Everything's bigger in Texas, the referees really don't know what they're doing, and Skylar Diggins does.
And then it was off to the WBCA high school All-American game, in the company of the lovely ladies from Full Court Press, some folks from Purdue, one woman who I accidentally hit in the face while putting my jacket on, and a few other miscellaneous people. Oh, and a bus driver who had to have done his initial lessons on a horse and buggy. Good LORD. He had no idea where he was going or what he was doing. Still, there's nothing quite like the feeling of looking out the window and going, "Hey, that's Coach Staley." (Or, for that matter, "...did I just walk past Carla McGhee?")
Washington University in St. Louis has a beautiful little gym. Very crisp and clean. The seat cushions wouldn't fit in my bag, but they would have come in really handy on those hard bleachers. Really big crowd, all things considered, because I don't think they were prepared to open the upper deck. I think we were actually sitting in the wrong place, but the Big East pad that t6w gave me probably made me look convincing, even though I was mostly using it to keep track of gear I'd seen or schools I could otherwise prove had been in the house (I mean, I didn't see anyone in South Carolina gear, but I consider Dawn Staley and Carla McGhee to be successful representatives of the Gamecocks). I'm going to continue being starstruck liek woah, because OMG we were four rows behind Pat Summitt and OMG we were a section over from Sylvia Hatchell, and OMG was that Marissa Coleman who just went by? In case you have not figured out yet, a) "eeee omg eeee omg eeee omg" has been my train of thought for most of the last week, and b) there were a lot of familiar faces at the game.
I know everyone's got themselves squeeing their pants over Brittney Griner, and she has the tools to become a star player, but right now, she's not an immediate OMG type player. Yes, she's a defensive presence because of her height and wingspan, and she changes shots both directly by blocking them out of bounds and by forcing people to shoot over or around her and therefore take some godsawful shot, but so does DeHaan, and DeHaan's not talked about as a superstar. I think Griner will develop- Mulkey will force her to- but right now she looks unsure of herself when not shot-blocking, and really has to work on the fundamentals of her game. I wasn't really impressed with any of the players on the blue team. I know Griner put up the big numbers, and I know Williams got to the line, and good Lord, is everything bigger in Texas? Damn, they got some posts. Clarendon's got a nice shot, but a dreadful tendency to exaggerate her falls.
White team had the players I was most intrigued by. Ruffin-Pratt may be, well, a bit of a prat, but she's ahead of her peers in one way: I could hear her on the court, communicating screens and whatnot, which is something I know college players who have trouble with, let alone incoming freshmen. I like Tinkle- she reminds me of a slightly scaled down version of Jayne Appel, so I suppose Stanford is a good fit for her. *g* Walker's got a nice stroke. A lot of players took their turns to shine- Tinkle, Ostarello, Oliver, Walker. But the player who impressed me most, the one who almost single-handedly pulled her team out of the hole, the one who showed the most hustle on both ends of the floor, the one who made me swear like a sailor when I realized my teams would have to deal with her four times each, was Skylar Diggins. If it weren't for the fact she'd be making my teams' lives hell, I could watch her all day. She's very smooth.
But Lord, were there missed shots and missed shots and missed shots, and for good measure, a few more missed shots. Unfortunately, the women's game isn't quite ready for primetime. Some nifty plays, but most of them were negated by missing the damn shot afterwards. I know it's an All-Star game, and those tend to be about as organized as that mythical herd of cats, but this was an exceptionally hot mess.
The refs didn't help either. First they were calling nothing, then they called two in a hurry on Greene defending Williams (which just made me think of that commercial- you know, 36 in a 35 zone?), then it got tight, then it got loose, then it got tight, then it got loose. They learned how to call travels with about twelve minutes left in the game, after everyone and their Aunt Sadie took three extra steps (Tinkle's footwork was especially egregious, but Vanderveer will knock that nonsense out of her).
They did little ceremonies for the junior college, NAIA, and Division II and III championships, and for the four All-Americans who weren't otherwise occupied. While Toliver, Lavender, and Bonner made themselves scarce afterwards, Coleman worked the room, signing autos for some of the young girls in attendance- she even worked her way up to the upper deck and hung out there. I like her more and more the more I see her, both as a player (the Vandy game) and as a person (the L'ville game and today).
It was nice to see Yo and the Warrior Princess serving as celebrity coaches. TT looks good.
I'm going to go collapse now. But this has been so much fun. Pictures will be up someday.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
April 4th, 2009: WBCA All-Star game
April 4th, 2009: NCAA Final Four open practices
Teams vary their atmospheres, and the Game Notes of Doom are starstruck.
OMG. OMG I'm actually here, so help me God. It's real. I'm in St. Louis. I think I may die of squee.
So my Final Four experience actually started on the flight to St. Louis, with a plethora of UConn fans, a temporally confused LSU fan, a small group of Stanford fans, three NEC basketball players, Phyllis Mangina (presumably on her way to the WCBA convention), and Rita Williams (presumably on her way to Geno's Final Four party). I think there were a couple of other people on the flight I should have recognized, but I was already operating on one hour of sleep (which I'm still operating on, so please don't be surprised if my accounts from this beautiful Saturday lack my usual eloquence and ability to make sense).
We checked into our hotel and found ourselves confronted with the UConn band and more than a few Husky fans. Orbitz picked a lovely hotel for us- shame about the infestation. ;) It was a bit of a hike to the Scottrade Center, which is a very pretty arena, but nothing too bad. Probably not something that could be done from Hoop City, though.
Oklahoma practiced first. It was a very dry, business-like practice. Started with loose stretching, some shooting, some post moves, then moved to inside-out plays, then perimeter shooting. Then the team split up and did a couple of shooting contests. I don't know the scoring rules, because it seems like they went twice, and after the second time, one group did sprints. My favorite part was the next drill, which involved using a set number of passes before taking the shot- seven or eight passes were the minimum. I liked the idea, especially the way some of the players executed it, with faux-penetration and backing away as if the defense had come in on them. Then it was on to more traditional drills- shooting, then shooting and defending, more shooting, and then a two-shots-at once drill.
Then we went to the Oklahoma autograph sessions, which is not so much "get your poster signed" as it is "wave hi to the nice ballers while you rush to the end and pick up a signed poster". It was kind of like being on a conveyor belt. Abi Olajuwon got a bit of a kick out of my shirt- I was rocking the Narbonne tee that Sass sent me. Wished them all luck and thanked them kindly.
Because we were on the Oklahoma line, we missed part of Louisville's practice, and I'm starting to regret that, because what we saw of it was hysterical. When we entered, they were doing dribbling drills and some individual shooting. Their band and cheerleaders, like every team but Oklahoma's, were involved in the festivities as well. They practiced free throws and did some more shooting. Then the dunks of great LULZ began- each Cardinal taking her turn running for the basket and being lifted to the hoop (or not- Coach and his loyal assistant did miss a couple of approaches) for a resounding (or not) dunk. We were rollin'. Then they scrimmaged. They finished up by stripping down to their compression bras and taking halfcourt heaves. They must practice those a lot, because there were something like four hits out of twenty shots- including one that was nothing but net, and one from Coach Walz himself. He was very satisfied with himself afterwards.
I don't think Geno was taking the practice seriously. He spent most of it shooting the breeze with Lobo, Burke, and a couple of the other ESPN blondes. Jonathan performed with the cheerleaders. They came out lapping the court a la the Liberty. Unlike the other two teams, they did their stretching as part of the practice- I guess they wanted to kill as much time as possible. They did some disorganized shooting. The bigs worked on their pivot moves. More shooting. Then there was a shooting contest of some kind, but I'm not sure what the split was. Loved the fast break sequences, especially when Moore got slick with the passes. Then they ran a few plays, but probably not ones they plan on using very often. More shooting. Shooting contest- posts took twos, perimeter players took threes, and the bigs won.
Stanford's tree is freaky, and needs another layer of foliage to be decent. They did some dribbling and ballhandling drills, ran a layup drill, did some halfcourt stuff, did a contest of some kind where the losers did pushups, and shot free throws. Then Sass distracted me, but I don't think we missed anything exciting.
I don't want to say the Huskies were popular, but the line for their autograph session was as long as the one for Oklahoma... two hours before UConn was scheduled to go. Crazy.
We changed seats after the autograph session, and ended up sitting behind some young coaches-to-be and in front of Joanne Boyle. I think I spent as much time scanning the crowd people-watching as I did watching the actual practices.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
March 31st, 2009: Arizona State at UConn (NCAA tournament)
UConn Huskies 83, Arizona State Sun Devils 64
The Devils are bedeviled, Renee Montgomery will not let her season end, and Tina Charles has moves on the court.
Hats off to Arizona State. They played unafraid the entire game, and until UConn found the afterburners, the game was closer than the final score would make it look.
Not quite the same crowd as on Sunday, but a goodly number of people were there, including a fair smattering of Arizona State fans. Considering the distance most of them would have had to travel, that's pretty impressive. Also have to shout out to the Cal and Texas A&M fans who came for the second game. They could have scalped their tickets for an extra ten bucks and gone sightseeing, but they stuck around.
Anthem was by the Arizona State band. I'm not a fan of the sped-up renditions, but it was well performed. But on band notes, I really do like the UConn band director. She's very good at what she does.
Oh, Arizona State. If only you could hit the broad side of a barn. If only you knew where the barn even was. So many easy shots that didn't go down. It was horrifying. This would actually have been a single-digit game if Arizona State could hit open shots. Danielle Orsillo played well on the offensive end for the Sun Devils, and I thik she wanted to drag them back by her teeth if necessary. Briann January was trying too hard- making shots flashy that didn't have to be. Whether that was pressure to perform or perceived pressure on her part, thinking the UConn defense was going to kick her ass, I don't know, but it was not of the good if you were rooting for the upset. The big problem for ASU was that they couldn't get anything really useful out of their posts, whether it was because they couldn't hit the aforementioned barn (seriously, Lauren Lacey, 3/10? Who do you think you are, Jennifer Lacy?) or they couldn't stay on the floor ('sup, Sybil Dosty and your foul troubles?) or, well, they were just epic fail. Engelbrecht seemed less scared to shoot than usual, and had a couple of hard plays that might have dispelled her Bambi nickname. I'll tell you who really impressed me and I hadn't heard of before: Nia Fanaika. Not a major boxscore, stat-line game, but somehow she always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. CTT didn't go to the line changes as much in the first half as I got used to during the Texas A&M game, which I think hurt them- they're so used to going all-out because they know there are reinforcements behind them that they started hurrying their offense and slipping on defense. And whoever was supposed to be checking Maya Moore can meet me in the alley out back and I'll thwack them ten or twenty times with my clipboard, because how in the green and orange fuck do you not guard Maya fucking Moore?
