December 8th, 2019: Seton Hall at Iona

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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November 17th: Seton Hall at Saint Joseph's (at Fordham)

Just the Facts, Ma'am: In a low-scoring affair, Seton Hall prevailed over Saint Joseph's, 55-39. Desiree Elmore had 16 points and seven rebounds to lead the Pirates. No Hawk cracked double figures in scoring, with Claire Melia's seven leading the way.

For unaccustomed seating arrangements, terrible shooting, some height issues, and details lost to the fo of time, join your intrepid blogger after the jump.


Good afternoon, fellow travelers! We come to you from an unaccustomed spot at Rose Hill Gymnasium, as Seton Hall plays St. Joseph's in an A-10/Big East double-header. Since St. Joe's is an A-10 team, they have been extended the courtesy of the home bench, which means we, as Seton Hall fans, are behind the road bench. It's weird. I don't think I like it.

I do, however, want that Mad Magazine jacket one of the Fordham staffers is rocking. I want it very much.

Seton Hall is short-handed today; in addition to the players already injured, Shadeen Samuels tweaked her hamstring in their last game, and is in sweats. This is another thing I'm not thrilled with.

15-10 SHU end Q1, but it should be more. We're missing shots we should be hitting.

37-22 SHU at halftime, thanks to a deep three from Alexis Lewis at the buzzer and St. Joe's forgetting how time works. They went into their offense way too early with 27 seconds left in the half, ceding last shot to Seton Hall. Now, I'm not exactly thrilled with the way SHU ran that possession either- I thought Lauren Park-Lane ran too much time off the clock and Lexi was forced to take that shot too deep, but in this case, it worked.

Fordham is not running stats for this game, so I must rely on my trusty clipboard. It tells me that Lauren Park-Lane is leading the pirates with 10 points, while Claire Melia's six off the bench are a team high for the Hawks.

St. Joe's has size, but not finesse. They're not finishing at the rim, and they don't seem to have outside shooting to complement their bigs.

Yes, the Hawk traveled. Yes, she's flapping her wings. Yes, I know she's female because it was in their game notes. (Said game notes also felt the need to clarify that it's Saint Joseph's or St. Joe's, but you can't abbreviate only one part. I'm now tempted to refer to them as St. Joseph's the entire time, because I'm that kind of petty.)

You know a ref has done a lot of MAAC games when Alexis Lewis commits a foul and the signal goes up as 20. (Lexi wears 10 at SHU, but she wore 20 at Iona.)

Starting lineup shenanigans: so we see the lineup tweeted out as Barbara Johnson, Lauren Park-Lane, Mya Jackson, Alexis Lewis, and Whitney Howell. Everything goes as expected until the last player, at which point Barb gets off the bench and the PA guy announces Desiree Elmore. There is a small discussion among Coach Bozzella and the officials, after which Barb is called back to the bench and Des takes the floor. Since Barb proceeded to come in for Whit about a minute in, it became moot.

45-33 SHU end Q3. The refs seem to think we missed hearing from them.

It's final here at Rose Hill, 55-39 Seton Hall, in a game that probably featured terrible shooting percentages. There were certainly lots of rebound opportunities.

I see why Cindy Griffin is happy with her young posts. They still need some work, especially Gabby Smalls, whose shooting form is... uh... not good, and I say this as someone who loves her some post players with dubious shooting mechanics. She had success with spins and lay-ups, and she thinks she has a hook shot, but her jumper is not there right now. Claire Melia got off to a strong start for the Hawks, which I think is why she started the second half. She's got good touch inside and out and pretty good range and power. She's got to be better with her footwork, but as a freshman, she's starting off with a good toolbox. Katie Mayock started the game and moved to the bench for the second half. She's got size, and she sets good screens, but her teammates need to be better at using them.

On the other hand, their guards are a work in progress. Devyne Newman got run in both halves, second more than the first, I think. She and Lauren Ross did not impress terribly much.

I liked Mary Sheehan's hustle- she notched a couple of blocks and some good loose ball recoveries. Nailah Delinois used her bulk to push defenders around and get into the paint. Katie Jekot drove the lane and couldn't hit. Lula Roig got into foul trouble which took her out of rhythm and never allowed her to get started. I think that helped us get on top of them early and stay on top. There was a definite lack of discipline with St. Joe's that got them rung up for charges on a regular basis, usually at the most inconvenient times.

I love Selena Philoxy dearly, but one of these days you're going to find me in a corner with concussion symptoms and heavy bruising on my forehead, and this will be because I have facepalmed at her too hard. I love her energy. I love her hustle. I love when she's able to safely bring the ball in to her teammates. But she commits a ridiculous number of fouls and half the time when she grabs the ball on the glass she ends up tipping it out of bounds instead. Jasmine Smith extended the offense, but unsuccessfully. Victoria Keenan will get her basket someday. Alexia Allesch is tall. I think I'd like to see more of Kailah Harris to see if she can produce.

Come to think of it, I might just have rolled with Whitney Howell as a starter and seen what she could do against the Hawks' posts. In the worst case scenario, you'd bench her and proceed with the plan Seton Hall eventually went with. She managed a couple of rebounds in her brief minutes. Barbara Johnson got physical and got tough. She set up Desiree Elmore on a play beautifully. Des had herself a day. She plays so much longer than her height. I don't know if it's vertical or long arms or what, but she gets way more rebounds than it seems she should.

I love Alexis Lewis, but sometimes I forget just how streaky she can be, and how determined she is to live by the adage that "you miss 100% of the shots you don't take". When she's on, she's a one-woman wrecking crew, but when she's off, she just keeps on going. She was off in this one, and it was painful to watch. Mya Jackson had a nifty steal that she turned into a fast break lay-up. Lauren Park-Lane's passing vision continues to amaze me for her age. I know she's from Delaware, but if you told me she was kin to either Didi or Daisha Simmons, I would absolutely believe it. I know those are names one does not bandy about lightly at Seton Hall.

This was an offensively challenged game, to say the least, perhaps even in honor of our hosts. It's hard to find a lot to say about it, especially at this point. Our execution needs to be better, but at least our defense did enough to keep St. Joe's from scoring. We also need reliable size, because Alexis Lewis, Center At Not Particularly Large, does not spark joy. Yes, I know Shadeen Samuels was out, and that does terrible things to our post play, but we still need some height.

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November 9th, 2019: Fairfield at Seton Hall

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Seton Hall withstood a midgame run from Fairfield and reestablished control in the second half to run away with a 74-44 win. Desiree Elmore led the Pirates with 18 points and 14 rebounds, one of five Seton Hall players to score in double figures. Katie Armstrong and Rachel Hakes each had nine points to lead the Stags.

For all the trains, taking small ball to extremes, saying hello to old friends, fighting for the blue and white, and the hope of the future, join your intrepid and restless blogger after the jump.


Good morning! Okay, I'm lying, it's never a good morning when I have to set the alarm on a weekend. Okay, I'm also lying; it's always a good morning when there's basketball, even when it takes three hours to get out to Seton Hall for a morning tip. I am not a morning person. I'm not sure how the Hall is managing, although we suspect highly caffeinated drinks are involved somehow.

We come to you starting at the end of the first quarter, where Seton Hall leads Fairfield 24-9. Desiree Elmore has gotten off to a hot stat for the Pirates, with buckets and good passing. Katie Armstrong for the Stags seems to like the glass.

Fairfield seems to have traveled a decent amount of family.

Beautiful anthem to start the game.

(Part of) why Selena Philoxy is my favorite Pirate: her energy and enthusiasm in the pregame. Which is to say, she has better dance moves than some of the Saphs.

The importance of passing on traditions to the next generation: watching one of the assistants teach Mya Jackson the choreography to “Pirates of the Caribbean”.

