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: UMBC at Kennesaw State (at Seton Hall)

Just the Facts, Ma'am: In a morning match-up, UMBC came out victorious at Seton Hall, overcoming a fourth-quarter deficit in the final minute to win 57-53 over Kennesaw State. Te'yJah Oliver and Janee'a Summers each had 13 points to lead the Retrievers, with Oliver adding a team-high five rebounds. Alexis Poole had 18 points and 10 rebounds for Kennesaw State in the loss.

For a drama in one act, traveling fans, long roads, hazy recollections, and being so tired, join your intrepid and temporally displaced blogger after the jump.


You can't see my face, because this is the Internet, and this will probably be posted several hours after the aforementioned facial expression. But I'm not happy. I'm not happy because it's 7:30 on Sunday morning and I've already been awake for the last hour, because it takes that long to get to Seton Hall from where I am on a Sunday morning. I already disapprove of Seton Hall scheduling games at 11 in the morning, so you can imagine how I feel about scheduling a double-header. Sleep. Sleep is for the weak.

I have such stupid direction-face that I can tell someone I don't know where they're going and they still come back to ask again. And then she gets annoyed that I'm annoyed. I already told you I don't know what you want! Leave me alone!

I think this is the first time I've had a panhandler ask for directions to the place where they're going to beg for money. I'm too tired for this. I'm too tired for everything. Below follows a sample of why.

Panhandler: *panhandles*
Fellow passenger: "You already been this way, go around the other way."
Panhandler: "Nah, I'm not going that way."
(Exit Panhandler, that way.)

So here we are, ready to see Kennesaw State and UMBC in the first game of the second day of Seton Hall's Tip-Off Classic. Didn't get to see a lot of their shootaround because of schmoozing.

Kennesaw State's gear is very yellow. UMBC's gear is very black. They have sort of a baseball look going with their warm-up shirts. I shouldn't be surprised. They're Under Armour. I also shouldn't be surprised at that.

Hi, Danaejah!

At halftime of a competitive but not fundamentally sound game, UMBC is up 23-20 on Kennesaw State.

Under Armour seems to have a sports bra problem. Dominika Skrocka and Kayla Jackson are both bouncing badly. Skrocka is actually giving me sympathy pains in the chest.

Funny moment of the game: ball goes out of bounds behind the "celebrity row" chairs right on the sideline. It ricochets between the chairs and the first row of bleachers a couple of times. Finally, it comes to rest, and Kamiyah Street attempts to pull it up through the space between the seat and the back of the chair, only to discover that said space is not large enough for a basketball. This is followed by Tyler Moore kicking back a completely different chair as if it had offended her sensibilities. (To be fair, it was impeding her ability to inbound the ball.)

Family here for both teams- Berenato's for Kennesaw, Janee'a Summers's for UMBC.

That turned into a very fun game at the end. Free throws win ballgames, or so I've been told. UMBC left the door open briefly, and Kennesaw walked right into the wall.

Sariah Penese played very briefly in the first half and disappeared for the second. Kristen Teklits came into the game and turned the ball over pretty much on her first touch, so that didn't go well. Kayla Jackson got some second half run, and though the foul was a rough start, she played pretty well. Big, tough guard. (for the record, I didn't even notice Silvia Ferreiros come in, which is a little bit embarrassing, so can't comment on a player whose existence I literally forgot)

Dominika Skrocka kept her team in the game late with three-point shooting. Seriously, though, please get her a better bra. I'm about to go beg the Twitter account. Tyler Moore was named by parents who either didn't watch TV or watched too much of it. There's something I like about her, but I can't put my finger on it. Lucrezia Costa got a lot of minutes in the post, and got rough down there.

Janee'a Summers had family, or friends, or someone, in the house, since there was a whole lot of noise for her. I couldn't see them, since they got there after I sat down, but I could hear them. She made some big plays in the fourth quarter. Eryn Fisher got the start, but I don't think she played any of the crucial minutes.

O'lesheya Braxton showed some great defense in the first quarter, then got in foul trouble and sat most of the first half. Then she started the third quarter like gangbusters, driving the lane hard and scoring in rapid succession. I'm very impressed with her- and she's only a freshman! When she wasn't driving, Te'yJah Oliver was. They powered the Retrievers' offense in the second half. Paula Rubio brought height, but left no other impression.

