Just the Facts, Ma'am: Sometimes, size does matter, and it did for the Blue Devils of Duke in their 60-42 win over the Red Storm. Elizabeth Williams led the way with 16 points, seven rebounds, and five blocks. St. John's was led by Nadirah McKenith's 19 points; she added six rebounds, but had eight turnovers.
For hitting the deck, tall people, annoying kids, finger cramps, and pride, join your intrepid and indignant blogger after the jump.
I don't want to say that it was a tight transfer and that they were trying to cut down on the time between games, but they were loading the St. John's band into place during the second half, much to the ire of the people sitting behind them. They also had the Red Storm ready in the tunnel to come onto the court for the courage award presentation thing before the final buzzer was done echoing from Rutgers and Louisiana Tech.
I feel so bad for Eugeneia McPherson. She looked lost and pained, though very well dressed. I had the urge to give her a hug, but I get the strong sense that doing so would be hazardous to my health.
We momentarily lost Briana Brown before the game. Go before warm-ups, Bri.
Duke was up 36-21 at the half, and it could have been better. My initial halftime thoughts were lost to a computer freeze, but they're so hilariously bad in hindsight that I feel compelled to share them so that you can point and laugh and be amused: I was sure that St. John's would improve their free throw shooting once they were away from the disruptive influence of the Duke band (well, percentage-wise, I guess 1-2 is better than 4-10) and the resolute look on Shenneika Smith's face as her team headed back to the locker room made me think that she was going to put the team on her shoulders and will them to victory, or at least respectability (yeah, that didn't happen).
Duke is intimidatingly tall. Why we kept shooting into people who were that tall, I will never know. They know how to use it, too. That makes them even more dangerous. Ka'lia Johnson was first off the bench for the Blue Devils, and she worked us over pretty good. Chloe Wells couldn't hit her shots, but she was still disruptive on defense. Allison Vernerey was an intimidating presence just outside the lane; she guarded the boundaries as if she were on active duty to prevent anything from entering the lane. I'm not sure how good her body control is, though; she looked a little awkward out there. When most of the big Duke players look comfortable in their frames, it makes for a sharp contrast. Sierra Moore played briefly in the second half and drove the lane for her basket.
Pretty much everyone's been kvelling over Elizabeth Williams, so I'll join the chorus. The fact that she's only a sophomore astounds me. She has a great knack for finding the ball and the basket. She finishes underneath. There are veteran posts in the WNBA who don't finish with the kind of consistency that she did. If McCallie can coach a post like her, and if she can keep developing at this rate... wow. The potential is out of this world. Haley Peters did a nice job of working the backdoor lanes as well. She's frighteningly versatile. Tricia Liston banged two threes in a row in the first half, just when I thought we might have a chance to make a bit of a run near the end of it. Chelsea Grey did a little bit of everything, and if she'd shot less, I might have been more impressed with her, but it's hard to be impressed with 3-10 shooting. (As mentioned above, I wasn't thrilled with a 4-10, so... yeah.) Alexis Jones had a cheering section sitting right behind the St. John's band, so we got to hear a lot about her. She wasn't all that great, though. Committed a lot of fouls and only had the one basket.
Ashley Perez played just long enough for Keylantra Langley to get taped up after sustaining a scratch... and to commit a touch foul when one of her teammates had a clean block. Awkwaaaard... no, I'm just kidding; if they hadn't had Ashley to call the foul on, they probably would have called it on Shenneika just to call it. Keylantra played her usual good defense, but her knack for hitting shots at the end of the shot clock backfired; three or four times, she or one of her teammates would let the clock wind down, get the shot ready, and end up with said shot smacked back in their face. This is not a good plan against a big team. Amber Thompson brought good minutes off the bench, aggressive on the boards and solid in the paint. (Shame about that elbow jumper; it usually goes in for her.)
I'm sort of curious as to why Sandra Udobi's not playing; a physical post would be rather useful against Duke, and Coach Tartamella's handling of Aliyyah Handford showed that he was willing to let a freshman muddle through her own mistakes.
