first person to call it out. But LIU is a defensive-minded team. We're tentative offensively. Someone needs to step up at that end of the floor, and most of the time Denisha's been the one to do it. We brought her in to lead, and in both deed and word she does so.
It's been a pleasure and a privilege to have her on board, and I'm sorry it couldn't have been for longer.
I've often used the example of Stylz Sanders to explain the plight of LIU, and to remind myself that all complaints about a team's lack of size are relative. After all, how many teams can say with a straight face that they start a 5-9 power forward?
Watching more of LIU than ever this year, I've grown to appreciate the leadership and grit Stylz brings to the floor. She guards whoever, wherever, whenever. I've seen her out on the perimeter, dealing with distance shooters, and I've seen her on the inside, banging against posts who have half a foot on her. She does a little bit of everything, even knowing she's going to be overmatched. You can't measure that kind of heart. You can only quantify its results: floor burns, bruises, ice packs, loose balls recovered, minutes played.
But more than that: while our other two seniors step up with their younger teammates, Stylz is most often the team captain working with the officials, talking to them before games, calmly trying to get calls during games. She's not afraid of letting the officials know she doesn't like a call, but she mostly keeps her cool. She defends her teammates, and that's one of the things I've grown to love about her.
If she wants it, she has all the tools to be a fantastic coach- a good head on her shoulders and a great sense of the game. Maybe there are advantages to being a 5-9 power forward after all.
I can't tell you the exact moment when I decided DeAngelique Waithe was my favorite, but I can tell you what that moment probably was. Almost certainly, it had to be while she was defending an inbounding opponent, arms windmilling in the air, legs kicking out, the arrhythmic call of "Ball! Ball!" serving as a distraction. That is always the clearest picture I have of Angel, defending on the sideline, hands up and right foot out.
There is, of course, much more to her game than this. You don't get a D-I scholarship just for defending inbounds passes. She's a fantastic rebounder and a ferocious shotblocker. For much of this year, she's played with an incredible sense of urgency that has helped power this squad through a good chunk of the year. You see that sometimes with seniors, that sudden realization that this is it, so they kick it up a notch to take advantage of every last moment they have left to them.
I'm finding it hard to come up with words for Angel, not because I've seen so little of her or because there's nothing I can say about her game. It's because so much of it can be summed up in one phrase: I just love to watch her play. Seeing her on the floor makes me truly, deeply happy. I love her defense, I love her power moves in the lane, I love her rebounding. And I feel like I should find a more profound way to describe her play, but sometimes you just don't want to complicate things, you know?
So these are my LIU seniors. They're not rewriting the history books. They're never going to make a ripple in the NCAA tournament, or even in the WNIT. In the grand scheme of women's basketball, they're barely a collective afterthought. But they're my seniors and I love them for what they are, and what they've done, and everything that they've meant to this program.
And, always, at the last, we come to St. John's, to my Johnnies who I love and support beyond all reason, beyond any of my other teams, the ones for whom I will always go to the wall. Even if they didn't start with us, they finished with us in the end. Having chosen, so defined.
I would have loved to have been able to cheer for Maya Singleton for a full four years. It's been pleasure and privilege enough to do it for two. Maybe over four years I would have become jaded, accustomed to her monster blocks and the intimidating staredowns that so often follow them. Maybe I would have demanded even more ferocious rebounding from her, even more of the rim protection and intense defense that she brings to the floor.
It makes sense that she's got military in her family, because there's something almost mission objective based in how she takes the court. She has a job to do and the job will get done. Other teams will throw obstacles in her way, and she'll get through or around those obstacles as they come, because she's not going to let them stay in her way. Her intensity is a sight to behold on the court, and I wouldn't want to be in her way.
But like many an enforcer, her off-court personality is completely different from the intimidating presence she has on the floor. The high cheekbones that turn her stare into a thing of terror also turn her smile into a thing of joy. She can light up a room when she wants to.
We've been blessed to have her for two years. It's not enough, but better that than to have never seen her at all.
Imani Littleton has been the steadiest, or at least the most constantly present, of our seniors. She's been here all four years and has the scars on her knee to prove it. She's suffered for us, been knocked down and picked herself up again for us. I think she might be the senior it's been hardest to get to know. She's quiet, introverted where her classmates are extroverted, polite but clearly uncomfortable in public situations. In some ways she's the least expressive player we have; her face always reflects the same cool, distant concentration no matter what's going on out there. But the rest of her body language is as easy to read as the rest of her... well, isn't. She'll slap the floor when she goes for a steal and misses, or swing her arms on a foul call.
Of our seniors, she's the one I think I would like to know most as a person, and to ask how she's changed in college on the other side of the country from home. There always seems to be a lot going on behind her eyes.
That's not to say she isn't also a damn fine basketball player. The torn ACL took away some of her mobility, and early on, maybe some of her confidence. But she's learned to adapt. She's the heart of our defense, the shotblocker down low to shut down paint penetration. She's not a scorer, and there are times when her missed lay-ups are intensely frustrating. But that doesn't make us love her any less. She's sacrificed too much for us not to cherish her. She's a fighter, and she brings that to the floor every night.
If you know me, you know I'm superstitious about jersey numbers. Numbers mean things, after all. I get a little testy when legendary ones are given out, and tend to see patterns where there probably aren't really any. So it's maybe not surprising when I describe Tamesha Alexander's personality as, "Like Sky Lindsay's, but without Sky's shy and retiring nature."
The joke, of course, is that Sky is one of the most gregarious people in the history of St. John's women's basketball, and possibly in overall Red Storm history.
Sox is just as outgoing as Sky, albeit a teeny bit less sarcastic. Maybe that's just the difference between New York and Philadelphia. She's got a personality bigger than she is, a quick laugh, a smile for everyone. She's a joy to be around, a social butterfly nonpareil. For four years she's been, at best, a second-string point guard, never a huge part of the team's on-court plan. By sheer force of heart and will and personality, she became one of my all-time favorites.
Because here's the thing about Sox as a player- she doesn't shoot the ball. Late in games, when the team's trying to get everyone on the scoreboard, they'll give her the ball- and she'll promptly pass it back. She seems genuinely happier to get the assist on someone else's basket, or to make a good defensive stand. I don't know how many games we've played where she's the last Johnnie yet to score- and refuses to shoot the ball. That's who she is. She doesn't want to run it up. She doesn't want to be the center of attention on the court.
I love Sox to itty-bitty pieces, not for what she does, but for who she is.
It's taken a long time to write this. Part of it is general basketball-related despair. Part of it is a general malaise. But I think part of it is simply denial. I don't want to lose these seniors, even though it's too late and they're already gone. This is, as it always has been, the price of college fandom: we know the clock is always ticking.
Some of them have been undeniable program-changers. Some of them have been game-changers. All of them are valued and treasured, and all of them will be missed.
And we get to do it all again next year.
Friday, October 13, 2017
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.