Breanna Hoover didn't start the game for Kennesaw State, but she started the second half, and managed to foul out in those twenty minutes. Well done there, right? Lexi Mann got a few minutes in the first half and didn't look terrible. I'd honestly have gone with her more than I would have Simina Avram, whose only claim to fame in that game was her size. Avram couldn't hit at the rim, couldn't rebound, and kept having to be shuttled in and out of the game because of her conditioning (or lack thereof).

I may be a little tiny bit in basketball infatuation with Alexis Poole. She reminded me so much of one of my all-time favorites, DeAngelique Waithe. Her ups aren't quite as crazy, and she's not the maniac on inbounds that Angel was at LIU. But her style of play is so much the same, in the paint and on the glass (and yes, this does mean missing bunnies). I'm really excited to see how she develops. Carlotta Gianolla had to pick up more minutes than I think she wanted to. I remember her being in the mix a lot, but not necessarily making the play herself.

Amani Johnson ran the show with a firm hand. She's a tough little guard. I like her, too. Visually, she reminds me of Jen Fay, the Quinnipiac player I did so love to hate. (I say this with the greatest of respect.) Their playing style isn't similar, save for their shared love of going after loose balls. I think they need to get more offense from her. I think they also need to get better shooting from Kamiyah Street. I can see the weapon she can be, but it didn't work out in this game.

This isn't quite a power team like Berenato had at Pitt, although they've got some of that with Poole on the inside. I think she's okay with that.

I have to say, this game got pretty exciting in the fourth, when it was a slog of missed shots for much of the first. Both teams stepped up their game late. UMBC just had a little more firepower.

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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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January 21st, 2018: St. John's at Seton Hall

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Seton Hall came out energized and scrappy, and defended home court against St. John's, 62-57. Inja Butina had a team-high 15 points for the Pirates, while JaQuan Jackson added 14 points and eight rebounds. Alisha Kebbe had 15 to lead St. John's.

For the return of the awkward (you know what it is, what it does, what it is, what it isn't), parenthetical asides, hugging, not listening, oblique references to foul language, SERIOUSLY JUST LISTEN ALREADY, and showing the colors, join your intrepid and somewhat frustrated blogger after the jump.


And here we go. It's the most awkward time of the year, the one that happens twice a year: the Awkward Bowl, where I sit behind the St. John's bench and make as much noise as Joe will let me, and my husband sits across from the Seton Hall bench and makes as much noise as is humanly possible.

Why, yes, this is around the time of year when I really don't like Tony Bozzella all that much. He's gotten us into some fine messes indeed.

Looking at schedules, I've finally figured out why the trip to Seton Hall is so complicated- the MTA doesn't play nice with PATH, and PATH doesn't play nice with the 31 bus. None of them interact properly!

Well, we are here. Seton Hall is either hiding half the team or they're short-handed. I've heard rumors but I'll wait for the game to start before attempting to confirm them. But Taylor Brown is in a t-shirt and sweatpants, and I've heard that she's injured. And I don't think Donnaizha Fountain is available.

The dreadlocks really work for Kaela Hilaire when they're down. I'm so used to seeing them tied up.

I don't care who you're with or who you know, you lose the moral high ground on sartorial choices when you show up to a Seton Hall-St. John's game in a Rutgers shirt.

Seton Hall certainly seems to have turned out the youth teams.

Seton Hall's band is better than the one at St. John's. I'm willing to admit that. Now I have to go find a marching band version of "Confident" to add to my music collection.

Alumnae everywhere. Seton Hall did a ceremony for theirs, though the only ones I recognized were Chizoba Ekedigwe and Shakena Richardson (and welcoming Kena is a bit disingenuous, since she works for the team). Lubirdia Gordon's in the stands as well, though I don't know why she didn't want to be acknowledged as an alumna. Maybe it was a classwork thing? Kendyl Nunn and Danaejah Grant are behind the bench for the Johnnnies. I didn't recognize Danaejah with the new do.

Alisha Kebbe's family is also in the house, and I'm pretty certain Q and Machi's family turned out. Staten Island's not that far, after all.

