Saturday, January 28, 2023

Doggy's Doghouse 1/28/2023

 











 




GO UCONN!!!!!


In case you missed it here is my UConn/Villanova Pregame Report

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UConn is on the trail of this player - 

Olivia Vukosa, F/P​

Height: 6-4 | Christ the King (N.Y.)

Vukosa is the most advanced big in the class at this time. She has incredible hands and really carves out space for rebounds and post-ups. She has the ability to take to ball after a rebound and push it up the floor to make good decisions or get to the paint.

Her competitive focus really sets her apart. Vukosa has a mature approach to the game that well exceeds her age and experience. Her touch around the rim and comfort both inside and out are true separators. She can fit into a lot of new-age systems because she can make reads on the outside but still get the old school post-up and face-up opportunities as well.

And Olivia Vukosa, a recruit in the class of 2026, had her unofficial visit in Storrs today. Looks like she got to hang with Nika and meet Geno. 


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Straight from the Dog

Thanks again to my friend Ken for this info. In fact, I'll just cut and paste what he wrote with the tweet he posted as well.

Shooting 50/40/90 rarely ever happens, even in the WNBA. but Lou is shooting 50/50/90!! Every team we face does their utmost to stop her and they ALL FAIL. During a timeout in the 3rd qtr, Tennessee Coach Kellie Harper told her team: '#11 gets nothing"! Once play resumed, Lou quickly hit a contested pull up jump shot. 

Remember last summer when some thought Geno was crazy for bringing her to UConn? Yeah, he was crazy good and Lou is crazy good! She'll be drafted in a few months and she'll have a nice career because she works hard, takes care of herself, is a team player and she is completely willing to be coached up.

  
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UCONN LINKS

Several links are pay sites. Sorry!


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Message Boards

UConn Territory - The best UConn women's message board ever!!! 
Vol Nation - Tennessee women's basketball board
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UCONN Information



I'm always open for suggestions. Just please reply to this blog or email me at:

doggydaddy.UConn@gmail.comUConn/Villanova Pregame Report

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Doggy's UConn/Villanova Pregame Report

                                                                 

        No. 5 UConn Huskies           VS         No. 21 Villanova Wildcats
                  19-2 (11-0)                                               18-3 (9-1)


Sunday, January 29th, 2:00
XL Center, Hartford CT
TV - CBSSN 

VILLANOVA | UCONN LEADS 39-18 
H: 18-7 | A: 17-8 | N: 4-3 

01/22/00 #1 UConn 79, VU 46 Villanova, Pa. 
02/04/01 #2 UConn 75, #24 VU 39 Storrs, Conn. 
02/18/01 #3 UConn 61, #25 VU 43 Villanova, Pa. 
01/19/02 #1 UConn 93, VU 60 Villanova, Pa. 
03/04/02 #1 UConn 83, VU 39 Piscataway, N.J. 
01/29/03 #2 UConn 58, #20 VU 38 Storrs, Conn. 
03/11/03 #18 VU 52, #1 UConn 48 Piscataway, N.J. 
02/28/04 VU 59, #1 UConn 56 Villanova, Pa. 
01/15/05 #16 UConn 73, VU 57 Storrs, Conn. 
12/08/05 #8 UConn 72, VU 56 Villanova, Pa
02/24/07 #3 UConn 92, VU 49 Hartford, Conn. 
01/03/08 #1 UConn 88, VU 38 Villanova, Pa. 
02/24/09 #1 UConn 74, VU 47 Storrs, Conn. 0
3/09/09 #1 UConn 72, VU 42 Hartford, Conn. 
01/23/10 #1 UConn 74, VU 35 Villanova, Pa. 
01/05/11 #2 UConn 81, VU 35 Storrs, Conn. 
01/14/12 #3 UConn 72, VU 49 Villanova, Pa. 
01/29/13 #3 UConn 76, VU 43 Hartford, Conn. 
12/22/20 #3 UConn 90, VU 52 Villanova, Pa. 
03/07/21 #1 UConn 84, VU 39 Uncasville, Conn.
02/09/22 VU 72, #8 UConn 69 Hartford, Conn. 
03/07/22 #6 UConn 70, VU 40 Uncasville, Conn.

