Game 1: Gophers Host LIU (11-8-23)

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Ignatius L Hoops

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Two Weeks from Today​


Return with me now to the thrilling days of yesteryear. Specifically, let’s return to early February 2005 and join a Williams Arena crowd of 8,800. Minnesota, 8-2 in the Big Ten, coming off a Final Four appearance, faced a 9-2 Michigan State squad which was Final Four bound. It was over before it was over. Sparty, coached by the original Coach P, jumped to a 42-25 halftime lead on their way to a 79-48 victory. MSU was led by a 5’10” sophomore guard who came off the bench to go 8-10 from the field. She finished with 22 points (3-3 from three), 6 rebounds and 3 steals. Post game, Pam Borton said:

“She did that to us last game, so no, I wasn’t surprised. I don’t know if it’s something she has for Minnesota or what.”

The sophomore guard, now in her fifth year as head coach at Long Island University, was Rene Haynes. Haynes came to LIU following a five-year stint as a Duke assistant coach under Joanne P McCallie. And whether there’s “something she has for Minnesota” is about as much concern as I can muster for the outcome of a match-up between the Gophers and Sharks. The opener will be all about the Gophers and their coaching staff.

LIU, coming off a 7-22 (5-11 in conference) season, are projected to finish sixth in the Northeast Conference behind Sacred Heart, Merrimack, Wagner, FDU and Stonehill. Suffice it to say that Haynes is not threatening the record of the winningest coach in LIU women’s basketball history, Gail Striegler. Yes, that Gail Striegler whom, after her dismissal from LIU, spent three seasons as an assistant for Marlene Stollings at Minnesota. I love connections.

Anyway, LIU welcomes eight newcomers (three freshmen and five transfers) to join the seven returnees. NEC Media Day provides this quick write-up on the Sharks:

Returning Players to Watch:
Ashley Austin (Sr, G, 5-6): 12.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 25.6 mpg, 43.1 FG%, 1.8 apg, 1.3 spg
Emaia O’Brien (Jr, G, 5-1): 9.1 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 23.8 mpg, 34.1 FG%, 77.2 FT%, 1.6 apg, 1.1 spg

Three-Sentence Preview:
Hitting its stride late, LIU entered the 2023 NEC Tournament as one of the league’s hottest teams, as the Sharks ripped off wins in five of their final six games before meeting up with eventual champion Sacred Heart in the opening round of the postseason. During that late-season turnaround, head coach Rene Haynes’ squad averaged 66.2 points per game, nearly a 10-point boost from their season average of 56.7 ppg. Senior guard Ashley Austin (Compton, CA/Lynwood (Texas Southern)), a 2022-23 All-NEC performer who quickly made a statement as one of the most consistent — and versatile —scorers in the league, will look to make an even bigger impact in her second season in Brooklyn.

Two days before traveling to Minnesota, LIU plays at St. Johns which will give us a better look at the Sharks. LIU’s only NCAA tournament appearance came in 2001 when they were edged in the first round by UConn 29-101.

About the Sharks:

For decades, Long Island University was nicknamed the Blackbirds. But in 2019, the school merged the Brooklyn and Post campuses into one athletic department and selected Sharks as the new nickname.

About the Post campus:

In 1951, Long Island University bought the country estate of Marjorie Merriwether Post and named the new campus for her father, cereal magnate Charles Post. Marjorie Post moved on to her other properties. One of which was an ocean front estate she built called Mar-a-Lago. Its current resident claims it is worth billions.

About 1951

In 1951, Long Island University’s run at the top level of college basketball came to a jarring end when they were one of the seven universities (LIU, NYU, CCNY, Manhatten, Bradley, Toledo and Kentucky) caught up in basketball’s point shaving scandal. LIU shut down their basketball program for six seasons.

Just as important, LIU’s head coach, Clair Bee, resigned. Bee, a basketball innovator, still has the third highest win percentage in college basketball. Bee also authored the Chip Hilton sports series which had a more benign effect on the sport than did his mentorship of Bob Knight.
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Does anyone know if the Gophers are playing an exhibition game before this LIU game? Or did the Croatia trip mean no exhibition game allowed?
 


www.liuathletics.com

Women's Basketball Opens Season at St. John's - Long Island University

QUEENS, N.Y.— The. LIU women's basketball team took a short trip to Carnesecca Arena on Monday night when it took on 2023 NCAA Tournament participant St. John's.
www.liuathletics.com www.liuathletics.com

Some info on tonight's LIU 81-44 loss to St. Johns

QUEENS, N.Y. — The. LIU women's basketball team took a short trip to Carnesecca Arena on Monday night when it took on 2023 NCAA Tournament participant St. John's.

The Sharks started off strong and hung tough with the Red Storm as they took a 13-12 lead into the second quarter.

Unfortunately, the strong LIU start seemed to wake up St. John's as it went on a 23-0 run in the second quarter and never looked back. The Sharks fell, 81-44.

Ashley Austin was the best player on the court for LIU, scoring 14 points with three assists, two rebounds and two steals.

Austin was followed on the scoresheet by Janessa Williams who scored eight in her collegiate debut, Nigeria Harkless (seven points) and Emaia O'Brien (six points).

Williams also led the team with seven rebounds.

Harkless, Amaya Dowdy and Alexzeya Brooks made their LIU debuts in the game.

Racky Kane made her collegiate debut and recorded a steal.

The Sharks return to the court on Wednesday when they travel to take on Minnesota at 8 p.m. ET.
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62 percent shooting in the 1st quarter, I like to see that. Braun with 14 points.
 

Weak competition but Gophers look good.

Grocholski looks good out of the gate.

Team is 3 point bombers.

Hart is running the floor well.

