Sunday, March 19, 2023

Doggy's Doghouse 3/19/2023

 







 




GO UCONN!!!!!

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Feeling a little better today. But still just laying around watching basketball!!  Not so bad. Some great games to talk about.  

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 Here is my Pregame Report.

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Geno talks about hanging on to leads

Caroline Ducharme on Baylor

Pregame Press Conference 
UConn starts at 59 minute mark


Baylor women on matchup with UConn

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Laying in bed today, I got to watch some fun games. The SEC fans were so happy on Friday night winning all their games. They came back to earth today.

The best game was the 2 Seed Iowa vs 10 Seed Georgia game. It was close throughout. Lots of clutch shots and plenty of bad turnovers. Georgia was down 2 late in the game and turned the ball over 3 straight times down the court. Iowa hit the shots they needed at the end. Caitlin Clark was her usual amazing self,  although I though she missed a few opportunities to score on her own and instead passed the ball off where her teammates missed their shots. But she his a clutch bank shot ion the lane to expand the lead to 4 points. And what Georgia game happens without one of Coach Abe's players hitting someone in the face. That intentional foul sealed the deal. Iow won 74-66. Good. Clark had 22 points and 12 assists. The announcer said Clark is the only player to make those kinds of plays. True. The only healthy player that does that. Paige is even better. 

3 Seed Notre Dame took on 11 Seed Mississippi State and in a really ugly game, the Irish beat the Bulldogs 53-48. Mississippi State played a typical rough and tumble SEC game but the refs would have none of it. They were called for 22 personal fouls sending Notre Dame to the free throw line 31 times. Yes, 31. Fortunately for MSU, Notre Dame only hit 19 of them. The Bulldogs came back from a ten point deficit in the fourth quarter to tie the game 41-41 but they never could get over the hump. The stats were just terrible for both teams. Mississippi State shot 29.5% from the field, 3-20 on threes and 9-16 from the FT line. UGGY worthy. Notre Dame shot 34.7% from the field, 0-7 on threes and 19-31 from the FT line. They also had 19 turnovers. When the Irish play against a good team, they will be out of the tournament.  After watching Maryland and Arizona play, I'm not sure either one of them is that team. 

1 Seed South Carolina was in a close game for the first half against 8 Seed South Florida, but we all knew that the Gamecocks would squeeze the Bulls in the second half and that is exactly what happened. All you have to do is look at the offensive rebounds for South Carolina. They had 24 of them. Crazy. It's so difficult to keep them off the boards. USF had 28 total. The Gamecocks still only shot 43% from the field and 33% on threes, but it doesn't matter when you get so many second chance points. It will take a team taking and making a ton of three point shots and doing a reasonable job on the defensive boards. I can think of one team capable of doing that!

2 Seed LSU took a big lead over 6 Seed Michigan leading at the half leading 30-15. Yes, 15 points at the half for Michigan. UGGY!  Angel Reese had 10 rebounds in the first quarter and 12 points and 14 rebounds at the half.  Clearly Michigan had no answer for the LSU superstar. the Wolverines played them tough in the second half but couldn't gain any ground. LSU pulled away in the fourh quarter beating Michigan 66-42. Reese ended up with 25 points and 24 rebounds. Amazingly she had 14 offensvie rebounds.  

So who will Notre Dame play? None other than 2 Seed Maryland, who used a strong second half to put away 7 Seed Arizona 77-64. I'm really not a fan of either team, but I just wanted the team that will beat Notre Dame to win. I had to scratch my head wondering how UConn lost to this Maryland team. Then I looked at that box score. No Fudd. No Juhasz, No Muhl. It's amazing UConn kept it that close.     

The 1 Seed in UConn's region, Virginia Tech, used a big  first half to beat 9 Seed South Dakota State 72-60. They jumped out to a 12 point first quarter lead and then the teams played evenly after that. 6'6" Elizabeth Kitley dominated the paint with 14 points, 14 rebounds and 5 blocks. Georgia Amoore took 19 three point shots in this game, hitting 7 of them. Crazy. I'm still not that impressed with Virginia Tech. I just hope they are good enough to beat Tennessee if they meet in the Sweet Sixteen. 

