Games of 11/30 and 12/1

Hooboy, I’m more tired than usual. Fell asleep during Oregon at Portland, and Pacific at Arizona State.

I’m not sure why. Some writers exert themselves in harrowing adventure, or running through airports. I sit on my butt, fueled with coffee and Spindrift.

Advent of Code started, and that’s hard on my brain, because I’m not very good at making code that works, and whose workings won’t make other coders barf.

Today I looked up the word “advent”, and found that monotheists use calendars like Advent of Code to count down the days until Jesus — whom I recognize as a “South Park” character, but I take it there are more interpretations — returns from the dead.

I think that’s nuts, but I believe in underhand free throw shooting, so call it even.

South Carolina 65
North Carolina 58

North Carolina led early, but South Carolina eventually imposed their Cardoso-sized will.

I got the feeling that the Tarheel ballhandlers lost some confidence in the second half. They were making good ball fakes, but the Gamehen defenders didn’t bite, and kept their position.

In that fraction of a second when the ballhandler has to choose between moving the ball or shooting it, I thought UNC determined as a group that they weren’t sufficiently clear of their defenders. Maybe in the first half, they would’ve taken those shots in the first half, but it appeared to me as though they feared Cardoso coming from 30 feet away to knock the shot down.

Virginia Tech 64
LSU 82

I can’t always tell if a team isn’t making shots because the defense isn’t giving them the shots they want, or if they’re just not shooting well while their own defense isn’t generating easy offense.

Virginia Tech made just 6 assists, while Kitley the 56% shooter, made 6-of-16. The Hokies have the problem that people will look at Kitley’s line, and think ‘hmm, that must be it’.

I know it’s a bullshit thing to do, but there have been two coaches of whose ensembles I take note. One was San Jose State assistant Jourdan Willard. HC Craighead (who either played for or with Utah coach Roberts at Seattle Pacific) led her staff in dressing impeccably, and Willard invariably killed.

Oregon 60
Portland 91

I think UO coach Graves would say I was correct to fall asleep during the first half. I briefly woke near the end while Portland’s broadcast crew played Pilots highlights, of which there were many.

Stanford 85
San Diego State 44

Media had better temper itself, else run out of things to say about Cameron Brink.

The WBCA and Pac-12 defensive player of the year improved her individual performance with absolutely no effect on the Cardinal — Brink takes the same number of shot attempts, making one she didn’t make last year. She takes one additional free throw attempt, and makes TWO she didn’t make last year.

I consulted the record book for the best FT percentage for one season: Fresno St.’s Haley Cavinder shot 109-of-112 (.973) in 2022. Brink is 51-of-53 (.962).

We hold up Elena Delle Donne as the best free throw shooter ever. In her best year for WNBA Washington, Delle Donne made 114-of-117 (.974). I truly wish she were an underhand FT shooter, for that would’ve been the finest example.

I think it’s noteworthy that Cavinder holds the NCAA record, because it would too easy to write her and her twin sister off as curiosities (who nevertheless will make millions in media deals). Haley re-entered the portal with the plan to play in 2024-25, the first time in their lives the twins won’t be playing together.

UC Davis 52
Washington St. 77

The Aggies were down by 7 at the beginning of the 4th quarter. Then the Cougars shot 11-of-22, with 9 assists.

UC Davis is 2-5. Why aren’t they one of the best mid-major teams in the country. At the mid-major level, UCD should be dominant, considering Coach Gross won the Big West coach of the year award FIVE YEARS STRAIGHT.

I think there’s an implication that for one to win an annual award many times in a row, one has to get a little better each time. For example, Jordan probably should’ve won the NBA MVP award in the years they gave it to Barkley or Malone for the sake of variety, while Michael was merely the greatest, rather than the greatest and then some each time.

For Coach Gross to win coach of the year five years running, I figure the Aggies should’ve improved some every time, which should’ve should’ve enabled them to land every recruit they wanted. That’s my theory, which isn’t holding up in the case of UC Davis.

Pacific 66
Arizona St. 76

Really, one of the most brutally physical games I can remember. Pacific cut a 14-point 4th quarter deficit to tie it with 2:58 left. The Sun Devils made 9-of-10 FT in the last minute.

  • ncaa

That was the easy part

I reserved flight to Salt Lake and lodging close to the Delta Center for the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament.

That was the easy part. The basketball team still has to earn the right to play at home that weekend.

Oregon St. 79 Weber St. 53

The first quarter of Oregon St. 79, Weber St. 53 was the most impressive I’ve seen this season.