Friday, July 21, 2017
July 21st, 2017: All-Star open practices
For shenanigans, players doing things right, throwback jerseyse, complex offenses, the Brigade in the house, and halfcourt shots shots shots, join your intrepid and satiated blogger after the jump.
Good afternoon! We’re coming to you on a three-hour time shift from Key Arena in the heart of Seattle Center, reporting on the All-Star open practices.
Jonquel Jones spent, like, ten minutes signing autographs, and she might still be in the tunnel.
There’s a tall blonde over there who looks like Jayne Appel-Marinelli.
Sugar! Hi, Sugar! Go get ‘em, Sugar!
So far we have Storm fans (of course), Sparks fans, Lynx fans, a pair of Mercury fans, a Chicago fan (hi, Eric, you are probably reading this over my shoulder), and possibly a DC fan. (And of course, the two of us repping the Liberty, but given that I’m wearing an Isabelle Fijalkowski jersey right now, it’s hard to claim us.)
Players are sort of gradually drifting out and gravitating towards the tunnel where people are getting autographs.
The tiny All-Star kid has emerged and gotten her round of applause. I have a distinct lack of sentiment, so I don’t particularly care about this bit.
More Mercury fans have arrived. Shoutout to the fan in the Swin Cash Shock jersey! Throwbacks are the best. There are also a lot of people in Yankee gear here, which makes sense, since the Yankees are playing the Mariners this weekend in Seattle. (We considered going to the game on Sunday, but the ASG-Reign double-header is more practical, and also, women’s sports are the best!)
Biggest hand so far has been for Taurasi, who played it off like she was surprised. Merc fans threw up the X-Factor X. (I mean, I’m assuming that’s what that means, and they’re not making obscene gestures at her or accusing her of a flagrant foul.)
I think I spotted Señor Fred across the way. And the crew for the game will be Lobo and Ruocco.
Mercury Brigade is here! Hi, caune, mb, Huskie, and mmaniac!
Those practice jerseys are hideous. They are all the things that Adidas has done wrong with WNBA jerseys during their deal. It's no wonder half the players don’t even seem to want to wear them. Tiffany Hayes, Tina Charles, and Sugar Rodgers all have them sticking out of their back pocket, or reasonable facsimile thereof.
It’s her hair and her choice, but I still miss Layshia Clarendon’s golden ‘hawk.
Curt Miller is so far running fairly straightforward drills, and as I type that, we have a shooting contest starting! After that, though, it was back to running actual plays. It looks like Miller wants to pound the inside against the West (which isn’t the worst plan without Griner)
Size war! Alyssa Thomas is a bit of an outlier among the guards, but they really don’t have any alternatives if they want the teams to be the same size.
There’s a woman sitting next to Appel-Marinelli who looks just enough like Shameka Christon to make me wonder.
Oh, come on, AT, you were so far over the line you were practically in the paint.
Halfcourt shot contest won on the second round by Stefanie Dolson, who brought out some celebratory dance moves in response. I liked Layshia Clarendon putting up a finger to test the wind before putting her shot up.
Alyssa Thomas is wearing her jersey like a cape, and it’s working for her.
Dolson’s smile is gorgeous.
Jonquel Jones just bombed a three from parallel to the second E in the KeyArena logo on the court.
We’ve reached intermission. The fans are gathering thick and fast around the other tunnel, where the West comes out.
Someone’s being brought down to the VIP level and hugged gingerly by many players. I think that might be Swin Cash.
The fans are, perhaps not without reason, more excited about the Western Conference All-Stars. Nneka Ogwumike came out popping the West jersey, so I think this might be more free-wheeling than the East.
We have a Wings fan sighting! I thought I saw an Indiana shirt too, but it turned out to be a Los Angeles shirt.
Brave, brave Cougs fan.
Holly Rowe just got a cheer from the audience, and that’s cool.
“Fans, please welcome to the court your 2017 Western Conference All-Stars!” And the crowd goes wild.
What the WNBA is all about: Stefanie Dolson, Layshia Clarendon, and Jonquel Jones went into the seats to sign autographs and pose for pictures.
Someone gave Stewart what appeared to be her own custom Phillippines jersey. No, I don’t get it either.
Yeah, the West is going to be a lot more free-wheeling. We’re starting with a dance-off, with just a little tiny bit of awkward as people chant for Stewie, who wants to dance about as much as I do. She NOPE’d her way right out of that plan.
Breanna Stewart is wearing a body camera. This should be dizzying.
Reeve’s shooting contests are starters versus reserves, going from spot to spot, and they have to make a certain number of baskets to skip spots or at least not go backwards. From the way Seimone is leading the reserves from spot to spot, I think this is a common drill for the Lynx. It’s interesting to see how they consider their shots depending on the makes and misses.
Reserves won, and one of the starters took it badly. The second ball ended up in about the twentieth row. Unfortunately, the fan had to give it back.
I think Ace really wanted that lob for the dunk attempt. Stewart got rim, but nothing else. She was the only one who seriously tried. (Diana Taurasi attempting to dunk is not a serious thing.) I liked the dipsy-do lay-ups more than the dunk nonsense, to be honest.
Well, there’s free-wheeling, and then there’s Cheryl Reeve actually trying to install offenses. I think the players are listening as little as they have to in order to do this. Parker especially looks like she left her damns to give in Los Angeles.
Ticha Penicheiro in the house! Cute jacket.
Coach, your offense might be too complicated for an All-Star game if you can’t keep it straight yourself.
Now it’s quiz time.
Diana. Switch to decaf.
Diggins-Smith looks weirdly out of place and uncomfortable here. She looks like she doesn’t want to be doing this, for whatever reason. At least Parker more looks distracted than unhappy.
The starters beat the crap out of the second shooting contest, after the reserves won the first. I think the reserves were still on the first round of shots when the starters won. Coach Reeve: “Congrats. You get to start tomorrow.” By the end, when they only needed one made shot from each position to win, they were adding degrees of difficulty, whether it was distance (Maya went into the courtside seats), style (soccer throw-in), or just ridiculous (Big Syl, you may have gone to LSU, but you are not Pistol Pete).
Breanna Stewart won the halfcourt shot contest, after everyone took many attempts. I am constantly amazed at how close so many of the shots were.
It was a lot of fun. Come on, East Coast people, where are you at? Rep with us!
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Senior Tribute 2017
Senior Days hurt. They give us four years of their lives (or fewer, or more, depending on circumstances) and we give them our hearts. And the funny thing is that we keep doing it. It’s insane. It’s illogical. It’s basketball. It’s love.
This year, the Senior Days are not all stacked up against each other like a flurry of punches to the heart. They’re spread out across the coldest, shortest month, pacing out the nostalgia and the bittersweetness- bitter because we’ve reached the end of the journey together, sweet because we’ve watched them grow up and because we know they’re coming out of this with a degree or two.
But I enjoyed writing the senior tributes so much last year, even with the unexpected turn one of them took after Chicago, that I decided that that’s how I’m going to roll with these going forward, instead of inserting them into the game notes. These kids (kids, said the thirty-something about the twenty-somethings) deserve their own place to shine.