Which, speaking of. Setting aside "how in the green and orange fuck do you not guard Maya fucking Moore?", she was a thing of beauty to behold. Those jumpers were so smooth, and she was all over the boards- ASU just couldn't get or keep anyone on her. For a while, I thought Charles was going to get her Jayne Appel on, but then she started getting sloppy and it was more like she was getting her Kia Vaughn on. Love the way she moves, though. Very sleek. Montgomery was going to the hole like she'd decided there was no way on God's green earth this was going to be her last collegiate game. Hayes did not play her smartest game tonight. Lot of freshman mistakes. UConn can't afford that in the Final Four. Kalana Greene was another one of those "in the right place at the right time" players. I think she's officially healed from the ACL tear. Can we say that? Dixon got run because Montgomery had the foul trouble, and it must have torn her up to have to slow the game down, keep the ball in the backcourt, and run clock to negate ASU's tendency to pressure the ball.
I know this is going to sound weird, but for the first time, watching UConn, I felt like I could pick out moves and countermoves on a grand basis. Most of the time, it feels like the two coaches are throwing what they know works at each other, and if it works against the other coach's thing, shiny, and if not, well, life's a bitch. With Auriemma and the Huskies- probably because he has so many things he can throw at an opposing coach- the adjustments are written clearly on the court. Having trouble with posts? Go big. Having trouble with a running team? Slow the game down. Things like that. As a fan of the game, I find things like this fascinating.
Also impressive: the UConn cheerleaders. I hope they have permits for those concealed guns, because, seriously, for a squad composed of women with average builds, those three-layer pyramids and extended lifts are fucking amazing, and probably speak to upper body strength that would make a grown man jealous. Mad props to Jonathan for climbing atop one of the pyramids in the second half. It takes nerve for a guy in a mask to trust to a bunch of people he can't see all that well.
The refereeing was inconsistent, and there were a couple of points where I thought Geno was going to get him thrown out... plus one point where I thought Dailey was going to tire of keeping him tethered, because she looked like she was trying to remember her old post moves from RU.
UConn's dancing after the game was so gosh darn cute. And damn, can Tina Charles bust a move or what? The way everything was moving at once- wow. I think one of the benchies was considering tossing her Trenton Regional Championship t-shirt to the band, but she decided against it. If I'd known Geno wasn't planning on cutting down the net, I'd have left at the buzzer, and these notes might have been written a couple of hours earlier. Please blame all incoherency on the fact that it's about two-thirty in the morning.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
March 29th, 2009: Arizona State at Texas A&M (NCAA tournament)
Arizona State Sun Devils 84, Texas A&M Aggies 69
Takia Starks presses, but Tanisha Smith impresses, and Briann January takes over.
So, to the credit of the UConn fans, many of them stayed around for the first half of the second game. They were in strange company. Here's a sampling of the gear we saw while surveying the arena. Bear in mind that while some of these are local schools, others are... not.
"Excuse me, sir/ma'am, but you're in the wrong region/round": Maryland, Tennessee, Prairie View, Notre Dame, Villanova, Virginia, Gonzaga, Ohio State, Texas, Pittsburgh, Duke, Rutgers, UNC, Temple
"Excuse me, sir/ma'am, but you're in the wrong tournament": Boston College, Georgetown, Syracuse, St. Francis, Penn State, Princeton, Penn, Mount St. Mary's, Clemson, UCLA
"Excuse me, sir/ma'am, but you're in the wrong division": Caldwell, TCNJ, Pace
"Excuse me, you're doin' it so very wrong": the guy in the Sonics jersey.
"Excuse me, ma'am, do you want to die?!": the women in the shirts celebrating Summitt's thousandth win. In Rutgers country. Surrounded by UConn fans. In one of the foulest cities on the East Coast. I wouldn't be surprised if they *hadn't* gotten back alive.
"Excuse me, you're doin' it awesome": the Lobo jersey that was not mine, the old school UConn #23, the Sun cap, McHuskyfan and JJ.
Now that we've done a survey of the crowd, on to the game. Major style points off for the ASU mascot running around without his head on. If you're not going to have it on the whole time, don't come out in the mascot jersey. Liked the ASU band, though. Upbeat and very much into the game. A&M didn't seem quite as loud, but it was hard to tell, given that they were at the other end of the arena, and unlike Cal's band, I hadn't heard them before. The maroon velour was interested for the A&M dance team, but they bore an unfortunate resemblance to harem girls.
I'm selling my draft stock for Danielle Gant. She put up a nice line, but she's not gonna be able to pull those moves off at the next level, and I don't think there's that much room for defensive specialists on the 11-woman rosters. I think Starks let the importance of the game get to her a bit- she seemed to be pressing a bit, though that might have to do with A&M's style as much as anything else. (Is #3 a coincidence, or is she into bad puns?) Micheaux's weird hairstyle kept distracting me from her game, and when that didn't do the trick, her attempt at Lisa Leslie shorts did, especially since she had the Charde Houston saddlebagged shorts going on. Didn't much care for her. Was very impressed with Tanisha Smith, though. Nice shot, great defense. She was all over the place. White and Carter also left good impressions.
Who knew I'd been pronouncing Briann wrong all these years? I get the feeling a lot of people are going to learn the proper pronunciation very soon. Big game for her. She kept the ball rolling for that busy Sun Devil team. Engelbrecht actually shot. I think I heard caune dying of shock from my seat. Sybil Dosty looks like and plays like a woman who would like to know what the hell her parents were thinking when they named her Sybil. She gave them a really good first half. Lacey gave them a really good boost off the bench, for a given value of bench, since Arizona State plays everyone but the team managers. Orsillo showed a great knack for getting to the basket and drawing fouls. Lots and lots of really good bench play. And I approve of any team with a Becca, especially when Becca Tobin played well and did honor to the name. I have to admit, especially as late as this is, it's hard keeping track of everyone. Especially when there are so many numbers, and they're white numbers on yellow jerseys, which, no, just no. I liked the one Sparky was wearing better. Can we go back to the maroon for the sake of my virgin eyes.
It was a very interesting game, with an exciting pace, but damn, it was sloppy. Whether that was forced slop or speed slop, I don't know enough to tell. A lot of great defensive reads by both teams.
Dim recollection of confusing officiating, but the box score tells me Michael Price was involved, so -_- this is my surprised face.
I think Arizona State will at least make the UConn game entertaining, if not competitive. I certainly *hope* they make it competitive. I love Cinderella stories.
March 29th, 2009: California at UConn (NCAA tournament)
UConn Huskies 77, California Golden Bears 53
Tiffany Hayes goes off, Geno Auriemma outcoaches Joanne Boyle, and drama is brief.
Well, that was a very good half by Cal. Shame they couldn't keep it up, but most teams can't quite keep up with the Huskies, so it's not exactly a surprise. But it was a glorious, exciting half.
We were in the endcourts, seven rows up, which souds great until you learn that Sovereign Bank Arena was built primarily as a hockey arena and the boards are permanently fixed. There was a lot of space between the front row and the court. Room enough for a large track and two band pits. Nice, but a bit frustrating. We were in the middle of a mixed bag of fans- UConn fans in front of us, Cal fans a couple of rows behind, people in maroon to our right, a ow of Rutgers shirts in the front of the section, and I don't want to know where or why or how the woman in the "Feed the Turtle" Maryland shirt ended up in there. But there were a lot of misplaced fans- but we'll get to that at intermission.
UConn band did the anthem. They did a credible job with it, though I'm not that fond of the steady drum backbeat arrangement (it's one of the things I hate about the Red Storm's rendition). Major points to the UConn band for not needing sheet music, just the prompt sheet from their director. And Cal always brings good band. I think what I like about them is that when they play a tune, it's actually recognizable as the song it's supposed to be. It's not distorted the way most marching bands are.
I really like Ashley Walker, but I think her size is going to be a disadvantage. She did a great job working against Tina Charles, but I don't know if she can do it night in and night out. Great game today for her. I hope Devanei Hampton is getting her degree in something applicable to the real world, because she was really moving awkwardly out there. I know she was never that fast, but she just couldn't keep up, and her shots were crap. Vital was trying too hard, especially in the second half. She was really forcing the offense. Ditto for Gray-Lawson, who hit some shots early like she was trying to restore the Lawson family honor, but who faded down the stretch. Greif didn't get involved much at all. Neither did the Cal bench- Boyle substituted very sparingly, and I think that was a major problem for them in the second half- their key cogs just didn't have the juice left to run with the Huskies.
And Geno did a great job adjusting, too. There's a reason the man's WCBA COY and his team's undefeated. He started the second half big with McLaren for Greene, and that just completely choked off Cal's inside play. No inside play, no points, no rebounds, and it becomes a helluva lot easier to collapse on the outside shooters. Bam. Of course, the fact that Tiffany Hayes had a career game could not possibly have hurt either. She was hitting shots all over the place, setting up her teammates, and I didn't realize how fast she was until she hit the jets like she was at Daytona on a fast break. And then people kept losing Maya Moore in the second half, and I'm screaming words to the effect of "HOW THE FUCK DO YOU NOT GUARD MAYA FUCKING MOORE?! Cal should b smarter than this!" Montgomery is smaller than I thought. Wasn't impressed with her decision-making, but I guess I didn't have to be. Offensively, Charles wasn't much of a factor, though she and McLaren set good screens to get the guards free, but defensively and on the boards, the big Huskies were bigger than the big Golden Bears.
There were a lot of UConn fans in the house. In other news, the sun rose in the east. They really do a great job of taking over arenas and bringing their customs along (which didn't exactly thrill the boy- see remark above about UConn fans in front of us, and consider that Husky fans stand until the first basket). Good pockets of support for Cal, too. For some reason, the RU fans got behind them. Yes, a lot of people in Scarlet- they'd bought those tickets and they were going to use them, gosh darn it. And since the last major sticking point in shared neutral space for UConn and RU is conference loyalty (see: Storrs pod), the Scarlet stuck with the Blue and Gold.