33-21 Seton Hall at halftime, so if you're doing the math at home, that means Fairfield won the second quarter. I can't imagine Coach Bozzella is happy with this. This game may well be decided by the reserves; Shadeen Samuels has three fouls for the Hall and both Lou Lopez-Senechal and Katie Armstrong have three fouls for the Stags. (The third came on an offensive foul where she acted very indignant about the audacity of the officials for calling her hitting Shadeen in the face. DO NOT HIT SHADEEN IN THE FACE.)

There was a teddy bear toss at halftime. It was exactly as cute as you imagined it. Kiabear has found a new home.

We're good at getting out of trouble- finding shots when the dribble has been picked up, scrambling for loose balls, recovering errant passes. The problem is that we're awfully good at getting into trouble in the first place. Fairfield is starting to exploit that, and using Molly Bauer's height to take advantage of our lack thereof. In that regard, the big guns' foul trouble might be a blessing in disguise for the Stags.

(Wait, shouldn't they be the Does? Because aren't Stags male? If you're going to use gendered names, go all the way.)

I forgot just how hard these bleachers are. Ow.

57-37 SHU at the end of the third quarter, which is somewhat of a relief. The quarter break shooting contest is actually pretty neat- instead of dress-and-dribble, this time it was “stand behind the prize and win it if you hit the shot”. So you still get the gear but you get to choose and have more chances.

I don't understand why we're throwing passes over Lauren Park-Lane's head. It's not like we're particularly used to having tall guards. For some reason- I can't quite put my finger on it- Tony has a thing for small guards.

Fairfield is not a particularly talented team, from what I saw of this game. But they're well coached and know how to exploit weaknesses. Team comes at them with small posts? Run screens with your big combo forwards to create brutal mismatches and use your taller reserves. Clog the paint to take away drives. That kind of thing.

Andrea Hernangomez has rather more confidence in her shot than I would in her shoes, based on today's game. I thought she might have done better getting closer to the basket than she did cranking threes. Mackenzie Martin saw time in the fourth quarter- her teammates were very excited when she got a layup near the end of the game. I wasn't sure why her face was so flushed, but it was startling, to say the least. Eden Nibbelink got the short end of the stick on at least one call, where it looked like she took a hit to the face and ended up having the foul called on her. She seemed inoffensive out there.

Molly Bauer was a game-changer, and I suspect that's why she started the second half in place of Callie Cavanaugh. She took a couple of possessions to find her footing, but once she did, she hit the glass and freed up Fairfield's offense. I know it doesn't show up in the stat sheet, but she had a major impact on the game when Fairfield made their run. Ciara Bracken's shot releases pretty quickly, but I'm not sure about her range. It seemed like she was taking shots she couldn't hit.

Callie Cavanaugh showed a propensity for taking perimeter shots and admiring them. They were not worth the admiration. She was more successful when she got closer to the basket, and when she was not committing push-off fouls against smaller defenders. (Seriously, guys. How did Lauren end up stuck on her?) She was the player who came off the bench in the second half when Bauer moved into the starting lineup. Katie Armstrong's fondness for the glass extended throughout the game and throughout her entire shooting range- she seemed to be trying to use it both on her drives and her jumpers. I did not like her tendency to extend the forearm, nor did I appreciate her protestations of innocence when the refs caught her. For a senior, she didn't demonstrate a good ability to play through foul trouble. Lou Lopez-Senechal got into foul trouble very early on, and I think it threw her off her rhythm. She never seemed to get going. She did face some defensive pressure, but I don't think that was as much of a factor.

Around the second elbow Rachel Hakes threw, I decided I didn't like her. Her driving ability is good, and she had good hands on defense, but either she's careless or she's dirty, and I don't have to like either of those things. Sam Kramer took threes and missed threes. She had some very nice steals, though. She played hard on the ball.

I don't think this is the best team Fairfield's ever had, but I'd say they'll beat at least two teams they have no right on paper to beat, just from execution and game-planning. The runs in the second and third quarter demonstrated that, when the Stags had the deficit down to single digits.

Everyone wearing blue in the building wanted Victoria Keenan to hit that three near the end of the game, and it was a good look. Alexia Allesch, to my surprise, came up with a resounding block in her brief time at the end of the game. If she's decided to use her height this year, I'm intrigued. (My impression of her from the scouting report was that she was one of those tall players who likes to park on the perimeter. They're more common these days, and I know it's an important change in the game, but like many things in this life, that doesn't mean I have to like it.) Kailah Harris's goggles are at least interesting, even if she doesn't seem to be ready for rotation minutes just yet.

Selena Philoxy brings a lot of energy to the floor. I know that's a cliché, but Selena has done the impossible and made Tony Bozzella no longer the most animated person on his own team. When that kind of energy is successful, she's grabbing or causing rebounds for her team and making defensive stops. When it isn't successful, she racks up fouls like they were on sale and ends up taking the ball out of bounds. She's frenetic, and sometimes she's frustrating, but she's still my current fave. Mya Jackson found her shooting touch in the second half, swishing threes with the greatest of ease. Freshman fouls were a theme in this game, and she was guilty of a couple of those. She'll learn, though. I think. Jasmine Smith, on the other hand, is a junior college transfer from a notable program. I expect her not to be committing blatant touch fouls. It seemed like she got going more in the second half too, but I'm not sure if that was a function of minute allocation, Fairfield's defense starting to suffer, or her making adjustments. More study will be required.

I have very much missed cheering Alexis Lewis's three-point shots and tough rebounding. I didn't miss watching her line up at the four against much more physical players. I certainly think having her line up at five on defense is an even terribler idea. It is, in fact, such a terrible idea that it breaks the laws of grammar. We'll get into the particulars of the undersized lineup later. Shadeen Samuels picked up three fouls in the first half, which was sort of a blessing because it reduced her minute load. (I'm still not sure about that charge.) Her shots were not going down in this game, and I don't know if it was a problem with her mechanics or Fairfield's defense or just dumb luck. Sometimes the ball be that way. Desiree Elmore started the game on fire and kept it up pretty much throughout. Her midrange game was a thing of beauty, and she brought a combination of force and finesse to the three that Fairfield really couldn't counter unless they were just throwing bodies at her.

I was not enthused with Barbara Johnson's shot selection, or the quantity thereof. It seemed like she was taking a lot of stupid threes, but the box score is telling me otherwise. I'm not sure what to make of that. Maybe she just had a bad game. I think I need to see more of her to get a better handle on who she is as a player. I love how Lauren Park-Lane handles herself on the floor. There are certain names you don't bandy about lightly as comparisons at Seton Hall, and she definitely has to be more of a scoring threat before we can really have this conversation, but yes, I'm going to say it: she does remind me of Didi Simmons. For a more down-to-earth but probably also more contentious comparison, she also reminds me of Aaliyah Lewis from St. John's. She doesn't quite have the full air of command yet, but she's also a freshman, and she's most of the way there. I need her to not commit stupid fouls on three-point shots that have already been released, and I'm going to need her shooting to be better. Those are things that can be fixed, and fortuitously, Didi herself is on our bench these days. If anyone can unlock that sort of potential in Lauren, it would be her.

So, the undersized lineup. We have height. It's just on the bench for various and sundry reasons. Femi Funeus is still recovering from her season-ending injury last year and was in sweats. Whitney Howell was inconsistent as all getout last year and was a DNP-CD in this game. Kailah Harris saw only garbage time and needs time to adjust to the college game. Selena Philoxy is way too foul-prone to be a starter. So we end up running a front line of 5-10/5-10/6-0, and anyone with size is going to take advantage of that. I don't have an issue with Shadeen taking the opening tip. I do have an issue with either her or Lexi guarding the other team's center. If we're gambling on Femi being ready to hit the ground running, that's a heck of a gamble. I'd rather see improvement come from our other posts. The bigs need to get their act together, or Coach Bozzella needs to trust them to play through their mistakes in non-conference games against lower-level opponents. If it means only beating Fairfield by 20 instead of 30, so be it.