Michigan is the most distant of my teams, and I don’t think I’ll ever see one of their Senior Days. But I can’t let a senior tribute go by without a nod to the three-point sharpshooter and floor leader Siera Thompson, or to the defensive leader who wormed her way into my heart on first look, Danielle Williams.
Someday the schedules will align and I’ll get to know these Wolverines I claim loyalty to better. I can only appreciate them from afar for now, and wish them all the best as they take on the world: victors valiant, leaders and best.
***
First up this year on the Senior Day schedule is Seton Hall, and for these seniors I’ve chosen to skip a St. John’s game. If y’all have read the ongoing saga of this rivalry and our place in it, you know what that means. But these three have missed so much and sacrificed so much and hurt so much, that a game is worth it. I promised them I’d be there. I’m keeping that promise.
Kathleen Egan’s not on the roster anymore. But Kat’s still a Pirate. ACLs are the worst, and she fought back through them again and again until she had to leave the fight. Sometimes the hardest fight is the one you choose not to keep taking up.
I remember her fondly for her hustle on the floor. Her team needed her to get stronger, so she built herself into a power forward. She scrapped for rebounds with the best of them, and she stood her ground on defense. I think Seton Hall’s still looking for someone to step into those shoes. They’re not as easy to fill as you might think.
Tara Inman is still on the roster, but she no longer plays. ACLs again, repeated and recurring. Those three letters have derailed more seasons and careers than I care to count. We’ll be seeing them again.
Seton Hall has a lot of fun, exciting guards who work their butts off and around whom no basketball is safe. This is not to take anything away from Quanny, or Kaela, or TT, or anyone else. But I miss watching Tara in that low stance on defense, hands out, watching the ball, ready to pounce.
She grew on me. I wasn’t impressed with her in her first couple of years, but like many a young guard before her, she blossomed. She figured out who she was and what her role was, and once she knew she was a ball-hawk and occasional shooter, she flourished.
There’s no doubt in my mind that she, and Kat, deserve Senior Day honors as much as anyone who still suits up on game day.
We see a lot more of Lubirdia Gordon than we do the other two Seton Hall seniors, and that’s not just because Bird’s the only one of that trio still active. Bird brushes with greatness on a regular basis in the summertime, rebounding for none other than Tina Charles on the Garden floor.
Country roads took her down to Morgantown, and country roads brought her back to the Tri-State. But while you can take the kid out of West Virginia, you can’t take the Mountaineer out of the kid. Bird hits hard and plays hard, like most posts who spend time in Mike Carey’s system.
She’s still a Pirate, though. She knows her role. Jump shooters miss shots. It’s inevitable. Someone’s got to be there to put those misses back. Someone’s got to be the person that everyone overlooks in the scouting report. Bird has been rock solid in the middle this year, holding the paint down for the Pirates on both ends of the floor.
It hasn’t been an easy year for her, in more ways than one, but she’s perservered and thrived. You can’t ask for anything better than that. College is supposed to be about growing up and learning to overcome obstacles, right?
These are my senior Pirates, and I love them, for all they are, and all they have been, and all they should have been.
***
Fordham is one of my more recent adoptions. That being said, it’s not so recent that I haven’t seen this class through all four of their years. We have a more distant relationship, your intrepid blogger and these Rams who play at Rose Hill. But when the time is right and the stars align, we go to the wall together against the best the A-10 dares to send to the Bronx.
We got our first look at Danielle Padovano her freshman year when we were keeping an eye on the former Johnnie Mary Nwachukwu, who had taken her graduate year at Fordham. And what we first noticed was that this tall, rebound-happy, freshman was taking the minutes we had expected to go to the tournament-seasoned grad student.
This Danielle is a matchup problem beyond the arc and fierce on the boards. As she’s gotten older, and as the team has changed around her, she’s become more of a situational player, her minutes fluctuating as the opponent’s style dictates. It takes a special kind of personality to adapt to that and to accept your minutes declining to a part-time role.
We got our first look at Danielle Burns her freshman year when we were keeping an eye on the former Johnnie Mary Nwachukwu, who had taken her graduate year at Fordham. And what we first noticed was that she was a shooter and she wasn’t afraid to shoot.
(As a matter of fact, I do tend to refer to Ms. Burns and Ms. Padovano collectively as the Danielles, or as las Danielle.)
Danielle has really grown into a role as a top-notch scorer for the Rams. Her game is well-rounded, and she's stepped up. It's been a pleasure to see her develop, intermittent as my involvement with Fordham has been. I've said it before, and I'll enjoy saying it again and again: part of the joy and the thrill of college basketball is watching the development of young people and seeing who they become.
Hannah Missry comes pre-equipped with a nickname. When she's raining threes upon the enemy, she becomes "Miss Misery" to them.
Sometimes, a player gets really good at a single thing. There are a lot of bad things to be said about crippling overspecialization. I've said a lot of them about Hannah in the past. And there are times when it's abundantly clear that her priority is getting open for three and sinking it. I've called her out about her defense in the past. To her credit, she's made some strides this year towards diversifying her game. But this isn't the place for that.
This is the place for celebrating three-pointers from all over the court, from any distance, at any time. This is the place and time to talk about Hannah Missry as the game changer she can be when that sweet, sweet three is dropping and she brings it back down the court with her swagger. When she lights it up, she electrifies the entire team and fires up Rose Hill.
Bring it on home, Miss Misery.
These are my senior Rams, and I love them for everything they are, and everything they’ve become.
***
We’ve been on-again, off-again with LIU, our love for city teams sometimes conflicting with the simple exigencies of mundane life. With Coach Oliver on board, and one of my favorite Rutgers alumnae beside her on the bench, we’ve taken the Blackbirds to heart. They are not the best of our teams, but they are certainly the feistiest when they set their hearts to it, and this senior class is one of the biggest reasons why.
Dionne Coe’s only been in Brooklyn for this single season, her graduate transfer season. In a way, a player being a graduate transfer says a lot about her. It says that she’s prioritized her academics. It says that she’s taken advantage of her scholarship to get a degree. It says that she wants more than just a bachelor’s, that she sees the opportunity she’s been given and she’s going to take it.
I’ve said a lot of unkind things about Dionne in the GNoD, and I will defend them. But this isn’t the place for them. Welcome home, Dionne. I’m sorry we didn’t get to know you better and see more of you.
I don’t think any player on this LIU squad personifies the grit they can bring on defense and on loose balls than Brianna Farris. She’s hard-nosed and tough, one of the best defenders we have to offer.
I remember the first time I saw her, back when she was a freshman, in LIU’s Thanksgiving tournament. She scared me a little back then, with that stone game face; even her short black hair seemed to bristle with “don’t f- with me”. She’s grown her hair out, so it doesn’t bristle as much, but the game face is still as tough as it ever was.
She was almost the hero against St. Francis this year. She would have deserved it, of that I have no doubt. Her threes from the corner are streaky, but when she’s on, she’s on. And she always brings the tough, physical defense. I don’t think it’s been easy for her to accept playing fewer minutes this year, but she’s done it, and she’s spearheaded comebacks from that position.
