Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 2/13/2021

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Apologies to my granddaughter Noa if I embarrassed you.

(My wife made me post that)

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THIS DOG CAN SNIFF OUT A CHAMPIONSHIP!!

And let me tell you, my doggie senses tell me UConn will......well......

I also believe in karma and jinxes. So I won't finish.

Let me just say that after watching all of the top teams in the country, I really like UConn's chances.

Yeah, I know, they always start slow, they rely on a freshman, not enough help from the other players....blah blah blah....

However, a few things that will work in UConn's favor.

As Geno said, around this time of the season UConn would have played more games than the 17 they have played so far.

Last 5 season

2019-20 - 24 games

2018-19 - 24 games

2017-18 - 25 games

2016-17 - 25 games

2015-16 - 24 games

That's 7-8 less games on average for this season. For a team this young, that is huge. You can believe that this team would be much further along if they had 8 more games under their belt. So the team you are seeing now will be so much different than what we will see in the Elite Eight, Semi-final and Final games. I mention those three games because every game up to that point will be a tune up for the run to the championship.

With 5 regular season games, 3 Big East Tournament games and 2 early round games UConn will have 11 games to get better. And better than this version? That is a championship level team. Note I added "level" to avoid Karma and jinxes.

Am I too confident about the remaining games?

Well, in those 5 regular season games, they won by an average of 41.8 PPG.

In the 3 conference tournament games they will be playing two teams they probably beat by 50+ and then either Marquette or DePaul. Both tough teams. But tough teams that UConn beat by an average of 28.3 PPG.

The first round of the NCAA tournament will be similar to the UMass-Lowell game to open the season. Round of 32? The challenge will be tougher but more like a BE game.

You can bet that in 11 more games this young team will find it's mojo, define who they are and just get better. And better than they are now????

Snifff.....Snifff.....

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I just love Paige interviews. She is something else!!!

It's hard to believe that Paige Buckets is only a freshman 🤯

Get to know the @UConnWBB phenom. pic.twitter.com/1Awi7lmbqp
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) February 13, 2021

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UConn - Georgetown

Videos/Interviews

Full Game Replay

Highlights

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Paige Highlights

Geno Postgame Interview

Paige and Christyn Interview

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No Top 25 Games impacted by Covid today.

The No. 3-ranked Louisville women's basketball team is dealing with a COVID-19-related disruption in play for the second time this season. The ACC announced Friday that the Louisville vs. Syracuse game scheduled for Sunday has been postponed due to a positive test, subsequent quarantining and contact tracing in the Cardinals' program.

One other ACC women's program, Notre Dame, also announced Friday it had COVID-19 positive tests, forcing the postponement of Monday's game against No. 4 NC State.

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By David in Naples

The game this past week against South Carolina was Geno & the Huskies 25th where the two teams were ranked 1 and 2. After beating the Gamecocks, Geno is now 22-3 in those games. As the #1 team, UConn is 15-2. As the underdog #2 team, Geno and team are 7-1.

Add in Geno & company’s record in National Championship games of 11-0 and the Huskies total victories in big matchups and 1 vs 2 contests is 33-3.

Go Huskies..!

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No. 5 Stanford 83 Oregon State 58 - Late Game

No. 14 South Florida 67 Tulsa 46 - Bethy Mununga had 19 points and 15 rebounds and No. 14 South Florida played its first game in a month, beating Tulsa 67-46 on Saturday. USF (11-1, 8-0 American Athletic Conference), which hasn't played since Jan. 13 due to COVID-19 issues within the program, won its program-best 10th straight game including eight by double digits. Sydni Harvey made four 3-pointers and scored 14 points for the Bulls. Elisa Pinzan had 13 points and matched a career best with six steals. The pair each had seven of the Bulls' 19 assists. Mihaela Lazic added 10 points. Wyvette Mayberry scored 18 points off the bench to lead Tulsa (5-9, 4-9), which is winless against the Bulls (0-9). The Golden Hurricane missed 14 of 15 from long range and finished 18-of-62 shooting (29%) from the floor. Mununga had 13 points and 10 rebounds in the first half as USF closed on a 10-0 run for 33-20 halftime advantage. The Bulls held a double-digit lead the rest of the way.