Inconsistent refereeing, but I'm too tired to bitch. Besides, the difference in the game was UConn adjusting and Cal... not... not the officiating. I hate praising UConn, both because it goes against my grain as a hater of hype and because I'm a Rutgers fan, but there's a reason they're undefeated. Several reasons. And they showed 'em all off against Cal in the second half.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
March 26th, 2009: Boston College at St. John's (WNIT)
Boston College Eagles 68, St. John's Red Storm 64
The Red Storm go out fighting, Carolyn Swords swings a mean pair of arms, and Stefanie Murphy owns the paint.
If it had to end, I'm glad it ended this way, on our home floor, knowing that we left it all out there in a game that was hard-fought to the last seconds. It's better this way.
Very disappointing crowd. I don't think the rain helped, and St. John's is genuinely crap at promoting events. BC brought some very loud fans, which only spurred the student section and the few, the proud, and the random to get even louder. Also, loved Crawley's suit. Considering the perfect fit and the fact that it matched her team colors, I'm going to guess that it was specially tailored. Well done.
The band did not suck tonight. This is some kind of miracle, but small miracles like that were in plentiful supply tonight. Of course, it figures that they'd save one of their better performances for the last game of the season. ;)
Carolyn Swords appears to have found her cojones. Now, if she'd just stop feeling them, she'd be twice as effective. She picked up four fouls I this game, and three of them were offensive. And they were nasty offensive fouls, too- I'm not sure Coco's seeing straight after that elbow she took to the face in the first half. She turns interesting shades of red- not quite Richie Adubato red, but definitely interesting colors. Stefanie Murphy was the difference-maker for the Eagles. Off the top of my head, I can think of four offensive rebounds that she went up and put back in. We just couldn't stop her. Da'Shena tried, Joy tried, Coco tried, Recee tried, and rarely were they effective. Constant double-teams and ball-hawking made Mickel Picco a non-factor- except that the people defending her then couldn't defend anyone else, which led to open shots for Thoman and Brown. Whitehurst off the bench was a defensive presence- in general, those big forwards and center for BC clogged the paint, which really fucked up our offense, and if we can't make that quick entry pass inside, we really don't know what to do next. Though we were trying to run them so that Swords would continue to turn those interesting colors, Crawley answered by going deep into her bench. They fed the post and crashed the boards, and ta-dah, they came away with the win.
But not without some friggin' amazing shots from St. John's. Sheree Ledbetter opened the scoring for the Red Storm with a deep heave to beat the shot clock. I think she was just as surprised as we were that it went in. And then there was Kelly McManmon's touch-pass putback as the shot clock was winding down, and then there was Britney Murphy's three near the end of the game, which banked off the glass and bounced off the back iron before going in. I'm really not making any of this up. But I'm worried about my girl Joy. Well, I'd be worried if we had more of a season coming up, but since we don't, she has the rest of the year until November to shake herself out of this slump, whatever it is, and I'm pretty sure she can manage that. She's still making a lot of the defensive plays I love her for, but for the last few games, she didn't contribute much on the offensive end. Kelly seems scared to shoot. Come out of your shell, Kelly! We need you! Sky really stepped it up on both ends of the floor, shooting, stealing, and blocking. I'm starting to think she's going to be our big game player for the next couple of years, and I hope she helps Da'Shena develop that kind of nerve. Da'Shena seemed out of sorts, and that might have had to do with the pressure, or that might have had to do with trying to defend those BC behemoths at one end and having them breathing down her neck on the other. Sheree continues to try and make things happen by being in the right place at the right time, with the mixed results you'd expect from a sophomore thrown into the starting lineup after the star senior decides to be a spectacular dumbass. (No, if you think I'm letting McLean off, even now, think again.) The bench played very well for us. Recee pulled her weight in the second half, though I'm starting to be annoyed at how often she goes to the fadeaway instead of taking a simple jumper. Britney got her feet under her. Coco, though her accomplishments won't show up in the boxscore, had a very good game. I'm rough on her, but she was in the right place at the right time a lot of the time.
Who did Bonita Spence and Denise Brooks piss off to get stuck working the WNIT? Not too many bad calls, and surprisingly few travels, given Bonita's propensities. I hope to see this crew, together or in parts, working in Trenton, because if we get stuck with incompetents like Enterline and Price while this crew's working the second-rate tournament, I will scream, and I will scream so loudly that the Scarlet faithful in Oklahoma City will perk up their ears at the cry of one of their own.
So after two false starts, this really is goodbye to Carnesecca for the year. This really was the end of the line. I'll miss my collegiate home court, the place I call my home base no matter how far afield I wander. I'll miss my friendly security guys, who are used to me and my mom and make small talk when we go through their inspections. I'll miss our DJ, no matter how many times he plays the same songs over again and misses the cues half the time. I miss the nice lady at the concession stand who always serves me when I get my pretzel or nachos. I'll miss the televisions, even when they're not on.
I'll miss Kelly's parents, who stubbornly trucked in from Massachusetts for every game, especially Kelly's friendly, optimistic mom. I'll miss Sky's mom, whose big hair, bigger boots, and even bigger personality make it very clear where Sky gets her personality (and rhythm). I'll miss our one-man noise section (though to be fair to SJU, more people did show up in the student section for some of the later games)- he may not have been very innovative, but he was loud and passionate.
So I guess it's time to say goodbye. Thanks for two years, Kristin Moore. You brought a steady hand to an unsteady backcourt, and your toes-forward, ball-behind-the-head jumper is one of my favorite shots ever. I'd have liked to see more of you, both in terms of minutes and in terms of years. Best of luck in all your future endeavors.
And... I guess, yeah. Thanks for three and a half brilliant years, Monique McLean, even if I do want to take a clipboard to your head right now. When you were on, you really were Little Sista Christon, and you really could have been drafted. Such a beautiful shot, such a sense of style, such a clutch player. Why did you have to go fuck it all up a month and a half before your NCAA career was scheduled to end? As the case may be, try not to be a fuckwit in the future, and good things may very well happen to you.
The rest of you? I'll see you in November, with your new friends. Thanks for the ride, Sky, Day, Britney, V, Kelly, Joy, Coco, Sheree, and Recee. As always, it's been a privilege flying with you.
Monday, March 23, 2009
March 23rd, 2009: Rutgers at Auburn (NCAA tournament)
Rutgers Scarlet Knights 80, Auburn Tigers 62
Rutgers plays a complete game, Epiphanny Prince puts on a show, and Brittany Ray and Heather Zurich put the screws to Auburn.
Holy shit, man. I mean. Holy shit. I didn't even think we were going to win this game, much less blow the hell out of Auburn. Maybe there was something in the air tonight. Maybe there was something in the water. Whatever it was, OMGYAY.
It's quite disconcerting to have Rutgers not be Rutgers and someone else be Rutgers. Hmm. Maybe that explains Auburn's offensive fail. They thought they were Rutgers. ;) (Because Auburn was the higher seed, they wore white and were treated as the home team, at least officially. But, well, as hard as Aubie, the cheereleaders, and the band tried, the Tiger faithful didn't have enough flags and signs to properly take over the RAC.)
I give Auburn's band the edge for coordination, synchronization, and repertoire. I give Rutgers the edge for extemporaneous enthusiasm. Auburn does have what's becoming one of my favorite cadences: a fast "D-up, D-up, D-up!" followed by three claps. It's an unusual rhythm. If I ever start my own franchise, that will be one of the scoreboard chants.
My word, that KeKe Carrier's a big woman, isn't she? Shame she doesn't have the endurance to play a full game. Fortner could have used her a lot more against Vaughn and Junaid. That forced Bonner into some really bad matchups, and though Bonner hit some amazing leaners in traffic (my viewing partner referred to those shots as "like shooting marbles" for someone of that height and lack of girth), that really took her out of her game, though the other big factor in her being out of her game is named Heather. Boddie looked out of sorts most of the night, though, again, the primary reason for that might have been wearing Scarlet. Smalley, though I absolutely love the quickness of her release, just couldn't hit water if she fell out of a boat today. Sherell Hobbs was really getting cranky. I was afraid she was gonna go after someone. Foul trouble kept Jackson and Hilliard from really getting into the flow of things, which was a major difference from the Lehigh game, since (at least in my mind) Hilliard was one of the best Tigers on the floor when they chewed up the Mountain Hawks. I think Fortner was just as disconcerted and confused as anyone that Rutgers was scoring so much, and didn't know how to adjust.
Epiphanny Prince stole the show with flashy offense, but Rutgers would not have won that game without the work of Brittany Ray and Heather Zurich. Ray was on Boddie, Zurich was on Bonner, and together they made life hell for the two Tigers. Bonner got very few uncontested shots, and she was almost scared to shoot at some points. And meanwhile, Zurich and Ray each put up 12 points. Solid game for Vaughn. Yes, a few of the usual "don't make me go down there and yank on your ponytail!" errors, but she did exactly what we needed her to do. Rushdan looked a little like she was forcing things, but she was nice to see on the break. Did have a freakout moment when she went down holding her knee, but she popped back up, so a sigh of relief was breathed. Stringer went all in for this game, with Junaid being the only reserve to see serious minutes to match up with Carrier- and for one stretch, go to a double-post lineup, with both Vaughn and Junaid in. It was interesting.
As Stringer pulled the seniors from the game with a minute left and RU firmly in control, the crowd started chanting Kia and Heather's names. It was a nice touch. It was also nice to see them goofing around on the bench. I like to see a team having fun, especially when they've just scored a big win. There's a time to be serious, and that wasn't really it.
Here's the move by Fortner that might well define how she coached this game: Rutgers is up 19-4, Carrier in the game. Stringer moves Junaid to the scorer's table to match Carrier almost immediately. Brittany Ray cans a three to extend the lead to 22-4. Fortner calls her second timeout of the half. Complete panic move, because if whatever you said when RU started 9-0 didn't work, it's not gonna work when you're down 22-4, and by calling time, that allows Junaid into the game to quickly counter Carrier's huge size advantage.
Officiating was... interesting. I think that might be the best word for it. There were a lot of odd calls, and a lot of make-up calls for the odd calls to try and even things out. I thought a tightly called game would be in Auburn's favor, since Rutgers is a more physical team, but it was fairly tightly called, and, well. If that was Auburn's favor, I shudder to think of what the margin would have been for a loosely called game.
My ears are still ringing. Have I mentioned that part yet? Because the RAC is an acoustic dream for noise from the stands.