Almost to a fault, Shanovia Dove has been the offensive catalyst for the Blackbirds. It hasn’t mattered whether she started or came off the bench- Novi will get her points and she will force you to respect her. Whether it’s from deep or in the lane, she can score and does so often. Part of Senior Day included the milestone ball from her 1000th point.
She’s tough, too, though she’s more of a determinator than someone who will get in your face. But when she starts, she doesn’t stop until she’s finished. If something’s in her way, she’ll get it out of her way. I don’t know where she’s been, or what she’s gone through, but whatever it is, it’s made her very goal-oriented.
As bad as LIU’s been this year- and let’s face it, we’ve been pretty bad- I don’t even want to think about how bad we’d be without Shanovia this season. I wish her all the best, and I know she, and her classmates, will make their way in the world, whether the world likes it or not.
These are my senior Blackbirds, and I love them for everything they are, and everything that they strive to be.
***
Iona was the team we thought we were going to cut out of our ever-expanding circle. We lost all our connections there, after all, and we didn’t exactly get off on the right foot with the current regime. But we stayed for the players we knew, and then we got attached to the new class coming in, and we rebuilt that relationship. I’d say that Iona is now only behind my Big East teams, and I don’t want to find out how I’d feel if Iona ever played Seton Hall or my most distant Michigan. Iona’s seniors took the long road to New Rochelle, through Milwaukee and Madrid, Philadelphia and Lubbock.
It took the better part of three years, but at long last Karynda DuPree has come into her own, and it is glorious.
The first couple of years we saw her at Iona, she was the most frustrating player on the floor. Here was this center with a fantastic low-post build- a 6’4” solid body that probably half of the post players I’ve ever watched would have killed to have- and she was on the outside chucking threes while the guards and Joy Adams did the rebounding. Long-time readers of the GNoD know exactly how I feel about post players taking perimeter shots- you need to be good at it or you need to stop, and you still need to rebound and do work on the inside.
Sometime in the second half of her junior year, the pieces came together. She’s not perfect, but she stopped taking the threes and started taking the ball inside. She discovered her strength as a center both on offense and defense (though I will say she’s always been a shot-blocker, even when she was being a shrinking violet on offense). Now she’s going up with authority. Now she’s tearing down rebounds. She has blossomed, and it is wonderful to watch.
This version of Karynda has been an absolute joy to watch, and I’m sorry that we didn’t get to see more of this side of her sooner. But I’m still thrilled that we got to see this part of her journey.
Of all my seniors, the only one I’ve ever seen before she was one of my players is Marina Lizarazu. She made an impression when she was a Red Raider and Texas Tech came to Brooklyn for a tournament. I didn’t say it was a good impression- she was a risk-taker, in over her head, with questionable judgment. I don’t know how she would have developed if she had stayed at Texas Tech.
I do know who she is now, and in some ways she’s still the same. She takes risks, she makes mistakes. But her command of the floor has improved dramatically. She’s matured into a true point guard, one who commands the offense and owns the court as soon as she steps on it. She’s a slick passer, a capable facilitator, willing and able to take over the offensive load if and when her team needs her. She’s fearless.
That’s the thing that sticks with me most with Marina- she’s fearless. She drives the lane without fear. She takes the big shot without fear. She’s not afraid of the clock. She makes the clock roll over and beg. That’s huge for a point guard.
I think we’ll be hearing more out of Marina in the next few years. Maybe it’ll be in the W. Maybe it’ll be on the international stage. But something tells me we’re going to be hearing her name again after she graduates.
These are my senior Gaels, and I love them for all that they are, and all the places that have made them.
***
Last, but never, ever least: my Johnnies. This is the team that owns my heart, the team that I will go to the wall for, the team that trumps all other teams, the team I have the deepest connection to. This is the Senior Day that always breaks my heart (even though sometimes it’s because they get the shortest shrift from their school).
I’m sorry we haven’t gotten to see more of Kendyl Nunn, both in minutes and in years. I’d heard so much about her shot that I wanted to see it in action in a St. John’s jersey. I know she’s taken the long way around to get here.
Most of all, I’d have liked to see more of the sheer joy she brings to the floor. She always looks happy to be out there and playing. She scraps for loose balls and takes her opportunities when she gets them. You can’t ask for more than that from a deep reserve, especially the positive attitude. I’m going to miss that smile.
There’s a Big East commercial that runs ad infinitum et ad nauseaum during the digital broadcasts, and it talks about how big isn’t just visible on the court. That’s where the conference uses the image of Aaliyah Lewis. But I think that’s the wrong spot. Because it goes on to talk about how big lives in our attitude, and I can think of no player (except perhaps one) who exemplifies the big-city, big-conference, big-game attitude like Aaliyah does.
We used to have a recurring gag that Aaliyah- slightly-built, 5’5” in media guides and high heels Aaliyah- was everyone’s mother’s favorite player because she was so goshdarn cute. I’m not sure if that’s the case anymore, but if it’s not, she’s picked up more than enough fans to make up the difference. Odds are, she’s going to make a no-look pass, or break someone’s ankles with a wicked crossover, or cut through the paint with a burst of speed like a sports car for two and the foul- one way or another, she’s going to be the first favorite player a new fan has.
Aaliyah came into our program with huge shoes to fill. What’s that? You want to be the point guard after Nadirah McKenith, the one Johnnie to make it in the W? Have fun. She took on the challenge, and the role, and answered the call. She adopted the swagger, internalized the city attitude, and took charge.
She’s a little crazy, and a little reckless, but that’s part of why we love her. She’s our point guard.
And despite her size, she’s going to leave some pretty big shoes to fill.
So you know how I said above that maybe one other player might be more appropriate for the “big lives in our attitude” line? That player would, of course, be Jade Walker.
With Jade, big is very visible on the court, and from all over the court. The Red Storm’s intro video talks about her as a match-up nightmare, and they’re not lying. She has a sweet jumper that she’s not afraid to use from the midrange or from beyond the arc. But when she puts her mind to it, her strength inside is even more impressive. She combines power and finesse on the floor, and when she’s on, no one is stopping her.
She’s developed that jumper and lengthened its range while at St. John’s, but in the last year and change, she’s also improved as a defender. It takes a good amount of maturity- or at least an eye on one’s future- for an offensive powerhouse to develop their defense. She’s still got some ways to go in terms of maturity, but I’m pretty sure most 22-year-olds do. I’m pretty sure I did. She plays with emotion and passion, leaves her heart on her sleeve- and sometimes that costs her. She gets into her own head, and with time she’ll learn to get out of it.
But we love her for her unabashed emotion. When Jade emotes, the whole world knows it. There’s never any doubt she’s giving it her all.
Maybe someday I’ll even find out if she let her teammates have a turn with the trophy, or if trophy is still bae to her. :D
I had written the conclusion to this and then realized I forgot Sandie. That is a terrible oversight. I choose to believe that some subconscious part of my mind refuses to admit that Sandra Udobi is a senior and will be leaving us after this season.