    Villanova Overview

Villanova has proven they are the second best team in the Big East so far this season. Their only three losses were to then No. 21 Baylor 75-70, then No. 13 Creighton 67-46, and then no. 14 Iowa State 74-62. And they were the only games against ranked players. That should tell you something.

They did win a rematch with Creighton in their last outing 73-57, but Crieghton isn't ranked anymore and has slid down in the BE standings behind both Villanova and St. John's.

They have beatend everyone else in the Big East, but the margin of victory tells a sttory. 

They beat Marquette 54-52, Georgetown 71-64, Butler 68-58, DePaul 71-64, and St. John's 64-61.  It shows that the WIldcats can win the close games but are in close games against teams UConn beat by large margins. 

        Comparative Team Statistics

Leader in Bold

                                                     UConn                                       Villanova

                                              81.8              PPG                       70.6
                                              58.8        Defensive PPG             57.5
                                              23.0        Scoring Margin            13.1
                                              52.5        Field Goal %                44.1
                                              34.8        Defensive FG%            37.3 
                                              40.5        Three Point %              35.3
                                              28.1        Defensive 3PT%           36,4
                                              75.2        Free Throw %              76.8
                                              41.8        Rebounds/game            36.4
                                              12.4         Rebounding Margin      2.1 
                                              21.2        Assists per game           16.2
                                              16.7        Turnover per game       10.5
                                                1.3        Assists/TO ratio             1.5
                                                7.2        Steals per game             6.5
                                                4.2        Blocks per game            5.4  

   
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Villanova Wildcats


   Villanova Starters
Villanova Bench 

32 Bella Runyan
5'11" Junior Guard

4 Kaitlyn Orihel
5'10" Sophomore Guard
14 Megan Olbrys
6'1" Freshman Forward

VILLANOVA TEAM STATS


 Game Analysis

It's 1 vs 2 for the lead in the Big East standing and run to the regular season championship. 

Last season Villanova upset the Huskies on UConn's home court 72-69 and then UConn just hammered the Wildcats in the BE tournament final 70-40. So, do those two games relate to the game on Sunday? Maybe?

You can bet that UConn is remembering that upset and they certainly did get revenge the second time they met. They won't be taking the Wildcats lightly. 

Last year, Lior Garzon was 5-10 on threes and scored 19 points in the upset win for Nova. But she transfered out and third leading scorer on the team Brianna Herlify graduated.

Of course, returning Big East POY 6'2" senior Maddy Siegrist leads the way for Villanova and is the leading candidate to repeat. She is leading the team in scoring at 28.5 PPG and rebounds at 9.6 RPG. She is shooting at 53% and hitting her three pointers at a 40.5% clip.  All better numbers than she had last season. 

Returning starter 5'9" sophomore guard Lucy Olsen is second leading scorer for Nova at 12.3 PPG. She also leads the team in assists at 4 per game.    She also leads the team in three point shooting percentage at 43.8%. A great number. I really like her game. She is fiesty like Nika. It will be fun when they face each other.

The third returning starter is Maddie Burke, a 6' junior guard. She averages 8.2 PPG and has taken the most three point shots on the team at around 6 per game. And she shoots them really well at 42.7%. She doesn't get to the FT line much but she is 9-9 for the season.

Christina Dalce is the only other size on the ream besides Siegrist at 6'2. The sophomore forward is a terrific shot blocker and averages over 2 per game in only 22 minutes per game. She won't add much scoring in this game or any game for that matter. She only averages 6.6 PPG and shoots a low persentage at 35.7. 

The final starter is Brooke Mullen, a 5'11" senior guard. She is a terrible shooter, only 24.2% from the field and 19.4% on ther 62 threes she has taken. She does have 82 assists and only 34 turnovers.

It looks like Villanova only goes 7 deep recently. Bella Runyan, a 5'11" junior guard, and Kaitlyn Orihel, a 5'10" sohpmore guard, round out the rotation. 

One thing Nova does is take care of the ball. They have a 1.5 assist to turnover ratio.  