We're going to need that Rutgers team in Oklahoma City, and we're going to need the bench to step up as the rounds wear on.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
March 21st, 2009: VCU at Rutgers (NCAA tournament)
Rutgers Scarlet Knights 57, VCU Rams 51
The Rams throw down, Epiphanny Prince takes over, and there's a whole lot of ugly going on.
*ding ding ding* Let the fight begin!
Rutgers is a hard-fighting, tough defensive team that isn't afraid to get physical. So is VCU. Anyone who didn't think this was going to be a rough game for either team clearly hadn't done their homework.
So what was it with the crazy #23s today? While I do like Jessica Taylor's ram's-horns hairdo, I thought she was going to attempt to kill someone by the end of the game. Maybe we can have her and Crites duke it out at halftime of the Rutgers-Auburn game for everyone's entertainment. Hollingsworth stepped it up in the second half for VCU, taking advantage of some of Vaughn's mental lapses. If Radislava Bacharova had been able to hit the broad side of a barn, I think VCU would have pulled the upset, but with Ray and Zurich taking turns in her face, she wasn't getting a lot of good shots, and most of the ones she did get didn't fall. Such is life. Waller couldn't hit a free throw to save her life, and she was really starting to get chippy by the end of the game. Lane did a good job controlling the Rams' offense. Rorie spent a lot of time in foul trouble, forcing VCU to go to their bench. (For that matter, Hollingsworth and her replacement Courtney Hurt [a very well-named young lady if ever I saw one] also spent a lot of time in foul trouble. It's a tribute to Cunningham's juggling ability that neither of them fouled out, though Rorie, whose trouble started this parenthetical aside, did.) A very physical team, a very physical game. Not much came easy for either team. Lot of elbows thrown, lot of hard screens, lot of bumps, lot of falls.
No, here's a slightly better illustration of how physical and hard it was: by the end of the game, Myia McCurdy was wearing #30 and Brittany Ray was wearing #40 because their real jerseys were bloodstained. (I thought Ray coming out in Linda Miles's #40 was a declaration of war, to be honest- "Okay, fine, you wanna hit? Well, guess what? We have people who can do that professionally. Bring it on.") But blood, sweat, and fistfights aside, this was Epiphanny Prince's game. When it got close, she pretty well decided that she wasn't letting this upset happen on her floor, and she turned on the jets. I keep forgetting, or maybe today was just exceptional, just how quick her hands are- she got a lot of her rebounds by stealing them away from bigger players, and then there were the straight-up steals on defense. Vaughn played all right, although I'm not enthusiastic about her constant forays out of the post on defense- she doesn't quite have the foot speed to make the cut back inside to get back on her assignment when the ball goes back inside. And if I start on the free throw shooting, I'm gonna barf all over the computer, and this computer's been through more than enough crap. Ray and Zurich had the busy tasks of stopping Hollingsworth's sidekicks, so any offense from them was a nice little bonus. Rushdan looks recovered (though there was one heart-stopping moment when she landed awkwardly and her braced knee bent oddly- she was fine, though), even if she couldn't quite keep control of the ball. McCurdy's giant, strappy knee brace makes her look like she's being assimilated by the Borg, starting at the bottom and moving up. It's actually kinda scary. Speed got some good minutes, and though she did make a questionable decision or two, she didn't play too badly, and with the RU freshmen, I'll take what I can get. (Baby steps. Baby steps. Not everybody can be Da'Shena Stevens. ;)) I'm terribly afraid I'm going to spend the next four years mixing up Lee and Pope unless one of them gets into high rotation. Junaid just didn't have her head in the game.
The refereeing in this game was loose and very inconsistent. I think the elbow-throwing/trash-talking incident that led to the two techs at the end could have been avoided if some of the other extracurriculars had been called beforehand. It seems like the refs are letting them play- at least that's the impression I got from the two games I saw- but there's letting them play and then there's letting them brawl. If that's the officiating style for the tournament, then I like Rutgers's chances against Auburn on Monday, because I don't think Auburn can bang that long unless Carrier stays miraculously out of foul trouble.
Shame on the fans behind the home bench for not showing up until the second game. That swath of seats that stayed empty throughout the first game, visible with every sweep of the camera, could not in any way have looked good.
Auburn versus Rutgers is going to be a very interesting game, and I look forward to seeing it. The strategy should be very, *very* exciting, but I'm a dork like that.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
March 21st, 2009: Lehigh at Auburn (NCAA tournament)
Auburn Tigers 85, Lehigh Mountain Hawks 49
DeWanna Bonner impresses, the Auburn band rocks out, and at least Lehigh travels well.
What, you were expecting competitive balance in a 2-15 game? In the women's tournament? What do you think this is, 1998?
Auburn traveled surprisingly well for a team from Alabama- they had a lot of distance to cover. Lehigh traveled very well. They brought signs, and guys with body paint. It's tourney time, bay-bee!
Two very good bands with very different styles. Lehigh brought a traditional pep band and a lot of enthusiasm. Auburn went all brass, except for a drum kit. I liked them both, but I give Auburn the edge. They performed an excellent anthem.
Lehigh looked out of sync, out of sorts, and out of luck. Alex Ross couldn't get a lot of good shots, and the ones she did get mostly didn't go down. If they didn't have that, they didn't have much at all. Erica Prosser only really found her cojones in the second half, driving and either scoring or drawing fouls like Suzie McConnell-Serio had shoved game tape of Merlakia Jones down her throat. Haly Crites is nuts. I really thought she was gonna start a fight by the end of that game, as physically as she was playing. They really didn't get a lot from their starters, especially in the first half, when one of their reserves was tied for the team lead in scoring. I think they were genuinely stymied by Auburn's size and speed. Trying to think back on that game, I just get the mental image of a lot of brown blobs with ponytails. There were no spectacular plays by them. No phenomenal moves noted down. Just a lot of missed shots and turnovers.
DeWanna Bonner scares me a little. There's skinny, and then there's "did someone stretch her out on a rack before the game?", and Bonner is the latter. In terms of build and the way she moves, I found myself thinking of one of my Red Stormies, only Bonner is way taller. She's got some nice moves, a long lanky grace, and the ability to really screw with a team's game plan. Boddie's shooting is... yeah, I'm going to be diplomatic and go with "interesting" here. Good hands, though, especially on the defensive end today. Unfortunately, Lehigh's boxscore is fucked up, so I'm trying to match a bunch of random names to a bunch of random numbers and another bunch of names I don't know all that well. There's something I like about Chantel Hilliard, but I just can't put my finger on it. As you can tell, I say that a lot about players.
As you can also tell, it's been a very long night, and I'm tired, and I really don't remember much about this game, and honestly, I'm not sure I want to. I mean, there's only so much you can write about a 36-point ass-whipping, right?
Friday, March 20, 2009
March 20th, 2009: Harvard at St. John's (WNIT)
St. John's Red Storm 83, Harvard Crimson 60
Da'Shena Stevens turns on the afterburners, and Red beats Crimson in a battle of shades.
I think what I am coming to love most about Da'Shena Stevens is that she is so damn determined never to lose. That's going to be so important in the next few years, assuming she doesn't make the same mistake as Kia Wright and let her emotions get the best of her.
Harvard brought a pretty decent-sized fan contingent. They brought signs. I couldn't help but think of the Eddie Izzard sketch. "Have you got a flag?" I think "Have you got a sign?" is the basketball roadie's equivalent. However, the guy that threw the rally towel back on the court is a jerk, and I curse him with a murrain.
The good news is that the horrible anthem singer of games past did not butcher the anthem. The bad news is that the St. John's band did. I think going to Ivy League games has spoiled me for fun marching bands.
Harvard, much like Dartmouth, has a lot of long, lanky players. Their offense mostly went through Emma Markley, who has the kind of aggressive presence I'm not used to seeing in the Ivy League. She wants the ball and isn't afraid to call for it. I like her. She made her mark on the game, no pun intended. I also really liked Emily Tay. She's got a nice build, she's got a nice shot, and she brings good on-ball defense. She had one wicked block in particular on what was going to be a great fast break for St. John's. Brogan Berry was the kind of pest you expect someone to be if they're six inches shorter than everyone else on the floor, not when they're five-eight. Christine Matera brought red-hot shooting off the bench, canning threes all over the place- she finished with four triples. Emma Moretzsohn somehow doesn't look intimidatingly huge, despite being 6'7" and therefore four inches taller than anyone else on the floor. I think it's because she's slightly built. Harvard has a very communicative team. I heard the players and the coaches being verbally involved with the game constantly. I like that a lot in basketball, and I think it encouraged our ladies to start talking to each other, which has been one of their major problems this season.
Off-court amusements: Coco's hair exploded. Sky gets her dance moves from her mother- it was particularly hilarious when they were both dancing to "Let It Rock". During one shot during shootaround, Sky came down really weirdly on one foot and just started cracking up.
Da'Shena started off hot, then cooled off, then decided, "Fuck this, I'm taking over." in the second half. Twenty points, all on two-pointers; not a bad haul, all things considered. Good hands, too. Not a great night for Joy, but it didn't have to be, with the minutes we got from Recee and Victoria. Yes, Victoria. I nearly fell off the bleachers when KBA brought V in with ten and a half minutes to go. And we all burst into wild applause and whoops of joy when she hit her first two shots and got fouled on both. The free throw shooting is a problem. Victoria, may I suggest hanging around Kelly for that? She's the only reliable FT shooter we have left. But I'm really, really glad she's starting to get into the flow of games. We're going to need her next year. Sheree kept making things happen. She's a very energetic player, and though her enthusiasm sometimes gets the better of her, she's an asset to the team. Kelly didn't find her groove until the second half, but she had the most dynamic play of the game. Sky pulled the trigger a bit quickly sometimes, I thought, but overall she didn't have a bad game. Solid bench play tonight, too. Well, Coco was Coco- if there's a dumb mistake to be made, she'll make it- but other than that we got really good bench play. Kristin played a few good minutes. Britney took a little while to get into the flow- she made a couple of dumb freshman mistakes, and then almost got broken on a three-pointer, but she got herself straightened out eventually. Recee played tough, and I think she changed the complexion of the game, especially when she and Victoria were in- Dartmouth wanted to get physical, but when we came with the bigs, they couldn't answer, because their posts were tall and skinny.
Kia Wright was at the game- she's been at quite a few of them, actually, but she brought a really bad haircut to this one. Some of the recruits were behind the bench. Monique McLean was wandering around. This last made me want to hit something with my clipboard.
