Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 11/5/2023

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Even my daughter (mother to Logan and Barrett) is looking for my Blog!!!

GO UCONN!!!!!

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Wow, I don't think I could be more excited about a UConn season. Yes, it was Southern Connecticut, but you can always get some info no matter who they are playing.

The first thing you can take away from this game is Paige is back to being the best player in the country. Sorry Caitlin Clarke, I love you game but Paige is better. Her basketball instincts are out of this world.

The big debate in the internet world of crazy UConn fans was "who would start". I believe it was 100% concensis that it would be Paige, Azzi, Aaliyah, Nika. The 5th starter had a ton of debate. Aubrey was probably the pick of who Geno would select. And surprise, it was Caroline. He did sub Aubrey in for Nika early. That lineup was extremely successful.

Really, until Geno had the four freshmen and sophomoe Bettencourt on the floor at the same time, all the combinations were really effective.

Maybe I'm just older and my eyes are slower, but every returning UConn players looked quicker.

So how did all the players do?

Paige Bueckers

She did it all in this game. Even went to the floor for a ball. I'm sure every fan held their breath. Thankfully she was fine. I really loved her overall game. She kept the ball moving, found great passing angles for her X assists, hit her threes, drove through contact and finished at the basket. Rebounded well, defended well (a blocked shot). I mean...she was involved in everything. I could go on and on. But there were other players on the court. 7 poinst, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal. All in only 12 minutes. It's been said many times before, but she just makes everyone else better.

Azzi Fudd

Azzi looked great! Her stats showed that but you had to watch her to appreciate what she brought to the team. In only 18 minutes, she scored a team high 18 points on 7-11 shooting, 4-6 on her three point shots. Statscast had her with zero rebounds. I'm not sure that's right. But she did what she is supposed to do, hit a high percentage of her shots. Her and Paige have a 6th sense on where each other is at all times and Paige finds Azzi and Azzi scores.

Azzi - “Most of our shots were really good, really open looks. Our ball movement was great, we were very unselfish today. Our shots were amazing. People were bringing it to the hoop, kicking it out. Having that kind of balance makes us hard to guard.”

Aaliyah Edwards

Edwards picked up where she left off last year. Another double double with 16 points on 7-9 shooting and 10 rebounds. She just looks so good. I'm not sure she is quicker but she sure looked like it to me. The poor Southern players didn't have a chance. Paige and Nika both found her in the low box and Edwards didn't disappoint.

Edwards - “A lot of people were able to contribute, which was great. It’s a good time to utilize that in these types of games. Shoutout to Southern Connecticut for coming up and competing with us, because we were able to work on things, do a lot of the little things that will help us in the long run.”

Nika Muhl

Nika started out great hitting a three points early and handed out 2 assists. It appeared she might have turned an ankle and came out of the game at the next time out. She did reappear but I'm not sure she was her usual disruptive self. She finished with the same 3 points and 2 assists in 14 minutes.

Caroline Ducharme

The biggest surprise of the game in my opinion. First, she started. Now maybe that has to do more with Aubrey not available for more than 4 minutes at a time (more on that in the Aubrey blurb) but Geno liked how she played in practice and the scrimmage. Ducharme missed her first few threes but hit her last one and I'd bet she hits them at a high percentage. She rebounded well and showed that her past head issues are in the past. We all hope that continues. The second surprise maybe should be one. She was very aggressive. It's just who she is and she is not going to change how she plays. Caroline ended up with 10 points on on 3-7 shoot, 1-4 on threes and 3-4 on free throws. She added 2 rebounds, 3 assists and lead the team with 3 steals. She really is a "heady" player, pun intended.

Aubrey Griffin

Aubrey is just an amazing athlete. Whenever she is on the court, she does amazing things. Amazing. Geno is quoted as saying she will be only play in bursts of 3-4 minutes due to her back. He doesn't want to push her. I guarentee that goes out the window in the more competative games but in 80% of the games he can hold true to that. So what did Aubry do in her limited minutes. She had 14 minutes and scored 14 points on 5-6 shooting and 4-5 from the foul line. She added 7 rebounds and 2 steals. I particularly likes when she jumped the second half inbound pass and drove in for a layup. Hustle and speed. That's Aubrey.

Ice Brady

Geno knows how much he needs Ice to play. UConn really doesn't have much size. And she has plenty of it. Looking at her standing next to Edwards, I'm positive that Brady is 6'4". And she is big and strong. Her good hands on entry passes was great to see. She knows how to post up and did that a few times in this game. And her wide posterier carved out space for rebounds. She played 21 minutes and scored 7 points on 2 of 4 shooting. And she hit all three of her free throws. Beautiful form. Ice added 4 rebounds and a block.

KK Arnold

"She's kind of electric in that way and she creates offensively. She creates defensively. She just has an explosiveness about her," Auriemma said of the freshman. "... She's a difference-maker in the sense that we don't have anybody else like her on the team. And we certainly haven't had anybody else like her since, you know, the days of Moriah (Jefferson) and Crystal (Dangerfield)."

