Just the Facts, Ma’am: Seton Hall used a big third quarter to pull away from Jacksonville State, 73-54. Taylor Brown had a team-high 19 points, with JaQuan Jackson and Shadeen Samuels each adding 18. Rayven Pearson had 13 points and eight rebounds to lead Jacksonville State.
For physicality, flying forwards, a three-headed monster, small trophies, coaches who need throat lozenges, and banging the bleachers, join your intrepid and slightly demented blogger after the jump.
On to the next one! This one’s for the hardware, such as it is (the trophies have been sitting on a table by the doors since before the first game, and I’m underwhelmed). Jacksonville State will take on the hosts, Seton Hall.
Jacksonville State’s guards look smaller today than they did yesterday. I guess that’s just in comparison to Seton Hall.
Watch out for the speed bump! The plastic covering for the media table’s cords almost took out a passing pedestrian.
Small correction from yesterday’s notes: the name and number tees don’t belong to the team, but to Nicole Jimenez’s family. They’re clustered over by the tunnel. I feel bad for the kid with the broken leg having to navigate the tight bleachers here at Walsh.
Someone on Jacksonville State is from Baltimore. Someone on Jacksonville State also has a proud relative taking pictures.
At halftime, Seton Hall is up 32-28. Shadeen Samuels has 10. Taylor Brown got off to a good start, but got sidelined by fouls. Holy crap on a cracker, the officiating is bad. So bad. I can’t believe Tony’s jacket is still on, that’s how bad it's been. And the coat is coming off for the second half. THIS R SRS GME NAO.
Big third quarter for the Pirates, and that was the difference. Jacksonville State was extremely physical, and there were a couple of moments when I thought there was going to be some vigilante justice meted out, because heaven knows the officials weren’t actually going to do anything to earn their pay.
The Gamecocks went to their deep bench late in the game, which allowed Jayla Walker to get a three-pointer. (Our Jayla’s better.) Kiana Johnson has pretty hair, though I’m surprised she wears it loose like that- doesn’t it get in her face and impede her vision? I like McKenna Lawrence’s dye-job, too; it’s almost perfect team colors. She got some extended run today that she didn’t get yesterday, and took full advantage of it by getting to the rack. I was surprised Leah Strain didn’t play more; I’d have thought she’d be a good match-up with Seton Hall’s tiny guards, but I guess their coach figured they’d cancel each other out too much for her size to be anything but a liability.
Poor Chloe Long. The calls in the paint were not kind to her, though the counterargument would be that she needs to learn the new location of the charge circle. There was one play where I thought she was set, outside the paint, and toppled over like a sapling in slow-motion... and then got called for the block. She’s very bendy, and used that to her advantage on the glass. Morgan Towells had opportunities early on, but got her shot blocked. You’d think I’d remember more about someone with a bright blonde mini-Afro, but at this point I’m having trouble remembering social niceties, so I apologize. Taylor Hawks was out there and playing hard, but I’m drawing a blank on anything else she did, and I am so sorry. Rayven Pearson was extremely physical, and took advantage of her size; when she had shorter defenders on her she shot over them, and when she had slighter defenders on her she pushed them around. She was able to muscle offensive rebounds at the basket and put them back up. I’d like her to be more careful with her feet, especially if she’s playing teams that I like, but I have to say I think I’d like her if she played for one of my teams.
Tasha Magruder did not make herself popular in South Orange in the early going. I think she was the one who caused Donnaizha to be hurt, and whether it was intentional or not it wasn’t very nice. She was extremely casual with her elbows, and I have a problem with that. When she got called for back to back fouls in the third quarter, it was immensely satisfying. I still don’t know the story behind “Coco” Phelion, though it might be on their website. At some point when I actually have time, I should probably look that up. I don’t remember her taking threes yesterday, but she was lining them up today, and they actually looked pretty good. There’s something I can’t put my finger on that I think I like about her, though it’s probably not her propensity to trip opponents. I get using your whole body, but there have to be limits somewhere, right?
Gretchen Morrison got off one of those corner threes she was hitting with such timing yesterday, but otherwise couldn’t buy a bucket. Her height was an advantage, though Coach Bozzella game-planned for that as well. Ki-Ki Patterson had a quiet offensive game, but was active on defense. There was a sequence where JSU’s coach was yelling at her to switch, but I’m not sure if it was because the other player was getting badly burned, or because she was out of position. I think it was the former, because I seem to recall a really nice offensive play by Seton Hall on the prior possession. Brianna Perry is tiny and fierce, and seemed to have the green light to drive whenever and wherever she wanted. Driving into a packed paint when you’re five-foot-tiny is not always a good idea, though there were a fair number of times it drew a foul.