So it's on to Hartford now. Anyone wanna give me a lift? I'll pay gas money.
There will eventually be pictures here, as there are for St. John's games, but it might take longer than usual. Be patient. It's tourney time.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
February 28th, 2009: Dartmouth at Columbia
Dartmouth Big Green 63, Columbia Lions 61
Run, assholes, run! The Ivy League provides the drama that the Big East lacked.
After due consideration, and with the nagging need to wash the foul taste out of my mouth after the mess at St. John's, we headed uptown, where Columbia was hosting Ivy-leading Dartmouth. Turned out to be a much more interesting game. As this was an Ivy League matchup, I'll attempt to keep my diction as elevated as the Ancient Eight would demand, and I beg your indulgence if I fall short.
Levien Gym may be my favorite "gym that is clearly not in a discrete building" facility in the area (as opposed to "gym that is clearly in a discrete building", such as Carnesecca or Mack, and "gym that might be in a discrete building, but I'm not sure", such as LIU's court). s court). It balances the necessity of being small with a lot of the amenities of a larger arena, and does so with great practicality. The pleasing shade of blue might also have something to do with it. It looks like they've done some work with Levien since the last time I was there. The video board pleases me, and the fact that Columbia makes use of it makes it even better. I don't think any other team I've seen has an animated intro quite like Columbia's, with Roar-ee's run to the gym.
Senior Night for Christina Gordon and Katrina Cragg was very touching. It's a bit harder to get blue roses than red and white ones, so they had to be satisfied with Columbia-blue ribbons around their bouquets.
Anthem was by a nervous-sounding member of the dance team who eventually got over her nerves and gave a very pretty rendition.
Signs you might be at an Ivy League sporting event: the band's repertoire includes the theme from the original Tetris. I really liked them, and their trick of "slow counting" the clock- it actually worked on one play!
So, Dartmouth. They all seem to have very similar long, lanky, physiques- length, not breadth, is the key. Brittney Smith dominated the offense in the first half, and while she still got hers in the second, the other two major players for the Big Green that night stepped up next to her. Margaret Smith (her older sister, in case you were wondering; I know I have since they visited St. John's last year) didn't contribute quite as much. Koren Schram was quiet in the first half, but her shooting got hot in the second. Combine that with Darcy Rose's knack for getting to the line, and Dartmouth ran away with the second half. McFee, their last starter, really got taken out of the game by foul trouble. It's funny- it felt like Dartmouth was having their way inside, scoring in the paint and controlling the interior game, but statistically, Columbia outrebounded the Big Green and outscored them in the paint. (Of course, since free throws don't technically count as points in the paint, the disparity becomes a little clearer.) Rose swings a mean pair of elbows. Actually, most of the Dartmouth players do, though that may be a function of long skinny arms being bent in defense of the ball. Their long-range game got them right back into things at the beginning of the second half- Columbia seemed calm with a twelve-point lead, then Dartmouth uncorked three threes to put them right back in range, and from there it was nip and tuck right up to the end.
I got the sense that only one of Columbia's seniors starts on a regular basis, judging from rotation and minute allocation. Gordon acquitted herself well in her start, and Danielle Browne, who she displaced, was a real spark off the bench- if she's not careful, Nixon might think that's a good idea for next season, a la Candice Wiggins for the Lynx or Becky Hammon in 2000 for the Liberty. Sara Yee remains two pounds of crazy persistence in a one-pound bag, the kind of player I have a very soft spot for, especially when they hit big shots. There's something I like about Lauren Dwyer, but I can't quite put my finger on it. I can see how Judie Lomax started out at a Pac-10 school- she's tough and fearless, with good instincts for the ball. I can see why she would choose to move down several notches on the athletic totem pole, setting aside the obvious advantages of a Columbia education over an Oregon State education: at 5'11", she wouldn't survive as a power forward in a BCS conference, she doesn't have the speed or consistent outside shot to transition to an offensive wing player, and at least in the one game I saw, didn’t seem very interested in playing defense. Caitlin Stachon seemed a little too interested in adding degrees of difficulty to simple shots, which became important when the game got tighter.
And the game got tight in a hurry. The refs helped. Sorry, but a cross-check at midcourt on a stationary defensive player is not a block. The last play of the game was one of the more egregious lack of calls, though. Columbia, down two points, missed a shot, and a scrum developed under the basket. Pretty clear foul on Dartmouth- Darcy Rose, I think. No whistle. Then, as the buzzer goes off, they whistle a foul... on Judie Lomax, adding insult to injury (since Columbia was already in the double penalty). The referees conferred, decided not to call the foul on Lomax, and then ran out of the arena as fast as they could, with the Columbia crowd booing, hissing, and yelling at them, and the Columbia band chanting "Run, assholes, run!" Cowards!
I think we were sitting behind family or friends of one of Columbia's assistants. That makes me somewhat more relieved that we threw in our lot with the Lions, then, though it would have been uncouth to do anything but when we were sitting five rows behind the Columbia bench.
Watch this space for pictures; they should be up by the end of the night.
February 28th, 2009: Rutgers at St. John's
Rutgers Scarlet Knights 65, St. John's Red Storm
We heard you like fail, so we put some fail on your fail, so you can fail while you fail.
Well, that sucked. Certainly not how I wanted the last home game of the season to go. And I'm starting to understand why Rutgers isn't all that popular in the rest of the conference.
We finished brunch around quarter to one, and pulled into the parking lot at St. John's (having rented, ironically, a Kia with Jersey plates) just ahead of the RU bus; the identity of the bus's occupants became a lot more obvious when they started unloading their gear, since fans don't generally roll suitcases along with them. The few minutes before the doors opened made it clear that Carnesecca's security guys haven't had to deal with large crowds in a while, at least not for a women's game. With the kids inside and the folks outside, there was a lot of confusion.
I never thought I'd see the day when I found UConn fans less obnoxious than Rutgers fans. But at least the UConn fans mostly left their chants at home. The Rutgers fans didn't. And trying to set up the R-U call and response within a section is kinda pathetic. Objectively, I appreciate the enthusiasm. Subjectively, if I see that middle-aged blonde woman with the glasses, or the old guy next to her with the Rutgers cap, at the tournament, I'm probably going to deck her without thinking.
It was really nice to see a lot of St. John's people come out, though. We actually made a good amount of noise, more than I'm used to hearing from the home team. Too bad that was the last game of the season- nothing to build on.
Senior Night was sweet- one advantage to having red and white as your colors is that it's really easy to make bouquets. It probably would have been more poignant if Kristin Moore weren't a bit player and Monique McLean weren't a spectacular dumbass. Way to get suspended for DWI less than a month before Senior Day, genius! And way to not wear pink for the PinkZone game! Peacock blue and black plaid? Really, Little Sista? REALLY?
Absolutely beautiful anthem by a group called the Metropolitones. Great harmony. A refreshing change from the crap we've been shoveled.
You know, as much as I've been kvetching about Kia Vaughn's head being up her ass this season, I was kinda hoping it'd stay there for this game. It didn't. She showed the speed and agility that make her a very interesting prospect for her size, and she made it impossible for us to get much of anything done on the inside. She'd be better off laying off the pouting, though, and she and Prince need to switch shorts before someone has a wardrobe malfunction. Rushdan really impressed me- very good instincts on both ends of the floor and a good strong build. Prince didn't need to do much, and she just kept getting to the line in the second half (although I laughed when she crossed herself over- ur doin' it wrong). Zurich got into foul trouble, and always seems to be at the wrong end of Stringer's quick hooks. Ray hit the next to last shot, much to my annoyance- we'd been doing so well at keeping her out of her comfort zone, and it was one of the few things we could take pride in. McCurdy's knee wrap/brace thingy frightens me. It seriously looks like she could take her leg off and beat someone with it. We had freshmen sightings, mostly in line changes. About the only thing I remember about that is that Stringer took the time to ream out Pope and Speed on the floor before she let them go back to the locker room with the rest of the team, which seemed uncalled for- they hadn't done anything so egregious that they needed to be punished immediately. But that's been Stringer's MO this season.
Our free throw shooting did not help us. At all. And inside, we couldn't get much of anything done, which is Da'Shena's and Joy's bread and butter. Da'Shena kept trying threes by the end of the game, either panicking or afraid to take a shot at the Scarlet defense (or maybe she was just tired of being hit), and they didn't go so well. I expect her to improve that in the years ahead if she wants to make anything of herself. Monique really would have been fucking useful, but I'll get over that sometime in the near future. Joy worked her ass off, but when you're 6'0 and skinny, having Kia Vaughn as your matchup is kind of the dictionary definition of having drawn the short straw. There's a reason Vaughn was having a block party. And RU's defense really hacked at Joy's fatal flaw: her utter inability and unwillingness to handle the ball. A lot of St. John's turnovers were on the long passes that were desperate attempts to get the hell out of the trap. That went for Britney and Sheree, too; Britney's just a freshman, and Sheree's never been a good ballhandler. Sky kept trying, but she doesn't know her weaknesses, and while that's sometimes an advantage, it's not when you're launching deep threes as a 21% shooter. Kelly tried to keep us in it in the first half, but we couldn't get the ball to her in the second. I really think Coach should have given Recee more run and Victoria some, at least to get some size in there against Vaughn and Junaid and open up a little space for the rest of the team to work. And I just don't understand why no one on this team doesn't seem to know how to set screens and picks. Work with your teammates, people. Help them out. You're supposed to be able to work with them, remember?
The refereeing sucked. I've said this once and I'll say it again: at this point, I'm no longer asking for competence, just consistency. If you call a hack on one end, call it on the other. If you call a play a travel on one end, call it a travel on the other. Although, if we're going to get into competence, I think the one play where Coco was trying to box out Kia Vaughn and suddenly levitated backwards might be the worst no-call I've seen in a long time. Or, well, one of the worst, but more on that later. I really don't like the deterioration of RU's style- they've always been defensive, and always been physical, but they're getting dirtier and nastier. More holding, more hitting. I don't know if it's just the rough edges showing for a team with limited veteran presence, or if they're just frustrated at the way this season's gone, or if this is one of the ways where Stringer seems to be losing her team, but I don't like this direction, and if I didn't have tickets to the first two rounds at the RAC, I'd have handed in my fanship card for good after this game.