The Beavers won the first quarter 30-9, and then the next three quarters were close. What happened? Did the Beavers suddenly figure it out, then regress? Did they uncover a secret about themselves? Was it a fluke?

Oregon St. was better at Utah-ing than Utah is. The Utes are the biggest offense in the nation, and the Beavers smoked that for 10 minutes. (The grain of salt is that the Weber St. Bobcats are 0-7.)

The Beavers shot 5-of-7 3FG; four were assisted. They shot 6-of-6 FG; five were assisted. “Put on a clinic” is overused to the point of cliche, which is too bad, because occasionally it’s real.

Oregon St. played Raegan Beers as one in, and Kelsey Rees / Talia von Oelhoffen / AJ Marotte / Donovyn Hunter as four out. They moved the ball fast, recognized the open teammates with as much instinct as vision, and hit the shots.

It might be the best quarter they play all year. But if they were in that ballpark consistently, they’re up there with Utah and Stanford. (I’ve got to correct not having seen USC and UCLA yet.)

  • words

Utah 100, Carroll College 44 on kids’ day, and how I love kids’ day

Utah beat Carroll College 100-44 on kids’ day, when a caravan of schoolbuses drops off thousands of screaming kids, with the purpose of annoying writers.

The WNBA used to rotate kids’ days around the league, sending every league mascot to the same gym. They perform a brawl scene, and the homer mascot wins. Last time I watched Stanford’s Brooke Smith play, it was with Phoenix at Sacramento on kids’ day around ’08. I think the only adults in the building were players, officials, game staff, and me. Great fun, because you know much I like kids.

In an exhibition blowout, everyone plays, so I saw freshman Alyssa Blanck for the first time. She has a most critical role on the team: Pregame introduction leader.

I sorta remember when the high five started to supercede the low 10, and from there, handshakes turned into shared rituals between two people. Like the 10-step shake Jack Black teaches the keyboard player in “School of Rock”. That’s an elaborate shake, he tells the kid, so practice.

The first player introduced has no one to greet her, so they send the 12th or 13th man out there to greet each starter, and each pair has its own custom shake. I have no bloody idea how Blanck remembers all that.

I thought BYU transfer Blanck could be helpful for the BYU scout, and then I remembered that BYU coach Judkins is on the Utah bench these days. As far as the scout pertains to players’ favorite floor positions and ballhandling tencencies, Utah might be better prepared for BYU than any other team on the schedule. I’m amused at how unfair it seems.

I can’t wait to meet Coach Judkins, tell him how he did in my tabletop simulations. The 1979-80 and 1980-81 Phoenix Suns were among my favorite teams ever, and I played hundreds of Statis-Pro Basketball games from those seasons. The 79-80 Judkins card was really good on a per minute basis, but he was only getting 10 mpg behind Cornbread Maxwell in Boston. I liked the Judkins card, and said ‘screw it’ to the game’s playing time restraints. In my world, 1980 Jeff Judkins was an All-Star.

I did the same thing with the aforementioned Brooke Smith on the 2009 Mercury. She played 7 mpg for the 2009 WNBA champions, but when I got the Statis-Pro card set for the 2009 WNBA season, veteran forwards Le’Coe Willingham and Tangela Smith played behind the Stanford grad. I remember a moment from that simulation season: The Mercury and Los Angeles Sparks went to overtime, and the Mercury had the last possession down by 1. With time running out — that is, with only a few cards remaining to draw in the deck — Brooke made an offensive rebound, and her putback at the buzzer … missed.

I had to shelve that game — in the early ’90s, I had enough free time to replay entire NBA seasons with Statis-Pro, but a dozen years ago, I’d spend two hours on one Statis-Pro game, blowing up plans for whatever I had to do that day.

Nov. 26

Stanford 79 Albany 35

In the first five minutes, Cameron Brink had 2 points, 2 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 2 assists. She’s going to triple again, I thought, but Albany then stayed beyond Brink’s reach — until the 4th, when a Great Dane offensive rebounder tried to put it back, and Brink smacked it away.

21 pt, 19 rb, 4 bk, 2 as in 26 minutes. Sheesh.

I read that Stanford and Albany exchanged their pregame scouts on each other. Great idea, helps everybody.

I didn’t remember Coach VanDerveer spent a year at Albany as a student-athlete. What I best remember from her book Shooting from the Outside is that her brother beat her at chess, which she hated. I thought: I can do something about that, and sent her my book.

