UConn Huskies 83, Arizona State Sun Devils 64
The Devils are bedeviled, Renee Montgomery will not let her season end, and Tina Charles has moves on the court.
Hats off to Arizona State. They played unafraid the entire game, and until UConn found the afterburners, the game was closer than the final score would make it look.
Not quite the same crowd as on Sunday, but a goodly number of people were there, including a fair smattering of Arizona State fans. Considering the distance most of them would have had to travel, that's pretty impressive. Also have to shout out to the Cal and Texas A&M fans who came for the second game. They could have scalped their tickets for an extra ten bucks and gone sightseeing, but they stuck around.
Anthem was by the Arizona State band. I'm not a fan of the sped-up renditions, but it was well performed. But on band notes, I really do like the UConn band director. She's very good at what she does.
Oh, Arizona State. If only you could hit the broad side of a barn. If only you knew where the barn even was. So many easy shots that didn't go down. It was horrifying. This would actually have been a single-digit game if Arizona State could hit open shots. Danielle Orsillo played well on the offensive end for the Sun Devils, and I thik she wanted to drag them back by her teeth if necessary. Briann January was trying too hard- making shots flashy that didn't have to be. Whether that was pressure to perform or perceived pressure on her part, thinking the UConn defense was going to kick her ass, I don't know, but it was not of the good if you were rooting for the upset. The big problem for ASU was that they couldn't get anything really useful out of their posts, whether it was because they couldn't hit the aforementioned barn (seriously, Lauren Lacey, 3/10? Who do you think you are, Jennifer Lacy?) or they couldn't stay on the floor ('sup, Sybil Dosty and your foul troubles?) or, well, they were just epic fail. Engelbrecht seemed less scared to shoot than usual, and had a couple of hard plays that might have dispelled her Bambi nickname. I'll tell you who really impressed me and I hadn't heard of before: Nia Fanaika. Not a major boxscore, stat-line game, but somehow she always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. CTT didn't go to the line changes as much in the first half as I got used to during the Texas A&M game, which I think hurt them- they're so used to going all-out because they know there are reinforcements behind them that they started hurrying their offense and slipping on defense. And whoever was supposed to be checking Maya Moore can meet me in the alley out back and I'll thwack them ten or twenty times with my clipboard, because how in the green and orange fuck do you not guard Maya fucking Moore?
Which, speaking of. Setting aside "how in the green and orange fuck do you not guard Maya fucking Moore?", she was a thing of beauty to behold. Those jumpers were so smooth, and she was all over the boards- ASU just couldn't get or keep anyone on her. For a while, I thought Charles was going to get her Jayne Appel on, but then she started getting sloppy and it was more like she was getting her Kia Vaughn on. Love the way she moves, though. Very sleek. Montgomery was going to the hole like she'd decided there was no way on God's green earth this was going to be her last collegiate game. Hayes did not play her smartest game tonight. Lot of freshman mistakes. UConn can't afford that in the Final Four. Kalana Greene was another one of those "in the right place at the right time" players. I think she's officially healed from the ACL tear. Can we say that? Dixon got run because Montgomery had the foul trouble, and it must have torn her up to have to slow the game down, keep the ball in the backcourt, and run clock to negate ASU's tendency to pressure the ball.
I know this is going to sound weird, but for the first time, watching UConn, I felt like I could pick out moves and countermoves on a grand basis. Most of the time, it feels like the two coaches are throwing what they know works at each other, and if it works against the other coach's thing, shiny, and if not, well, life's a bitch. With Auriemma and the Huskies- probably because he has so many things he can throw at an opposing coach- the adjustments are written clearly on the court. Having trouble with posts? Go big. Having trouble with a running team? Slow the game down. Things like that. As a fan of the game, I find things like this fascinating.
Also impressive: the UConn cheerleaders. I hope they have permits for those concealed guns, because, seriously, for a squad composed of women with average builds, those three-layer pyramids and extended lifts are fucking amazing, and probably speak to upper body strength that would make a grown man jealous. Mad props to Jonathan for climbing atop one of the pyramids in the second half. It takes nerve for a guy in a mask to trust to a bunch of people he can't see all that well.
The refereeing was inconsistent, and there were a couple of points where I thought Geno was going to get him thrown out... plus one point where I thought Dailey was going to tire of keeping him tethered, because she looked like she was trying to remember her old post moves from RU.
