RebKell's Junkie Boards

[thesixthwoman]

Just reading this thread now.
I've seen almost every Rutgers game this year. And every one the year before...

The team usually doesn't look like they're having fun because they're not usually winning. And when they have been ahead in a game, it's usually not by enough to relax at all -- and historically when they relax even a little -- they relax too much and blow their leads. But I have seen them have plenty of fun when they're ahead, when a play is properly executed, cheering from the bench, etc. It seems they could not translate their lessons from practice to games very much this year (they talked about that a lot, down to this final game) and that had to be disappointing and frustrating.

But I've been watching basketball for 4 days straight and I can't say I can tell that very many people are "having fun" while others are not. They are all pretty serious right now, as they should be, and most of the games haven't been blow-outs (because they tend to show us closer games on the whiparound, if possible) and nobody's laughing and joking until the very end. And that's only on the winning side, of course. The other team is dead serious, if they're not crying. So I'm not sure what you're all talking about how you can tell that they're "not having fun." I think they're wearing their game faces, and if they lose, you're not going to get to see "happy" faces.

As for Chelsey Lee (#34 - and yeah, her move that hit Krei in the throat was def not intentional - not sure if it should have been called or not. I just don't know - ) she is excitable, sure, and she is an energetic kind of player. She's not "relaxed"-looking. (e.g. April Sykes #12 has a "relaxed" look to her) Chelsey has evolved a great deal as a player over the last 2 years and she has become the starting center over a graduating senior (Junaid, who was always Kia Vaughn's backup; Chelsey eventually skipped over her) and is often the go-to scorer in the post. Sometimes it would take the Knights a while (understatement) to get the inside game going, so I think when Chelsey would finally get a good inside pass and convert she would be very excited. If she also got an and 1, well, that was even a bigger deal.

As you all well know, offense can be a rare commodity for Rutgers sometimes, and this year was particularly tough with the unexpected loss of Epiphanny. Piph was supposed to be not only the leading scorer, but also finally a real leader. Instead she was just gone. Poof. And with her went 20+ points per game for a team that would win with 50-55 points, and the only player who could really create her own shot -- at least at the time. The last time the Knights beat UConn Piph scored 31 points. And UConn was still one of the best teams in the country, even if they weren't quite the juggernaut they are now.

One more question -- yes, of course Rutgers plays close, tough defense, and if they had played it well for more than 10 minutes v. Iowa they would have won on Saturday... but what is this "slapping" you're all referring to? Maybe I just wouldn't call it slapping ... do you mean a kind of swatting at the ball? If so, then I know exactly what you mean, but if not... Anyway, I assume you guys were seeing contact and thinking there should have been foul calls? That's fine, but when I first read the word "slapping," I was like WHA?? So, anyone care to elaborate on that if I'm not getting it?

It's hard for me to judge, because I see Rutgers so much more than other teams; I'm used to their defense, but I can't imagine that they're not taught to play CVS' brand of defense (close, in-your-face, trapping) just to the point of fouling but withOUT fouling. I mean, obviously everyone is taught to play defense that way, but CVS takes it to another level. And sometimes they get called anyway, depending on the refs and the opponent and whatever, but since CVS hangs her hat on defense, she's going to make sure her players know her methods.

There are techniques -- at least ideally -- so that you're not called for fouls every time you're on someone. So they must know which "bumps" are allowed, for example, and hopefully they use these techniques to their advantage. Does this really surprise anyone? Wouldn't every ref in Div I who's assigned to a Rutgers game know what s/he was in for? LOL

[myrtle]

I don't claim to be an expert on Rutgers. That's why I said it was the first time I saw them in person this year. So my impressions were just from that game and seeing them around before the game. And it was just an impression. There are game faces and then there are game faces. It wasn't a matter of being relaxed or not. Just didn't feel like very good chemistry and I don't know how to say it better than that. Maybe they actually like each other more than what was shown, I don't know. They just didn't look like a happy team. I agree that most teams are pretty serious now and if all you see is what you see on tv, it's hard to tell. But when you're fairly close to the court and see all the interactions right in front of you, you definitely get a feeling for teams. To me, it looked like they were going through the motions without the emotions. Of course that feeling could be incorrect.

And yes, the slapping was swatting which often seemed to hit arms yet didn't get called as fouls. They were clearly more athletic than Iowa and played very tough body-up defense. I don't envy the refs as it is always borderline fouling, which makes it tougher to call. I'm guessing Tara is happy to not have to face it again this year.

[thesixthwoman]

Well, I saw the team before each home game and I can't say they would be laughing and joking, but for most regular-season games they're relatively relaxed. I do follow several of them on twitter and I can tell you that they are pretty much all friends, hang out, and are also friends with several players from other teams, including a few from UConn, for example. (I can only comment on the ones mentioned on twitter...) And I know it had been widely reported that Epiphanny and Tina Charles were best friends... There are a lot of players from the NY-Metro area who know each other and played on club teams together, whatever.

Bottom line - I'm not too concerned that the players are particularly unhappy as a group or something. Today they were already tweeting about being back home in Jersey, being proud to be a Scarlet Knight & what that meant, thanking Cappie, TSB, Essence, others, etc.

[myrtle]

That's good to hear. I've always had a lot of respect for C.Viv. and wish them the best.

[ClayK]

That is good to hear about the Rutgers' players. If they're proud to be Scarlet Knights after a down season, then some things are going right.

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