We didn’t have to start the chants to get the deep bench into the game- Tony put everyone in at the end. Heck, Tyeisha Smith even got minutes in the first half, which is a thing I’ve never seen before and may never see again. (They were not good minutes. She’s not ready for primetime.) I feel like we could have gotten some more minutes out of Jayla Jones-Pack, though. Kimi Evans had a good defensive game, though I’d like to see her hit a free throw at some time in the near future. She’ll get there, I’m sure. Selena Philoxy got pushed around underneath by Pearson. You could see her trying to hold her ground and failing. Miserably. She tracked offensive rebounds well, though.
Quiet game for Deja Winters, though she got into it earlier than she did yesterday. There was a sequence where she scrambled for a steal and then promptly threw the ball to Jacksonville State. I think I said something along the lines of “Good steal Deja WHY DID YOU DO THAT?” all in one breath on that play. I love her motor. Coach seemed to be experimenting with Nicole Jimenez playing a little bit of two, but I don’t think he knows what he wants to do with her at this point. Some of those lineups were very strange. Kaela Hilaire stole the show at point guard, with a pass so pretty Imma link the video Read More...
Sunday, November 26, 2017
November 26th, 2017: Jacksonville State at Seton Hall (Seton Hall Thanksgiving Classic)
Saturday, November 25, 2017
November 25th, 2017: Jacksonville State at East Carolina (Seton Hall Thanksgiving Classic)
Just the Facts, Ma’am: In a fast-paced, defensive-minded game, Jacksonville State came away with a balanced 82-73 win over East Carolina. Taylor Hawks and Ki-Ki Patterson each had 13 points to pace the Gamecocks. Ariyana Williams notched 15 off the bench to lead the Pirates.
For names being the same, purple, passionate family, stomping the bleachers, doppelgangers, consistent inconsistency, and surprises, join your intrepid blogger after the jump.
Every Thanksgiving tournament with a hosting team must, perforce, have a truly neutral game. People are starting to stream out as Jacksonville State takes the court to stretch. Theoretically East Carolina should be here as well, but I don’t see them. I see their support staff and commentator types, but no basketball players.
I do like East Carolina’s purple. It is to my everlasting sorrow that I follow so very many teams and none of them wear my favorite color.
No, Quanny, you can’t play two. Jacksonville State has too many players on their roster to add you on anyway.
Remind me to bring the seat cushions for next game. My ass hurts so much. These bleachers are the world’s hardest wood.
East Carolina has arrived. I’m not entirely certain what they’re wearing, but it looks like a hoodie and a t-shirt had a baby and then neither of them actually wanted to claim it. I think one of the purple Pirates actually cut the hood off hers.
Oh, cool. Seton Hall has the name and number t-shirts/warm-up shirts, for even easier identification of your favorite Pirate.
Rider’s staying to scout. Looks like Seton Hall is relying on the coaches for that. They bailed at halftime.
Speaking of halftime, Jacksonville State is up 44-35 in what’s been an entertaining game. A lot of shots are falling short, but the defensive intensity is fun on both sides. The Gamecocks are getting key baskets from Ki-Ki Patterson, who leads the way with nine, and Brianna Perry. East Carolina hasn’t had anyone particularly stand out, but they seem to really need to go to the strong side to hit their lay-ups.
A small group of ECU fans has discovered the remarkable resonance of the bleachers at Walsh and is happily stomping on them at every appropriate occasion.
There’s a white tape X on one of the chairs on the Pirates’ bench and a smaller one on another. I’m not sure what the deal with that is. (Yes, at least in this game, ECU is using Seton Hall’s bench, making it doubly the Pirates’ bench.)
Well, I’m not going to say this was the greatest game ever played, but it was certainly fun to watch. Both teams got up and down the floor in a hurry, and both teams played high-pressure defense. Jacksonville State came up with the big plays more consistently, and that gave them the win.
(That being said, JSU’s coach needs to switch to decaf. I speak as an expert witness.)