Officiating was mostly inoffensive. They called most of the elbows and only really inserted themselves into the action in the third quarter with a flurry of touch fouls and the occasional strict travel. I thought we got away with some stuff; I thought Fairfield got away with slightly less stuff.

I don't know if Whitney Howell grabbed the "Morning Madness" shirt by accident or as commentary on the 11AM tip time, but I feel you, Whit. I feel you. So do the circles under my eyes.

It sounded like cheer was working in some new chants. I don't like them. If you want the crowd to get involved, you have to keep them simple and easy to follow. (On the other hand, don't be Fordham and just not bother.)

There are a couple of pieces missing to this Pirate puzzle. We'll have to see how it all comes together as the season progresses.

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February 17th, 2019: Marquette at Seton Hall

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Marquette took advantage of a short-handed Seton Hall squad on Senior Day to get back on track with a resounding 109-63 win. Natisha Hiedeman exploded for 34 points to lead the Golden Eagles, while Danielle King added 20 points and 12 assists. Desiree Elmore had 21 points and eight rebounds to lead the Hall.

For smol seniors, angry seniors, bringing a sophomore to a senior fight, celebrating seniors, and generally lots of things involving seniors, join your intrepid and unprepared blogger after the jump.

Someday I will get a game's worth of notes finished before having to move on to the next one, but today is not that day, beause today is Senior Day at Seton Hall and I have been ambushed by Feels Right To The Heart.

There are a lot of things I like about Tony Bozzella, but one of the best is the tradition he carried over from Iona (and possibly points prior, but my acquaintance with Tony started in New Rochelle) of honoring all the seniors on Senior Day. Not just players, not just managers. Everyone. So before the acknowledgement of the senior managers and the four senior Pirates, there were red roses for the six Marquette seniors, and during a timeout there were roses for the seniors in cheer, dance, and band. That is a classy touch that not enough places do, in my not so humble opinion.

At some point in the near future there will be an outpouring of feelings about Tori and Kaity and Inja and Coley, but they deserve more space than this. But I want to talk about Marquette's seniors, too, because in this amazing class I see parallels to the program-defining classes at St. John's and Seton Hall. What Allazia Blockton, Sandra Dahling, Erika Davenport, Natisha Hiedeman, Danielle King, and Amani Wilborn have done at Marquette to build that program is nothing short of astonishing, and it's been a pleasure and a privilege to watch them do so. The Big East is better when everyone is better, and while I of course want to see my Johnnies and my Pirates paste them whenever possible, I also want to see the rise of programs that care about women's basketball, that turn the corner from "well, we have to" to "yes, we want to". Build on this, Marquette. Take this opportunity with both hands and don't let it fall apart. Xavier did that. Xavier had an Elite Eight team once upon a time, and now they're the conference doormat. Don't do that.

So, yeah, it's 49-26 Marquette at halftime, and Natisha Hiedeman has expressed her opinion of both her performance against St. John's and her resultant benching with 14 points and some defensive picks that are pretty impressive for a non-football school. Seton Hall is attempting two offenses, the "force it to Shadeen" offense (which is not nearly as effective when the role of Shadeen Samuels is being played by Desiree Elmore for this performance) and the "AAAAHHH they're all taller than we are, better chuck threes!" offense, and y'all know my feelings on living by the three.

I've never had someone check my tickets at Seton Hall; as far as I know it's general admission? Worked out okay, since our season tickets do happen to be in our preferred section by the band. All the cool kids hang out with the band, don't you know?

Welp. That was a thing that happened. I can't say I'm terribly surprised, since Shadeen was out injured and Marquette had something to prove, but it felt like it was being rubbed in by the fourth quarter. I get it. Marquette is really good and we brought underclassmen to a senior fight. But at some point, you can stop letting the player with all the points jack threes. Your intrepid blogger is currently ensconced in the Chancellor's Suite in the basement of one of the on-campus buildings, which means I have no data connection, which means I am an intrepid and absolutely cut-off-from-the-universe blogger because Seton Hall is the one place I don't have the wi-fi password. I'm pretty sure Kena Richardson's family just joined our table, which, hi Kena! We were at the draft that year! Yep. And we now share the bond of being mildly embarrassed by Tony shouting us out unexpectedly in a speech.

Sandra Dahling got off the bench with about five minutes left in the game, and the best shot she had spun out of the basket; you could see how deflated Marquette's bench was when it fell out of the basket. I didn't realize she was a point guard, for some reason. Chloe Marotta got good looks in the basket in the fourth quarter, especially off of offensive rebounds. She's raw, and she has to work on her hands and feet, but she's promising as a freshman. Lauren Van Kleunen still looks like she's trying to figure out what she should be doing on the floor. She's tall, but she doesn't seem to have found a position, and that's in the tweener sense, not in the versatility sense.

I actually really liked what I saw out of Altia Anderson defensively. She needs a lot of work on her offense- she's all knees and elbows and angles- but she knows how to get her hands up and make trouble in the paint, and with all the offensive firepower Marquette has this year, maybe that's all they needed from her. She's going to need to develop more next year for them, though. Allazia Blockton still doesn't look right. She got off some shots in the fourth quarter, but overall she doesn't look right. Her confidence is missing. Her explosiveness is missing. This is a shadow of the Allazia Blockton who terrorized the Big East for three years.

Natisha Hiedeman did not start the game, presumably in response to getting schooled by the STJ defense, and proceeded to torch the everloving hell out of Seton Hall's tiny guards. She got her starting spot back for the second half and continued on her torrid pace. I swear, she was giving us trouble not just because of her height, but because of her hair. We're so short I think we were having trouble seeing over the 'fro. She seemed determined to prove her mastery over every sport in this game- she obviously proved how good she was at basketball, but she also had some mean interceptions (and Marquette doesn't even sponsor football!), set a ball out of bounds, and had two straight kicked balls. We get it, Natisha, you're good at sportsball.

So we've established that Erika Davenport is really good in the paint, right? She wasn't hitting as many of the putbacks as she did on Friday, but she was still killing us on the glass. She works around size really well, which neutralized Selena Philoxy's usual advantages, and our straight-up height was not up to the challenge of facing her. Isabelle Spingola got the start in Hiedeman's place. She shoots three-pointers really well and fairly quickly, but that seems to be her only high-level skill.

Amani Wilborn's defense and physicality are the cornerstones of her game, and her defense was especially on display in this one. She was everywhere where we were, and that was one of the many problems we had in this game. It felt like she was doing a better job of getting to the line than the box score indicates. Selena Lott had a really solid game on both ends of the floor- she had a ruthless block on Inja Butina and got buckets in transition. She's going to be really crucial for the rebuild next year for Marquette.

Marquette looked like they were out to prove they were still who they were, and I think they took it to extremes. I don't think I would have had Hiedeman jacking threes in the fourth. I would have gone to Dahling earlier. That kind of thing.

I have to be careful what I type here, because I'm still sitting in the banquet (oh my GOD TONY I'M GOING TO KILL YOU) and if the wrong person reads over my shoulder you're never going to get GNoD ever again, and there are, like, five drafts on my hard drive. But, uh. Kimi Evans sort of looked like she forgot how to shoot lay-ups out there, just flinging the ball at the basket. And she was tentative on the glass, which is unacceptable at her size. She did well boxing out, but we needed more from her and we got nothing. Whitney Howell got some minutes in the second half (apropos of nothing, I'm not feeling the new haircut) and hit a nice bucket in the lane. I'd like to see her be more aggressive, but she's a freshman. She'll learn. I think. I hope. Selena Philoxy didn't start, since we had all the smol seniors starting, but she played heavy minutes in the paint. She missed what seemed to be a lot of easy looks in the lane, but Marquette was swarming and she was under pressure.

