Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 12/8/17

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Well, depending on Katie Lou's ankle, UConn will be one step closer to having the full roster available for an entire game.

As we all know, Gabby Williams sat the second half of the Notre Dame game with a migraine headache and Samuelson turned her ankle, the same foot she injured a few weeks ago. But according to reports out of Storrs, both players made the trip to Chicago for the game against DePaul and will be available for whatever minutes Geno wants to play them.

Logic says that Geno will rest a lot of starters if the lead gets large and it should. And he certainly will not play Katie Lou more than 20 minutes.

Now, it you ask the fans on the UConn message board, they will tell you that Katie Lou shouldn't play at all, that maybe she was favoring her foot injury and so she then hurt her ankle. Some are worried that Geno will play her too many minutes, or that Samuelson will badger Geno enough that she is playing when she shouldn't.

To all of those worried about that I say poppycock!!!

She didn't turn her ankle because of her foot injury. She didn't turn her ankle because she wasn't healthy enough to play. Shit happens. Players get hurt. You can't put them in a bubble. You can't hold out a player until the NCAA's in case they might get hurt.

Geno and the trainers know what they are doing. Have a little faith out there Husky Faithful!!!!!

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Some players improve year to year and by the time they graduate, you wouldn't recognize them from when we first see them in their first game as freshman.

Some players explode on the scene, making a name for themselves as freshman and are impact players their entire career.

So, what has happened to Marina Mabrey, the shooting guard (and sometimes point guard), a junior at Notre Dame? She is not the player she was her freshman and sophomore seasons.

Freshman year - 18.9 MPG, 10.7 PPG, 51.4% FG, 45.3% 3FG, 69/70 A/TO
Sophomore year - 27.6 MPG, 14.6 PPG, 47.1% FG, 38.3% 3FG, 92/54 A/TO
Junior year - 30.1 MPG, 10.8 PPG, 37.5% FG, 23.4% 3FG, 23/23 A/TO

Her minutes are up and her scoring is down to her freshman year level in 11 less minutes. Her shooting percentages are WAY down and in spite of going 4-9 against UConn (she started 3-4 and then went 1-5) her three point shooting is abysmal. She had a very nice 1.9 A/TO ratio last season and is back to her freshman year 1.0.

To me she looks out of shape and her attitude is one when things are going wrong it impacts all aspects of her game.

Similarly, Napheesa Collier is having a regression in some ways this season. Her shooting percentage is down as is her scoring and rebounding.

Lets see who can bounce back to prior levels of play as the season progresses.

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Megan Walker is making an impact on this team early in her freshman season. Here are some comments about her from her teammates.

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Here is my UConn/DePaul Pregame report

Pre Game Presser

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By David in Naples!!!!!

UConn has four games left in December, against DePaul, Oklahoma, Duquesne, and Memphis. Geno has faced all of these teams before and has a combined lifetime record of 33-0 against them. That's right, Geno is undefeated versus his remaining December opponents.

In January, the Huskies will play nine more games, against East Carolina, USF, UCF, Houston, Texas, Tulsa, Temple, Memphis (again) and Tulane. Of those games, Texas looks like the biggest challenge.

What is Geno's record against Texas? You guessed it, 9-0. How about the other eight teams? Well, Geno's record is 73-0 against those eight teams. Overall, Geno's record is 115-0 against the next 12 teams that UConn plays. That must be depressing for the Huskies' opponents. But, what about South Carolina, the first game in February? Well, Geno is 5-0 versus the Chickens. He is 70-0 against the AAC. In fact, through the remainder of the season, only Louisville (1-15) has ever beaten a Geno led Husky team.

Teams can hope to break Geno's streak of beating them senseless, but actually winning a game will be tough.