Mary Nwachukwu started the game on defense like she thought she was still at Boston College and this was a must-win conference game. Duke adjusted to her a little better, but she was pretty much put in there to box out, get rebounds (which she did rather fail at), and play defense. I don't expect offense out of Mary. To be honest, I've trained myself not to expect much out of Mary, and to celebrate madly when she does something good. Briana Brown was disappointing, especially given her hot start to the season, but a couple of those shots should have gone down and just fell prey to the merciless rims. She's matured a lot, though; we noticed better decision-making out of her on some plays, avoiding getting thwacked by large posts when she would have gone in recklessly her freshman year. Aliyyah Handford got all freshman-y on us and commited some not-bright fouls, though a couple of those were questionable calls. We saw the potential. We just also saw the mistakes. She'll learn. Point guards usually learn. Shenneika Smith just couldn't hit the broad side of a barn in this one. Part of it may have been the energy she had to expend on defense against bigger and stronger players, but she missed shots that she normally hits, and shots that we needed at cusps. I love the blocks, though. I love it when Shenneika reaches up those go-go gadget arms and swats shots. I also love when Nadirah McKenith is awesome, and fortunately, that happens a lot. She was shaky early, but after they took her back to the locker room for brief treatment on her back, she was the same Nadirah we've all come to love. She took charge of her team and made things happen. She drove, she hit threes, she took more body blows than RGIII, and she found her teammates. She showed the grit and the strength that are going to give her a basketball career somewhere, whether it's in the WNBA or overseas. She's bedrock when you get down to her.
There was a stretch in the second half when it looked like Nadirah and Amber were pretty much just digging into the University High playbook and playing their game. Since it was the only thing that was working in that stretch, I'm not going to argue with them.
I'm surprised that Coach kept telling them to run the clock and take the last shot, given how many times it backfired. I'm also not sure whether I would have made some of the subs he did. He seemed dangerously close to Nancy Darsch territory at times, in terms of subbing out players who were in the flow of the game.
The officiating in the first half was deplorable. I thought someone was going to have to get hurt before we got a decent call in our favor. To be honest, I wasn't sure if that someone was going to turn out to be one of the refs. Joe Tartamella was furious. He had to be pushed back into his box by two different refs, and I think the only thing that kept him from getting that technical was that it was two different refs. I might have gone for it if I were him. Fire the team up and show them that you're in their corner. Things evened out a little bit in the second half, but it still felt like no one wanted to see an upset.
Santa, I've been a good St. John's fan. Can you put down the trombone and give me a healthy Gina for next season? Yes, the band had a Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, an elf, and for some reason, a dog. We just pretended that he was a reindeer. Have I mentioned that I love the St. John's band? Because they've grown on me over the years, and the arrangements with the flutist are spectacular.
I'm still proud of my team. We lost, yes, and it wasn't necessarily pretty. But we lost to a better team that knows how to exploit all our weaknesses, and we never gave up. No matter what the headlines tell you- and these notes have suffered some delays while I seethed at headlines- we never gave up. We played our defense. We blocked ten shots from a team that was taller and bigger than we were. We held them well below their previous season low. They worked around us enough on offense and stifled us on defense with their size. If you ever want to tell me that they gave up in that game, watch the replay and tell me how many times Nadirah McKenith hit the deck.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
December 9th, 2012: Duke at St. John's
Monday, April 14, 2008
December 8th, 2007: Maggie Dixon Classic
Shavonte Zellous, Chante Black, and Rashidat Junaid impress; meanwhile, Kia Vaughn is… not well.
Nothing like a doubleheader where the gates open before noon to wake you up, huh?
First of all, I am not pleased with the turnout. Where the hell was everyone? I know the folks on this board did their part- I saw a few familiar faces in the crowd- but come ON. That was some pathetic attendance, and not attendance that would look good at all on the television. It's the kind of thing that makes people who happen to come by ask why it's on TV, or why it's in such a major arena. I mean, we did get some good noise out of the crowd, especially in the first game, where you had the Duke fans hollering, the Pitt fans hollering, and the Rutgers fans hollering for Pitt out of a combination of conference loyalty and the urge to see the team that just beat you lose in turn.
So, after all the talk this year of Marcedes Walker, as compared to the talk of her in previous years, I have to say I'm not as impressed as I used to be. She seems to have let the praise get to her head, because she's gotten very passive on the court- there were times when she was letting the tall but slender Chante Black push her around, and times when she simply wasn't chasing rebounds. At the same time, she's got brass ones enough that when her team needed her, she did step up, and enough that she has the WNBA logo tattooed on her right biceps- I couldn't see closely enough to tell whether she completely copied Cappie's tattoo or whether it's simply the logo. Shavonte Zellous also has the logo, on her ankle, but as of right now, she's got more of a claim to it than Walker does. That girl can ball, jeez. Now I completely comprende what the Maryland fans were talking about. She's a heartless shooter and a damn good hustler. I don't know if she really does have next-level game, or if she'll be exposed on bigger stages and/or without the muscle of Walker to back her up. Mallorie Winn… okay, I didn't get my program until halftime, so when I first saw #0 come off the bench and royally fuck up her first two passes, I turned to the boy and said, "Okay, she needs to not pass anymore." At which point she put up the most godawful three I'd seen all day to that point. So I figured that maybe shooting was a bad idea for her and she just needed to sit down. Then I got the program and realized that this was the once touted Mallorie Winn. Er, what the hell happened to her? No one else from Pittsburgh really stands out in my memory, although this probably has more to do with the fact that this was the first game of a doubleheader.