UConn had a great game against Tennessee and will look to carry that forward to this match up. The Huskies will start their same five players and rotate in Patterson to give the starters a rest. It will be interesting to see how they guard Siegrist. If they can slow her down as they have done in the past, UConn should win easliy.My guess is they use a combination of Griffin and Edwards, but don't be surprised of Juhasz gets some time covering her as well.       
    
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Final Prediction

Will this game be like the first match up last year where Nova won in an upset? Or more like the second match up in the BE Championship game?

UConn is playing their best basketball of the year and is a really tough matchuip for the Wildcats. Nova has little size to match up with AA candidate Edwards and UConn big Juhasz. And Griffin is way too athletic for any Villanova player. In this game size matters, and UConn goes 6'5", 6'3", 6'1, 6'1 and 5'10" with 6'2 off the bench. Villanova goes 6'2", 6'2", 6', 5'11 and 5'9 with 5'11" and 5'10" off the bench. It could be a huge rebounding margin for the Huskies. 

I look for Nika to control the game and find players with position in the post and that Lou will have another big game. I don't believe the Wildcats are as good as last year although their record says they are.

UConn won't hold them to 40 points, but maybe around 55. And the Huskies will be able to get to 75.

Based on that UConn by 20+

GO HUSKIES!!   
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Friday, January 27, 2023

Doggy's Doghouse 1/27/2023












 




GO UCONN!!!!!

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I made a pretty detailed analysis of the matchups. Lets take a look on how accurate they were. 

5'10" Junior Nika Muhl 
vs 
5'8" Grad Student Jordan Walker

Advantage - Pregame UConn, Postgame UConn.    

Another big advantage for UConn. Walker is just not a very good point guard. She can't score and can't defend. Nika had her way with her and just   

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6'1 Grad Student Lou Lopez Senechal
 vs 
6'1" Junior Tess Darby 

Advantage - Pregame UConn Postgame UConn 

I should have said HUGE advantage UConn. Lou was so good. And Darby? A decent player if she was coming off the bench to hit the occasional three pointer. 

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 6'1" Redshirt Junior Aubrey Griffin 
vs
6'2" Senior Jordon Horston

Advantage Pregame Even Postgame Tennessee 

Like I said last night, gotta give Horston credit. She pretty much got her shot whenever she wanted. But Horston always tries to do too much and had only 2 assists an 6 turnovers. Griffin had a solid game and was very efficient. But without Horston, Tennessee loses by 30.

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6'3" Junior Aaliyah Edwards
vs
6'2" Senior Rickea Jackson      

Advantage - Pregame Slight UConn Postgame UConn

Edwards had a great game and Jackson did not. And it's more than just stats, although Edwards' 25 points dwarfed Jackson's 13. You could see it on their faces and their attitude. Jackson is just a lousy teammate in my opinion. Everything seems to be about her. That tussle under the basket was all Jackson. I still can't see where Edwards did anything to get a technical.  

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 6'5" Grad Student Dorka Juhasz  
vs  
6'3 Sophomore Karoline Striplin 
    
Advantage - Pregame UConn Postgame UConn     

It's hard to  call Striplin a starter and I think this might have been her last start. Dorka took her to task for the 5 minutes she player. Harper saw that Striplin had no one she could guard so out she came. Although she did start against in the second half. Dorka is just so good. A tough matchup for anyone with her nice outside shot and great post game.  

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Bench

6'5 Sophomore Amari Deberry
6'2" Freshman Anaya Patterson
5'9" Freshman Ina Bettencourt
vs
6'2" Sophomore Forward Sara Puckett 
5'6" Senior Guard Jasmine Powell
6'1" Grad Forward Jasmine Franklin 
6'5" Sophomore Center Jillian Hollingshead

Advantage - Pregame Tennessee Postgame Tennessee       

This one was pretty easy. Even though Horston came off the bench, she played a team leading 33 minutes. Hollingshead had a terrific game with 11 points and 9 rebounds. But the rest of the bench, Puckett, Powell and Franklin didn't do much more than Patterson, the only UConn bench player with minutes. They combines for 59 minutes, 2-15 from the field, 1-7 on threes, 9 rebounds and 3 assists. As I said as long as UConn doesn't get fatigued their starters overwhelm the Tennessee bench and did that for the 59 minutes.