(The tribute video is currently experiencing technical difficulties. So I'm going to leave you with this one-liner from Tony: "We don't measure success by height. Thankfully.")

Kaela Hilaire, I can't even and I am this close to ceding you back to Nassau County. KK has not played well falling behind all the seniors in the rotation, and we need her to step up her game, especially for next year when all those seniors have graduated (super graduated in some cases, I mean, jeez, Kaity, I needed five years just to get most of the way through a BA and you got the advanced degree?). I would dearly like for her to stop committing stupid fouls and start making some of those incredible drives I know she's capable of. Danielle Robinson had a pretty solid game, all things considered. She missed her shots on the inside, but she was one of the few Seton Hall players actually willing to drive the lane, which was refreshing. I like her potential. She needs a lot of work, but I think having to play more with the injuries at the end of the season has helped her develop faster than she would have otherwise this year. She's seeing minutes that aren't necessarily meaningful, but are still live-action and are against serious opponents.

Victoria Cardaci looks scared out there. I don't know if she wasn't ready to start, or if she couldn't deal with Marquette's size (such as it is) or what, but I'm trying to remember if she even got as far as the lane on most of the Pirates' offensive possessions. She made a couple of good defensive plays on the baseline, I'll give her that, but she did not look like she was able to rise to the occasion in this game. Nicole Jimenez was jacking threes, which is her strength, but it seemed like a lot of them were quick, ill-thought-out shots. I'd have to look at the quarter splits, but it feels like she threw up a lot of shots late in the game when we were just desperate for something that looked sort of like offense, and hurried threes were the best thing we could think of. And no, that is not a good thing. Kaity Healy had a nice defensive play in the first quarter and hit a couple of threes, but overall she looked really hesitant.

Desiree Elmore really looked like she was forcing it in the first half, and I'm still not a fan of the offensive style where you just force it in to one player and hope she gets hot at some point. The shots started falling in the second half,but by then we were too far down. I get that we didn't exactly have a lot of options with Shadeen Samuels out with her shoulder injury, but the plan was not working and it's not a good plan. I'm not going after her effort, don't get me wrong- she had the game we needed her to have to even stay competitive. I'm going after the game plan. Inja Butina had a better game than I thought, now looking at the box score. I guess I was just so down on our effort the rest of the night that I overlooked what she did. It did seem like she was forcing shots that she doesn't normally take or were into the teeth of Marquette's defense.

Do I think going with the four seniors as the starting lineup put us in a hole to start the game? Yes. Our seniors are all guards and most of them are very small, which left us with an imbalanced lineup. Would I have been just as upset if we had gone with our more traditional starting lineup and run Lena out there at the start of the game? No, I would have been more upset, because there are things you do on Senior Day, and one of those is give your seniors the start. Now, do I think he ran with Tori a little too long at the outset? Yeah, probably. But you do the right thing by those who have given so much to the game.

Honestly, we probably got away with more fouls than Marquette did. I'm not about to go off on the refs in a game where the margin was so ridiculous I have to do math to figure it out.

This was a perfect storm of disaster in the making. Seton Hall was short-handed, and short. Marquette had an axe to grind and a thirst to prove themselves on national television. We fell into our worst habits and Marquette took advantage. There's no shame in losing to one of the best teams in the conference and the country. But the way we did it was not the Pirate way.

But I'll say this for Walsh: the crowd never gave up, and I'm not just talking about myself and the husband. We weren't always the ones starting the chants. We weren't always the loudest people. That's what I love about Seton Hall fans. That crowd is never quiet.

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December 30th, 2018: St. John's at Seton Hall

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Seton Hall broke open a close game with a big third quarter on their way to a 77-67 win to open Big East play against St. John's. Inja Butina led four Pirates in double figures with 19 points. Qadashah Hoppie had 19 points to lead St. John's.

For the usual levels of awkward, pretzels, a truly hideous jacket, alumnae, terrible rotations, hot tempers, and giving up on the foul derby, join your intrepid and insomniac blogger after the jump.

It's bowl season, so you know what that means? It's the perfect time for the Awkward Bowl! Well, I lie; there's no perfect time for the Awkward Bowl, and I can definitely think of things I'd rather do on a Sunday morning after a doubleheader than hike out to New Jersey, but my team needs me, especially after that collapse by the men last night. (I don't want to talk about it, except to bring up the point that bad things happen if you overwork your best players, and Seton Hall was very lucky to get out of there with the victory, given most of their shot selection in the final two minutes.)

Look, dude. People are not on this train to try and build a community or get involved in people's lives. People are on this train to get from point A to point B. That is the purpose of transportation. It transports. For the love of all that is sweet and holy, wrap up your spiel in less than four stations and move on to the next one; there might be softer hearts in there, because I think everyone in this car had lost patience with him by about two stations in.

(Yes, I am that cynical jerk who practically grades panhandlers and street preachers. If you want my attention, you need to earn it, and either way, you're not getting my money.)

The awkward has begun. At least Kadaja Bailey's family has made it out, so I have people to sit with, and at some point I presume the Duncan/Hoppie kinfolk will arrive. (I, uh. Don't know if I want the Sinas to show up, actually. They have a bad history with the Hall.) But I still don't like cheering without him- worse, against him.

We made pretzels. The Fordham F turned out better than trying to do the conjoined initials for STJ and SHU. We're thinking about digits for various and sundry Senior Days, though I'd rather not think about Senior Days right now, because noooooooo.

Oh, right, that's who's Canadian! I forgot about Barbara Johnson, but in my defense, she is sitting out a transfer year.

I may have said this once or twice, but I miss the days when the rivalry was lit in a more positive way, when St. John's had Nadirah and Amber and Aliyyah, and Seton Hall had the Simmonses, and pretty much all of Newark showed up in one capacity or another, and it stayed friendly because NaNa and Didi were friends. I miss that. At least no one's quite as crazy as some of the crazies we've dealt with.

It's 34-33 St. John's at halftime, on the strength of a late Tiana England three and 13 first-half points from Qadashah Hoppie. Seton Hall's press is doing a number on us defensively, but it's significantly hampered by Kaela Hilaire picking up fouls three and four in rapid succession on a pushout and the associated tantrum. KK's heart lives on her sleeve, and we're going to see just how badly it comes back to haunt the Hall. Desiree Elmore has had herself quite the second quarter, and her nine points in that frame lead all SHU scorers.

That anthem singer can sing the anthem any day of the week and twice on Sundays. Operatic and epic.

Brittney Sykes has set up camp behind the visiting bench, which is just confusing unless she's friend of a friend to someone on our bench (the only connections I can think of are on the SHU side). But I think all the cool kids are sitting upstairs this year- I think Nadirah and Aliyyah are both in the balcony seating.

DSPN has met up with Timmy Ice and so far things seem to be going well. Yes, Derek's presence means I technically broke the covenant that the husband and I have during the Awkward Bowl, but if he's disconcerting shooters, the gloves are off.

Refs called it too tight in the first quarter and too loose in the second. Doesn't help that both teams are committing stupid reaches.

(General just for the record: I'm a public school kid. I ride for all my PSAL kids.)

My Twitter synopsis of this game was "welp, that sure was a thing that happened there", and I'm honestly tempted to leave it there, because I still have to work on the Fordham notes from yesterday, and also I may be very tired, and also I may be trying to keep myself from getting banned from the borough of Staten Island (not that I particularly want to go to Staten Island, but I'd like to keep the option open if the necessity should arise).

We have all the depth of a tawdry gossip magazine. This is a problem against teams that like to press, like to run, and like to play a lot of players. Oh. Look at our opponent. I think you see one of the problems here.

