Doggydaddy's Den: DoggyDaddy's Dailies 12/14/16

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Here is my UConn/KSU post game report.

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The ESPN Coaches poll game out and now both polls have UConn the unanimous No. 1 team.

UConn will play No. 12 Ohio State at home and No. 4 Maryland on the road. Either game COULD be a loss.

But if not and UConn wins both of those, they would likely be No. 1 coming into the February matchup with No. 6 South Carolina.

It will take good health and continual growth of the players to continue the streaks.

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When is a Bulldog a Tiger?

When it's the Mississippi State Bulldog and they are a paper tiger.

No. 5 MSU played "powerhouse" Arkansas Little-Rock Tuesday night. For most top 5 teams, this would be a blowout. After all the Trojans have not exactly taken WCBB by storm. They were 5-4 coming into this matchup and had lost to unranked teams Green Bay by 26, Fordham by 22, Texas A&M by 18.

The first quarter was played to an 11-11 tie and both teams exploded in the second half, with MSU outscoring Arkansas LR by a 14-13 margin to take a 25-24 lead at that half. There were 19 turnovers and 21 personal fouls between the two teams. Some really ugly ball. I figured that with two starters for the Trojans having 3 fouls each, the second half would go more in the favor of the "better" team.

And as I though, the second half went as expected. Mississippi State outscored Little Rock 13-10 in the third quarter but put the Trojans in big foul trouble with led to MSU pulling away for a 20-10 fourth quarter and a 58-44 win.

Yeah, the 14 point win is not bad. And Victoria Vivians is a terrific talent that had a very good fourth quarter to help with this victory.

Hey, maybe I'm spoiled but a 14 points win that was a 4 point game going into the fourth quarter is just not the stuff that a No. 5 team in the country is made of. They have had one game against a ranked team, beating Texas 79-68 back in mid-November.

They finish the season playing 2 ranked teams. South Carolina and Kentucky. So don't look for them to drop anytime soon, but expect another ugly finish to the season like last years drubbing from UConn. Maybe not a 50 point game. But this is not a top team.



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By David in Naples!!!!!

A quick start is a great recipe for winning basketball games. UConn is known for dominating the 1st period of action and making opponents' give up early. Last season, the Huskies scored 915 points in the first period and gave up only 443. This season, the results are similar, but not quite as stark at 196 pts scored and 117 given up. In nine games so far, UConn has been behind after one period, only twice. FSU led 17-16 and Texas was up 17-15.

In the Texas game, UConn came back in the next 10 minutes to lead by 9 at the half. FSU actually increased their lead to 4 at the half, but fell behind by 4 after three periods. By far, the biggest 1st period lead was against DePaul, when UConn exploded to a 31 point lead. K-State was down 17, Notre Dame & Dayton were both behind by 9 after one period and Chattanooga trailed by 7. Even in the close games, the relentless pace of the first period pays dividends by the middle of the 2nd half. Proof of this is in the 3rd period scoring where UConn leads 180-129.

Between the 1st and 3rd periods, UConn outscores opponents by 376-246 or 130 points. That is over 14 points per game advantage for the Huskies. No opponent has yet been able to overcome that UConn fast start at the beginning of each half.

Go Huskies..!!

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UCONN LINKS

Huskies hope to continue growth pattern Carl Adamec
Alysa Auriemma on 2016 IMPACT25 honoree UConn women's basketball ESPN
Largest DI crowd this season comes to see UConn-Kansas State NCAA

Upsets in Red

Late games in Green

5 Mississippi State 58 Arkansas Little Rock 44 (Link soon)
23 Arizona State 79 Middle Tennessee 48 (Link soon)

Kelsey Plum is the truth Fansided

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