I'm not sure what more I can say than what Geno said here. She looked great. A little rushed on a couple of finished at the basket but with more experience she will make those or make a good pass. I love the change of pace she gives UConn. And to compare her to those two players? Wow! KK is a little bigger than these two. Opposing teams are going to hate when she comes into the game.

Ashlynn Shade

Ashlynn might have been the most impressive freshman in the game based on expectations. She had a little slow start but in the end she showed all facets of her game. She hustled as she always does. And boy can she jump! She grabbed a couple of rebounds out of her area just with effort. Hitting two threes surprised me. Maybe I shouldn't have been? In 20 minutes she had 8 points on 2-7 shooting, 2-5 on threes and 2-2 on free throws. Impressively she added 7 rebounds and 2 steals. She is going to get playing time outside of the "garbage" time at the end of the game.

Ashlynn - “It was real exciting, it was super surreal at the start listening to all the fans hype us up. Seeing the lights go off. It was just so exciting, and super-fun to experience.”

Qadence Samuels

Q had a couple of issues with the ball possesion. She had 3 freshman type turnovers and missed a ton of shots. But boy does she like to shoot. In 15 minutes she had the second most shots on the team with 9. Unforunately she only made 2 of the. She went 2-7 on threes. She hit both her free throws for her 8 points. She added 7 rebounds.

Looking at both Q and Ash's stats, they are remarkably similar. 8 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assists, 3 turnovers and 2 steals for both of them. Weird!

Ina Bettencourt

It's going to be tough for Bettencourt to get minutes this year. At least how it looks right now. She only played 8 minutes and was scoreless missing her only shot, a three pointer. She had zero assists and 3 turnovers. That won't get her on the court. Hey, we all say what she can do, so I'm not giving up. But with KK and Ash in front of her it won't be easy for her to play anything but "garbage time".

Amari DeBerry

I'm going to give a pass to DeBerry in this game. She is still recovering in some way from her back surgery. She will have to be more aggressive calling for the ball and hitting the boards. She is a good passer and a defensive presence in the paint with one assists and one block in her 7 minutes. Hopefully better days ahead.

Geno Quotes

“I did like our ball movement. That’s the concept we live with, pass up something good for something great. There’s a fine balance. I do think that the ball movement increases exponentially when Paige is in the game. She plays 12 minutes and had seven assists, that’s the kind of stuff that generates those kind of shots.”

“That was the plan going in, get her feet wet. She looked really comfortable, felt really good. The same Paige as usual, maybe a little more animated. She’s happy to be finally playing.”

"She looked really comfortable and felt really good. Obviously the same Paige as usual, maybe a little more animated. You know, I think she's happy to finally be planning."

SCSU coach Kate Lynch Quotes

“Oh, my gosh, I’m excited for them. Paige came on, did her thing. They have so many different pieces and the freshmen are incredible.”

"I told somebody! Coach (former SCSU coach Joe) Frager said, 'Remember, if you score first have somebody take a picture.' I don't know if anyone did but I was like, 'Somebody take a picture!'

"It was great to start off that way in terms of confidence. We told them to shoot when they're open. Julianna is a great 3-point shooter and she knocked it down. That will go down in history, right?"

"We had a lot of growth and that's what we're looking for. We wanted to play hard for 40 full minutes and I think we did that. Our goal was to out-hustle UConn and they hustle everywhere. We only had 22 turnovers and that's pretty good, though some of them were unforced on our part. We talked about shooting when we're open and we did. Some of them fell and some didn't. Overall I thought we were strong with the basketball. We're proud of our effort."

Videos

Geno Postgame Interview

Ashland, Azzi and Aaliyah Postgame Interview

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Monday, 11/6

Opening Day

No. 1 LSU vs No. 20 Colorado

No. 3 Iowa vs Fairleigh Dickinson

No. 4 UCLA vs Purdue

No. 5 Utah vs Mississippi Valley State

No. 6 South Carolina vs No. 10 Notre Dame (Paris, France)

No. 7 Ohio State vs No. 21 USC (HOF game)

No. 8 Virginia tech vs High Point

No. 12 Ole Miss vs Queens University

No. 14 Maryland vs Harvard

No. 17 Louisville vs Cincinnati

No. 18 Florida State ve Charleston Southern

No. 19 Baylor vs Southern

No. 22 Creighton vs North Dakota State

No. 24 Washington State vs Cal Poly (HOF game)

No. 25 Mississippi State vs Alcorn State

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We don't talk about this young lady at all! And we should. A 2025 recruit everyone went "HUH?" when her commitment was announced. From Limerick Ireland, I feel I should write a poem about her.

There was a young girl from Limerick

Who was looking for a college to pick

She looked far and wide

And ended up states side

UConn was the school that did click!!

Enjoy the article below.

Ireland's latest teenage prospect set for first cap

6’4” 17-year-old Gandy Malou-Mamel from Limerick Celtic is getting her first senior cap on Saturday in a friendly against Austria at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght

www.irishexaminer.com

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