Leah Strain has one of the stranger shots I’ve seen, and she shoots her free throw the exact same way she shoots her jump shot. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a free throw taken as a jumper before. She’s feisty on defense, though, and wouldn’t let up on the ballhandler. Taylor Hawks kind of sneaked up on the game, coming up big in the fourth quarter. Morgan Towells was one of two players on the court today who wore #1 and had a small-to-medium-sized Afro with a blonde tint; just to make life that much more confusing for your intrepid blogger, she was matched up with her counterpart, Alex Frazier, on both ends of the floor. She took a lot of hard hits- the Gamecocks were, as a team, extremely willing to take charges (they were somewhat less thrilled about getting called for blocks).
Chloe Long, in terms of build, reminds me a little of DeWanna Bonner, in the sense that it’s hard to believe a human can be that skinny and still be a top-tier athlete. She’s not Bonner, not by a long shot, but her length at guard gives the Gamecocks options- given how ECU was playing, she saw a lot of minutes at forward. Rayven Pearson is a whole lot of woman. She’s a very solid option down low on both ends of the floor, and East Carolina didn’t really have anyone who could match up with her; their post players were more the long, lanky type that could keep up with the fast-break offense, and the one bulky player in their frontcourt was a good bit shorter. Her ability to get to the basket and to clear the offensive glass is going to be a problem for anyone who doesn’t have a bruiser to counter her.
Gretchen Morrison’s foul trouble on defense kept her out of the game for long stretches, but JSU’s coach was able to insert her at opportune times when the Gamecocks had the ball, and she answered with timely corner threes. She and Strain sort of platooned. Ki-Ki Patterson got off to a strong start to get the Gamecocks rolling, and had a knack for quieting East Carolina. She was far better penetrating the paint than she was from beyond the arc. Brianna Perry had a nice little game- quick hands on defense and big shots on offense. I feel like I’m repeating myself a lot, but Jacksonville State was very balanced, and everyone really stepped up who played substantial minutes.
I’m not entirely sure how or why the player named on Jacksonville State’s roster as Tyler Phelion spent the day being called Coco, but, hey, I spent four years watching Centhya Hart for St. John’s, so I really can’t argue with a college kid choosing to go by the nickname Coco. She started off on fire, hitting their first two baskets, and did a good job of getting to the line. There’s something about her that suggested that if her team needed someone to step up and have a big game, she could be that someone. Tasha Magruder made defensive plays in the second half, deflecting passes and grabbing rebounds.
The Ohio Valley might be very interesting this year, if a team that hasn’t traditionally been one of the ones we hear about all the time is building something like this. I like their balance, I like their heart, and I like that they have a post player like Pearson that they can go to in order to disrupt the opponent. I’m trying to imagine an eeny-weeny guard like the ones UT-Martin used to have running headlong into Rayven Pearson. It doesn’t end well for the imaginary guard.
Necole Hope was the one who had the enthusiastic fans in the bleachers behind the Pirates’ bench (at least, I assume that was why one of them was allowed down on the court after she took a hard hit and hit her head- don’t worry, she shook it off, went back into the game, and made some big defensive plays). She’s got to be more careful with her fouls, but I like her defense. Ariyana Williams hit a couple of threes in the fourth to keep the game close, and was the recipient of many fouls (and thus many free throws). Lashonda Monk was busy on defense, which got her into foul trouble.
Tania Pierre-Emile saw a little time in the first half and more in the second, and set the nice screen that opened up Williams for her first three. I’m not sure if they normally use her more, or if there are reasons she wasn’t playing as much, but I think she could be good for them, to facilitate their shooters. Mickayla Sanders was really the only one out there with bulk, but given ECU’s style, that wasn’t terribly helpful. Destiny Campbell and Desiree Corbin each saw a few spot minutes that were mostly unremarkable, except when Corbin committed an incredibly stupid foul after a shot by Phelion. She got pulled shortly after that for a Teaching Moment.
Thais Oliveira would be so much better if she could do anything with her left hand. In the first half, she kept going to the right side, even if it meant crossing the basket through the defense. In the second half, she at least realized she had to try to shoot from the left side, whereupon we discovered why she doesn’t do that. It was bad. I sort of think I like her midrange pull-up, but I don’t know how I feel about centers having midrange pull-ups. She helps them keep the game moving, which helps. Dominique Claytor brings size as a guard, though ECU claims to run a four-guard set. She’s the closest thing they have to another forward, I guess. She had a nifty steal in the third quarter, and brought toughness to the floor.