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Coach

Advantage - Pregame UConn Postgame UConn

Harper not starting Horston and Jackson every game, including this one is just terrible coaching. Get your best players on the court for as long as possible. And her substiution pattern did not help the Lady Vols. Her half time speach was "play tough". How about play smart? Pass the ball. Keep moving? Yes, she is a disciple of Pat and is shows in the lack of offense. Just hitting the boards doesn't work anymore with all the skilled players out ther. 

Geno was great as usual. And his half time interivew? Insane but effective. And anything that annoys the Tennessee fans I'm in favor of!!    

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Intangibles

Advantage - Pregame Tennessee Postgame UConn

There were 13K at TBA but they did not make a difference. The only intangible was that UConn was the better team and both Tennessee and UConn knew it.   

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Final Prediction

"I would imagine UConn would only give up in the low 60's. Tennessee does play some great defense at times, so they could hold UConn to a few points under their average of 81 PPG" 

"I can see a 75-63 win for the Huskies. UConn by 12+"

Not bad. They won by 17 and scored more than I thought and gave up more than I thought, but not by much. Overall a good prediction. Just so happy that they won. I hate this game. 

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Videos

Coach Harper, Jordan Horston, Rickea Jackson 
Post Game Interview

12 straight Dubs 

UConn at Tennessee 
Full Game Highlights


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New UConn 2025 Verbal Kelis Fisher







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GAMES

UPSETS IN RED

No. 1 Stanford vs Oregon State - Late Game
No. 8 UCLA 70 No. 25 Colorado 73 OT
No.  9 Utah 83 USC 73
No. 19 Arizona 61 Washington 54

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Straight from the Dog

I'm still high as a kite from UConn's 84-67 win over the Tennessee Lady Vols Thursday night.

Now the Huskies are up 17-9 in the history of the games with Tennessee winning the last fou since the was series was renewed. 

Summitt must have known what was coming when she cancelled the series in 2007. What would Tennessee be facing over the years inbetween the cancellation and the renewal?? It wouldn't be pretty. UConn had the better team by a wide margin in every year.

It might have been 28-9 at this time. Can you imagine UConn on a 15-0 run against Tennessee? Their fan's heads would have explosed.   

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By PHIL

All

After reading DoggyDaddy’s write up on the Tennessee game,  I thought that it might be fun to visit the LV discussion forum. No, not the original one, that one has restricted access because their distorted worldview kept getting peppered by inconvenient facts. The secondary forum isn’t quite as busy but let’s give them kudos for allowing input from fans that haven’t drunk the orange Kool-Aid.

I saw a reference to Big Least and would like to respond. I participate there but I haven’t tipped my hand, so I don’t plan on posting this there.

I could understand, even if I disagree, with the use of Big Least if they are talking about the current conference. I’m not even going to argue that the current Big East is stronger than the current SEC. I’ll even give credit to the term — on a cleverness scale from 1 to 10, it easily deserves a 1.5. Which means, in all likelihood, the term wasn’t dreamed up by an SEC fan, that’s too high a bar, they must have stolen it from someone else.

But they weren’t talking about the current Big East. They were talking about the old Big East. This isn’t just my inference, they actually said “but the ‘old’ Big East conference…”.

They said it in response to someone who posted some stats about tournament results. The years weren’t listed but it’s pretty easy to figure out that the tables were based on 2008 – 2013, with the last year corresponding to the last year of the old Big East.

The initial comment was based on the number of teams invited by the selection committee.

Let’s summarize the results:

2008 Big East 8 SEC 5 Advantage Big East

2009 Big East 7 SEC 7 tie

2010 Big East 7 SEC 6 Advantage Big East

2011 Big East 9 SEC 4 huge Advantage Big East

2012 Big East 8 SEC 8 tie

2013 Big East 8 SEC 7 Advantage Big East

in summary, the Big East had an advantage in four of six years, tied in two, and the SEC dominated in exactly 0 years during this time. Over those six years the Big East had 47 teams selected to the tournament while the SEC had 37. That’s a significant advantage.