Knee injuries robbed Sandie of her mobility and her playing time. When she was on the floor she was a solid defender and a solid teammate, bringing the occasional elbow jumper or strong post move to diversify her game. But torn ACLs are even crueler to posts than they are to guards. She’s seen the writing on the wall.
But of all my seniors, Sandie is the one I will miss most as a human being. She’s brilliant. I truly believe that she’s going to make a big positive change in the world once she graduates with her degrees in hand. Others will have success in basketball, whether it’s on the court or beside it. I think Sandie dreams bigger; if she makes her mark through basketball, it’s because she’s at the grass-roots level, changing the world by affecting culture. She’s on the macro level.
And how often are you blessed to know someone you’re absolutely certain is going to make the world a better place?
These are my senior Johnnies, and I love them for everything that they are, and everything that they choose to be.
***
These are my 2017 seniors- from New Jersey, and New York, and Tennessee, and Florida, and Wisconsin, and Illinois, and Arizona, and California, and Spain, and Nigeria. I love them despite their flaws; I love them because of their flaws. I love them for all that they’ve done, for all that they should have done, for all that they want to do. I love them for everything they are, and everything they have been, and everything that they will be.
Thank you for one, or two, or four, or five, years. Thank you for sharing your gifts with us.
Saturday, October 22, 2016
October 22nd, 2016: Seton Hall Meet the Team/Blue and White Scrimmage
Just the Facts, Ma'am: College season: still coming soon to a campus near you. Join your intrepid blogger after the jump for flashy plays, game show chatter, free food, appropriate tablecloths, and more at the Seton Hall Blue and White scrimmage.
Good afternoon, me bonny lads and lasses! Talk Like A Pirate Day was a month ago, but it seemed somewhat appropriate to indulge in a slight bit of pirate lingo on the deay of Seton Hall's big meet the team event.
The lobby of Walsh Gymnasium has been revamped. It's very shiny, with plaques for some of their basketball greats, displays for tournament appearances and All-Americans, tales of the 1989 Final Four team, and touchscreens to explore the Seton Hall, er, Hall of Fame. The lighting is very bright. The displays have benches, one of which I am currently perched on to type this interior scene description. I like the Pirate logo on the side of the benches, and the consistent use of the Seton Hall font on all text. (What can I say? I'm in the printing business now, so I notice fonts more.)
The women's closed-door scrimmage with an unknown opponent is running long; the doors were supposed to open about ten minutes ago for the event. I suspect that the extra time was secretly built in, though. Starting things at :45 past the hour seems a little strange. (Turns out it was Monmouth, who came in on a freakin' school bus.)
The other people waiting with us are... doing their best to uphold some of the finest traditions of New Jersey culture. I'll leave it at that. I'm impatient for the scrimmage to end too, but come on. Complaining about it won't make it finish any faster. (Good grief, they're anti-grill? How can you be anti-grill in New Jersey? All you have is land.)
All right, so it looks like there's going to either be less of a lead-in than at most events, or attendance is really going to be crap. It's 1:50 now, and they just opened the doors. There are maybe forty people here in the stands.
I forgot how much I dislike sitting in the upper deck at Walsh. Sure, you get back support, but the seats are relatively low and narrow. I'm having flashbacks to my elementary school auditorium. The safety rail also impedes the sideline view, and if this were a game we wouldn't be able to groove with the band, as is our wont. Of course, if this were a game, we'd be in the bleachers with the band and the whole thing would be irrelevant.
Other than brighter lights, the inside of Walsh doesn't look much different. All the shininess went into the lobby. But I think there are rules about how much you can do to the inside of Walsh, too.
The Seton Hall player in the tie-dye/rainbow socks has an inside edge on becoming my favorite. We have a lot of new players; a new favorite is a distinct possibility.
Tony, I love you, but "girls"? (Also, I think they need to work on the sound system. He sounded tinny and hard to hear.)
Both men and women are either wearing their actual jerseys or some of the nicest practice jerseys I've ever seen. They don't have any of the NCAA/Big East insignia on them, and the fabric looks a little more porous than regular jerseys, so I think they might be practice gear. But there are mid-majors with worse game jerseys than these practice jerseys.
Guys, I don't care how many shots you hit, don't hang on the rim for as long as that. I swear, if our rims are broken because you wanted to show off, I will NOT be amused. You wanna dunk, go ahead, but let go as soon as you can. Now they're getting a little fancier with the dunks (and just started blowing them as a result). (This should be fun. I don't know these guys from a hole in the wall.)
Minute into the scrimmage and I already want to fight with the rim- and it's not the one that all the guys were hanging from. The refs are wearing shorts. If this is the new NCAA uniform, we're going to have a problem.
At halftime of the scrimmage, white team is up on blue team 45-25. It looks like white team's job was to ball hawk, and they did a really good job of it. It looks like the new "cylinder" freedom of movement rules are going to give the guys trouble. I'm glad we don't have to deal with that nonsense. Play of the half belonged to #13 of the blue team, though, with a pell-mell drive through two defenders and a sweeping finger roll of a shot that bounced a couple of times before dropping.
So it turns out that it was starters versus subs, and starters crushed subs 70something to 40something. They cut the second half to 12 minutes, which we greatly appreciated. I'm typing this from the field house now, where there are many tables set up for a luncheon (that's sort of easing into a suppereon, or maybe a dinnereon, the secret evolutions of Eevee). This is also bright and shiny. I think this is the first time I've gotten a good long look at Seton Hall's non-Walsh-based banners, which is cool.
Gossip is correct. There is, in fact, a large inflatable pirate ship in one corner, and children are playing on it. There's a large inflatable pirate in another corner, and a smaller, non-inflatable, pirate making the rounds. The band played briefly at the get-go, their standards of the Seton Hall fight song and the Pirates of the Caribbean theme. (Yes, I do listen to "He's a Pirate" to get hyped for games.) There's also a DJ. We were provided burgers, hot dogs, and chicken fingers, and appropriate fixings for all of the above. Cleverly, they also included all sorts of beverages and dessert. Mint chocolate chip Klondike bars are best Klondike bars. I'm eating light because we made plans to go out to dinner afterwards, but the burgers are tempting
Note to self- do not do heavy ab work the day before having to sit in seats with minimal leg room. Bending and pain and achyness and I'm doing it all again Monday. It is my devout hope that as the Game Notes get bigger, your intrepid blogger gets smaller.
Yay new poster! One of the frosh seems to think she remembers us from Family Feud. Well, that's different. A couple of Pirates still have strong feelings about Nneka Ogwumike's shot (which shouldn't have counted, but I'll let Cheryl Reeve take it from here).
A mob scene just formed behind me, so either there's a fresh tray of chicken fingers or the men's team just walked in. It is the latter, and they're being hounded for autographs. You'd think they'd do something organized and let them get to the table first, but what do I know?