No pictures. There were people in front of me and the Senior Night/Day/WTFEver ceremonies weren't facing me.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
February 25th, 2009: Seton Hall at St. John's
St. John's Red Storm 78, Seton Hall Pirates 57
An ensemble cast brings much-needed awesome back to Queens.
Even in the worst of seasons, every team is vouchsafed one game where things flow well, where everything goes right, and even if it's just for one moment, you can pretend that you're among the greatest teams in the world. St. John's had that game tonight.
Okay, so the anthem was awful beyond all imagining. I have no idea why they keep asking this guy to sing, because while he may work with the team, he has no voice. At all. It's very bad. And he keeps screwing up the words. Now imagine all this in a wannabe R&B falsetto with the rasp of a bad mic behind every word. There's a circle of hell where this is done somewhere for all eternity. I hope never to do anything bad enough to send me there.
That was fail. Epic fail was Monique McLean, making her grand reappearance in a bright yellow sweater that was far too tight and a gray leopard-print skirt that was also far too tight. If you're going to show up after disappearing for three games with various sordid rumors swirling around you, at least do so without looking like you're going streetwalking afterwards.
I'm not quite sure what's happened to Seton Hall since the last time I saw them. They have talent, but they've just gone flat. Noteisha Womack's numbers will look flashy, though we kept her off the boards- but she got a lot of quick points in garbage time, when no one was really guarding her. Shantel Brown did most of the damage for the Hall in the first half. She reminds me of a miniaturized Natalie Williams. Kandice Green showed flashes, but it really did kinda show that she's a freshman tonight, and that she's not quite stepping up a la Da'Shena. Didn't really notice Ebonie Williams except when she popped those threes- really didn't notice Jadis Rhodin at all. I was very surprised to see Kashmere Joseph and Nicole Emery so far down in the rotation- certainly Whitney Wood showed me nothing that would suggest she deserves to be in the rotation. Joseph needs a new bra. Emery disappeared tonight. I don't know what happened to her. I got my first look at Shanai Heber- she didn't play in their game against Marshall. Good distributor, but not savvy on the defensive end, and a bit bloodthirsty in lost cause minutes- near the end of the game, she looked like she was trying to run Sheree Ledbetter down to foul her, with Seton Hall down twenty. I think Green's going to be the next big thing for this team- if Mangina coaches her.
I love ensemble games. Statistically, Da'Shena's 17 and 7 probably makes her the star of the show, but this was a real team game. Da'Shena stepped up her scoring in approximately the third quarter to help us maintain control. Sky played well- one board away from a double-double. Joy was working hard on the boards and inside. Sheree got the start, and while her numbers aren't eye-popping, the offense ran faster with her in the game (though she's got to move her hands on defense, or Coach will try to go out there and move them for her). Kelly hit her shots and made plays on the sidelines. Coco had one of the best games I've ever seen her play- whatever she had for breakfast this morning, I hope she has again on Saturday, because we're gonna need that energy, that effort, and that offense. Recee, facemasked once more, brought nuch-needed physicality against some rough play by Wood and Joseph. Britney was solid, including one incredible rebound that I didn't think any guard who wasn't named Deanna Nolan could pull off, involving high vertical and long horizontal. Kristen came in, hit her first shot, and was solid. We even had a Victoria sighting. Some great team plays, some great heady plays.
Play of the game for obvious satisfaction: Coco gets the ball in the high post. She doesn't have a shot, so she whips a pass to Kelly on the wing. Kelly doesn't have a shot, so she snaps the ball inside to Joy, who's got an easy lay-up. Crisp, efficient, successful.
Play of the game for subtle satisfaction: near the end of the game, Sheree, or maybe it's Britney, is having some trouble shaking off the Seton Hall defenders. Kristen, standing nearby, claps her hands sharply to let Sheree know she's open, and gets the ball.
Got to talk to Sky's mom after the game. She has the kind of dominating, or perhaps domineering, presence that her daughter thinks she has and may yet grow into.
Gotta love coaches at the end of blowouts. I think everyone heard her yell, "RECEE! PLAY SOME DEFENSE!" when Womack blew past her on a play. Attagirl, Kim. Never be satisfied. (And never let your kid try to distract you during halftime when you're just trying to get back to the bench. Poor Trevor just wanted to be hugged.)
Dear Ms. Joseph: things may be different in Britain, but the next time you grab Recee like that, you better have bought her a drink first.
I'm still just caught up in the relief of having won a game. Because I had to miss the MSG games, the last time I saw them win was against Boston College, back on December 21st. :(
This was good. We needed this.
Watch this space for pictures.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
February 22nd, 2009: VCU at Hofstra
Virginia Commonwealth Rams 55, Hofstra Pride 43
The Pride and promise of Hofstra. They're just not quite there yet.
Signs you have moved up the food chain in the conference hierarchy: the arena you're visiting has luxury boxes. I'm not actually making this up. I almost want to be, but I'm not. I feel like a broken record, but Hofstra has one of the nicest arenas I've been in all season- it's like we saved the best for last or something, which is really promising for the NCAA tournament. It's a bit tricky to get to if you don't know exactly what turns to make, but once you figure them out, you'll be fine.
The Pride motif is widespread among the athletic facilities- and there are a lot of them, all top-notch for a CAA team, probably higher in quality than the conference average. The arena's tricky to navigate in, but when you realize that the turnstiles you go through are taken away so that you can go out to the vestibule and pick up your Pride souvenirs or your Pride programs. Said program is a bit pricey, but it's well worth it- very informative and refreshingly free of typos.
Continuing on the squee angle, the anthem was performed very beautifully by a Hofstra junior. Rachel, try out for American Idol- if they won't have you, it's because you're too damn good for them.
As it happened, we hit a Pink Zone game- if I'd known, I'd have worn a more appropriate Liberty tee, either the Arthur Ashe pink one or the one with the permanently affixed pink ribbon. I felt so out of place. Both teams had very awesome t-shirts, VCU rocked the pink socks, both teams rocked the pink laces, Hofstra had a raffle: it was a very well-done Pink Zone. Thumbs up!
VCU plays a very tough, very scrappy defense that drove Hofstra absolutely nuts. The press singlehandedly put VCU in the driver's seat. I'd love to see VCU side-by-side with Notre Dame and see how much of that defense is derived from Cunningham's days at Notre Dame and how much is her own devising. After reading up on Quanitra Hollingsworth and her entrance to the 1000/1000 club recently, I wanted to see how she would perform. She's an interesting player- really bad shooting game today, but that's as much due to Fuller as it is anything else. Very aggressive, though, and good height, though a bit wiry. Someone ought to take a flyer on her in training camp. Radoslava Bachvarova picked up the scoring slack for the Rams, and helped them take control in the early part of the second half. Jennifer Lane also stepped it up in the second half. There's something I like about her manner, though that may just be because she reminds me of a slightly stockier Leilani Mitchell. Even though she's a freshman, she didn't seem rattled when her team was down double digits on the first shot of the second half. Kita Waller had a nice steal and did a lot of work on the boards. Cunningham plays a tight rotation, and I'm of the opinion that Courtney Hurt is very well surnamed.
Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy play from Hofstra. A lot of passes went awry, a lot of their errors were unforced or were player-control fouls. Niki Williams- who reminded me of Sue Bird at the outset because of the look of her- let the game slip out of her control. Very bad ballhandling, and questionable decision-making. Joelle Connelly started off hot, and maybe she was trying to help defend Hollingsworth and Bachvarova, but she just disappeared after the first quarter of the game. Fortunately for Hofstra, Jess Fuller started happening and just kept happening until she started getting hit with fouls in the second half (which, more on that later). Natty Fripp was playing some kind of bipolar- one minute she was cringing in the middle of a scrum for a rebound, the next she'd dive into the tall trees and go for the driving lay-up. One minute she'd hustle, the next she was almost running away from the ball. I don't get it. Aamira Terry didn't really show up until the second half, when she started putting up some highlight reel shots- but that's all she was trying for, not the simple shots. Sam Brigham gave them some good minutes, and really gave them a shot in the arm when they were trying to extend their lead in the first half and the early part of the second, but she had absolutely no idea how to go to the ball. Seriously, at least two passes zipped past her and out of bounds.
And yet the Pride kept themselves in the game, or at least they tried to. The refereeing was extremely uneven, in terms of what they called, who they called it on, and when they called what. It's true that Hofstra had to play much less disciplined defense than VCU did, since VCU was the stronger team, but some of the calls against them, and some of the calls not made against the Rams, were borderline, to say the least.
Once Hofstra gets a better team- and I know that's a lot to ask for, with the Virginia schools dominating the conference- I'd be more than happy to hike back out to the Island and enjoy their lovely facilities again- but until then, I think I'll give Hofstra a pass.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
February 14th, 2009: Syracuse at St. John's
Syracuse Orange 79, St. John's Red Storm 78
Happy Valentine's Day! Britney Murphy has big brass ones, but Nicole Michael and the Syracuse Orange are bigger in less metaphorical ways.
I maintain, and I suspect that I always will, that a one-point loss is more disheartening, more demoralizing, and more frustrating thay any number of blowouts will ever be. I know in my heart that we really had no chance of winning this game, and that we shouldn't have been as close as we were, but it still drives me up the wall.
Epic fail: Monique McLean was not with the team, and isn't going to be for a long time. Which brings us down to 10 players, only four of them guards, three of whom start. Slim pickings. Not amused.
Hillsman reminds me of a teeny tiny Charles Barkley. That's not a sight I really want to see. His team doesn't have *that* much size, but they used what they had effectively, especially when it came to Nicole Michael- because she's so long-limbed, she was able to reach over our posts and snag rebounds, and when she didn't snag them, she was able to bat them to her teammates. They absolutely kicked the shit out of us on the glass. It wasn't the second chances that killed us- it was the third and fourth chances that got us. Morrow didn't have a great shooting game, but she hit the shots when she needed to. Chandrea Jones went off like a firecracker in the first half- for a while it was her and Kelly going toe-to-toe. She quieted down in the second, but by that point, 'Cuse had gotten their city girls going. What's up with Tasha Harris and the sleeves? Just curious. They got decent bench play out of Troya Berry, who was helpful when Jones got into foul trouble- they could go to a bigger lineup and really drive us up the wall. Gobuty hit a critical shot to help put the kibosh on one of our comeback tries.
