Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 12/20/2023

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Even my daughter (mother to Logan and Barrett)

is looking for my Blog!!!

GO UCONN!!!!!

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Geno has always done right by his players in finding them a home game in their senior season. It doesn't always happen but Geno will do whatever he can to benefit his players.

For Edwards, the opponent was supposed to be Pittsburgh, which at the time of the agreement also had a couple of Canadian players. But they backed out of the game after a coaching change in March. UConn had to work fast to find another team.

Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) stepped in. the Metropolitan's, they are currently 10-0 averaging 71.6 points a game while giving up only 58.5 points. They average 38.9% in field goals with a 3pt average of 26.8%, and a 70.3% clip from the charity strip. They average 43.1 rebounds, 15 assists and turnovers, 11.3 steals, and 3.2 blocks a game. TMU has not played anyone like UConn and should have many problems with both their offense and defense. They are between a Div 2 and Div 3 type team and Massey has it with UConn winning 100-28.

I'm looking forward to seeing the team continue it's improved play. I'm not a fan of really big blowout. Sometimes it just has to happen. And it will in this game.

- Can Shade keep it going?

- Is it back to KK to make the FOW awards a battle?

- More Griffin? I think something clicked

- Less than 8 turnovers for Nika?

- 5 the over/under on how many times Paige hits the floor?

I'll say Geno eases up and UConn wins by 60+.

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I figured this was a good time to re-post this great video about Ashlynn Shade. Some wonderful titbits from her dad about her drive to be great. Shade might be the best conditioned player on the team. I've seen this said before but she is so similar to another Indiana (college team) player, Grace Berger. Although not as tall, Ashlynn's style of play is just similar.

Long Highlight Video. Berger is No. 34

If you want to compare her to a UConn players, Shea Ralph comes to mind. Again, not as tall, but very similar games. Especially in the hustle department.

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Congratulations to @SheaRalph on being inducted into the @NCSHOF!!!

Coach Ralph will be inducted on May 10 at the Charlotte Convention Center

📰 | https://t.co/nXdfiKUZyE #AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/X3rwmUItog
— Vanderbilt WBB (@VandyWBB) December 19, 2023

Great Shea article - Click Here

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** Designates Upset

Tuesday, 12/19

Scores and Links

No. 1 South Carolina 93 Bowling Green 62

No. 24 North Carolina at Oklahomah

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Allie Ziebell
Coming to UConn in 2024

29 points (10-18 FG, 2-2 FT, 7-9 3-PT), 9 reb, 6 assists, 2 steals

21-37 (57%) from 3-PT last 4 games

Think they could use her shooting??

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Straight from the Dog

I just found this out today. The game in Toronto will be recognized by the NCAA as a regular season game. It will count in the win-loss record, the stats will all count for the players and the teams. The only caveat is that it won't count in calculating the NET for the NCAA tournament. I'm glad to see the stats count.

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By PHIL

Remaining schedule examined

Someone mentioned to me that everyone above UConn will start losing games. That UConn played the hardest part of their schedule already. And most other teams played the easy parts of their schedule.

My first reaction was my friend was exactly right. The Big East is doing decently but top to bottom the Big East is decidedly the sixth strongest conference. Every one of the teams ahead of us in the AP rankings is in the P5 which means they are about to go into conference play, and all are playing in stronger conferences.

But then I thought about it a little more and decided it wasn't quite that simple. There are two reasons for this difference.

UConn hasn't played all their tough games already. Notre Dame at home and South Carolina away.

UConn has two ranked out of conference teams remaining on its schedule Some of the teams ahead of us have some conference games remaining but I'm fairly certain they don't have any ranked out of conference opponents remaining.

The second reason has to do with the fact that judging the strength of a conference can be tricky. I'm not about to pretend that the Big East is really a stronger conference, but that's not the question at hand. The suggestion is that the teams ahead of us are about to have more chances to lose a game than UConn.

To illustrate my point, one of UConn's remaining's opponents is Xavier, ranked number 272 by Massey. I don't want to be too dismissive of Xavier, maybe lightning will strike, and they will defeat UConn but let's face it, if we can't beat Xavier, we don't have much of a case for a higher ranking.

In contrast, Iowa’s weakest remaining conference opponent is Northwestern ranked number 138 by Massey. Northwestern is clearly better than Xavier, so based on this game alone Iowa's schedule is tougher than UConn's. However, Iowa is highly unlikely to lose to Northwestern (Massey pegs the probability at 10%) so isn't a meaningful part of the possibility of a team ahead of us losing.

Partly because it's easy to do, let's look at the number of ranked teams remaining for UConn and the teams ahead of us.

Here's the list, sorted by number of remaining ranked teams.

• Utah 9
• Colorado 9
• UCLA 8
• USC 8
• Virginia Tech 7
• Notre Dame 7
• NC State 7
• UConn 6
• Stanford 6
• Texas 6
• Kansas State 4
• Baylor 4
• Iowa 4
• Indiana 3
• Ohio State 3
• South Carolina 2
• LSU 1

UConn isn't at the bottom or even near the bottom.

Sure, there are several teams facing more ranked opponents, dominated by Pac12 members, but if you look at some of the teams just ahead of us, the ones where we would expect to have the best chance of moving ahead with a loss by them, they either has fewer opportunities for loss than UConn, or about the same.

Indiana's one spot ahead of us but only has three remaining ranked teams on their schedule while UConn has six. Virginia Tech and Notre Dame have one more ranked remaining team but seven versus six is pretty darn close and doesn't fit the narrative that our remaining schedule is substantially weaker than theirs. Ohio State, who hasn't yet beaten a team good enough to get invited to the tournament, only has three ranked teams remaining on their schedule. Kansas State is five spots ahead of us but has two fewer ranked remaining opponents.

LSU, whose Massey ranking is four spots below UConn but 10 spots higher in the AP has only a single ranked opponent left on their schedule.

Milestone watch

• Aaliyah Edwards had 1362 career points after the Louisville game. She scored 12 in the Butler game to reach 1374, passing Charde Houston and moving into 38th place. She needs 4 to catch Sue Bird, 7 to catch Carla Berube, 13 to catch Jamelle Elliot, and 14 to catch Leigh Curl.

• Nika Mühl had 481 assists after the Louisville game. She had 3 assists in the Butler game to reach 484 assists. That moved her past Gabby Williams (482) and Tiffany Hayes (483). She is now in 14th place. There’s a bit of a gap to Laura Lishness in 13th place, who has 531 career assists.

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SPIDER STATS

Plus one for every assist block point rebound and steal. I don’t add extra for offensive rebounds as it already seems to favor the bigs. Minus one for every missed shot (2, 3 or foul), turnover or foul committed.

UConn 106 Butler 52

Net positives/minutes: Aubrey 23/26, Ashlynn 22/38, Paige 20/28, Aaliyah 19/30, Nika 7/28, Qadence 6/8, Ice 4/11, KK 2/25, Ines 0/3, Amari -1/3.

Butler played well. Ice improving. The sky is falling: only one block for Paige Blockers? Love how Ashlynn squares up.

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UCONN LINKS

Several links are pay sites. Sorry!

UConn heads north for a non-NCAA game with a twist

UConn to face TMU for Edwards homecoming

It's buzzin' - Edwards is ready for showdown

Edwards family thrilled about the game in Toronoto

It's Edwards time to inspire other Canadian players

UConn heads to Toronto in a good place after 4 straight wins