Washington 58 Hawaii 41

Washington (7-0) played down to Hawaii’s (2-5) level, resulting in the worst game I’ve seen yet.

Add to that a very long replay review — I think replay review delays more than helps, and should be benched.

The game’s bright spot for me was when the director cut to a defender backpedaling, and over her shoulder there’s a media man who looks bored out of his skull. Elbow on the table, hand up to rest his head.

I was reminded that Hawaii coach Beeman is probably a great interview. During an NCAA tournament game, a sideline personality asked the routine softball questions, and Coach Beeman took it seriously. It was as if she weren’t aware of the unspoken contract that on-air conversations must follow “Bull Durham”.

She did it again at this halftime. Sideline guy asked about adjustments, and she said the Rainbow Wahine had to improve in four areas, plus how and why.

  • words

Nov. 25

I’ll see Stanford for the first time today. My habit has been to underestimate Stanford in November, and overestimate the Cardinal in March.

Colorado beat Louisiana State, then lost to North Carolina State. In hindsight, I interpret that as LSU’s drama bubbling up as early as game one.

I watched the first quarter of Utah 98 Merrimack 34 Friday (before playing chess about as well as I’m able). The score was 28-7, giving me the usual thought ‘I wonder if they’ll win by 100’. The Utes shot a higher percentage of 3-pointers than free throws.

Junior guard Kennady McQueen shot 6-of-8 3FG, making her season total 13-28 .464. Lemme check Gonzaga… hold on a sec… Brynna Maxwell 16-of-46 .348, Kayleigh Truong 24-of-50 .480. I mention this because a McQueen highlight clip went around, and at the end of it, Kneepkens is giving the “big balls” sign.

I laughed aloud for two reasons: 1) Utah’s social media person clearly planned to end the clip with Gianna’s gesture, and 2) female student-athletes are using it to applaud other female student-athletes, whille everyone understands it as a figure of speech, so to say.

I was also laughing because I learned that sign merely a week ago. San Francisco quarterback Purdy completed a long TD pass, and credited the offensive line, I guess, with “big balls” move. That clip made its way into each of my feeds.

I love how unladylike it is — by definition, and by convention. If the NCAA is as dumb as I think profit-minded governing entities are, I venture they’ll try banning it, or assessing a technical foul. (The boys, on the other hand…)

Pardon me for looking ahead of the Carroll College game for Brigham Young. BYU will serve as a truer barometer of progress than anyone else since Baylor.

  • beavers

Oregon St. 88 Maryland at Baltimore County 52

Oregon State beat University of Maryland at Baltimore County 88-52 Wednesday in Corvallis.

Four Beaver forwards shot 20-of-26, combining for 59 points and 25 rebounds. OSU was +36 in the paint.

Raegan Beers scored 27 points, gathered 16 rebounds, and even made 3 assists and 4 steals. Beers might be the only forward in the Pac-12 with the strength to deny Alissa Pili’s desired post position.

Until last year, 6-9 Jelena Mitrovic was the OSU forward to face the basket, making space for Beers inside. Now it’s Kelsey Rees, a Utah transfer.

I said for months that every Ute would return for 2024 following the round-of-16 run in 2023, because who’d want to leave?! Forwards Rees and McFarland didn’t want to share the reserve minutes behind Pili, and sought playing time elsewhere.

Rees is just what OSU needs to complement Beers. She made 3-of-4 3-pointers, when her best game shooting from distance last season was 1-of-2. I always liked Rees. She’ll get twice the minutes at OSU, but maybe not as many trophies.

Talia von Oelhoffen was great: 7 pts, 7 rb, 8 as, and 3 st in 22 minutes.

The University of Maryland at Baltimore County men’s team made NCAA tournament history in 2018 as a 16-seed by beating no. 1 Virginia.

For a week, everyone knew who the UMBC Retrievers were, though chessplayers have known for decades. UMBC and Texas at Dallas were the UConn and Tennessee of the chess world — UMBC made the final four of the NCAA chess championship for 12 years straight.

I don’t think I’d ever seen their WBB team. I’m sure if I had, I would’ve written the previous two paragraphs before.

National sidelines reporter fabricates coaches’ quotes, because she could

I spent most of the day pondering the Charissa Thompson case.

A Fox Sports sideline reporter, Thompson said in a podcast that occasionally, she fabricated coaches’ remarks if she didn’t connect with the coach.

Others in the sports media field were displeased. I think they’re overdoing their rebuke. When Erin Andrews — one of the big names in sideline reporting — said she’d done that herself, it wasn’t news in my feed.