I feel like St. John's and Seton Hall had opposite goals with their events. Seton Hall's event was explicitly a season ticket holder event (we aren't ticket holders so much as catchers of tickets being thrown at us), so there were no student contests for ridiculous prizes. St. John's, on the other hand, was pandering to the student base, and seemed to be discouraging non-students from attending. (Not that being discouraged from doing a thing has ever actually discouraged me.) I'm curious as to whether this speaks to the desired crowd, or to the part of the crowd they're trying to add to the current crowd. It's an interesting potentially different philosophy.
Thursday, October 20, 2016
October 14th, 2016: Red Storm Tip Off
College season is coming! For loud music, trampolines, burritos, questionable time management, new jerseys, old jerseys, and brief glimpses of basketball, join your intrepid and regretful blogger after the jump.
Hello, again and once more! Y'all either thought it was way too soon for this or not soon enough. Okay, let's be honest, most of y'all were probably like 'oh, here she goes again'.
It's the second Friday in October, and that means it's Red Storm Tip-Off time! Due to an unfortunate bout of abdominal pain back in January (don't worry, it was just gas) I ended up with a stray half-day of personal time lingering, so I took it to make sure I could get tickets without having to pull strings. The line was bad at first, but eased up after a while, so I'm not going to say I'm not doing it that way again, but I'd really rather pull strings. (I also took the opportunity to go shopping. You know, the usuals. Decals, pins for Moooose, mini-Sharpies, Selina's home jersey. The staples.)
So because I had time to kill, I had lunch at the Popeye's near St. John's. The place was packed. I finally had to ask a young man in a St. John's jersey and appropriately colored hat if I could share his two-top. He turned out to be a Johnny in multiple senses of the word, but I'm sworn to secrecy about at least one of them. He was in Chicago too, as it turns out, and we chattered about the team for a while. He doesn't get why more students don't show up, either. I guess Thunderbirds of a feather really do flock together, as it were.
It's really a beautiful day. A bit cool if you're not wearing long sleeves, but if you've got a sweatshirt, it's perfect. Not a cloud to be seen, but just a trace of haze- just enough to make sure it's not too perfect. On those perfect sky days, terrible things tend to happen.
Look, y'all, I'm not trying to be a jerk by sitting horizontally on the bench. It's just that if I don't support Jocelyn in just the right place, the circuit breaks and she goes to sleep. That's not exactly conducive to doing typing. The DJ is more conducive to that. It helps that I'm not sitting right next to him, though. I get the feeling it's going to be less pleasant inside, since we usually end up near the speakers.
Buses are stupid. Moving right along.
The guy in front of us is hilariously enthusiastic, and it was briefly rewarded by a selection to the dance contest. And then he fled in terror of the Nae Nae, and I don't mean Danaejah Grant. Otherwise so far it's been the usual endless screaming at loud music. Save some energy for the actual event, y'all.
Shoutout to the enthusiastic dancer in the rainbow jacket. She got moves. I keep thinking she's with Imani, but the person I thought was Imani is wearing Nike, and we're an Under Armour school.
Well, that's helpful. Jade's mom has followed in the footsteps of many a Johnny parent and labeled herself with name and number.
To the dude in the old school Red Storm jacket with Thunder on the back: your jacket is awesome and your ideas intrigue me.
Aw, yesssss, here comes the band. That's better. Less deafening. We'll be over by you next month.
Moment of silence delicately walking the tightrope of decrying gun violence and violence in the community without actually blaming anyone in particular for it. I didn't realize how rough a year it had been for the STJ community.
Well, that was disappointing. I really wish they'd make the Tip-Off more about basketball and less about noisy spectacle. Somehow, they managed to put even less basketball content into it than last year.
It started off really well, too. Both teams were introduced (though I hated the cutesy "sneak in among a group of cheerleaders" entrances). The guys had shades, and those were fun. Everyone showed off their dance moves, and I think Jade Walker might take Sky Lindsay's crown as the best dancer in team history. Shirts and hats were thrown into the crowd. Joe Tartamella gave a speech, and they showed a highlight reel from the Big East tournament (I saw us in the background real quick during the first part). The year was added to the Big East championship banner. Chris Mullin dropped a shoutout to the title into his speech, which was nice of him. They were really putting emphasis on the title.
And then there was the horrifically awkward group dance routine that the women do every year and the men never do, and I think Imani Littleton might be becoming one of my favorites for her utter lack of nonsense toleration. Guys. Staaaaaaahp. Y'all could have just had Jade and Aaliyah do a dance-off, and it would have been awesome.
Then both teams did some basic drills. Nothing terribly exciting, nothing really impressive, nothing out of the ordinary. Well, except for the fact that it was the last time we saw the defending Big East champions doing basketball things. After the drills, the men did a scrimmage. And it was a fun scrimmage, and Shamorie Ponds is going to be very fun to watch for the next however many years he gives St. John's, and if I followed men's basketball I'd spend a lot of time screaming at Marcus Clark to move his ass on defense.
But, y'know, I might have wanted to see a women's scrimmage too. Or even the co-ed shootout they used to have. Or even the men's dunk contest that the women judged. Make it more about St. John's instead of about the spectacle.
Instead, we got dunkers on trampolines, who were all right, though they blew a couple of their routines. I left before the musical artist started, so I have no idea how he was.
Time management failure to the max: there is no way on God's green earth anyone who isn't a competitive eater is going to finish three dinner-size burritos in the span of a scrimmage halftime, let alone eat three burritos and hit three shots from various parts of the floor. They eventually cut it down to one burrito and one lay-up, and I'm a little sad for the dudes that they didn't get to take the other two burritos with them. (I mean, I feel less bad for the guy who won free dinner for him and twenty friends, but still. Why waste the burritos?)
I'm amused that the Chevy Camaro everyone's shooting for is the exact shade of blue that Coach Bozzella would look for in case he was buying a midlife crisis-mobile. At least the one in the ad was St. John's red.
I'm just curious what a woman has to do at St. John's to get herself a banner on the wall like so many men have. There are lots of retired and honored numbers for the men. It would kill them to hold Aliyyah Handford's 3 out of commission for a year? I know this is the worst year to bring that up because of the guy who took Chris Mullin's number, but the point remains that the only number the women have retired is for a player who died young. We have history, but so little of it is honored, and that makes me sad.
I love my Johnnies. I really do. But every time I go to a big St. John's event, I am reminded that no matter how much we do, how much we achieve, we'll always be second fiddle. I'm reminded that even when we're given equal billing, we're not given equal treatment. I'm reminded that men's basketball is to St. John's what football is to BCS schools. So I love them, but it's love mixed with frustration.
Friday, March 18, 2016
The Senior Tribute
Dear seniors: I love you all.
These are not game notes. These will never be game notes. If you want game notes, you'll have to wait.
Every year, I pour out my heart about my seniors. I really have no claim to them, other than pride in watching them mature and excel and succeed. But I think of them as mine anyway. I hope I may be allowed my foibles. If not here, then where?