I couldn't believe how physical Utah plays and the refs left them get away with everything. Just awful. Poor Princeton didn't stand a chance. The Tigers made several runs after Utah had a 14 point lead at one point, closing to 46-42 after three quarters. They closed to 2 points with 6 minutes left but just couldn't get over the hump and Utah pulled away late winning 63-56. Great job by Carla Berube!! Can you imagine her with better players. Future coach of UConn.   

1 Seed Stanford is taking on 8 Seed Ole Miss in a late game. I did watch the game and Ole Miss took down the 1 Seed. Amazing. I'm not shocked. I have posted in my Blog several times that Stanford had some real issues this year. For them to be a No. 1 Seed over UConnwas just stupid. And now we have proof. 
 
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No surprise here. UConn is by far the most active team in social media.  Here is one reason  why!


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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

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UConn/Baylor Round of 32 Pregame Report

                                                           

    2 Seed UConn Huskies           VS        7 Seed Baylor Lady Bears                30-5 (18-2)                                               20-12 (10-8)


Monday, March 20th, 9:00 PM
Gampel Arena
Storrs, Ct 
TV - ESPN

BAYLOR | UCONN LEADS 
5-4 H: 2-2 | A: 1-2 | N: 2-0
 
04/04/10 #1 UConn, #14 Baylor 50 San Antonio, Texas 
11/16/10 #1 UConn 65, #2 Baylor 64 Hartford, Conn. 
12/18/11 #1 Baylor 66, #2 UConn 61 Waco, Texas 
02/18/13 #1 Baylor 76, #3 UConn 70 Hartford, Conn. 
01/13/14 #1 UConn 66, #7 Baylor 55 Waco, Texas 
11/17/16 #3 UConn 72, #2 Baylor 61 Storrs, Conn. 
01/03/19 #8 Baylor 68, #1 UConn 57 Waco, Texas 
01/09/20 #6 Baylor 74, #1 UConn 58 Hartford, Conn. 
03/29/21 #1 UConn 69, #5 Baylor 67 San Antonio, Texas

Baylor Overview

Baylor has had an up and down season. But they finished the season on a 7-9 and 4-6 over their last 10 games. They did beat Villanova, Iowa State, Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma, all ranked teams when they played them. 

They used three point shooting to outgun Alabama to get to this game.

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Baylor Lady Bears


Nikki Collen


   Baylor Starters
Baylor Bench 

5 Darianna Littlepage-Buggs
6'1" Freshman Guard/Forward

4 Jana Van Ggytenbeek
5'7" Junior Guard
 
BAYLOR TEAM STATS


 Game Analysis

This isn't your momma's Baylor team. Or Mulkey's. They just won their 20th game in beating Alabama in the first round. And it took their best shooting game of the season to so it.

I'm sure you all remember the last time these two teams met. The Huskies pulled out a close one in the Elite Eight game 69-67 with some controvery at the end of the game. 

There are a couple of players that played in that game. Bickle played 6 minutes and Andrews played 11 minutes. They scored 2 points each.

UConn had two players as well in that game that are playing now. Edwards played 24 minutes, scoring 4 points and grabbing 7 rebounds. Griffin played 25 minutes but didn't do much while on the court. She had 2 points, 3 rebounds and 2 blocks. 

So basically these are two different teams.

Sarah Andrews, a 5'6" junior guard is the leading scorer, at 15 PPG. She is a best player that is a holdover from Mulkey's roster. She averages 4.34 APG and only 2.6 turnover per game. She is not a great shooter, making her shots at a 38% clip and 34% from threes. But she takes more shots by far than anyone else on the team. If she is hot like against Alabama, that is a good thing. Not so much if she reverts to her averages. 

Her backcourt mate and ball handler, Jadan Owen is a 5'8" senior transferred in to Baylor from UCLA a couple of years ago. A quick guard, she is averaging only 7.8 PPG. But she is a terrific ball handler averaging 5.8 assists per game. And like Andrews, under 3 turnovers per game. Her job is to get the ball to open shooters. She is shooting 37% from the field and 28% on threes. With those numbers it's better she passes than shoots.