I would love to give you juicy tidbits from behind the bench, but Joe swears more than I do. I recognize this is a statement of dubious value to the average GNoD reader, as I make a point of not using foul language here, but if you know me on Twitter, or on Reb's, or have heard me talk in real life, you know I swear like a sailor. The prevailing theme of his commentary is that the team needs to run plays instead of doing their own thing. I'm not quite sure why he's emphasizing this so thoroughly to Sox, but I understand his frustration. Seton Hall likes to live in your head, and if you're taking stupid shots, they've done their job.

All right, fine, the halftime score is 24-21 Seton Hall, are you happy now? Because I'm not. We're taking stupid shots and not capitalizing on Seton Hall's mistakes.

Well, that was also a thing that happened. Having freshmen guards in key positions can come back to bite you sometimes. We were not ready and we were not up, and Seton Hall played like a weight had been lifted from their shoulders. I don't think we were expecting them to be quite so carefree and loose, especially without an offensively dominant player like Fountain. Their freshmen shone, and ours didn't. Emphatically.

Kayla Charles came in, dropped a monster block, made a mistake, crushed a player, and that was the last we saw of her. I might have gone with her more in the second half; at least she'd have an excuse to make the mistakes we were getting out of the post. It's not like anything much worse could have happened. Akina Wellere was full of boneheaded mistakes, whether they were stupid fouls or not knowing the position of her feet relative to the endline (yes, we had a fabulous rebounding chance lost because her heel was on the line, and I just slapped a metal pillar at rage in the memory, and now my palm stings as much as my pride). She was hesitant at the wrong times and rushing headlong at the wrong times, and I expect better from her in the second semester of junior year. Andrayah Adams hit some nice shots in the lane, and I like how tight her defense has become, but she's got to exercise better judgment. Recognize how the game is being called, especially when you're the player being fouled; when KK is getting called for reaching on you, you're going to get called for reaching on her.

(It's postgame. Shadeen Samuels is rocking a Pirate blue tie like the Sorting Hat just put her in Ravenclaw. She makes the expensive preppy look work.)

Imani Littleton does not have the excuses of youth that Kayla Charles would have had. You've got to hit those open lay-ups, and you've got to be more cautious with the ball if you're a four-year senior. She had trouble hanging on to the ball, especially against Seton Hall's quick hands. Maya Singleton tried to force too much in double and triple-teams. I think she came in expecting one defense, got another one, and was ready neither for the size of Kimi Evans or the quick hands of Selena Philoxy. And once those first couple of shots didn't fall, she was trying way, way too hard to make something happen. You've got to go with the flow sometimes, and chucking the first shot that comes to mind is not always a good plan.

Coach was extremely unhappy with the guards today. Tiana England was especially good at drawing f-bombs out of him, because she was pretty much doing whatever she felt was appropriate out there, instead of following the plays that were being called (there was at least one possession where Joe muttered something along the lines of "I was trying to call a play," only with a colorful adjective inserted in front of "play"). I think Seton Hall got into her head early and she had no way to play her way out of it, and she fell into old habits to try and get out of it. Qadashah Hoppie drew the first shot at the unenviable task of guarding JaQuan Jackson. It went about as well as you would expect the match-up of a crafty redshirt senior and an erratic freshman to go. We tried a lot of different looks on Quanny. Most of them were less than effective. I think Q showed better awareness of time and score than T did, but both of them have got to learn to listen and run the play instead of freelancing. Alisha Kebbe was up and down- she hit big threes in the second half to keep us in the game (and I still think the shot they called a two was a three, don't @-me) and made a lot of hustle plays, but was occasionally careless with the ball. That being said, she probably had the best game for any St. John's player out there. That's not saying much.

Sometimes improvising is the right move. But you should at least try to run the play instead of chucking the first shot that comes available. Qadashah, Tiana, and Maya all fell into that trap. You have to know time and score, and most of the team had a problem with that (except Q, to some degree). Stop, collaborate, and listen!

(Why do I always end up in the same train car as the jerk who can't figure out what the little "no smoking" pictogram means?)

Kaity Healy was used to give someone a breather near the end of the quarter, not for any meaningful strategic purpose. Nicole Jimenez was one of the few gun-shy Pirates in this one, and I think her hesitation cost her. Given what they were getting from KK and Lena, I'm not surprised that neither 'Cole nor Jayla Jones-Pack got a lot of playing time. Jayla brought height, but not much else, and getting caught on a moving screen sealed her fate for the rest of the day, which sounds ominous when I put it like that. Let me rephrase it this way, then: both teams felt it was advantageous to go smaller, and for those times when they didn't, Seton Hall got what they needed from Kimi Evans.