Justice Gee has a pretty bad-ass name. She fueled the speed of the Pirates’ attack- they pressed, and they ran, and they kept the game very high-octane. It did not help the tattered remnants of my exhausted sanity that she matched up with her fellow #0, Taylor Hawks, whenever Hawks was on the floor. Too many players. Not enough nameplates. Please, coaches, put names on your jerseys. Alex Frazier played at full speed ahead at all times. It bit her in the ass a couple of times when she got called for really blatant charges- in case you were ever wondering why they call it a player control foul in college, you can pull up footage of her third and fourth fouls. I’m pretty sure at least one of them would qualify. Raven Johnson had a nice fast break play in the second quarter, with the steal and the lay-up, but otherwise I remember nothing about her.
East Carolina is certainly scrappy, and that’s the kind of team that at least manages to inexplicably cover against UConn, even if they can’t quite beat them. That’s the standard you’re going to be held to in the AAC if you haven’t proven you can do anything else, sorry to say.
Dear officials: can we please call fewer hand-checks and more hands to the face? Before someone gets seriously hurt? At least in this one they did eventually start calling much of the contact after two straight possessions where an East Carolina player smacked the back of her head on the floor. (Oliveira hit her head right before Hope hit hers.)
It was sort of fun to get distracted by spotting Seton Hall players in street clothes as they wandered in and out of the scene. The coaches tended to stay put more.
I’m intrigued by both of these teams, and I’m looking forward to their contrast of styles with their appropriate opponents. Rider’s physicality will probably not be welcomed, appreciated, or tolerated by East Carolina.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
December 16th, 2012: St. Mary's at Tennessee Tech
Just the Facts, Ma'am: St. Mary's went up by as much as 24 in the first half and held on to beat Tennessee Tech 73-58. Jackie Nared led St. Mary's with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Danielle Mauldin added 10 of her 15 in the second half. Tennessee Tech cut the lead to 1 in the second half, but couldn't get over the hump, even behind 22 points from Jala Harris and 17 second-half points from Diamond Henderson.
For impressive freshmen, grit, loooooong shots, better fashion choices, and AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE OI OI OI, join your intrepid and tardy blogger after the jump.
Good morning once more from beautiful Carnesecca Arena! I’m taking in warmups with about twenty of my closest friends (plus my husband), as we get ready for the consolation game between Tennessee Tech and St. Mary’s. Blowing my theory out of the water, Tennessee Tech is wearing their home white and designated as the home team, while St. Mary’s is in a much more flattering road red with very old fashioned shirts.
I like a player who does a little extra shooting, and Jackie Nared is out on the floor alone for St. Mary’s, getting in a few lay-ups and shots. It was only a minute, but sometimes that means a lot. Now it’s just a half dozen Tennessee Tech fans, a handful of St. Mary’s fans, some arena staff, our ESPN3 posse, and the two of us.
At halftime, St. Mary’s is up 37-23, and we’re being treated to an excellent biddy game. Tennessee Tech went missing for a while, down as much as 24 and unable to hit pretty much anything. Then Jala Harris happened. There’s a New York Life logo on the St. John’s court, between the coach’s box and the halfcourt line. She hit a three from that logo. I was wondering when they would give her the ball. Then they did. Then they pulled closer. Maybe you should give Jala Harris the ball more. St. Mary’s had their chances to pull it out further, but they’ve missed a lot of shots close inside. Both teams are defending the offensive boards well, better than the defensive boards.
That turned out to be a better game than I was expecting in the second half. Tennessee Tech cut it to 1 with the ball, but they couldn’t help but shoot themselves in the foot over and over again, and it got away from them in the last six or so minutes. St. Mary’s and Kate Gaze made the big plays when they needed them.
Kate Gaze hitting back-to-back threes when the Golden Eagles were threatening broke Tennessee Tech’s collective back. Seriously, who leaves an Aussie open beyond the arc? Lauren Nicholson did not endear herself to me when she jabbed Jala Harris in the, er, chest with an elbow. I was happy for Amanda Arter that she got to score a basket after the defensive battles she had to cope with yesterday. The rest of the bench really didn’t do much.
Danielle Mauldin came alive in the second half. Someone must have yelled at her at halftime, because she was mixing it up on the boards more and getting points off offensive rebounds. Carli Rosenthal showed a bit of wear in this one- she was unpleasantly sweaty at a couple of points, and I’m surprised that Tennessee Tech didn’t go at her more when she was so obviously exhausted. She bodied up early and often on Tennessee Tech, which I think threw them out of their game plan. Jackie Nared seemed more focused on pulling down boards and trying to hit her teammates with quick, sharp passes. She really does seem to play the game at a different speed than most of her teammates. Morgan Hatten didn’t get a lot of good shots, but she seemed to make a lot of smart plays that you would expect out of a senior. Little things on defense and on loose balls that don’t go into the box score. I would like to see a +/- for both Hatten and Mia Greco, because either Greco is having a really bad tournament or she’s a defensive specialist.
