Doggydaddy's Den: DoggyDaddy's Dailies 1/7/16

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We had a wonderful day in South Florida! A nice breakfast at Lew's NY Deli in Boynton Beach with my cousins Paul and Eileen. Then a nice day around the pool and in the hot tube at our condo. Then out to dinner with my wife's cousins Andrea and Greg at P.F. Chang's. Have the hot and sour soup....it's wonderful.

Weather was upper 70's today but then thunderstorms Saturday in front of the next two days of cooling off. Probably not reaching the 70's. Yeah, I know.....your northerners just want me to shut up...lol.

In retrospect, my upbeat report from Florida did not reflect my full mood after hearing about the horrible tragedy at the Ft. Lauderdale airport Friday afternoon. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who were mercilessly murdered and those who where injured by this senseless violence.

I was in Terminal 3 just this past Saturday. Wow.

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Here is my UConn/East Carolina Post Game Report.

Still working on the UConn/South Florida Pre Game Report. I'll be done after the South Florida game against Tulsa Saturday night so I can have the latest USF stats.

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My favorite team to hate has been on a roll lately. Unranked Tennessee (I love typing that) has won six games in a row after previously losing 4 or 5. The Lady Vol faithful are back off the ledge and talking like Tennessee is back as a top level program. They might even sneak back into the top 25 and ruin my day. Let me just put a little vinegar into their cereal with a reality check

- 5 of those games were in the friendly confines of Thompson-Boling Arena.

- While they did beat Stanford (who was just awful in that game) and Kentucky is an overrated SEC team that is now 4-4 their last eight games,  barely beat a lousy Missouri team by 2 points in their last outing and are now out of the top 25 in the coaches poll. The other four teams? Not impressed.

- The last game, a win on the road against Vandy can be considered a good win. The Commodores are always tough at home. But have now lost four consecutive game, lost to Indiana by 33 and are just not very good.

- The offense is still terrible for Tennessee. Against Vanderbilt they shot 35.5% from the field, 33% on threes, and 12 assists along with 14 turnovers.

- And of course, I will point out the typical game by the "all about me" Diva Diamond Deshields. In her 30 minutes before fouling out DDD had a team leading 16 points. Not bad right? WRONG! She took 18 shots to accumulate that many points making only five of them. She was 1-4 on threes. She did hand out 4 assists. But as usual, she adds in 6 turnovers. Her percentages are falling like a rock, now shooting 40% overall and 34% on threes.

- They are getting nothing from the bench. Middleton has shown she can only excel against the really weak opponents. 17 minutes, 2 points, 0-3 from the field, 0-2 on threes, zero assists. Not good.

Sunday is really huge for this Tennessee. They are playing undefeated No. 4 Mississippi State at 1:00. This will be another home game for Tennessee but it will be a true test. MSU is a strong team defensively and just has a general toughness about them. Victoria Vivians and Chinwe Okorie are two superior players that could give Tennessee fits. But a win would probably put the Lady Vols back in the top 25.

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By David in Naples!!!!!

Geno has mentioned several times that he particularly likes the results of UConn's efforts in the 1st and 3rd periods. Well he should..!! The Huskies have scored 309 and 315 points respectively, in those periods, versus 278 and 239 in the 2nd and 4th periods. Those 624 first and third period point totals are 55% of UConn's scoring this year. That would leave the second and fourth periods totaling 45% of the Huskies' season output of 1,141 points.

In addition to scoring the most points in the 1st and 3rd periods, UConn gives up the fewest points in those periods. Opponents have scored 168 points in the 1st period and 200 in the 3rd. They score slightly more in the 2nd (219) and 4th (208). Clearly, the 1st period is where UConn shines the brightest, and in many cases, wins the game. The Huskies have only trailed twice after one period, against FSU (-1) and Texas (-2). The FSU game was still a deficit at the half, and ended up as a 2 point victory by UConn. But, since that first game, opponents have been unable to match the Huskies in either the 1st or 3rd periods.

Here is the point differential between UConn and opponents by period:

1st period - UConn scored 141 more points.
2nd period - UConn scored 59 more points.
3rd period - UConn scored 115 more points.
4th period - UConn scored 31 more points.

Beating UConn requires 40 minutes of outstanding play. Opponents are finding out that the beginning of the game, and of the 2nd half, are the worst time to start slowly. The game will be out of hand quickly and making up points against the UConn defense is impossible.

Go Huskeis..!!

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