Today, it is news. I thought about it a great deal, because I think it’s a big deal in two respects:

1) Sports media crafted the environment in which quotes can be faked with zero risk of harm or foul.

2) To what level of journalistic ethics should sports media be held, if they are really practing journalism.

In “Bull Durham”, the veteran catcher (Kevin Costner) teaches a media relations formula to the star rookie (Tim Robbins). I think it’s satire, but real-life players and coaches embraced the practice. Then media changed its questions to fit.

“Coach, you’re down 35 points at halftime. What adjustments will you make at halftime?”

“We just have to get back to doing what we do. We need to play smarter football, and show more intensity.”

“Your quarterback turned the ball over five times in the first half. What does he have to do to bring your team back?”

“Shlabotnik is our coach on the field. We believe in him, we have faith. We just have to play better football, keep within ourselves, and follow our game plan.”

I’ve always said that sports reporters don’t have to attend press conferences, and we don’t even have to go to the effing games. I could copy two quotes from last night’s NFL game while pulling one from my butt, and no one could spot the fake — not even the coach being quoted!

We all know we could do it and get away with it — Thompson did it, and could’ve continued doing it, no one the wiser. Her mistake was talking about it.

Real journalists get fired for fabricating quotes, because it undermines us as a reliable news source. But I wouldn’t use the word ‘journalist’ to describe TV football sideline personalities.

The NFL and Fox Sports products are “sports entertainment”.

Fox Sports “sideline reporters” are not reporting. Reporters find what happened, and tell you. Sports entertainment performers follow the script that Nuke LaLoosh (Tim Robbins) learned from Crash Davis (Kevin Costner).

That’s what makes Thompson’s misstep more palatable. The quotes she fabricated were from the script. She just read the coach’s lines.

She shouldn’t’ve done it, if she were really a journalist or if her bosses want to maintain their pretense of being a news organization.

She shouldn’t’ve talked about it, because that exposes the making of the sausage. Her colleagues making a huge deal of it forget what they are. The sports reporters who talk to Nuke LaLoosh in the movie don’t have names. They’re interchangeable, and disposable, like Fox News anchors.

  • utes

Utah 218 Opponents 129 at Great Alaska Shootout

The Great Alaska Shootout was dead for a few years, but it restarted in a new venue — thank you, big oil company for spending big oil dollars on the naming rights; forget those freeloading polar bears — and is (for this year, at least) thriving.

Utah forward Alissa Pili won a couple of state high school championships in the Big Oil Company Arena. Her family and friends helped build the third-most-attended event in the building, and the best ever for WBB.

Utah won the Great Alaska Shootout championship game 117-72 over Eastern Kentucky Sunday.

Utah set individual and tournament records for assists and 3-pointers, though I thought the game was businesslike as Utah goes, while Eastern Kentucky should feel pretty good about their performance. If the Utes get five players in double figure scoring, while Ines Vieida makes 6-of-6 treys and leads the game in assists, it’s a win.

The trophy ceremony put all the Utes in the team picture, and I was relieved to see Young and Palmer were there.

One problem with end-of-season and end-of-tournament awards is that voters submit their decisions before the season or tournament is over.

It’s comedy when the media relations person distributes ballots, says: “Have your votes ready with 5 minutes left, but if something dramatic happens, you can change your votes”, and then that happens.

Another problem with all-tournament voting is that it’s never specified in advance how five (or six) votes are to be apportioned. (I always ask, usually told that no one asks.)

There oughtn’t be six recipients, because the MVP is on the all-tournament team. There’s sometimes confusion when the ballot includes six slots, suggesting an MVP plus five others.

When there are five, is the all-tournament team “the five best players”. What if they’re all guards? What if they’re all from the same team? Is the all-tournament team “at least one but no more than three forwards”?

Does the host want each team to be represented (so you usually get two from the winning team, plus one from each other)? Alaska-Anchorage might lose two games — they’re trailing UAB late in the 3rd — but the Seawolves probably expect something.

In the case of the Great Alaska Shootout, does Alissa Pili make the all-tournament team no matter what? The Utes are there so the local fans can see their local girl. Her name was engraved months ago.

It’s plausible that Utah freshman Reese Ross will be the player of the weekend, but post-event voters hate voting for freshmen for sentimental reasons. They’ve got three more chances, but the perhaps-less-deserving senior doesn’t.