Caitlin Bickel is entering her 10th year at Baylor. Ok, not really but it feels that way. The 6'1" Grad Student, is the only size on this team. And while she is not tall,  she is pretty wide. Second on the team in scoring at 12.2 PPG, she is second on the team in rebounding at 7.1 RPG. Bickel is a pretty good shooter make them at a 51% clip. She doesn't take many threes but she is a threat from deep at 38%. She also gets to the FT line more than anyone else and makes 81% of them. 

Ja'Mee Asberry, a 5'5" grad student transfer from Oklahoma State is in her second year at Baylor. Quick and shifty, she had the game of her life against Alabama, making 7 of 13 three pointers. On the season she only hits them at a 33% clip. She is third on the team in scoring at 11.3 PPG. 

The last starter is Bella Fontleroy, a 6' freshman forward. Bella is averaging 8.7 PPG and 5.1 RPG. Great stats for a first year player. She had no bigger rebound than the offensive board she had on a missed free throw at the end of the game which allowed Bayor to get a four point lead with 15 seconds left to seal the win. 

They aer pretty much a two player team off the bench. 

Darianna Littlepage-Buggs (great name) is a 6'1" freshman forward. She is the only other double digit scorer at 10.8 PPG. She only scores from close in shooting 51% from the field. Not a big player, she has a knack for rebounding averaging 9.3 RPG. And she leads the team in blocked shots with 28 on the season. 

Jana Van Gytenbeek, a 5'7" junior guard, may not see a lot of time in this game. She just doesn't add much to the offense or defense against a team like UConn. 

It should be interesting to see how Baylor defends UConn. The Lady Bears might be the smallest team UConn faces this season. Similar to Creighton in stature, Baylor has no one to match up with Juhasz, and maybe Bickel will guard her? Then who guards Edwards. The Huskies will have to take advantage of their size like they did against Vermont. The size advantage is not only in the front court. 6'1" wing, Lou Lopez Senechal presents a big challenge for the three guards, who go 5'5", 5'6" and 5'8. Both Nika and Fudd have that size advantage as well.  

But that size advantage can be negated on defense for UConn. Baylor will force the two bigs to guard on the outside drawing them out for create lanes to the basket. That could be the plan but its a tough one to execute. 

The UConn avantage is they can take out Dorka and put in Griffin. Aubrey presents a different issue for Baylor to deal with.      

Final Prediction

Between Alabama and Baylor, I was rooting for the Lady Bears to win. I believe they are a better matchup for the Huskies.

Baylor is too small and they don't shoot well enough. Their pesky defense could present the occasional problem for UConn but the Huskies will hit the offensive boards hard to grab a ton of misses. 

If Baylor shoots like they did against Alabama they could make a game of it, but that would be an unusual happenstance. They only shoot 42% from the field and 32% on threes for the season. Geno will note how hot they were from the outside and focus on covering the three ball. That might allow Baylor to drive to the basket, but with Dorka and Edwards inside to pretect the basket, it will probably not be very effective.

There is a reason that Baylor was 19-12 coming into the tournament. They aren't a very good team. 

UConn by 20+.

GO HUSKIES!!
 
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Saturday, March 18, 2023

Doggy's Doghouse 3/18/2023

 







 




GO UCONN!!!!!

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I was supposed to be driving with my son and his family to a rental house in Georgia today. But the plans fell apart when I came down with something. Two Covid tests were negative. But I've had a fever on and off and a runny nose. I plan on flying to Atlanta on Tuesday. Hopefull I am better before then!!

The good news is I got to watch the UConn game live and many other games. It's been a great day for WCBB. 

And I'll be home for the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight games, if UConn gets that far. 

I hate being sick!!         

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Well, that couldn't have gone any better!! Other than the injury scare for Lou, it was as good as it gets. 

Here is an update on Lou.


I believe this might have been the first game this season that everyone played and everyone scored. So much fun to watch.

The star of this game was Aaliyah Edwards. She hit her first 10 shots on her way to a 13-15 game scoring a career high 28 points in only 28 minutes. She a stat line for Edwards. She added 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks. Third team AA? Nah.....better!

UConn's front court dominated as Dorka Juhasz had 15 points and 10 rebounds for another double double. She also added 6 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks. 

Wow, those two are just a force. 