UConn's dancing after the game was so gosh darn cute. And damn, can Tina Charles bust a move or what? The way everything was moving at once- wow. I think one of the benchies was considering tossing her Trenton Regional Championship t-shirt to the band, but she decided against it. If I'd known Geno wasn't planning on cutting down the net, I'd have left at the buzzer, and these notes might have been written a couple of hours earlier. Please blame all incoherency on the fact that it's about two-thirty in the morning.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
March 31st, 2009: Arizona State at UConn (NCAA tournament)
Sunday, March 29, 2009
March 29th, 2009: Arizona State at Texas A&M (NCAA tournament)
Arizona State Sun Devils 84, Texas A&M Aggies 69
Takia Starks presses, but Tanisha Smith impresses, and Briann January takes over.
So, to the credit of the UConn fans, many of them stayed around for the first half of the second game. They were in strange company. Here's a sampling of the gear we saw while surveying the arena. Bear in mind that while some of these are local schools, others are... not.
"Excuse me, sir/ma'am, but you're in the wrong region/round": Maryland, Tennessee, Prairie View, Notre Dame, Villanova, Virginia, Gonzaga, Ohio State, Texas, Pittsburgh, Duke, Rutgers, UNC, Temple
"Excuse me, sir/ma'am, but you're in the wrong tournament": Boston College, Georgetown, Syracuse, St. Francis, Penn State, Princeton, Penn, Mount St. Mary's, Clemson, UCLA
"Excuse me, sir/ma'am, but you're in the wrong division": Caldwell, TCNJ, Pace
"Excuse me, you're doin' it so very wrong": the guy in the Sonics jersey.
"Excuse me, ma'am, do you want to die?!": the women in the shirts celebrating Summitt's thousandth win. In Rutgers country. Surrounded by UConn fans. In one of the foulest cities on the East Coast. I wouldn't be surprised if they *hadn't* gotten back alive.
"Excuse me, you're doin' it awesome": the Lobo jersey that was not mine, the old school UConn #23, the Sun cap, McHuskyfan and JJ.
Now that we've done a survey of the crowd, on to the game. Major style points off for the ASU mascot running around without his head on. If you're not going to have it on the whole time, don't come out in the mascot jersey. Liked the ASU band, though. Upbeat and very much into the game. A&M didn't seem quite as loud, but it was hard to tell, given that they were at the other end of the arena, and unlike Cal's band, I hadn't heard them before. The maroon velour was interested for the A&M dance team, but they bore an unfortunate resemblance to harem girls.
I'm selling my draft stock for Danielle Gant. She put up a nice line, but she's not gonna be able to pull those moves off at the next level, and I don't think there's that much room for defensive specialists on the 11-woman rosters. I think Starks let the importance of the game get to her a bit- she seemed to be pressing a bit, though that might have to do with A&M's style as much as anything else. (Is #3 a coincidence, or is she into bad puns?) Micheaux's weird hairstyle kept distracting me from her game, and when that didn't do the trick, her attempt at Lisa Leslie shorts did, especially since she had the Charde Houston saddlebagged shorts going on. Didn't much care for her. Was very impressed with Tanisha Smith, though. Nice shot, great defense. She was all over the place. White and Carter also left good impressions.
Who knew I'd been pronouncing Briann wrong all these years? I get the feeling a lot of people are going to learn the proper pronunciation very soon. Big game for her. She kept the ball rolling for that busy Sun Devil team. Engelbrecht actually shot. I think I heard caune dying of shock from my seat. Sybil Dosty looks like and plays like a woman who would like to know what the hell her parents were thinking when they named her Sybil. She gave them a really good first half. Lacey gave them a really good boost off the bench, for a given value of bench, since Arizona State plays everyone but the team managers. Orsillo showed a great knack for getting to the basket and drawing fouls. Lots and lots of really good bench play. And I approve of any team with a Becca, especially when Becca Tobin played well and did honor to the name. I have to admit, especially as late as this is, it's hard keeping track of everyone. Especially when there are so many numbers, and they're white numbers on yellow jerseys, which, no, just no. I liked the one Sparky was wearing better. Can we go back to the maroon for the sake of my virgin eyes.