Without McLean, we had to start Britney Murphy, who's normally the first guard off the bench. She's a freshman, and there were times during the game when she looked like she was in over her head- but gun-to-the-head time, she showed that she has brass ones like church bells- the three shots she hit were all big ones: one right at the half to put us up four, one to cut Syracuse's lead under double figures, and one with 2.6 left that put us within one and made a win at least theoretically possible (until Syracuse went long and the ball went right to Michael). She needs to not be so tentative when it's not gun-to-the-head time, though. Kelly was red-hot from downtown in the first half, but 'Cuse got on her in the second. Joy tried, God knows Joy tried, but Michael and Murray really exposed how unsuccessful a slender six-footer is going to be at the four in the Big East- she got pushed around and beat up a LOT. Da'Shena Stevens is missing. Goddamn UConn fans must have kidnapped her and replaced her with a Pod Person that doesn't know how to shoot free throws; airballing one free throw is barely acceptable for a post player with a dicey release, but airballing two is completely not on. Fess up, Husky Hardcores- which one of you took her, and what do you want for ransom? Sky had a decent game- not great, and she and Britney both showed that they're not ready to be primary offensive options yet. The two shot clock violations proved that- we just don't know what to do without someone to take the shot, and with Pod!Da'Shena and no Monique, we don't have someone who'll take the shot. Coco continued the trend of not completely sucking, although she committed some very stupid fouls. We can't afford stupid fouls right now. Kristin came up big off the bench. I've always liked her. She has a steady hand and a quirky jump shot that looks like she's throwing every ounce of her soul into it. Recee was critical off the bench too- with Joy and Da'Shena both being ineffective, she had to step up and throw down with the Syracuse posts. Doing so literally, however, was not really necessary- she and Erica Morrow got into it near the end of the game, though from the looks of it, Morrow started it by taking a shot at Recee's masked face. Antagonizing 6'1" of Texas badass=FAIL.
Guess who's back from knee surgery? Lisa Mattingly! Guess who didn't miss her? Me! The refereeing got pretty tight near the end of the game, and she had a lot to do with it. I felt bad for Darryl Humphrey, being stuck with her and Mrs. Enterline. We got the benefit of a lot of borderline calls, though, I'll say that. When I'm making the sign for three seconds at Joy, yeah, not such great refereeing.
Decent crowd, though the sheer number of city girls on 'Cuse's roster might have something to do with that. Very cheesy Valentine-themed contests. I think they're desperate to find fans, though, given that I was offered the seat upgrade for the fourth time this season. Trust me, guys, you don't want my mouth down there.
I think some of the band may have been missing. The sound was lacking something. (Okay, it was also lacking competence, but what else is new?)
I honestly don't know what to say anymore, I really don't.
Photos will be in the SJU album by tomorrow morning. I've got some other red-and-white plans first.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
February 11th, 2009: UConn at St. John's
Connecticut Huskies 77, St. John's Red Storm 64
It could have been worse. It could have been a lot worse. There, but for the grace of Da'Shena Stevens.
That was a much better game than I was expecting it to be. Our personal spread was 35. So losing by 13- especially with Monique having one of the worst games I've ever seen her play- is no shame at all.
It was kind of disheartening to trudge into the arena with my mom and have busloads of UConn fans coming in behind us. I turned to my mom and said, "Right there are more people than are going to cheer for St. John's tonight." We had decided before the game that our usual seats, facing the opponent's bench, would not really be appropriate for this evening, since we didn't really want to be surrounded by UConn fans any more than we absolutely needed to be, so we moved to the one place we knew would be Red Storm country- the section behind the home bench, specifically the top rows, where Kelly McManmon's folks sit, since we've gotten to know them the last couple of seasons. Great. Fine. Right up until a group of UConn fans tried to sit four rows behind our bench. The ushers finally clued them in that, no, just because UConn was warming up there, that didn't mean it was UConn's bench, although you'd have thought the density of people in St. John's gear would have been a hint. It got to the point where the ushers were directing St. John's fans just to that one section and ceding the rest of the arena to the Husky fans, like we were the road team and they were the home team. It was frustrating. It was almost humiliating. (And at that, they weren't completely successful, but that's because the elderly couple we let sit in our row lied to us. And then there was someone in a Taurasi jersey, and I have no idea what Carrie's loyalties are, only that she always wears road gear.)
I don't know if we'll be back over there again, but it was fun sitting with Kelly's parents and Recee's mom (who takes as little guff as her daughter does). Da'Shena's family may have been over there as well. Either hers or Tina Charles's, because I can't think of anyone else who someone could say "My sister did the damn thing tonight" about in that game, as someone did afterwards. Player families are fun.
I swear, I've heard this anthem singer at three different places now, and the acoustics of a larger arena do nothing for his voice. Nothing at all. It didn't help that he was back to screwing up the lyrics, either.
I can understand why UConn is undefeated- their top three options are among the top twenty or so in the country. I can understand why their fans are nervous- if Hayes and the rest of the supporting cast aren't on, that's all they've got, and while that's worked so far, I don't know if it can come tournament time. I was genuinely afraid of what would happen with Tina Charles coming into our house, given her size, and given our lack of size. The fact that she was slumping coming into the game only made matters worse. And she did kick holy hell out of us inside, because once she got the ball up, none of us were gonna get it down. Moore was going at it hammer and tongs with Da'Shena- it got pretty fierce out there, damn near chippy, and the refs weren't calling much on either of them. She killed our comeback chances with two consecutive threes, because somehow, two possessions in a row, Maya fucking Moore managed to stay open, I don't know how, but I'm surprised I didn't hear KBA protesting it as I left the arena. She really is beautiful to watch when she's not pushing off. And Montgomery's range killed us. Killed us dead. "Sure, leave the lottery pick open!" I kept protesting, because, seriously, what the fuck? Sag off Greene, sag off Dixon, sag off Gardler, sag off who the fuck ever, but the above three players should never ever ever ever be open. Hayes has a really pretty shot, too, and a lot of range. I guess she wears that number for the more traditional reasons, not because of that loudmouth with the big schnozz who wore it a few years ago. ;) Kalana Greene was just... there. I don't remember her doing anything. Lorin Dixon seemed to think she'd found a jumper. Not so much, no. It was fun seeing her out there with Charles and Sky Lindsay, though. I'm sure the folks in the CtK gear were all psyched up for that. Kaili McLaren is really friggin' big. Meghan Gardler committed a surprising number of fouls that I would not expect the daughter of a coach to commit- though I'm thinking now she might have gotten some of those called on her in order to shield Charles, since Charles had three fouls and Gardler was a lot more expendable. And unless you're expecting me to comment on Tahirah Williams's minute of play- which you don't want me to, since the only thing I remember about it was an unnecessarily hard shove- that would be the end of it for UConn.
Da'Shena Stevens. Holy frakkin' shit, Da'Shena Stevens. She decided she wasn't going to be stopped, and that was the end of that. Given her roots, maybe she was just tapping into UConn's mojo, but she was strong and tough and fearless. And she had that thing going on that Fitz has where the ball goes in the basket, period, even if she gets hit- she had something like three three-point plays. Gotta love a fearless freshman. I don't know who spiked Kelly and Sky's Gatorade at halftime, but they need to do it more often. Both of them played indifferent first halves, and both of them came out like gangbusters in the second. My theory is that Sky knew she'd never hear the end of it from Charles and Dixon if she didn't play well tonight, so she turned it up. Some stupid fouls and careless passing marred her game, though- and really, for fuck's sake, shouldn't Sky be the first person to know exactly how stupid it is to try and go in headlong on Charles? It's nice to see Kelly finding her nerve again- we're going to need that if we have any chance at all of salvaging something other than moral victories from this season. We're also going to need Monique and Joy to step up, both as players and as team captains. I don't know what's wrong with Mo, but she doesn't look like much of anything right now- she certainly doesn't look like she could drop 25 or 30 on a team. She's not defending, she's not rebounding, she's not much of anythinging, and I'd love to know why, because I don’t like kvetching about her, because there's got to be a reason her game has gone so far down the crapper. And Joy- Joy's my girl, the one whose poster I've got on the back of my bedroom door, but she hasn't looked like herself in a while either, and while I'd like to take the easy route and blame her sprained ankle, it's been close to a month and a half. Either something worse happened while she was playing on it, or something else is up. And again, I worry. Credit where credit's due, though: Coco didn't suck today. She did a great job fighting for rebounds with the bigger Husky posts and cleaning up on the offensive glass. Yeah, she had her usual mistakes, but she accompanied them with god, solid plays. Recee broke her nose last week, so she took the floor in a mask and proceeded to take no crap from anyone. Unfortunately, her tumbling crown of golden curls had to be sacrificed to get the mask on. *sniffle* I'd like to have seen more of her- and more of Victoria, who also brings size, would have been an unexpectedly different look, and might have helped Da'Shena siphon off that Nutmeg mojo.
Fucking refs. We weren't getting any help tonight. There was a lot of holding that wasn't getting called, a lot of shoving, and the referees' complete inability to count didn't help at all. The two calls that stand out in my mind are one on Sky Lindsay that, as far as I could tell, blamed her for getting hit in the face, and one on Coco Hart that while, yes, technically it's your foul if someone trips over you while you're sprawled out on the floor, might have been avoided if Charles hadn't pushed her to the floor in the first place before tripping over her.
Play of the game. Well, first it was going to be Da'Shena setting up Joy. Then it was going to be Kelly setting up Da'Shena under the basket. Then, of course, it turned out to be HOLY SHIT DID DAY JUST BLOCK TINA CHARLES HOLY SHIT YES SHE DID INTO THE PADS FUCK YEAH!
I've discovered that I can't do three things at once. I can't keep score, take pictures, and scream my lungs out at the same time. I have to pick two out of the three. I picked the scorecard and the screaming, so the pictures are limited tonight.
We had a Kia Wright sighting! I'm... really not sure what she was thinking with that shirt, but it was nice to see Kia in the house again. And we may also have had a Greeba Barlow sighting, but if we did, she's lost some weight and done something quite impressive with her skin.
Very proud of our effort tonight- but the close games always leave me wondering what might have been, especially given Monique and Joy. Still, we played UConn close. Not so many teams can say that.
Pictures will be available here by sometime mid-morning, neatly sorted and categorized and all- right now, they're just there in a messy, somewhat non-chronological pile.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
February 8th, 2009: Loyola at Marist
Marist Red Foxes 86, Loyola Greyhounds 53
The Game Notes fall in love and depend on the kindness of strangers.