In all seriousness, though, while I love Shamachya Duncan's heart, and her shot is very nice when it's on, she should not be playing heavy rotation minutes for this team, and this team should not be in a position where she has to play heavy rotation minutes. Offensively, she's a one-trick pony, and defensively, well, she tries, but she's not at Big East level, and I don't know that she'll ever be. Jasmine Sina looks like she's lost all confidence in her shot- there were at least two possessions where she passed out of a look that her teammates clearly wanted her to take. I hope she's okay after the collision with Desiree Elmore and the stanchion; the trainer was administering the concussion tests to her on the bench afterwards.

I don't know what's wrong with Kadaja Bailey- if something or someone is in her head, or if she just hasn't adjusted to the real level of D-I competition after our first couple of easy opponents, but she looks like she's lost confidence in herself, and all the potential from the beginning of the season has turned into long limbs flailing aimlessly on defense and shots going over the basket on offense. There are things she has to finish that she's not finishing, and her development really seems to have stagnated. Kayla Charles had a solid defensive game in the first half, but she did not do as good a job as I would have liked on putbacks. Granted, a lot of them were dramatic aerial attempts with a high degree of difficulty.

The contrast between Tiana England cutting confidently to the basket and Tiana England pounding the air out of the ball is very sharp, and I hope people who should be paying attention to it are in fact doing so. I'd like to see a little more care in her shot selection- while she got most of her points in the paint, she threw up some really careless shots. These are not the lessons we need to be learning from the men's game. She laid a monster block on Inja Butina on the fast break. Qadashah Hoppie took advantage of Seton Hall's propensity to commit unnecessary reach-in fouls and got to the line early and often. Sometimes I think she settles for the first available shot, and while it's nice to have someone on this team who has some sense of urgency on offense, it's possible to swing too far the other way too. I continue to love Alisha Kebbe's hustle on the glass and on defense (getting up high enough to block Nicole Jimenez is a lot trickier than it seems on first look). I'm not sure about the long three-point attempt, though.

STOP COMMITTING STUPID FOULS AKINA. Okay, I'm done. I think. But seriously, know where you are on the court and know where you are in relation to the white jersey-clad player whose space you are in. Her shot's all messed up, and she's stuck in between positions, and it is not good. Curteeona Brelove looks hesitant. I know she's working her way back from the injury, but something seems more off about her than that would explain. Maybe she just needs more reps at game speed. Kayla had a better game, and one of the few decisions I agree with Joe on in this game was going more to Kayla.

(But seriously, the first two players off the bench in the second half were Moochy and Machi, and while I like them both as people, I don't understand that choice one iota.)

Speaking of post players coming off injuries and playing like they have no idea what they're doing, what in the world has happened to Kimi Evans? She played very briefly and looked very lost. Against this depleted St. John's team, and the distinct size advantage she has over everyone, she should have been able to tromp all over us, and yet she did not seem to have the wherewithal to tromp. (Then again, Seton Hall is fighting their own injury woes in the frontcourt; Femi Funeus came out on crutches, and Whitney Howell was nowhere to be found. Poor kids.) Fortunately for the Hall, Desiree Elmore was beasting on the offensive glass, and the looks that dared to not fall for her in the first quarter rattled home in every one thereafter. She positioned herself so well inside for rebounds. I have to give her her props.

Kaity Healy stepped up big in the second quarter and in the second half, filling in a lot of minutes for the Hall. She brought stability. The three-point shooting didn't hurt, either. She had to step up, because Kaela Hilaire was extremely limited by foul trouble. She got herself into it all too fast, because petulantly stomping away from her third foul drew a technical that became her fourth. (It was probably a cheap technical, to be honest, but if it teaches her to keep a hold of her temper in rivalry games, it was a fairly cheap lesson, since we split the free throws and turned the ball over on the ensuing possession.) Danielle Robinson made a couple of cameos and got to shoot a couple of free throws near the end of the first half.

Shadeen Samuels is just so much fun to watch. Even when she's not the star of the show- even when her teammates are the ones putting up the big numbers, or making the biggest plays- there's a grace to her that draws my eye. She doesn't so much go to the basket as she takes a step and she's at the basket. She makes it all look so easy. (And then I look at the box score and she has quite impressive numbers. Why are you so awesome, Shadeen?) Selena Philoxy threw it up too hard at the basket, but half the time it seemed like she was getting the offensive rebound anyway. She's some kind of tough. (That's how we roll in Queens.) She and Kayla Charles were going at it hammer and tongs whenever they were matched up against each other.

Inja Butina had a bad case of happy feet- I think she had three travels in the first half, if not the first quarter alone. She cut through our defense like a hot knife through butter and either got to the rim, got to the line, or committed a turnover. She was canning threes early, which gave our defense a whole different set of problems. Nicole Jimenez has taken to the off-guard position rather better than I expected (well, inasmuch as any of these three guards can be considered "off" in a set of three fairly small guards; I think by height Inja technically lines up at three, but Coley was the one lining up on the lane for free throws) though she did take an awful lot of shots. Take what the defense gives you, I guess. She snagged a couple of stray interceptions on careless Red Storm passes. Victoria Cardaci, playing in a face mask, was one of the few truly ineffective Pirates in this game. And Coach Bozzella realized that and adjusted his rotations accordingly, because that's something he can do way better than Coach Tartamella can.

Seton Hall is at their best when speeding the game up, but they've improved at slowing it down as well, and that's important; too often they've run themselves into trouble in the past. Dez gives them a dangerous midrange game, and flexibility in setting their lineups. If they can get Kimi going again, they're going to be extremely lethal in conference play.

Officials were a marvel of inconsistency, but I'm adult enough to admit that St. John's got the benefit of some terrible no-calls. And you can't even make the joke that the refs must have gone to Seton Hall for home cooking, because SHU's band proves that Pirates can count at least to four. ("1, 2, 3, 4! That's four! One more!")

The crowd really got into it. I'd like to think we ginned them up a little, but the thing about Seton Hall fans is that it only takes a little to get them going, and I know someone who can provide more than a little. Walsh is an amazing noise box when its fans get loud, and I want to hear so much more of that.

There was apparently some kind of halftime thing involving some of the older alumnae, but I spent about five minutes arguing with the ridiculously long concession line and missed it all. Since they apparently missed at least three more recent alumnae (hi, Bird, hi, Chiz, hi, Daisha) I don't feel like there's a gaping void in my life because of this.

And, of course, who should we run into as we're leaving Walsh but Jade Walker, who apparently missed the game? And was surprised by the result? I mean, I love Jade, but I would not put it past her to have forgotten what time the game started and completely miss it.

Bless my team, trainwreck that they surely are. Still mine. Not changing. Just frustrating.

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November 25th, 2018: St Francis NY at Seton Hall

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Shadeen Samuels had 29 points and 11 rebounds to power another triple-digit effort for Seton Hall in their 100-77 win over St. Francis Brooklyn. Ally Lassen and Maria Palarino each had 17 points to lead the Terriers.

For a crossover crossover, banging the bleachers, baying for the blood of one's enemies, spirit fingers on the bench, and Selena Philoxy's dance moves, join your intrepid and extremely distracted blogger after the jump. In my defense, my distractions include homemade apple pie and apple strudel.

Good morning! Well, let's be honest, "morning" will be a relative term by the time I get these finished, and "good" is rapidly becoming a relative term as well. Stupid MTA. Stupid reroutes I should have somehow known about even though the conductor couldn't be bothered to announce anything about them. Stupid Sunday schedules. Stupid early tip.

Yes, it's a Seton Hall day. Which means it's a navigate-three-transit-systems-that-don't-coordinate-with-each-other-day. And we just missed the PATH train, which means half an hour of waiting at World Trade Center, interspersed with several ardent prayers to an uncaring cosmos that the 31 will be a few minutes late so we can catch the 11:30 instead of the 12:00.

I'm already too tired for this.

Fortunately, the PATH schedule was inaccurate, so we did in fact catch the 11:30, so here we are at historic Walsh Gymnasium on the campus of Seton Hall University, where the Pirates will take on the Terriers of St. Francis College.