I think the most common configuration is MVP-plus-five, with at least one from each team. That’s how they did it in Anchorage:

Pili, UU (MVP)
Kneepkens, UU
Vieida, UU
Moore, UAB
Walker, UEK
Hollingshead, UAA

Nothing Alissa Pili does surprises me anymore. The player I’d most liken to her is Shaq. It sounds absurd, but O’Neal (before the toe injury) displayed the most outstanding blend of post power and grace in basketball. Pili combines strength plus footwork like no other in the women’s game, and the thing she has that Shaquille O’Neal doesn’t is touch off the hardware.

When Shaq had position, he shot down at the basket. Pili can’t get above the rim, so she has to improvise a variety of banks and spins off the glass and rim. Stir in clutch free throwing and three-point range, plus the ability to assist open perimeter shooters.

The words that keep coming to mind are “not fair”.

For the weekend, Kneepkens made 17-of-22 field goal attempts, and averaged 23 pt, 7 rb, 3 as, 4 st. She was as MVP-worthy as Pili, but it was Pili’s homecoming. Next year, the Utes probably take a trip to Minnesota.

Gianna made one move against Alaska-Anchorage that startled the broadcaster, a turnaround jumper inside the FT circle. Who knows what else she has reserved in her magic bag of tricks.

In the absence of Issy Palmer, Ines Vieida played 64 minutes, and erased my lingering doubt about her. She tripled in points/assists/floorburns in the semifinal, made all six of her 3FGA in the final.

Those three each scored 20+ in the championship game. That shouldn’t diminish the contributions of the other starters — J. Johnson and McQueen, who were as efficient and careful as necessary — but it take all the ink.

I’m reminded of the 1989 Phoenix Suns, for whom Utah’s Tom Chambers, Cal’s Kevin Johnson, and Eddie Johnson averaged 20+ for the whole NBA season. Hornacek, Majerle, West, Gilliam, Corbin were vital to that team.

Another Pac-10 product on that team: a rookie from Arizona named Steve Kerr. Whatever became of that guy.

Once last weekend, Utah showed what Roberts might describe as not next year’s team, but the year after that. There are five new faces on the Utah roster, plus second-year guard White.

Ross was the standout newcomer. 32 pt, 14 rb, and a dazzling sequence vs. Alaska: A rebound and putback without hitting the floor, followed by a steal and layup. It was the kind of 20 seconds that makes you think “OK, that’s why they got her”, then you hope against the worst case, that she’s peaked in her first month.

That worst case might apply to Lani White. Utah had three freshmen last year, from whom White emerged so strongly that it might’ve factored into the decisions by the others to transfer.

She had her best game of the season in the first round of the NCAA tournament vs. Gardner-Webb. That portends great development as a sophomore, but White hasn’t made a shot in two weeks, and she looked tentative against Anchorage. Four assists and four rebounds in 16 minutes is a contribution, but sophomore transfer Wilke had exactly the same — plus 3-of-4 3FG.

Last-second pressure

The kicker for NFL Seattle missed a 55-yarder a few minutes ago, and time ran out. In ’91, NFL Buffalo waived their kicker after he missed one that cost the Super Bowl.

It’s the dream scenario, but in dreams, they make the field goal. Bob Etter, my friend at bridge tables, kicked for WFL Memphis and NFL Atlanta. He said “it’s the greatest job in the world, as long as you make them”.

I see what he means. Kickers don’t even work as hard as the relief pitchers assigned with getting one batter out (before the rules changed). They have one job, so even though 40 teammates made the score that close at the end, the kicker is the goat on wide right.

Parenthetically speaking, there goes another dumb accomplishment by young people: redifining the word “goat”. The old definition of “goat” as “kicker who missed at the end” is turned around. Now it describes Michael Jordan.

There are no such specialty positions at basketball, there’s no one specifically tasked with last-second performance. In peoples’ minds, it’s only the last shots that matter, given the relative weight of their importance.

For example, Lindsey Harding in a 2007 regional semifinal, with Duke trailing by one and 0:01 remaining. I apologize, but that’s what I remember about Lindsey Harding.

Then there’s Utah wing Jenna Johnson, who, as a sophomore, also needed to make one in order to keep Utah alive in the 2023 round of 16.

Coach Roberts is the face of Utah while they deal with the crushing expectations that follow a newly-elite program. Coach got here gradually, so she’s used to steadily-rising expectations.

Jenna, on the other hand, might feel the weight of the world, following the post-game wrath of the Internet. She’s started the season slowly, and it’s hard to overlook 1-of-4 FT%.

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