Doggydaddy's Den: DoggyDaddy's Dailies 3/27/16

*****************************************************************************

Here is the link to my ESPN Challenge page.

After Friday's action, here are the leaders -

JerrJerrMorg - 710
Chappette - 710
Jbb1985Karnevil9 - 670
DoggyDaddy - 660
Jbb1985Knife-edge - 660
Synthia - 650

espn08651472 1 650

rja749 2 - 640
usagirl - 640

Phil - 640
JerrJerrmo - 640
Pinotbear - 640

Looks like a two person race between JerrJerrMorg and Chappette!!!

*****************************************************************************

The right side of the bracket has two rematches with opponents that are very familiar with each other.

Washington vs Stanford

Washington and Stanford met twice this season, splitting their two games. Stanford won the first game, 69-53 on their home court. Washington won the second game in the PAC12 tournament 73-65.

Both teams are playing their best basketball of the season, and I really do expect more of the same. I wish I had watched the Washington/Kentucky game to get a better feel for the other Huskies.

It's hard to bet against Tara in a game like this.

4 Syracuse vs 7 Tennessee

These two teams met early in the season at Thompson Boiling Arena, with Tennessee pulling out a 57-55 win way back on November 20th. Both teams are playing at a much higher level. The question will be how does Tennessee handle the constant pressure defense from the Orange. Tennessee's early season struggles had a lot to do with too many turnovers. They have really cut those down over the last two weeks. They will have to make smart passes off the pressure. Syracuse gets much of their offense off their defense.

Tennessee will have to go inside to the rejuvenated Russell, who is playing like the top recruit she was in 2013. She is playing all of her 6'6" frame. Deshields is still a terrible shooter but she brings a lot more than that to the table. She has excellent instinct for passing and she forces the opponent to pay a lot of attention to her.

Syracuse's three starting guards, Butler, Sykes and Peterson, led the way with 61 of their 80 points in beating No. 1 seed South Carolina. They will need a similar performance against the Lady Vols. Their advantage is that they have been playing a zone defense all season and play it very well. And Tennessee struggles more against a zone than a traditional man-to-man type team.

I won't stop picking against Tennessee, so I'll say that I expect Syracuse to bring out the "bad" Tennessee team and win this game.

*****************************************************************************

*******************************************

Sometimes Numbers are not Fun. Especially if you are Mississippi State. The score was 13-0 UConn before the Bulldogs scored their first basket. It was 24-2 When they scored again. And, the score was 32-4 after the 1st period. It got worse.

Miss. State went 0-14 from 3 point range. Which really hurt because Stewie was blocking most shots inside the arc. The Bulldogs shot 28.6% from the field overall. Making 2-7 free throws also gave them a 28.6% average from he charity stripe. Nothing worked today.

Two starters for Miss. State failed to score at all. The other 3 starters totaled 12 points for the game. The whole team managed 18 baskets, but turned the ball over 18 times and fouled 19 times. One final Not Fun with Number was the score when Geno sat the starters, 84-20.

The margin of victory of 60 points was an all time record for the Sweet 16.