Inja Butina just crossed a guy over with her dribble. Soccer-style. We gave her defender a yellow card on the ensuing flop.

Half-court shot time! Squad's pretty loose. Probably a good sign. Either that or we're going to get a first-quarter team-wide Teaching Moment that I'll probably be able to transcribe because the entire arena will hear it.

Don't feel bad, Shadeen, I too let out primal screams when I realize I'm late for a meeting.

I love Selena Philoxy's dance moves. Maybe someone should introduce her to Sky Lindsay.

It's 50-36 Seton Hall at halftime, and it should be more, and I would very much like it to be more. I get bloodthirsty when one of my players gets hurt, and Inja Butina took hands to the face that left her lying on the floor holding her eye. Refs reviewed, but magically found no foul. Inja still hasn't come out of the locker room. So I'm on my "sweep the leg" ish right now, and Amy O'Neill's elbows can go to hell and take the rest of her with them. (I don't even know if it was her, but she's been swinging the elbows, and it was either her or Mia Ehling.)

(So, uh, the addition of St. Francis to my pile o' teams is going to have to wait a couple of years.)

Kimi Evans has been good but inconsistent inside, and the freshman posts are having their defensive vulnerabilities exposed. Also, the next time one of our itty-bitty guards is on the other team's tallest player, I may scream. A lot.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I recognized John Fanta not by appearance but by the fact that he had the Browns-Bengals game on his second screen.

Learn from my fail. Do not attempt to take NJ Transit back from Seton Hall on Sundays during the non-conference season. You will get caught up in football traffic. It is not of the good, especially since football in MetLife Stadium is currently a trainwreck that is also on fire, and yet people keep going. (Also, you do you, dude in Baker Mayfield jersey. You do you.)

That could actually have gone better, but I'll take a 23-point win and nobody else getting hurt. After that one day of treating St. Francis like a face, I'm reminded of why it was so easy to think of them as the heel for so many years. Coach Cimino has a lot of work ahead of her in that regard. I like her, and I like how she coaches, but there's a long way to go for her younger players, and too many things to unlearn for her older players.

I'm a little surprised Dana DiRenzo got so little run- she had a cameo in the first half and a little bit more time in the second half. She did some work on the defensive glass at the end of the game. Alex Tudor committed a foul as sooon as she came into the game, which I don't think was what Coach Cimino had in mind for an immediate impact. Samantha Keltos started the second half in place of Ebony Horton, and hit a three as soon as she came into the game. She's another holdover from last year I was surprised we didn't see more of.

Kate Bauhof has potential, but the freshman is still most definitely a freshman. Her shot needs tweaking, and she still looks a little lost on the floor. Mia Ehling played heavy minutes in the second half in place of Dominique Ward, and needs to watch her hands a bit.Abby Anderson set up from deep, and looks ot be coming along nicely. But the reserve who impressed me most, by a mile, was Ally Lassen. She's really developed into a face-up post player, one who can get inside and hit consistently. She looked far more experienced than our freshman posts, and seems to have gotten comfortable with her role.

I would dearly love to know what happened with both Ebony Horton and Dominique Ward. They both started the game, but Horton came out almost immediately, never came back into the game, and went to the locker room in the second half ahead of her teammates. I hope she's okay. I didn't see anything during the game that would have caused her to have to leave. Dominique Ward couldn't get her shot to go down, and that led to her being benched almost immediately (like, first possession of the half immediately) in the second half.

Amy O'Neill has got to get her elbows under control. It's possible to run without having them pointing out like the spikes on the chariot wheels from Ben-Hur. They were always out, and they were always at the most acute angle possible. She's a little too reliant on the dipsy-do shot where she drives almost too far and throws it up with more spin than a political campaign. But, hey, it works. She's tiny but fierce, and I think I could respect that more if she would just put the damn elbows away. Maria Palarino kicked into gear in the second half on the inside. She's pretty tough. I think she had a tendency to be around when the bodies hit the deck in the paint (with nary a foul to be found, most of the time, but I'll get to that in good time). Jade Johnson was launching from deep.

I really want to like St. Francis, but every time I think it might happen, elbows happen.

Whitney Howell played just long enough to get burned on defense and pull down a couple of boards, and we didn't see her in the second half. She started off the season looking good, but she hit the freshman wall early. Hey, maybe that means she'll get over it earlier too! We got better results from Femi Funeus in the paint, though her defense was lacking a certain something as well. Her timing was off on the glass- she was consistently going too early on the jump. Selena Philoxy gave us more of a physical presence, and at least one death glare to St. Francis while sh ewas waiting to come into the game. Lena has no truck with fake New Yorkers.

Danielle Robinson came off the bench about a minute before we were about to start calling for her to come in. She didn't have much of an impact, but she didn't need to. A lot of the other guards had to step up off the bench in Inja's absence. We got extended run from Kaity Healy, in which she demonstrated her top-notch on-floor communication skills by calling out screens and signals more consistently than anyone else. Kaela Hilaire picked up the bulk of the minutes in Inja's spot, and she was pretty solid, except for that terrible moment when O'Neill inbounded the ball off her butt and St. Francis scored on the ensuign possession. That was a little bit awkward. But her drives did an excellent job of setting up our inside game. We spent a lot of time going with a smaller lineup, because Shadeen Samuels is just that awesome, which meant that we saw a lot of Desiree Elmore, who did some kind of work on the offensive glass- I think all her o-boards were also putbacks off Deen or Kimi's misses. I love the element she brings to the game when she's on the floor- there always seems to be a little extra oomph out there, for lack of a better word, a little more energy or something.

As far as we know, Inja only has a concussion and there was no eye damage. That is honestly a lot better than I was expecting when she spent so long on the floor holding the side of her face. Get well soon, Inja!

Victoria Cardaci did not have one of her better shooting days. For whatever reason, she was hesitating way too much even when St. Francis was giving her what seemed to be enough space to shoot, so when she did finally hoist it, it often wasn't as good a look as it was initially. I'm also going to need her to stop with the stupid reach-in fouls. If she's not contributing with offense, she needs to contribute with smarter defense. Nicole Jimenez continues to astonish me with her frankly ridiculously vertical. When she goes up to contest a three, you would not guess she's only 5-2. She and KK were exceptionally effective on the double-team. I can imagine that being just a tiny little bit of a nightmare for an offensive player, the two of them pestering the daylights out of the ballhandler.

Kimi Evans still isn't all the way back from her injury, and the mask is not helping her in that regard. Her field of vision seems to be restricted, which is doing whatever the opposite of wonders would be for her shot. She was consistently leaving shots short right at the rim. She started the game off strong and just sort of gradually fell into more and more of a funk. I'm not too worried yet. I'll worry more if the problems persist after the mask comes off. Shadeen Samuels stole the show, as she so often does, with moves in the paint. She decided this was going to be the day where she showed off her corner three. While it's not my favorite part of her game, and I don't want her to fall into the trap of falling in love with it, it's a useful weapon to have when it's falling. She's so smooth,a nd so determined on the inside, and she had such beautiful hot passes on the inside. I just love watching her play. I'm sorry I can't be more coherent about it.

I think the team got fired up after Inja went down, but getting fired up can cut both ways. There were stretches when they were definitely trying too hard, trying to bury the enemy instead of just defeat them. Sometimes you have to tone down the fire a little bit instead of letting it go nuts.

Refs let the contact get way out of hand, and I'm very, very glad that no one else got hurt too badly (unless Horton got hurt, in which case, I retract my relief and send further imprecations in the direction of the officials). Both coaches were working the officials hard, and at one point both Coach Bozzella and Coach DeFalco were out on the floor in disbelief (it was going into a timeout, which is why no one got a technical).