Quira Demery got into this game, unlike yesterday, but didn’t impress me- three first-half fouls and a noticeable fumble will do that to a reserve. Tia Nicholson’s time was only at the end of the game, because Mariah Dean had an issue with her ankle brace and had to come out of the game to get it fixed, and since it was 15 points with less than two minutes to go, it wasn’t worth bringing her back in. Both Kellie and Kylie Cook came off the bench in this one, and neither of them impressed me. Candace Parson should have known better than to argue that travel. If I can see your feet shift from section 2, it’s a travel. Mariah Dean continues to impress me. She’s got a lot of potential- she makes a lot of freshman mistakes and has to have those mistakes and tendencies sandpapered off of her, but she’s got good instincts. By senior year, she’ll be All-OVC if she sticks around.
I like Lashay Davis on defense, playing the passing lanes and getting loose balls. I don’t like her shooting and shooting a lot. Diamond Henderson was MIA for most of the first half, her shots refusing to fall. She had 16 of her 18 points in the second half as the drives down the lane started to roll the other way and the three-ball started working for her. Molly Heady was nice on the boards- right at the start of the game, she got two offensive rebounds in a sea of three red jerseys. There’s something I like about her. It may just be her stubbornness, and maybe it was just this game, but I like her. T’Keyah Williams played sparingly (I suspect Coach Davis may share my opinion of Dean). Jala Harris wasn’t getting a lot of touches in the first half, and then she did things. She did lots of things. They went away from her more as Henderson got hot, and maybe that was a bad plan, but she was also in foul trouble in the second half. She didn’t make some smart decisions on defense.
The officials in this game weren’t necessarily the best refs I’ve ever seen, but the communication among the crew in making sure that they got the calls right was fantastic. They weren’t afraid to consult with each other or to change their calls. There’s a block/charge I remember with Jala Harris going into Danielle Mauldin; it was originally called a charge that would have been Harris’s third foul at a very bad juncture, then was reversed to a block when the refs noticed that Mauldin was in the circle. We like to think we helped point that out from where we were sitting, but maybe the refs were just on the ball. You know the place is quiet when the players start to get weirded out by you yelling at the refs.
I thought Jim Davis was going to get himself thrown out. I also thought Paul Thomas might get himself thrown out. Those are two very passionate coaches.
After Tennessee Tech made that huge run, I was reminded how much I want to see the match-up between them and UT-Martin. Even with the performance today, I’m not as sold on St. Mary’s.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
December 15th, 2012: Tennessee Tech at St. John's
Just the Facts, Ma'am: Shenneika Smith had 15 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists to lead St. John's over Tennessee Tech 58-46. Amber Thompson added 12 points off the bench for the Red Storm. Molly Heady led the Golden Eagles with 12 points.
For offensive rebounding, Nutmeg moments, purpleyness, making up words, vivid hallucinations, and emotional rollercoasters, join your intrepid and perhaps delusional blogger after the jump.
Good morning and afternoon, everyone! I'm coming to you on slight tape delay from beautiful Carnesecca Arena, and since this is two days of double-headers, you're going to be hearing from me a lot. Since I'm borrowing a computer that is the laptop equivalent of Debbie Black, I sneaked it into the arena under my clipboard, so I'm writing up my usual pre-game.
It's sort of discomfiting, or perhaps just strange, to have a team praying on a Catholic school's court and not have it be the home team. Tennessee Tech, aren't you a public school? But I do like the Golden Eagles' purple, and the purple that their supporters are wearing behind the road bench. Some St. Mary's fans have also joined us, despite the early hour.
Mrs. Claus and the elf are here with the band. I haven't seen Santa, but this is a busy time of year for him, so I understand if he can't make it out.
Poor Cedrica Gibson. Still in street clothes. Not how I think she imagined her freshman year.
Looking forward to seeing how Jala Harris fares in her second Chartwell's; she played for UAB when they came here. I remember her being a bit of a wild thang, but liking her nonetheless.