And every year it seems like I have more of them, as we build connections with more and more teams. I can't give them all the love they deserve. Some I don't know well enough. Some, we haven't been through years of ups and downs, of thrilling wins and crushing defeats, of mind-numbing idiocy and breathtaking brilliance. (To love them is to be honest about them and yet still love them anyway, knowing their flaws and embracing their virtues.)
Worst of all, this year my conferences colluded to create an impossible situation. St. John's and Seton Hall, of course, conflicted, and in such a way that we couldn't just hitch a ride with someone. That's to be expected. But Iona's senior day was the same day. So was Michigan's game at Rutgers. What's a fan to do? I needed to be in four places at once, and the most any of us can do is two.
So instead of enclosing little senior tributes in each set of game notes, I'm going to give them all a little space to breathe, a little time to shine. They deserve this much. So many of them will never see the limelight. One or two or three might sniff the WNBA; most aren't even dreaming of it. Most of them you've never heard of unless you've been following the conference or the Game Notes of Doom. In this moment, you're going to hear of them.
I can't give them all their proper shine, of course. Michigan only comes to town once a year. It's hard to build a connection that way. So I'll let Michigan tell the stories of Kelsey Mitchell and Madison Ristovski instead, let them tell the triumphant story of Halle Wangler's journey from walk-on to scholarship athlete. They deserve more than the fleeting glimpses I can give you of them.
And I've only just begun to know LIU and their seniors. I don't think I've even ever seen Angelia Allen play. It wouldn't be fair to try and talk about her. Ashley Brown, I've only seen once, maybe twice by the time these notes go up. I don't know enough to tell you about her. But I can tell you about the fighting spirit that brought Shanice Vaughan out of the locker room on a badly twisted ankle because her team was short-handed, though, and the passion she brings to the floor. I can tell you about Jolanna Ford and the big boards she pulls down, that she makes plays in the paint and goes hard after the ball. I can do at least that much for these Blackbirds waiting for their moment to arise.
Fordham... ah, Fordham. I've rarely had the opportunity to see Khadijah Gibson play. I don't know her as well as I should. But I've watched Samantha Clark. In some ways, she's one of the most frustrating of my seniors. She has the kind of build that undersized centers in mid-major conferences dream of. She wouldn't look out of place in the Big Ten or the Big XII of the last decade. And there are far too many days where she can't finish at the rim, or she takes a three with far too much time on the shot clock. But she comes up big in big games, and there are few in the Atlantic 10 that can match her strength. I wish her all the best.
And now we come to my Big Three, my trinity of sorts, the three senior classes who have wrapped themselves around my heart and wrapped me around their collective fingers. We've taken these wild rides together for four years, more or less, through the breathless highs and the heartbreaking lows, seen buzzer-beaters and historic firsts. Three classes, each one of them with a record smasher, each one of them with an immortal, each one of them game-changing for their school.
*
This is not how the last year of Cassidee Ranger's college career was supposed to go down. No one plans on being injured. No one plans to spend conference play lurching about on crutches, reduced to starting the defense chant on the bench. In an offense that has so often relied on the long ball, Cas's shot would have been a perfect weapon.
We used to call her the Lone Ranger sometimes, because there were countless times when she would be open in the corner, and no one would see her. And then sometimes they did, and it was glorious, and we would fire up a rendition of "Slap Shot", because I'm a New York Rangers fan and that's how we roll when a Ranger scores.
She was pretty tough on the boards, too, and she could hold down the fort screening for her teammates. This has been a fantastic year, but it could have been even more fantastic with Cas shooting from the corner or breaking Marina loose for a drive.
Joy Adams is a freak of nature. Her athleticism is astonishing. You get ready to hold your breath when she's on the fast break, because something spectacular is going to happen. It may well be a spectacular miss. But it's just as likely to be a spectacular shot. And if it's a spectacular miss, then she's going to rebound it just as spectacularly.
She has an incredible ability to insinuate herself into spaces. That's what always catches my attention about her- she finds her way to the basket, and she will get the ball. She can take over a game, put her stamp on it, make sure that no one else gets the ball. She'll scrap and fight and dive for balls. Her energy is contagious.
She'll finish her collegiate career with one of the highest rebounding totals in NCAA D-I history. For a while, she might even be immortal; the NCAA record book keeps the top (I believe) twenty-five all-time. She'll be on that list, right there with Courtney Paris and Jillian Alleyne.
Cas is a sweetheart, and Joy is a phenom.
But Aaliyah Robinson is my favorite Gael.
Compressed in that guard's body is the rebounding will of a mighty center. Two inches taller, and she'd be high rotation in the A-10; six inches taller, and you would have heard her name long before this, somewhere in the Power 5.
More than that, she comes up clutch from beyond the arc. She can pour it on and incite the crowd, and she's deadly dangerous on the backcourt trap. One fucks with A-Rob at their own peril.
I would have loved to see what she could do in a larger frame- more height, more strength. But that doesn't mean I don't love what she does now.
These are my, and your, Iona Gaels, the first senior class in Iona women's basketball history to go dancing. They are the joy of my March Madness, and for one shining moment, maybe they'll be yours.
*
Shakena Richardson was born to control the game.
That's the only way I can describe her. When she has the ball, you damn well know she has the ball. When she's running the offense, you damn well know whose show it is. I've seen a lot of point guards over the years, and she has a commanding presence beyond her years (which is saying something for a graduate student). She looks immensely comfortable running the show.
That control extends to her body as well. She does things in the lane that seem impossible for her size. She is possessed of both incredible tenacity and incredible strength. She almost single-handedly dragged Seton Hall back into the semifinal game against Creighton, because she wasn't going to give up.
But don't let all of that make her sound like some kind of grim, implacable, martinet. Kena has more fun out there before games than just about anyone. She's certainly one of the best and most enthusiastic pre-game dancers I've ever seen, and I've seen some serious hip-shaking in my day.
I couldn't be happier that she decided to head on home, or at least closer to it than Tallahassee.
Sometimes you just need to find your niche. That's what Jordan Mosley has done. Role player is a job that needs doing too.
Jordan's the only one of the senior quintet at Seton Hall who doesn't start, and sometimes I wonder if it gets to her. The fact that I have to wonder tells me how much of a team player she's been. Being able to follow is almost as strong a sign of maturity and leadership as taking the lead is.
She's not going to do anything flashy. She doesn't go on dramatic scoring runs or make acrobatic SportsCenter lay-ups. But she'll come up with a big three at the right time, or she'll make a key defensive stop.
In some ways, she's the hardest of my seniors to get a handle on, because we see so much less of her. But she's no less a part of this team and its success for that. After all, the starters can't do it alone. Rosters are 15, not 5, for a reason.
I've been watching Aleesha Powell do her thing for a while now. We go back to Iona, to the maroon and gold, to one of the fastest backcourts in the nation, to proud parents perched in the highest bleachers the Hynes had to offer, to broken axles and the long road to and from Philadelphia.
She's a nice kid. Heaven knows she's been patient when we start talking basketball with her dad and she's wondering why these two weirdos have latched on to her family.