I don't think this game proved anything, except that we have players who can step up if need be. I need to see Kimi fully healthy, and I need a better sense of who we are. Time to turn on live stats!

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November 11th, 2018: UT San Antonio at Seton Hall (Tip-Off tournament)

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Seton Hall came on strong and never faltered in a 84-53 win over the Roadrunners of UTSA. Shadeen Samuels had 23 points to lead the Pirates. Marie Benson had 13 points and eight rebounds for the Roadrunners.

For long days, fantastic passing, hard bleachers, cleaning up the place, slashing, and orange things, join your intrepid and backwards blogger after the jump.

On we go, because basketball never stops, and also, it would be very silly not to see the Seton Hall game when we're, y'know, at Seton Hall. And while I can be very silly, especially when sleep deprived, I'm not silly in this regard.

UTSA is very orange. Our gear is all-white everything. Looks like Kimi Evans is sitting out this game again.

That awkward moment when your co-worker realizes that the keys on the bleacher are, in fact, yours. You know that face. The gritted teeth. The wince. (Sorry I didn't say anything earlier, D.)

At halftime, Seton Hall is up big on UTSA, 55-23. Everyone's scoring. Femi Funeus looks really good, and Shadeen Samuels is doing quite a number of Shadeen things. Marie Benson has been the Roadrunners' lone bright spot, and even she's been hampered by foul trouble.

I just got a look at the all-tournament trophies. They are cheap and hideous.

Brief pregame ceremony honoring Ela Mukosiej, who's an assistant at UTSA and a Seton Hall alumna (which explains why they're here, I would think). Explains why Phyllis Mangina is here, too, since she was the coach at that time.

Guys, you might want to do a better job of cleaning out the bleachers. I killed a pen on Tuesday and found part of it here on Sunday.

Lemons into lemonade: Inja Butina got knocked to the floor with no call on a defensive stand, which put her in perfect position to grab the rebound when it hit the floor.

Once again, the competition wasn't exactly lighting up the court, but Seton Hall certainly looked good. That frontcourt is going to be something special.

The Roadrunners used everyone that they used for pretty much about the same amount of time. I don't know if that was because of the margin, because of Marie Benson's early foul trouble, or because that's how they roll in San Antonio.

I liked what I saw out of Timea Tóth on defense- she's got good length and she seems to know how to use it to deflect and rebound. Mandi Cooks came in and got her offensive rebound pretty quickly. Kourtney Kekec did some really good work on the boards, scoring on a putback, and got stronger as the game went on.

I don't remember if Deja Cousin was the one who kept shooting the airballs, but she wasn't hitting the long balls she took. I think by the end of the game I was seriously flaking on the scorecards- cut me some slack? I'm really wiped. I don't even remember Charlotte Ellmore coming off the bench in the first half, but she clearly must have done, because she played 20 munutes and didn't start. I don't think she made much of an impression, in that case.

For a long time, Marie Benson was the only UTSA player who could score at all. She did a nice job getting inside and putting up layups, but she had a propensity to foul, and getting the charge early in the second quarter for her third foul killed anything that might have vaguely resembled momentum. Barbara Benson's goggles and choice of hairdo have the unfortunate, and presumably unintended, effect of making her look like the nerdy younger sister. She did most of her work in the fourth quarter, when Seton Hall was sagging off the defense. Tija Hawkins came off as herky-jerky- long limbs and height, but not the world's greatest amount of coordination for either. She threw up some shots in the fourth, but I'm pretty sure a lot of those were from when Femi Funeus had four fouls and had to back off on defense.

Ryann Stearns had a really nice deflection to break up a sure fast break for Seton Hall. She's feisty. I like that in a player. I honestly don't remember any impact Karrington Donald had on the game. I'm sure she must have done something, but she didn't do enough to make her memorable. (And that's harder when your team doesn't have names on the back of their jerseys. I'm not saying, I'm just saying.)

The end times are upon us, WNBA fans. Danielle Robinson hit a three. Wait, no, not that one, we're okay. Sorry, Pirate Danielle, you're in for a long four years of this. She's definitely the most froshy of our three freshmen, but I can see the flexibility and the strength she might be able to give us if she develops over the next few years. Diandra DaRosa seemed to take more pleasure in getting good passes than in scoring buckets, which is perfectly acceptable. Frustrating when you want the team to light the tree, but acceptable. At least she got one to go down. Kaity Healy canned a couple of back-to-back threes that got the crowd roaring. I'm still disappointed in her newfound tendency to commit stupid fouls, though. Kaela Hilaire found the in-between gear she was missing the other day against Wagner, and there was a great play where she made the extra pass (to Desiree, I think, but don't hold me to it) that I don't think she would have made on the break last year.

The more I see of Desiree Elmore, the more I like her. I think some time on the bench getting used to the system will do her a lot of good, and then she'll be an amazing complement to Shadeen Samuels once our guard logjam graduates. (I'm really starting to wonder if Tony thought that part of the plan through, to be honest.) I'd like her to do a better job of finishing at the rack, but that might just be an off day. Selena Philoxy got called for a lot of fouls that I, naturally, disagreed with. She's tough, and she's physical, and she killed it on the offensive glass. I love what she brings to the floor, and I love the joy she brings off it. Femi Funeus looks very promising, except for her hands. She's got to do a better job of catching passes and holding on to the ball. But in pretty much every other way, she looks far more advanced than a freshman. The idea of her and Kimi and Shadeen in the frontcourt is glorious and terrifying at the same time.

Whitney Howell played scared for much of the game, or at least that's what it looked like. She was tentative and got caught looking at the ball more than once. The rim didn't like her- she should have had at least three points, except for puck luck. Shadeen Samuels got a couple of early threes to go down, which might have encouraged her to take the ones in the second half that didn't go down. She's amazing as a slasher, and so quick on defense. I wish she'd play, or be played, more to her strengths, instead of to the fads of her position.

Victoria Cardaci's shot wasn't going down, but she made up for it with defense. If she can do that on a regular basis, I'll be okay with her starting. I'm just not enthusiastic about starting her if she doesn't. Inja Butina was a little more hesitant than I would have liked, but brought hustle on both ends of the floor. It's hard to argue with someone who's rebounding while down on the ground.

I love the speed of our offense, and the ball movement was amazing. There were some plays that made you yearn for the hockey-style assist to be tabulated- the sequence with Kaela, Desiree, and Victoria comes to mind. And the defense looks good too. We'll face bigger tests than this, but it's good to see the chemistry working so well so fast, with as many new players to integrate into the scheme as we have.

It looked like we had one experienced ref and a couple of rookies. That seems to be a trend in the early going this season. I guess there are worse times to let the rookies get their sea legs. I'm still not sure how running into a screen is a foul on the player doing the running, but I guess that's why I'm not an official.

Shoutout to the folks who showed up to back the Roadrunners. It's a long trip from San Antonio.

I know we play our tougher competition on the road, or at least at neutral sites, but I'm still looking forward to seeing us against stronger competition to see if we're really all we're cracked up to be.

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November 6th, 2018: Wagner at Seton Hall

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Victoria Cardaci stroked seven threes in the first half for a game-high 21 points, and Seton Hall was never threatened in a 95-40 pounding of Wagner. Shadeen Samuels added 18 points and eight rebounds for the Pirates. Emilija Krista Grava had 15 points and nine rebounds (seven offensive) to pace Wagner.

For exercising one's civic duty, terrible weather, terrible t-shirt aim, shooting touch, suaveness, and time concerns, join your intrepid and hyped blogger after the jump.

Good afternoon, fellow travelers! It's the most wonderful day of the year! Election Day! (If you didn't vote, we aren't friends.)

Okay, it's also the most wonderful day of the year because the season is upon us! Your intrepid blogger is currently wringing herself out at Seton Hall, as the Pirates open the season against the Seahawks of Wagner.

After further review, I've decided that I don't, in fact, want to know why Harrison station stinks horribly of dead fish.