Holloway coming in was a pleasant surprise. She made a great leap and quick moves. Looks like came in at center but moved around on offense, like perimeter. Johnson was first to substitute on for Hart.
 






Lots happening.

Last year they turned the ball over a lot, often with long, fling passes. We are seeing that again tonight. They were flinging them during the somewhat-press.

And yet a couple times they threw long passes for connections, so I don't know what to think except it looks like a disaster during the press waiting to happen.

Madol came in and quickly put up 7 points. She looked a bit uncertain at times but then she made a play, like a steal.

I see Heyer has 8 points. Her shooting started cold and then dropped for scores, 3's.

On defense the returners look quicker, more intentful.

Battle looked more confident calling plays.
 




Another slow start out of the half.

Good thing that the competition wasn't that good.
 


Roland Brooks said:
Don’t like seeing Battle with 5 turnovers … just nitpicking… too many turnovers though
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Agree and against a less competitive team. Imagine what it will be against the likes of a Uconn or top tier Big Ten team.
 

Nice to have the women's BB season start. Hard to make many conclusions on the team. Gophers were bigger and stronger and just as fast but struggled too much. Some good individual performances. Too many turnovers. Didn't handle the press well. Gophers let down in the third period. Hopefully, they learned some things and got the nerves, butterflies, etc. under control.
 

Expected them to look better. The 1st quarter was nearly flawless then the team looked like a reincarnation of last year. Turnovers a plenty, weak free throw shooting, and defense wasn't real good.
 


Definitely, overwhelmingly Braun is our best player and then?
Battle has to play better...not good decisions, tentative
Our post play has to improve dramatically on both ends
Confident they will all get better but we kinda have to.
Holloway had several flashes of she can help us!
Lots of optimism but lots of mistakes and poor decisions.
It is game one with a new coach. Not very many people in attendance kinda surprised me for Coach P's first game.
 





Willwin40 said:
I was going to ask about Holloway when the post took off on me.
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She was a little wild but looked the grittiest player this evening. I also thought Madol showed some promise. The Gophers do have legit players at the 4. I think the 5 remains a question, especially if Hart gets in foul trouble.
 

Good to be back in Williams. We got to see a little of everything.

Love the threes and ball movement screens in the first half. In the second half that 2 2 1 zone caused trouble. No matter how many slashing motions Plitzuweit made with her arm, we were reluctant to attack the defenders. As the game went on, we had trouble with virtually any pressure (some of that was probably due to some odd lineups). Anyway, we worked our turnovers up to last season's level.

Plitzuweit gives her marker board a work out when players come out of the game. I'm gonna have to learn to spell Grocholski-she had a nice game. Madol had some offense outside and inside. Obviously, we need Sanders to develop quicklu.

A good opening night
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
Good to be back in Williams. We got to see a little of everything.

Love the threes and ball movement screens in the first half. In the second half that 2 2 1 zone caused trouble. No matter how many slashing motions Plitzuweit made with her arm, we were reluctant to attack the defenders. As the game went on, we had trouble with virtually any pressure (some of that was probably due to some odd lineups). Anyway, we worked our turnovers up to last season's level.

Plitzuweit gives her marker board a work out when players come out of the game. I'm gonna have to learn to spell Grocholski-she had a nice game. Madol had some offense outside and inside. Obviously, we need Sanders to develop quicklu.

A good opening night
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just call Grace GG lol

GG looked really good. her shot is so smooth and effortless.. she is STRONG too and doesn't seem to be scared to attack.. quicker then she looks.. I think she will see plenty of PT.
 

I really like how Holloway rebounded and went after loose balls. She attacked the boards for offensive rebounds which I liked. Nice to see so many players play. Sophie H needs to stay out of foul trouble. Mallory H was steady she is a really good paaser and cutter. J Sanders at PG had a nice game at PG backing up Amaya Battle, Sanders rebounds well for a smaller player. Teams are going to key defensively on Mara Braun going forward knowing she is Gophers best shooter. It will be key to the season for Grace G and others to get open and hit shots on the nights the shots don't fall for Braun. Johnson is vocal and can help us in paint, need to feed her the ball before she asks for it. Maggie C best when she drives and scores, eager defender, she is more athletic then i remember. Madol has a smooth shot, dont lose confidence please, remember you can shoot the rock. Gotta work on staying poised and staying away from sideline when the press or traps are applied. Thought Gophers did a nice job with ball movement and keeping the ball moving instead of pass to one person and expect them to make a play. Good first game and impression with new coaching staff. Each next game will be a step up in competition. At least this year's team has some depth and options. They show flashes of being really good, now it is just work on turning the ball over less and more court time playing together. This will be a fun team to watch grow as year goes on. There will be ups and downs but should get better with each game. Defense will need to not lapse as it can keep them in games. I think as the competition gets better players will reflect intensity of the head coach. Coach P needs to chill a little bit, she was getting pretty red faced at times, don't need her having a stroke. I know she is intense and a coach first(yes the small stuff matters), but let yourself enjoy the good moments too! Remember to enjoy a great play and relish it like rhe fans get to do.
 
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I disagree. I like that coach P was fired up. The team had way too many turnovers. I don’t think this team is playing for wins over LIU, as I assume they have tournament goals. She is not coaching to make fans, she is coaching to win games. I already like that.
 

My "read the tea leaves" opinion on Holloway has moved from "unknown, probably pessimistic" to "favorable."

She came in and, for lack of a better term, was hopping around (bad term) -- she's real athletic! -- without much result, perhaps the play not at her. And then she seemed to will herself to translate that into putting up double-digit points (11) and rebounds (6) in a game where she's coming off the bench late as the 3rd line.

Wearing a knee brace.

I don't know, by the way, except the unknown Holloway is probably something good unfolding.
 

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