Kaela Hilaire was up in everyone's business, as she does. I think I've discussed her distaste for the concept of the opponent having personal space before. The officials were calling it pretty tight on touch fouls, much to her dismay. I'm pretty sure KK believes she's never committed a foul in her life. She was full speed ahead at all times, and that led to both a lot of steals and a lot of turnovers when she lost control of the ball. Sometimes these happened in the same sequence. She took the ball to the rack and got free throws or put up floaters. She had a beautiful no-look pass to Jayla that Jayla blew the lay-up on, and I mean, come on, even I wanted that to go down, because you can't waste a pass like that. Selena Philoxy was one of the biggest keys to Seton Hall's victory. She's faster than her build makes her look, and her hands were everywhere. She forced steals out on the perimeter, where I don't think St. John's was expecting her to be, and went after every loose ball. She jolted rebounds loose and took them herself. This was probably the best game I've seen her have so far in her career, and even though I was rooting for St. John's today, I'm still so happy for her. Queens girls gotta stick together, you know? And so do public school kids.

(This is probably why I also have a soft spot for KK.)

Kimi Evans was big defensively, and I don't mean that just because of her build. She slapped down shots and protected the rim. She kept Maya from doing the things Maya wanted to do on offense, and that did wonders for stymieing the Red Storm's attack. She needs to work on her screen setting, because she got caught moving once or twice. But having an active, reasonably mobile, center who's wiling to do the little things to facilitate an offense does wonders for the rest of the team. Spaces open up and second chance opportunities appear. Shadeen Samuels attacked the basket aggressively- a little too aggressively for stretches, as she got called for multiple charges. When she did get the shot off at the basket, it went in. But I think Tony was questioning the three-point attempt almost as much as I was. When she's on, she's so much fun to watch.

All non-conference season, Inja Butina didn't want to shoot the ball. Of course today is the day she decides that she's going to be a three-point assassin and have a big offensive outing. I think the original defensive plan for St. John's was to sag off her and double on other people, and we stuck to that plan even when she got hot. Sure, that's when y'all want to stick to the game plan. She was extremely careless with the ball, which negated a surprising amount of the good she did on offense; the slightest bit of pressure was almost always enough to make her cough it up, which is probably part of why Joe was so irate we weren't doing even that consistently. She was more than willing to return the favor on Tiana, though. Deja Winters had a rough shooting day. Having Qadashah Hoppie rotated onto her after trying and failing to contain JaQuan Jackson didn't help her case. She stayed active on defense, though, with one especially beautiful steal off Qadashah as she came up behind her to help. I think Quanny was the defender Q had her hands full with at the time, but don't hold me to it. JaQuan Jackson looked like her old self from last year, dominant and assertive on offense, and that renewed confidence flowed into the rest of her game. One of the biggest knocks I've always had on Quanny is that if her offense isn't working, nothing else about her game is working- but when she's confident in her slashing ability, and she's able to create space with the dribble, then she becomes more active in the passing lanes and more of an effective defender. Her energy was through the roof.

Some really egregious non-calls in this one. Akina, I respect the hustle, but you don't play for the Blackhawks, please stop trying to check people into the boards. There was a lot of gross contact being ignored while hand-checks were being called. One of the refs seemed to have a rather large chip on her shoulder, like she didn't want to be doing this game. I don't know what her deal was, but she needs to get over it.

The Seton Hall crowd got into it. I should be happy about that, as a fan who wants the game to grow, but I would have been happier if the St. John's contingent had at least made some attempt to answer. I miss the Jersey girls.

Has anyone else noticed more hugging in women's basketball? I'm a little weirded out by the hugging thing. I'm not the world's biggest hug person, but I'm not exactly going to turn down the companionable "thanks for supporting the squad" hug, no matter how "um, okay, I guess?" I am on the inside.

Brooklyn needs to not claim people who are Queens. Queens is Queens. (And we're also queens, but that's neither here nor there.)

We'll see how things go on the road for these two squads, but it looks like Seton Hall just demonstrated how the addition by subtraction thing works, and St. John's has got to straighten out the communication issues.