It's raining very heavily today, and South Orange has dubious drainage. I've never seen my sneakers this shade of black before.

There is a dude who was very enthusiastic about the gates opening. Dude. You are here for the doubleheader. If you're going to be here for five and a half hours, you can wait two minutes. (I am not going to be here for five and a half hours. It's Election Day. There are returns to watch.)

Welcomed Seton Hall's new DOBO, Danaejah Grant, to the Awkward Bowl. As long as she doesn't end up with anyone trying to sic security on her at the Big East tournament, she'll be ahead of the game.

It looks like we're not playing Kimi Evans, which is a shame because I was looking forward to seeing her- I hear she's made huge strides in the offseason. But I doubt we're going to need her against Wagner, and if she has any nagging issues it's better to rest her.

This zone defense drill is really intense. I love it.

Unsurprisingly, forty minutes before tip of an early afternoon game on a rainy day where people might have other obligations, there aren't a lot of people here. If the bathroom has a hand dryer, I might actually be able to get away with trying to blow dry my sneakers. The population of the arena has not appreciably increased since that point.

We appear to be getting a Michael Jackson medley for our halftime entertainment, and I am perfectly okay with this.

At halftime, SHU is up 52-27 on Wagner, which I wasn't necessarily expecting after we gave up a 6-point hole shot. Victoria Cardaci has decided to make a sterling first impression with seven three-pointers to lead the way with 21 points. I don't know if Coach is happy with the rotation on defense, though.

There are players I expect to commit stupid fouls that put the other team over the limit with twenty-three seconds left in the half. Kaity Healy is literally the last person on Seton Hall's roster I expect this of, and I am disappointed in this.

Cheer squad might want to work on their t-shirt tosses. One of them attempted to reach the upper deck and failed so miserably she managed to drop it on someone's head. Which is bad enough when the aforementioned head is not that of a Pirate alumna. (Hi, Chiz!)

We've managed to slow count Wagner into a shot clock violation and fast count them into a rushed shot. This pleases me.

It took six seconds to have our first clock malfunction of the season. I'd say "never change", but please, please change.

There was also some foofarol a the beginning of the game having to do with Alayshia Dailey's hair. I think she had some metal decorations in it or something. Coach DiPillo seemed to be bringing it to the refs' attention during the clock reset, thus giving us delayception.

Well, that certainly didn't prove anything, but it was fun to watch. Wagner was not ready for this level of defense, or for the length we were able to bring in the post, or for Nicole Jimenez in general. Coach Jacobs has a long way to go with this team, in terms of clock awareness/management, and in terms of chemistry. (Since two of my teams are in the NEC, I'm rubbing my hands together in glee.)

Enas Ngatu gave the Seahawks some height, but she also got them in trouble with two offensive fouls (though I'll be honest and say I'm not sure about that second one). I see now that she's a freshman, and that she is one of many freshmen on Wagner's roster, so I can see why the going might be rough. Jordan Hobson didn't play in the second half until the fourth quarter, which didn't stop the PA announcer from announcing Amanda Pollard's second and third fouls as being hers. By the second one, she had a spectacularly WTF face going. I wasn't expecting her to be a three-point shooter.

Amanda Pollard has very big hair (which is another reason I was surprised the PA guy mixed up her and Hobson- other than a similarity of numbers, they look nothing alike). Neither she nor Addie Masonius, the other guard off the bench, left enough of an impression to write anything about.

There's a lot more promise with the starters (which is probably why they're starters). Nakylia Carter made a couple of great defensive plays in the first quarter, including a disruption that broke up a fast break for the Pirates. Khaleah Edwards made herself a target inside- I recall more than one possession where she was defended by Nicole Jimenez, which is just not fair in terms of height. Emilija Krista Grava made a very good first impression with eight points in the first quarter. She was another big target inside for the Seahawks, and one who could finish both inside and out. I think she's going to be big for them.

Overall, Wagner has a long way to go. But I was impressed with their offensive rebounding. They anticipated well, at least early on.

Danielle Robinson is going to spend quite a long time confusing me, isn't she? Especially if she turns into a three-point shooter. She's still a work in progress- a couple of steps slow, not sure where she's supposed to be either offensively or defensively. But she's a freshman. I've been told this is a thing with freshmen. Kaity Healy was off her game- yes, she was hitting threes and getting a big pop from the miniscule crowd for them, but she made a couple of boneheaded plays that were really out of character for her. When you're team captain, you're going to get judged more harshly for things like that. Diandra DaRosa got nto the game much later than I was expecting in both halves. I don't know if she fits in this system yet, but it's early to tell. Kaela Hilaire had only one speed, and that was full throttle. She got a lot of assists on fullcourt passes and fast breaks. I don't think Coach was happy with her going for a quick basket up 40 with less than a minute to go, though.

Selena Philoxy didn't play in the first half, but in the second half, she did work. What I like about Selena is this sense of inevitability she carries with her when she's driving into the lane. It's like she's decided that what she's going to do is what's going to happen and reality is just going to have to accept it. She finished with style and power. Desiree Elmore is well-rounded, and I think she's going to be an important piece for us- I can see why Coach was so determined to get her immediately eligible. She's still a touch slow on the defensive help, but that's a chemistry thing. Femi Funeus made a really good first impression, Tina Thompson-esque lipstick and all. While I recognize that SHU wasn't playing against Big East-caliber competition, she seemed to settle right in on the floor. She had a lot of dropped passes, but those may have been as much on the guards as they were the posts, because the problem wasn't limited to her.

Speaking of freshman posts making a really good first impression, wow, did Whitney Howell look ready for primetime. Again, I realize that Wagner was not much of a challenge, and she'll probably have more problems against higher-level opponents, but she was strong on the inside. I wouldn't have guessed that she was a freshman if I didn't know Seton Hall's roster. Oh, man, a Big East team with a real frontcourt... that would be unstoppable in conference. And Shadeen Samuels is just so fun to watch. She has this ineffable air of smooth and cool around her, whether it's during shootaround or when she flicks away the ball and bounds down the court for the layup. Foul trouble might be her biggest Achilles heel, so if she can stay on the floor she's going to be terrifying in a wonderful way.

For the record, I'm not a big fan of this three-guard set, especially with our small guards. It worked in this game, and for all I know, it's only going to last until Kimi Evans is once more available. But I don't think that's the most effective way to use Victoria Cardaci, and I don't think it's the most effective way to use Inja Butina. Not that Victoria's shooting didn't create an instant positive first impression- she got the ball and the ball went up, just as simple as that. Wagner was able to get hands up in her face in the second half, which led to her not adding more threes to that mind-boggling seven from the first half. But that seems like the kind of weapon that would be more effective situationally, off the bench, instead of in the starting lineup. Inja Butina got going in the third quarter after a slow start where she looked a little hesitant. I'd like her to speed up her decision-making on the floor, but I don't know if that's going to happen at this point in her career. Nicole Jimenez continues to do things that it doesn't look like a person her height should be able to do. She gets up so high it's crazy. Maybe a little less mustard on the passes, because it looked like the posts weren't able to handle them.

I think we need to realize that there's more than one speed possible in a game. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't enjoy watching the Pirates zip up and down the floor on the break, but there are times when slowing down is the better approach, and it seems like we have a surfeit of guards who just aren't into that kind of thing. I can see this being a problem with a smaller lead- the last thing we need is to run ourselves into letting teams back into the game because we give them time to come back.

Band sounds sharp. Cheer's a little shaky.

Officiating was nothing to write home about. That's usually a good sign.

I'd say I'm looking forward to the Tip-Off Classic, but I'm not looking forward to getting out of the house that early.

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(belated) Senior Tributes 2018

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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



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

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


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



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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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


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

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

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


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



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


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

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

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

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


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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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



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

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

And we get to do it all again next year.

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