For Duke: Chante Black. I love her. Love at first sight. I like the way she plays the game, though she could stand to put on a little muscle. But I love the way she moves, the way she positions herself, and the fact that she seems to enjoy doing what she does. So many players have such severe game faces that the *game* portion of the whole thing gets forgotten. I was also very impressed with Abby Waner's hustle- she's got a nose for where the ball is going to be, and a boundless determination to make the ballhander's life a living hell. I don't know if she's a prospect, but she's definitely fun to watch. McCallie's big on posts (and on big posts), so I'm sure we're going to be seeing more and more post offense as she figures out what she has and what she wants. This might be a down year for them, but dollars to donuts their big push is next year. I mildly liked Karima Christmas, but I can't get past her name. (Not so much her last name, even- I work with a Karima who has a less than charming personality.) Again, I'm sure there were plays by Duke that intrigued me and made me go wow at the time, and were not Chante Black blocks, but time has eroded them from my memory. :(
Intermission consisted of some speechifying and some charitable donations, the second of which I approved of more than the first. All four teams were out there, some a bit more enthusiastically and respectfully than others. No brownie points to the two Blue Devils who chatted through the whole thing, and none to the RU players who were fidgeting. Not surprised that the Army players stood stoically through it, and would you really be surprised that Essence Carson was the picture of patience?
As an aside to whoever put together the remembrance videos: why did you think it was a good idea to show the one with Geno? Come on. The rivalry has gotten nasty enough that fans will do embarrassing things because of it. Yes, they booed the video. No, I'm not proud of them.
Beautiful anthem- they did it between games, perhaps so they could have the color guard?
Army was screwed when, three minutes in, Cara Enright went down hard enough that we heard her hit the deck, stayed down for a very long time, needed help to get up, put no weight on her leg, and went straight to the locker room. This is not a good combination of events, and bodes no good for a team when said events happen to their star senior guard. Alex McGuire had to take on the entire offensive load herself, and while she was willing and able, no one else could step up to help her. Hawkins and Anthony both did the bulk of their scoring late in the game, and Stone mostly disappeared after the first few minutes. Unsurprisingly, Army plays very tough, very physically, and very tenaciously. They welcome contact on both ends of the floor. They drive. They have surprising post presence for a team that can't really recruit above a certain height. They're fun to watch- I just don't know if they have the talent to compete, especially if Enright's out for any extended length of time.
I think Coach Stringer was pissed. Perhaps out of concern for nagging injuries, perhaps out of not wanting to run up the score, but IMO mostly because of the Duke game, she benched the entire regular starting lineup. There are small children who might not even have been aware that Katie Adams ever played who saw her start today. And Rashidat Junaid took full advantage to display her post moves and soft touch on the Garden floor. Granted, Rashidat started out with an advantage, in that a) she's already been playing better than Kia Vaughn, and b) er, we'll get to b later, suffice it to say that there may have been a reason Kia was playing like crap. Brittany Ray also decided to shoot the lights out, given the opportunity to start in place of Heather Zurich (who didn't play at all, perhaps because her face still isn't quite right after that hit early in the season, and if you don't have to…). I was glad to see Myia start, too, because I like watching her play- I don't think she's the kind of player who needs to start, but she's a most excellent sixth woman. Honestly, things unraveled temporarily in the first half when Stringer reluctantly began bringing the starters in. In the second, it was clear that the starters, or at least Prince and Ajavon, had gotten things together enough to look good. Essence was very quiet in her limited minutes. The defense was fantastic and the rebounding was splendid.
Terrapins, we need to have a talk about the use of germ warfare in out-of-conference play. I'm *sure* it's just a coincidence that after we play the Maryland Ptomaines, Kia comes up with two awful games and spends part of the second half barfing into an empty Gatorade cooler. Yes, the joys of sitting in the endcourt and having no one shielding the bench. Come on, guys, we share your team colors, can't you cut us a little slack? At least if you're going to use germ warfare, take advantage of it yourselves, don't hand it off to another team to take advantage of!
In the crowd: a batch of high schoolers and middle schoolers, Blaze and her posse, Dan Hughes, Marynell Meadors. The last two are as per Megan, the Liberty's devoted ticket rep, who joined us for a bit of the second game. During the first game, the Army squad obligingly posed for pictures in their general area. During the second, Pitt brought their own cookies and nifty warm-ups, while Duke socialized quite a bit in our section and the section behind what had been their bench.
I was at five games in eight days. Bonita Spence was at three of them. Bonita, we must stop meeting like this.