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December 17th, 2017: UCLA at Seton Hall

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Seton Hall kept coming back, but UCLA kept pulling away in their 77-68 win at Walsh Gymnasium. Monique Billings had 17 points and six blocks to lead five Bruins in double figures, with Jordin Canada adding 11 points and 10 assists. Donnaizha Fountain had 23 points to lead the Pirates.

For blinking lights, Christmas decorating, tall people, banging the clipboard, gym drop-offs, guests, and moral victories, join your intrepid and packed blogger after the jump.


Good afternoon! Or good morning if you're of the West Coast persuasion, which I imagine more of you than usual are. It's game day at Walsh Gymnasium, and the Pirates are hosting nationally-ranked UCLA.

Pretty much exactly as I type these words, UCLA has entered the gym and started stretching. The blue seems darker than I remember. They have lights or sensors or something in the little rolly things they use to stretch.

Seton Hall's pre-game warm-up clothes range from undershirts (Kaela Hilaire and Taylor Brown) to standard jerseys (most of the team) to hoodies (Shadeen Samuels and Deja Winters). I didn't think there was that much of a temperature swing in here.

A lot of the usual suspects have arrived earlier than usual to stake out their usual seats- in fact, we got here about quarter past twelve and our regular spot was occupied.

Miscommunication between the band and the color guard. You're not supposed to start the anthem until the color guard is on the floor and the flags are in position, right?

Just for the record, it is poor form to complain about the officials when you're up double digits, and to then make unsubstantiated allegations against a player. Just saying.

Exciting game- UCLA is up 39-32, after being up as much as 13. Seton Hall's defense is there, but the offense is tentative, and UCLA's size is giving us all kinds of problems. Michaela Onyenwere got off to a very hot start for the Bruins and leads them with 10 points. Donnaizha Fountain has 12 points to lead the Pirates. Great defensive minutes from Kimi Evans and Deja Winters off the bench.

Well, I can't say we didn't have chances. I can't also say that UCLA didn't answer every single time. There's a reason they're nationally ranked, after all.

According to the ESPN box score, Chrissy Baird played, but I don’t even remember seeing her. The solid seal that allowed Japreece Dean to get to the bucket came from the big body of Lauryn Miller, no matter what my personal stat sheet said. (Poor kid kept getting misidentified in those stats- accidentally gave her the foul that Selena Philoxy committed. I should be used to my own formatting by now...) Chantel Horvat is tall for her position, like many of UCLA's players, but unlike her more experienced teammates she doesn't seem entirely used to it yet.

I can see why UCLA picked up Japreece Dean on the transfer- she's similar to Jordin Canada in build and spewed, though at least in this game she seemed to have more of a jumper and less inclination to drive. I think she's a good pickup for them. I don't know why Monique Billings didn't start, but she played most of the game. Something about her reminds me of Candace Parker- maybe it's just the build and the face. She was a shot-blocking machine in this one, with some spectacular ones to get the Bruins going in the first quarter. When she goes up above everyone else, she's unstoppable. But I don't know how much she relies on her physical advantages and how much she relies on skill and talent. I'm not sure how she'll produce against players of similar size to her on the next level. But I'm impressed with her play at the basket.

I don't know what I expected to see out of Jordin Canada. I'm still not sure I saw it, whatever it was. She's definitely super quick, offensively and defensively. When she drives to the rack, the only winning play is to get out of the way lest ye be run over. She's got fantastic court vision. But I see why people bring up her lack of a reliable jump shot. She had one or two that were very short, and I'm not sure they were just the three-pointers. She's also very slight (which is an amusing contrast to the rest of the UCLA squad). I see her strengths, but now I also see her possible downsides. Kelli Hayes was the backbreaker- whenever we got on a run, she'd hit a three and UCLA would find new life from it. That's the thing seniors are supposed to do, and she did it. When she got into foul trouble in the fourth quarter, Kennedy Burke stepped up in that role. Burke had a solid defensive game- she extends the defense, making sure the other team has no chance to get comfortable in the frontcourt. Most of the time, we can at least make the side-to-side passes that indicate a dithering offense, one that isn't sure what it wants to do. Burke's length on defense ensured that we couldn't even be indecisive comfortably.

Lajahna Drummer got the start in place of Billings. I... do not think the three-point shot is among her strengths. Judging by how quickly Drummer got pulled out of the game after that feeble attempt, I don't think Cori Close thinks it's one of her strengths either. She did not have a good game in the few minutes she got. On the other hand, I ws very impressed with Michaela Onyenwere, who seemed to be doing her best to make up for Billings being benched all by herself in the first half. I think she had the first six points for the Bruins. She cuts into the lane like a hot knife through butter. She's got a whole lot of potential- I can't believe she's only a freshman.