I think I may be in love. But not enough that I'm gonna spend $27 on train fare on a regular basis.
Note to future travelers from Grand Central Station to Poughkeepsie: HopStop will tell you that it's a mile and a half on foot from the Metro-North station to Marist. Take a cab. That mile and a half starts out in a sketchy neighborhood, involves a lot of hills, and culminates in a patch sans sidewalk right near Route 9. It's doable if you have nerves of steel and good stamina, but you'd be better off cabbing it.
The McCann Center is positively adorable. It's efficiently set up, for the most part, though they could do with another aisle for the center sections. It's obviously meant for sports that require a larger space, but the basketball teams make good use of the excess by setting up the snack carts, sponsor stations, and smoking exit behind the general admission section in the endcourt. The reserved seating is worth the extra $2- o noes, you're paying $7 for Top 25 basketball. Bring a seat cushion, though. The wooden bleachers are hard, and given Marist's crowds, you're not likely to have much room to stretch your legs on the seat in front of you. I do like the wood paneling of the room, and the extra scoreboard in the corner.
Marist has one of the best atmospheres I've experienced all season. Unlike many of the schools I've visited this season, they have a band, and a full band about forty strong, at that, with a very enthusiastic band director. They have both cheerleaders and dance team. They have flags. They have a slightly snarky announcer. They have a fight song. And they have fans. Oh, do they have fans. I can't remember the last time I was at a women's basketball game where I had people on both sides of me, people in front of me, and people behind me. The Brian Giorgis bobble-head giveaway was for the first thousand fans- and they ran out. I'm not used to this. St. John's still has leftovers from their season-opening giveaway.
(As for the bobble-head, I think my favorite parts are the lovingly rendered drawstring on Coach's sweatpants and the precision of the Marist logo on the jacket.)
Marist started off pitching a four-and-a-half-minute shutout, while putting 12 on the board themselves. It took about five minutes for Loyola to get a rebound. I'm not exaggerating here; Marist's scorecards include rebounding numbers, and I tried to keep track. I'm not very good at tallying the boards, though. The sheer magnitude of the ass-whuppin' meant that the reserves got lots and lots of time. Rachele Fitz only played half the game, and still put up 18 and 9; more impressively, after she sat with 13 minutes to go, Marist actually extended their lead by ten points. What I find amazing about her is that she finds ways to ensure that the ball goes in the basket. It just does. She gets hit, ball goes in the basket. It's more surprising when she misses a shot than when she hits one. Viani seemed off her game- again, I think teams are keying on her and forcing the ball out of her hands. Unfortunately for them, her teammates are just as good at setting each other up. She might be better served moving to the two-guard permanently and putting the offense in Elise Caron's hands. I'm really liking Erica Allenspach, who got over the reluctance to shoot that she displayed at Iona, and also showed off her very quick hands, much to the dismay of Loyola's ballhandlers. Laterza was working hard on the boards, and was a big presence inside that I'm not sure Loyola knew how to deal with. But the extent of the lead allowed Giorgis to play with his lineups and really get his reserves into the game. And again, I found myself really enjoying Corielle Yarde's play. She has some of Fitz's knack for making sure the ball goes into the basket, and she never gives up on a play- occasionally to her detriment. If she finds a lower gear to shift into when necessary, she could be the next big thing for the Red Foxes. Very solid bench play, overall. And it's always nice to see the last player off the bench- in this case, Courtney Kolesar- hit one, and the place erupted when she canned a three.
Obviously, it's hard to judge the talent and quality of a team when that team gives up 12-0 runs and loses by 30. The scoring tends to be limited, as do the rebound chances. That being said, Loyola seemed to depend on the three-point shot- perhaps they figured that having an on day was the only chance they had at coming into McCann and defeating Marist. And it sort of worked, with Siobhan Prior notching four treys and Ashley Alexander putting in three of her own. Marist was daring those two to shoot, and that was really the end of the story. I thought Kaitlin Grant did a pretty good job rebounding in the time she had- she picked up her third foul early in the second half and had to sit for a long time. Either she or Candice Walker was fairly hot-tempered when it came to foul calls- understandable, since Loyola did kinda get shafted in the first half. Melissa Bangay, off the bench, got some good looks inside- of course, the fact that the 6-1 forward was being defended by 5-4 guard Kristine Best might have had something to do with it, and credit Best with cojones. Loyola's coach seemed pretty desperate for answers- he called three or four timeouts when Marist was on their various runs, and I almost wanted to go down there and tell him that there really wasn't any way to stop what was coming.
Nice timeout management by the Red Foxes, as an aside, though it's a habit they shouldn't get into for close games: Yarde and Allenspach each used a timeout to maintain possession on what would otherwise be a jump ball, and both times Loyola had the arrow. Hey, you're up 25 and you don't get bonus points for keeping them, might as well use them strategically.
I had forgotten how much I missed the pageantry that is supposed to come attached to college basketball. It makes me wish St. John's had a clue.
But let's end this entry in a happy place. The people on both sides of me were very nice, especially the ladies on my left who, when I asked for a recommendation on what taxi company to call to get back to the Metro-North station (because, see above re: mile and a half hilly walk through sketchy neighborhoods and across highway) offered me a lift instead. My heartfelt and sincere thanks once again go out to them, and I hope to see them again during March Madness.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
February 1st, 2009: Marist at Iona
Marist Red Foxes 69, Iona Gaels 60
The Game Notes of Doom take in a classic clash of MAAC teams, and come away quite impressed with Rachele Fitz- and with the Iona Gaels' style.
All right. Now this is how you do it right, as compared to St. John's, where the ultimate goal seems to be finding out how wrong they can do it. Hold your heads up, Iona, if you aren't already. This is a reloading year, not a rebuilding year.
Iona has a very lovely campus, surprisingly old-fashioned for a school that was founded in 1940. So far, it's the only one I've been to that you really do need to grab a taxi to get to from the nearest train, though there's a bus that runs once every blue moon. And the arena is very nice, with a few practical amenities I could wish for BCS facilities. The auxiliary stat board, for one thing; throughout the game, it showed all the basic stats. I want one for Christmas. I'd also like a scoreboard team that actually uses the graphics panel on the main scoreboard for topical graphics and salient statistics for players at the line.
Signs you might have arrived at the game a little earlier than you should: the taxi you're in cuts off the road team's bus on the way there. Also, while you're waiting for the ticket office to open, Brian Giorgis wanders by, worrying that the bus driver has left because he had a card in the bus for someone.
Iona takes their team colors very seriously. Everything there is maroon and gold, except for the dance team- they wear gold with black pants in order to differentiate themselves from the cheerleaders. Bonus points for putting netting over the pipes on the ceiling. I can't believe none of the other arenas I've been to have done this. Such a simple precaution...
They does their introductions very snazzily- though I don't think they can actually shut the lights, they dim them, and the dance team goes into the stands and shakes their collective moneymaker. It's very professional-level. Hell, except for the Unfortunate Implications of having an all-female dance team performing to "Dude Looks Like a Lady", Iona puts together a better show than the BEast schools I visit on a regular basis. A PA announcer with a smooth voice, a kickin' sound system with great taste in music... if it weren't for the $12 train fare, I might shift conferences and become a MAAC momma.
Good fucking Lord, Rachele Fitz. She doesn't quit. And she seemed to love my camera; every time I took a picture of her taking a shot, she made it. I know she's more of a power forward at this level, but I think she's got the skillset to make the transition to the three in the pros. Not a great game for Viani, but since Iona predicated their first line of defense on getting the ball out of her hands as soon as possible, I can't really judge her. Maria Laterza's got good size, but she makes mistakes she shouldn't be making in the second half of sophomore year. She started, but Brandy Gang played more minutes and made more of an impact- she had one great block in the second half, and like many of her teammates, spent a lot of time diving on the floor. Allenspach seemed scared to shoot the long ball for some reason, even though she had quite a few open looks; only in the second half did she start taking those shots- and hitting them. I liked what I saw out of reserve Corielle Yarde, though that's one of those things I can't put my finger on. Marist's shooting, especially in the first half, sealed this win; you hit more than half your shots in the first half, and you get to the line often enough, you're going to pull most games out no matter how many times you turn the ball over.
Because Marist got turned over a lot. Give credit to Iona- they play one hell of a defense. They keyed in on Viani and Fitz, and for a while it worked. Then Fitz started really getting loose, and it was downhill from there. But their guard corps swarmed Viani, with Kristina Ford, Naeemah Ricketts, and Marissa Flagg all taking turns at her. Ricketts and Flagg were especially tough on her, and Ricketts runs a mean fast break. This game might have been a lot different if Kristina Ford had been able to hit the broad side of a barn; she finished 2/19 from the field, and a lot of those shots were very difficult ones- yes, a lot of them because of Marist's defense, but she seemed to be going for degree of difficulty a lot of the time. I like her instincts, though; she looked like a good player who was having a really, really bad game. I remembered Thazina Cook from Iona's occasional visits to St. Joh's, and she didn't fail to disappoint: very solid game for her, with a great knack for getting to the line. I thought Suzi Fregosi ran a good game- the team definitely struggled on offense when she was out. Iona seems to have built the basic MAAC template of bruising posts and small guards. They've got a Serbian center with a lot of potential, Milica Paligoric. She's only a freshman, but she's fierce on the boards. And fierce, period; there's something to be said for a woman who wears eyeblack for an indoor game. The former Yugoslavia has been fertile recruiting ground for Bozzella's team, since he starts a Serb and a Croat. Ivkovic is a damn good shooter, though her primal screams unnerved me a little bit. I'll credit Iona with a lot of class- since Marist dove for a lot of balls, they spent a lot of time on the floor, and there were two occasions when the nearest player to a fallen Red Fox was a Gael and the Iona player helped the Marist player up. We just don't see that kind of class often enough anymore.
Play of the game: Marist beat the shot clock a couple of times- once with Allenspach under the basket, making the extra pass to Fitz, once with Fitz returning the favor by feeding Allenspach for a three. I love when things like that happen. It seems like a sign of good chemistry to me.
Unsurprisingly, Marist brought a large contingent. Given that the schools aren't that far from each other, and given that Metro-North runs to both New Rochelle and Poughkeepsie, I would have expected more. A nice, loud bunch, though complaining about fouls not being called when the differential is 9 Iona fouls to 3 for Marist is a bit much.
The camera decided to cooperate this time, so pictures are here.