These are the years the respondent is referring to the Big Least. If getting 47 teams qualifies for derision, what’s the right label for a conference that gets 10 fewer teams into the tournament?

It’s one thing to get teams invited, it’s another thing for those teams to win. How many wins did the SEC have over that six-year period? They had 62, slightly more than 10 per year. Not bad. How many wins did the Big East have over that period? 90!!! That’s an average of 15 per year, almost 50% more than the SEC.

The SEC fan (presumably a Tennessee fan) wasn’t about to argue that 37 teams selected was better than 47. No, not even Tennessee fans think that (most of them, anyway). But, as many have observed (and this is broader than just SEC fans) once one convinces oneself of a notion, mere contrary facts aren’t going to change your mind, you’re going to dream up some excuse why the facts mean something other than the obvious. Addendum — after writing this I went back to see if there were any more pearls of wisdom in the thread and found this: “A study by Stanford University proved that once someone’s mind is made up you cannot change it regardless of the facts”. Yes, discouraging, and yes, I’m ignoring the study by trying to respond with facts but what else to do?

No, this fan wasn’t about to discard the term “Big Least”.

So, what was their explanation?

“The multiple bids were generally a display of generosity by the selection committee, leaving most fans outside of that conference with raised eyebrows. “

Yes, apparently the selection committee decided that the Big East deserved preferential treatment, so the huge number of invitations to the tournament represented some sort of affirmative action for basketball teams.

Now you might think that I’m going to absolutely destroy the notion that the selection committee would engage in any such actions but I’m not. I’m seriously suspicious that the selection committee has engaged in preferential treatment, but I think that treatment favors the SEC. The notion that the Big East has benefited from preferential treatment is laughable but that’s often the case for SEC fans, who can correctly say that the SEC was the top conference in the land for some period of time but have decided to cling to that notion long after the facts say otherwise.

I have some thoughts on how to test these assertions mathematically but putting together all the data is not trivial and I haven’t had the energy. Maybe this will inspire me to work on it.

In the meantime, I’ll make one simple observation which is far from perfect.

It seems plausible that if the selection committee decided to add a lot of teams from one conference that didn’t deserve to be in the tournament, the number of teams selected would be high, but when those teams actually played they’d be washed out of the tournament early. One metric is to look at the winning percentage in the tournament.

I demonstrated that the number of Big East invites over the six-year period was far higher than for the SEC but maybe the winning percentage was weaker?

Nope.

The Big East went 90 – 44, winning 67.2% of their games, while the SEC went 62 – 36, winning 63.3% of the games. Not terribly different, but even a Tennessee fan knows that 67 is higher than 63 (I think, don’t make me bet on it).

The problem is that while this metric is an interesting metric, it doesn’t tell us definitively that one conference is being favored over another.

Let me illustrate with a simple example.

Imagine two conferences each get exactly one team selected to the tournament. A team from the first conference is given a one seed. As a one seed their expected number of wins is 4.25, but maybe they were over seeded and only win three. Three and one leaves them at a 75% winning percentage.

In contrast, the second conference gets a single team in seeded as a five seed, who follows expectations, wins the first round and loses the second round. They winning percentage is 50%. In this overly simplified example the first conference was the recipient of preferential treatment but they winning percentage, while lower than it should be, is still better than the other conference seeded correctly.

I need to put together a metric that measures how many wins each team and conference should get based upon their actual seeding and see if it measures up to the expected results.

Not today, but I hope I have shared enough data to destroy the notion that the old Big East, in the last six years of existence deserved to be called the Big Least. Rational observers of women’s basketball know that was an era of dominance by the Big East.

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UCONN LINKS

Several links are pay sites. Sorry!


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Message Boards

UConn Territory - The best UConn women's message board ever!!! 
Vol Nation - Tennessee women's basketball board
ND Nation - Notre Dame women's basketball board
Rebkell - WCBB for everyone that thinks they are smarter than everyone else

UCONN Information



I'm always open for suggestions. Just please reply to this blog or email me at:

doggydaddy.UConn@gmail.com

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