Santa did put in an appearance, and so did Amber Thompson, and so did the cutters of Tennessee Tech. It's 29-24 St. John's at half. Amber didn't get the start, but she's got 10 points and a couple of blocks. Now, if she could just hit free throws. Tennessee Tech has a very fast-moving offense that we haven't been able to rattle as much as I'd like.
To be honest, right now, my biggest concern is that my purse has been missing since before the game, so I've been venting my frustrations during gameplay and sobbing at other times. Stupid hormones. Like I needed any more proof this week that humans are scum. (False alarm. It turned out to be at home. How I managed to hallucinate wrapping the strap around it and putting it in a bag I haven't used in years on top of a computer that isn't mine, I don't know. Hopefully my ability to have detailed delusions won't affect your opinion of my game notes.)
That was a closer game than I was expecting it to be. St. John's turned it up very late in the game, just enough to make it look more like what happens when a Big East team runs into an Ohio Valley team, even a good Ohio Valley team. Both teams were on the ball when it came to picking off errant passes.
Tennessee Tech got good minutes out of Mariah Dean in the post. She went at it in the paint with Amber. I don't know how her shooting is, but I'd be giving her the ball more if she gets in position in the paint as well on offense as she does on defense. Lashay Davis did an impressive job playing the passing lanes- she snagged two steals that might better be termed interceptions in the open court. Katherine Barker was first in off the bench, but left no real impression on me. Pretty much the same story for the rest of the Golden Eagles who came off the bench.
Diamond Henderson shredded the Red Storm defense a couple of times with her crossover. Pretty impressive, since her defender on those plays was the taller and long-limbed Shenneika Smith. I was very impressed with her. I still like Jala Harris and her ability to drive the lane- Tennessee Tech, and the Ohio Valley, are perfect fits for her, especially with the hot shooters of Tennessee-Martin out there. Someone needs to put those games on TV. T'Keyah Williams demonstrated a tendency to throw elbows which displeased me greatly. Molly Heady started the game off hot, and I think they wanted to do more with her, but a five-nine player trying to work the post against a Big East team, even one as short as we are, is not a good plan. I think Kellie Cook was trying to take the long shot, but it might have been Kylie Cook.
They were pesky, those Golden Eagles, and they read plays well. We were just a little bit better than them at the end.
Ashley Perez and Sandra Udobi both played very briefly off the bench, raising and then dashing my hopes that Coach T was going to give them some actual time. Keylantra Langley came off the bench first, bringing her defense and a three-point shot. Odd footwork, though. Amber Thompson finally broke through the way I've been expecting her to all season. I'd like to see her work on her free throw shooting, though that's a long-running problem with St. John's posts. But she went in hard in the paint and had her wonderful shot-blocking going. I love to see her kick butt like that, and I'd like to see her kick even more butt going forward this season.
Mary Nwachukwu was very disappointing today. She had one rebound and was lucky to get that. Too much stuff was going off her hands. Aliyyah Handford is developing very nicely- she had what might have been her breakout game in this one, taking advantage of Tennessee Tech's defensive breakdowns and working the backdoor lane very well. She and Briana Brown also did a lot of work on the offensive boards. Briana never saw a loose ball she wasn't going to dive on the floor and try to tie up. She's grown so much this year- not in height, because that would be awesome- but in maturity and playing to her strengths. Shenneika Smith did not have a great offensive game, missing shots that she should have been putting into the basket, and that one moment that even she knew was stupid when the ball went right between her legs on a pass. But the one thing about Shenneika is that if she's not playing on one end of the floor, she's making things happen on the other end of the floor. Her hands were very active, both high and low. Nadirah McKenith takes a lot of contact for very little reward. She had a rough time from the field, but there's still no point guard in the NCAA I'd rather have on my team than Nadirah. Yeah, that includes Sims; yeah, that includes Diggins; yeah, that includes Goodrich; yeah, that includes Hill.
Have I mentioned that Nadirah took a lot of contact today? And somehow managed to get called for a foul when she got elbowed to the floor? Other than that, the refereeing wasn't too bad. We did give everyone the fair warning that any game with Bonita Spence should receive: watch your footwork, travels will be called. In this game it was more about the double-dribbles; three were called.
I don't like Christmas music, but the St. John's band doing "Carol of the Bells" was awesome. I do miss the flutist, though.
Little things that also pleased me: Keylantra is really stepping up as a leader on the sidelines, even with players who are older than her (yes, Love, Mary, I saw that little conversation during the moment of silence for Newtown that Key hushed you up on).
The big test is tomorrow. I'm not sure I'm looking forward to it.