UCLA needs to work on ball security, or at least how to handle a swarm of smaller defenders. They could use some polish on offense, as well. They'll stop a lot of people who can't deal with their length and speed, but they're not necessarily going to win a shootout.

Coach tried inserting Selena Philoxy briefly in the second quarter, since our posts were either in foul trouble or really, really having trouble with UCLA's ability to sky for rebounds. She's more physical than most of our posts, but that still didn't help, so I'm not surprised she didn't play again in the second half. We actually got good minutes from Jayla Jones-Pack and the streak of Pirate blue in her hair- probably one of the better games I've seen her have. She seemed to be in her element amongst the tall trees of Westwood, even if the one shot she hit was mostly sheer dumb luck. She had a fantastic block on Jordin Canada. Kimi Evans showed flashes of defensive potential in her minutes.

Big offensive game from Nicole Jimenez. She hit the shots when it counted in order to keep Seton Hall in the game. Her insistence on slowing down the offense is going to drive me to drink one of these days (and I'm already on my second Diet Coke of the day). She's got to get a sense of urgency late in games. I mean, I shouldn't be riding her as hard as I am, given that she was the main reason we stayed in this game as long as we did, but her late-game clock management left something to be desired. I was very impressed with the day that Deja Winters had on both ends of th efloor. She, at least, seemed to have some understanding of time and score at the end of the game. She was ferocious on defense and timely on offense, and at least once combined the two with a steal and fast break lay-up. I love seeing her diversify her offense, and she did that in this one.

Now this is going to be the fun part, in the sense that repeatedly poking a bruise is fun. Kaela Hilaire's head was not in the game. I don't know where it was, but it was not in Walsh Gym. She gave up twice in a row on drives by Canada, which I think is when Tony lost his patience with her. Her defense was generally slipshod, and I can't even think of where she was on offense. JaQuan Jackson's shot briefly deigned to join us in the third quarter, then left again. I think it was a combination of Quanny being on a bad streak and UCLA's defense keying on her that shut her down, but boy howdy was she ever shut down. Donnaizha Fountain put up big numbers, much of them on volume. Sometimes I think she gets into her own head too much when she misses one or two shots, and that's pretty much a guarantee she'll miss at least one or two more. She seems to have become more offensive-minded than defensive-minded.

I disagreed strongly with the second foul on Shadeen Samuels, and that set the tone for the rest of her day. She played limited minutes and was hindered in those minutes. I love her pursuit of loose balls, but in everything else she was outclassed today. Taylor Brown played good defense and rebounded well, but couldn't hit water falling out of a boat. At least two of those misses were on the same sequence. I appreciate her toughness, but her inability to put the ball in the basket was a problem I just can't look past.

Time and score, y'all. If there are two or three minutes left in the game, and y'all are down nine, you've got to shoot fast. You can't blow ten-fifteen seconds of the clock dribbling on the wing because you're not sure what you want to do. Situational awareness didn't kill us in this game, but it killed any chance we had to have a chance.

Officiating was at the usual level of terrible. Counting is difficult, scrums are okay, and no one cares about contact. (On both sides. Don't think I didn't see you whack Laj Drummer in the head, Taylor.) I thought UCLA was being allowed to get away with more contact; a UCLA fan I was corresponding with during the game thought Seton Hall was getting all the calls. Clearly we can't both be right.

I've seen communication breakdowns between players and coaches, and between players on the floor, but I think this is the first time I've ever seen it happen with two cheerleaders- the one who was supposed to be lifted was on the wrong side of the floor, and one of the cheerleaders who was supposed to be lifting her let her have it.

Pretty full house. I would have liked for it to be a sellout, but I'll take what we got, especially since the side of the upper deck I couldn't see was apparently very full. Turned out that the people sitting in front of us had also sat next to us at a Liberty game, so they've survived the experience twice now. Bless them.

There was a dude at the media table who I swear was either Eric Thibault or his doppelganger.

Everything is a learning experience. We went up against one of the best teams in the country, and we had far from our best game, especially from our star players, and we gave them a fight. Credit where credit is due.

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