It was a very interesting game, with an exciting pace, but damn, it was sloppy. Whether that was forced slop or speed slop, I don't know enough to tell. A lot of great defensive reads by both teams.
Dim recollection of confusing officiating, but the box score tells me Michael Price was involved, so -_- this is my surprised face.
I think Arizona State will at least make the UConn game entertaining, if not competitive. I certainly *hope* they make it competitive. I love Cinderella stories.
March 29th, 2009: California at UConn (NCAA tournament)
UConn Huskies 77, California Golden Bears 53
Tiffany Hayes goes off, Geno Auriemma outcoaches Joanne Boyle, and drama is brief.
Well, that was a very good half by Cal. Shame they couldn't keep it up, but most teams can't quite keep up with the Huskies, so it's not exactly a surprise. But it was a glorious, exciting half.
We were in the endcourts, seven rows up, which souds great until you learn that Sovereign Bank Arena was built primarily as a hockey arena and the boards are permanently fixed. There was a lot of space between the front row and the court. Room enough for a large track and two band pits. Nice, but a bit frustrating. We were in the middle of a mixed bag of fans- UConn fans in front of us, Cal fans a couple of rows behind, people in maroon to our right, a ow of Rutgers shirts in the front of the section, and I don't want to know where or why or how the woman in the "Feed the Turtle" Maryland shirt ended up in there. But there were a lot of misplaced fans- but we'll get to that at intermission.
UConn band did the anthem. They did a credible job with it, though I'm not that fond of the steady drum backbeat arrangement (it's one of the things I hate about the Red Storm's rendition). Major points to the UConn band for not needing sheet music, just the prompt sheet from their director. And Cal always brings good band. I think what I like about them is that when they play a tune, it's actually recognizable as the song it's supposed to be. It's not distorted the way most marching bands are.
I really like Ashley Walker, but I think her size is going to be a disadvantage. She did a great job working against Tina Charles, but I don't know if she can do it night in and night out. Great game today for her. I hope Devanei Hampton is getting her degree in something applicable to the real world, because she was really moving awkwardly out there. I know she was never that fast, but she just couldn't keep up, and her shots were crap. Vital was trying too hard, especially in the second half. She was really forcing the offense. Ditto for Gray-Lawson, who hit some shots early like she was trying to restore the Lawson family honor, but who faded down the stretch. Greif didn't get involved much at all. Neither did the Cal bench- Boyle substituted very sparingly, and I think that was a major problem for them in the second half- their key cogs just didn't have the juice left to run with the Huskies.
And Geno did a great job adjusting, too. There's a reason the man's WCBA COY and his team's undefeated. He started the second half big with McLaren for Greene, and that just completely choked off Cal's inside play. No inside play, no points, no rebounds, and it becomes a helluva lot easier to collapse on the outside shooters. Bam. Of course, the fact that Tiffany Hayes had a career game could not possibly have hurt either. She was hitting shots all over the place, setting up her teammates, and I didn't realize how fast she was until she hit the jets like she was at Daytona on a fast break. And then people kept losing Maya Moore in the second half, and I'm screaming words to the effect of "HOW THE FUCK DO YOU NOT GUARD MAYA FUCKING MOORE?! Cal should b smarter than this!" Montgomery is smaller than I thought. Wasn't impressed with her decision-making, but I guess I didn't have to be. Offensively, Charles wasn't much of a factor, though she and McLaren set good screens to get the guards free, but defensively and on the boards, the big Huskies were bigger than the big Golden Bears.
There were a lot of UConn fans in the house. In other news, the sun rose in the east. They really do a great job of taking over arenas and bringing their customs along (which didn't exactly thrill the boy- see remark above about UConn fans in front of us, and consider that Husky fans stand until the first basket). Good pockets of support for Cal, too. For some reason, the RU fans got behind them. Yes, a lot of people in Scarlet- they'd bought those tickets and they were going to use them, gosh darn it. And since the last major sticking point in shared neutral space for UConn and RU is conference loyalty (see: Storrs pod), the Scarlet stuck with the Blue and Gold.
Inconsistent refereeing, but I'm too tired to bitch. Besides, the difference in the game was UConn adjusting and Cal... not... not the officiating. I hate praising UConn, both because it goes against my grain as a hater of hype and because I'm a Rutgers fan, but there's a reason they're undefeated. Several reasons. And they showed 'em all off against Cal in the second half.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
September 16th, 2007: Australia at USA
All kinds of interesting people show up to Sovereign Bank Arena for an international friendly… including the Game Notes of Doom and Jessica Davenport's A-game.