She looks so fragile, like she's still growing into her body. Don't let that fool you into questioning her toughness. Leesh takes the contact and gets right back up again to go hit the free throws. There are plenty of tweets on my timeline and notes in my blog to the effect of "STOP HITTING TINY ALEESHA". And she goes back for more.
She's so fast. Even at the Big East level, she's so much faster than almost everyone out there that she changes the game. She makes plays happen on defense with her quick hands and her closing speed. No ballhandler is safe when she's around.
But what really sets her apart for Seton Hall is her simpatico with Coach Bozzella. It's understandable, given their common roots at Iona. But at the same time, it's fascinating to watch the implicit trust between them when she has the ball. When Kena, or the freshman TT, has the ball, Coach never seems satisfied with the tempo of the game. When Leesh is bringing the ball up, he almost never has to implore her to speed it up or beg her to slow it down. They understand each other, and that's a key part of what makes the magic happen.
That's going to be a big hole to fill.
Tiffany Jones: the world's tallest Swiss Army Knife. (No, I don't think that's literally true, partially because Tiffany is not a literal Swiss Army Knife with all kinds of tools that you pull out with your fingernail, and partially because I don't doubt that someone somewhere has built a ten-foot-long Swiss Army Knife that you would have to tow with your car.)
But when it comes to versatility, that's her all over. Step outside and hit the deep three? Tiffany can do that. Own the boards like a boss? Tiffany can do that. Finish at the rim? Tiffany can do that. Block an opponent's shot into the second row? Tiffany can do that. (I've seen it, or at least the distance equivalent, at Walsh.)
In her brief time at the Hall, Tiffany has become indispensable. She comes to work hard every night (sometimes to her detriment- she's had days where she's pressing too much to force things that aren't happening). She spaces the offense and provides an interior anchor for the defense. She provides a threat inside and out, and that opens up opportunities for everyone else.
I'm sorry we didn't get her for longer. I think she would have been one of our greats. As it is, in three semesters she's shone bright like a shooting star.
Tabatha Richardson-Smith and I have a love-hate relationship. I love to watch her. She hates me.
I'll be honest: this post is different now that I'm writing it after the Big East tournament and what happened there. I think about Tab the person much differently now. What I thought was an ongoing good-natured ribbing was anything but, and now I find myself wondering how else I misjudged her.
So let me talk to you about Tab the player instead. No. Let me talk to you about Tab, Seton Hall's all-time leading scorer, instead. Let me talk to you about the superstar who should have been Big East Player of the Year. Let me describe the deep threes she takes with the greatest of ease and the least hesitation possible, the way she cuts through the lane with a tall grace, the way she tears down rebounds like it was going out of style. Let me describe the way she pounces on the slightest hint of weakness from a ballhandler on the press.
She has the Taurasi swagger and the game to back it up. She has the McCoughtry chip on her shoulder and the history to back it up.
But let me talk to you about a freshman buried deep on Anne Donovan's bench, coming into the game only when it was well in hand. Let me describe a player picking up garbage minutes and tough rebounds, name arcing awkwardly on her jersey. Let me talk about a reserve playing just a little bit reckless and a little bit fearless. She'd probably have been the one person who believed you if you said that by the end of her senior year she was going to be the top scorer in the Big East, the all-time leading scorer for Seton Hall, all-conference and undeniable star.
Tab's journey is Seton Hall's journey, from the bottom of the table to the top of the heap, from the back of the rotation to the front line, never forgetting where she came from, defining themselves by who they planned to be and not who they were, demanding nothing except everything.
These are my, and your, Seton Hall Pirates. They took the long way around, through La Salle, through Iona, through ASA, through Florida State and Rutgers, through the heart of Texas, to find their way to South Orange. Like every pirate crew worth their salt, they came together from disparate origins to become something stronger and something fiercer.
Raise the Jolly Roger. Plunder the lox. The Pirates are coming.
*
In retrospect, perhaps I didn't get the proper first impression of Danaejah Grant.
When Danaejah played her first games at St. John's, I thought she was a gunner, the kind of player whose only concern was how many points she had on the scoresheet, defense be damned. I had dark thoughts that that was why she left Clemson.
Maybe it was just the shoulder. Maybe it was just the shoulder brace, that giant black monstrosity that wouldn't have looked out of place on a football field or in a Borg crowd shot. Maybe that was holding her back from being who she really was.
Or maybe she realized she needed to be more than a pure scorer. Sometimes you see players come to that realization as juniors or seniors- we've come to call that a Briana Brown, after the guard who went from end-of-the-bench reserve to unquestioned captain. Some players make that leap in maturity, and maybe that's Danaejah.
Whatever the case- be it early frailty or late strength- D has come into her own this year, on both ends of the floor. She's rarely flashy. She doesn't make wild, acrobatic plays. She probably won't show up on SportsCenter any time soon.
What does she do? Everything. She's become a lockdown defender, and she usually gets one of the hardest assignments for the opposition. She's a jump-shooting threat who opens up the floor and spreads a defense. She has the strength to drive the lane, take the contact, and hit the shot- and then she'll usually hit the free throw, which is a blessed relief from all my years as a Johnnie.
It's been easy to overlook her. After all, how often do you really think about the ground you stand on? In this season, she's been our bedrock, the foundation on which everything is built.
To make aliyah is to ascend. I've never seen it be so true as it is for Aliyyah Handford.
You have to be a pretty special woman to wear #3 for St. John's. Angela Clark, wherever she is now, was an All-Big East performer on the tournament team that lost to Maryland in the Terps' championship year. Da'Shena Stevens was Big East Freshman of the Year and led St. John's to tournament wins and That Game Against UConn. It even extends to the soccer pitch- Rachel Daly is one of the greatest to don the St. John's shirt. So when this freshman whose qualification was in question came up with that number, I was skeptical, to say the least. You want to wear Angie's number? You want to wear Day's number? You better be good.
I think it's safe to say Liyyah has lived up to those expectations.
She is, simply put, breath-taking. I saw her pull off the Jewelly-oop once or twice. She knifes through the lane like a bolt of lightning. She gets hit hard, and every time, she gets back up again. And then she'll go do it again. Her midrange jumper is a thing of beauty, and every so often she'll step out for a pleasant surprise from deep.
And I haven't even talked about her defense. She has quick hands and a phenomenal ability to read the passing lanes. So much of her offense comes from her defense.
But the best part of her game is her positive energy. When Liyyah's happy, everyone's happy. Her smile is contagious. Off the court, she's just as energetic, even after a bad game. She's almost always got a bright smile, and when she doesn't, it makes the whole world a little bit sadder. That's really how she gets to you. And then she scores more points than any other Johnnie in the history of women's basketball, and you remember she's not just awesome at being a human, she's awesome at basketball.
To make aliyah is a religious experience. I'm agnostic leaning towards atheist, so I wouldn't know anything about that, but I'm okay with making that parallel.
Here they are, my, and your, St. John's Red Storm. These are two of the best to walk through the door, the thunder and the lightning of the Storm. They'll go down in the record books for all they've done for this program, and it'll be a long time before we see their like again.