Nika "Iron Woman" Muhl had a terrific game with 9 points and 10 assists in her team leading 35 minutes. Some of those passes were just amazing.And her on the ball defense was dominating. 

Lou had a quiet game in her 20 minutes. Once she did something to her leg by stepping on Muhl's foot, she didn't re-enter the game. She was smiling ear-to-ear after riding the bike to loosen it up. 

Azzi...oh Azzi. I can't wait until she finds the range again. 1-8 on threes is not something she does very often.  And they were pretty open threes. But just the threat of her long range shooting opened it up for Edwards and Juhasz. She did score 5 points, with 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal. Eventually UConn is going to need to have her hit those open shots.

Caroline Ducharme said she was feeling great and ready to play. She wasn't kidding! In her 24 minutes off the bench she had 12 points going 4-4 from the field and 2-2 on threes. She also had 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal. A solid all around game. She looked as good as she has all season long. I'm so happy for her!

Aubrey Griffin clearly wasn't herself after suffering from back spasms. She only played 6 minutes scoring 4 points. Hopefully she will be doing better in 2 days. Her back spams were acting up. Despite getting treatment at halftime, Geno says she still wasn't playing well and wanted to rest her.
  
Ayanna Patterson was the only other player in the rotation and she earned more time. Once she got over the early jitters, Patterson played as good as she has all year. She actually took the ball to the basket! How about that! In her 14 minutes she had 6 points on 3-6 shooting, 3 rebounds and 1 assists. More than the stats, she looked to be making the correct plays. Good to see.

I just love Ina Bettencourt. She looks really comfortable in the offense and hit her only shot, a three pointer. She also added 1 rebound, 1 assists and one amazing block. 

Even Amari DeBerry looked good in her limited time on the court. She had 4 points and 3 rebounds.

Whew...great job by the team. Their full court press and ball pressure was just outstanding. And their team defense was dominating.

UConn shot 62% from the field and had 27 assists. A great team effort.

They take on Baylor in the round of 32 on Monday at 9:00 on ESPN. More to come on that game. Here is my Pregame Report.

Baylor came back from an 18 point deficit to beat Alabama. It was the third larget deficit to overcome in NCAA tournament history. Both teams were hot from the outside. Alabama was 14-26 from deep and Baylor was 14-28. That is pretty amazing considering that Baylor shoots 32.2% for the season and Alabama shoots 38% so that great shooting was much more understandable. Alabama jumped out to a 20-4 lead in the first quarter but the Lady Bears slowly came back. Alabama jumped out to an 8 point lead in the fourth quarter, but Baylor just wouldn't give up. A great game to watch. I hope Baylor is really tired.   

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Game Highlights

More Highlights

Full Press Conference

Dorka Interview

Azzi Interview

Geno Interview

Patterson Interview

Nika Interview

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A mixed day for the Big East. St. John's lost a tough game against North Carolina. They had a 5 point lead with 4 minutes remaining in the game but North Carolina scored seven straight points to take a 2 point lead 56-54 with 1:19 left in the game. St. John's tied it up but North Carolina took their final lead with 2 seconds left 61-58. St. John's was fouled taking a three point shot with 2 seconds left. That call was very questionable. But Patterson missed the first two foul shots and that was the final. Great game and too bad for the Red Storm.

Villanova beat up on Cleveland State, winning 76-59 in a game what wasn't that close. Maddy Siegrist scored 35 points to lead the Wildcats. They look like a tough out and with the upset by Florida Gulf Coast, they will not have to face PAC12 champion  Washington State in the second round. I expect a tough game but Villanova should be favored to get to the Sweet Sixteen! 
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A couple of 5-12 upsets Saturday. 

12 seed Toledo beat 5 seed Iowa State 80-73 and will take on 4 seed Tennessee on Monday. I like the Lady Vols chances to get to the Sweet Sixteen. 

12 seed Florida Gulf Coast beat PAC12 champion 5 seed Washington State 74-63 in a game I picked correctly in my brackets. They get to take on Villanova in the next round.

5 seed Louisville almost lost to 12 seed Drake 83-81 in a very exciting game. 

Plenty of chalk games to round it out for the day. 

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Don't tease us like this Paige!!! Wouldn't it be amazing if she stayed 3 more years. Wow!!!

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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

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