So the interesting thing about this game was that it wasn't the A-list team, for the most part, which meant seeing a lot of unfamiliar faces- and in the Aussies' case, matching faces and game to players I've heard about from the Aussie correspondents. It was almost nice not to really know who anyone was; I didn't go in with expectations.
So after all these years, I finally get to see Natalie Porter play. Man, talk about the one that got away! I wouldn't have minded *her* coming off the bench instead of any of the array we had behind Whitmore in 2000. Big, strong, quick, nice outside shot, though she's a little chippy for my liking. Liked Rohanee Cox's shooting- looked like she had both a nice shot and good shot selection. I also see the potential in Abby Bishop that some of the Aussie posters had mentioned- she looks kinda like the impossible lovechild of Penny and LJ, just the way she holds herself. Laura Summerton has either lost weight or those bodysuits are much more flattering than WNBA uniforms are, because she looked quite slim, and I recalled her being much bulkier in the W. Mom thought she was playing dirty, but I disagreed. Tully was Tully- I had thought she wasn't playing this tour, so I was pleasantly surprised to see her out there. The Aussies seemed surprisingly physical, although it was more out of the guard spots than it was the post spots. I'm really looking forward to seeing some of the younger players come over eventually. There aren't enough Aussies in this league. Something needs to be done.
What a wonderful day for Jess to have one of her best games of the year. No, she didn't hit her shots, but she did a damn good job drawing fouls and getting to the line. There was one play where she was on the boards and the ball just went to those big hands of hers like it was magnetized. If she can work on her footwork and foot speed, or just steal Courtney Paris's feet, she'll be a monster. She did take a hard hit to the face in the late third or fourth and was pretty much out after that. Tina Thompson looked *good*- maybe it was just because she didn't feel the need to put on her lucky lipstick, maybe she finally put her shoulder back together, but she was ON. She played a lot of three with two bruising post players out to help her, which I thought was an interesting little wrinkle; who are our threes with Catch out? Kara Lawson was all over the damn place- if she keeps up this pace, I don't want to hear any more about any damn Becky Hammon. I'm officially on the "Liberty, please draft Candice Wiggins" bandwagon. Love to watch her go. Parker was hot early on, but seemed to cool early in the game. Loved me some Courtney Paris, but that's nothing new; big girls need love, too, no discriminating. Most of the Americans seemed to be on top of their game. Milton-Jones wasn't particularly memorable. Augustus showed she really was working on the defense thing, but… eh. Bird really did not look good, and there were a couple of moments in the game where I turned to my mom and said, "You know, it'd be nice if we had a backup point guard, one who could make good passes, maybe shoot a little, defend, take a lot of punishment… wow, I wish I knew of a guard like that in the pool."
Sarcasm. Just another service I offer.
The stargazing was almost as much fun as the game itself! St. Joseph's was tailgating about two parking spaces over from us, we spotted Patty heading for will call, and we were in the row behind Michelle Edwards (who was going over this season's Rutgers uniforms with someone, presumably another employee of the state university of New Jersey), who gave me a peculiar look when I whooped and hollered for Jess until I popped my shirt. A few seats down was Jenny Boucek, who, um, really shouldn't walk around Trenton like that. There were Owls and Tigers and Pirates, oh my! (I have the sneaking suspicion that one of the Temple student managers was in our row; she looked rather familiar.) We almost got run over by a Princeton center. Chelsea Newton was in our section- RU has some really nifty sweatshirts this year! I think I also spotted Anne Donovan's mum, or at least a Donovan of some sort; she looked just like AD, except older, with fluffy white hair. Someone else spotted Blaze, and yet someone else spotted Cheryl Miller. Took all the intestinal fortitude I had not to walk up to Patty and say, "That Davenport kid can play, huh? Would've been nice to see her on the court for us." I think I was afraid she'd think I was serious- please bear in mind that the shirt I was wearing was my Davenport tee.
I'm really looking forward to Wednesday; maybe we'll have more of the roster by that point and it'll be more competitive.
Requisite ID: brunette, blue Davenport tee, section 115, abandoned all hope of finding everyone.