No. 17 Gonzaga 67 Santa Clara 50 - Melody Kempton and twins Jenn and LeeAnne Wirth each scored 12 points and Gonzaga used a big second quarter to defeat Santa Clara on Saturday. Jill Townsend added 10 points for the Bulldogs. Gonzaga matched its lowest opening quarter of the season on Saturday for a 12-8 lead. The teams swapped 3-pointers in the first 70 seconds of the second quarter before the Bulldogs took over on both ends, scoring 19 straight to lead 34-11 at the half. Gonzaga was 8 of 14 from the floor with Kempton scoring eight points while the Broncos missed nine shots and had six turnovers. Santa Clara made a push in the third quarter, using an 11-0 run to outscore the Zags 24-12. The Broncos pulled within 41-33 on a 3-pointer by Lana Hollingsworth to cap the run at the 2:17 mark. Abby O'Connor answered with a 3 and Cierra Walker hit a pair of free throws for Gonzaga before Santa Clara pulled within 46-35 when Ashlee Maldonado laid it in as time ran out. Gonzaga quickly regained control with Jenn Wirth scoring the first points of the fourth quarter and LeeAnne Wirth the next four.

No. 19 West Virginia 71 Oklahoma 72 - I usually just post facts about games in this part of my blog. Lots of cutting and pasting too. But for this game? Let's hear it for the much maligned Sherrie Coale....one of my favorite coaches. She has had a real tough few seasons but watching her on the sidelines the last few seconds of the game was a real treat. True joy for her beating a Top 25 team on the road and it was a real battle. Good for her and good for her Sooners. Down 12 points with 25 seconds left in the third quarter, they made a three pointer to end the quarter and then outscored the Mountaineers 15-5 in the final 10 minutes for the 1 point win. It was 66-54 when Oklahoma went on a 13-0 run over the next 3 1/2 minutes to take a one point lead 67-66. From that point on, over the last 7 minutes of the fourth quarter, there was a total of 10 points scored...by both teams, 5-5. Boy was it ugly. 13 combined turnovers, 4-12 from the field, no foul shots taken. West Virgina had a couple of shots at the basket to win the game, but missed them both. Taylor Robertson, who you will remember from a couple of great three point shooting performances against UConn, had 21 points going 5-10 on threes to lead Oklahoma. Madi Williams added 20 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists for the Sooners. Kysrie Gondrezick had 19 points for West Virginia.

No. 23 South Dakota State 82 Oral Roberts 60 - North Dakota State beat Oral Roberts 78-63 at the Scheels Center. Ryan Cobbins had her second career double-double, finishing with 17 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Heaven Hamling scored 14 points, while Reneya Hopkins added 13. Faith Paramore led the Golden Eagles with 17 points off the bench. Emily Dietz had six rebounds, while Emily Behnke finished with five. Hamling tied a career-high with six assists, while Hopkins added three. Behnke and Hopkins each had a career-high two blocked shots. The Bison used an early 15-4 run over a 3:23 span to take a 17-8 lead in the first quarter. NDSU led by as much as 12 in the first quarter before Oral Roberts scored the final six points, cutting NDSU's lead to 25-19 after the first quarter. A basket by Tierney Coleman with 6:17 left in the first half tied the game at 30-30, but NDSU went on an 8-1 run to take the lead for good after the layup. The Bison scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter and pushed the lead to 18 in the final minute.

No. 25 Missouri State vs Illinois State - Wow, what a crazy finish!! Brice Calip scored with 1.4 seconds left to give Missouri State a victory over Illinois State on Saturday. Missouri State fell behind by 16 early in the second quarter and trailed 54-47 after three but grabbed the lead with a 7-0 run midway through the final period. There were three ties and four lead changes after that. Sydney Wilson stole the ball off an inbounds and put the Lady Bears up one with 14 seconds remaining. Juliunn Redmond responded with a drive down the middle. Following a timeout, Calip took the inbounds and drove the right side, putting in a short one-hander while falling backward with 1.4 left. Calip finished with 11 points and eight assists. Jasmine Franklin scored 15 points, Elle Ruffridge 13 and Abby Hipp 12 for Missouri State. Illinois State went on an 11-0 run early in the opening quarter on Saturday and led 23-17 at the end of the period. The Redbirds opened the second quarter on a 10-0 run with six points from Redmond to lead by 16. They led 40-29 at halftime. Moore scored a career-high 22 points and Redmond added 19 along with a game-high nine rebounds. Mary Crompton scored 10 points.

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