Doggydaddy's Den: DoggyDaddy's Dailies 12/16/15

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UConn freshman De'Janae Boykin has decided to transfer. She has been battling her Achilles problem all preseason and recently is has become public that she is having academic problems. But as happens on occasion, she was homesick and UConn ended up not being the place for her.

Geno - "Recently De’Janae expressed her desire to be closer to home. She is a great kid and I am glad I was able to get to know De’Janae and her family. The entire coaching staff and team wish her nothing but the best in the future."

If you remember from my preseason look at the freshman, I wrote this about Boykin. She is extremely close to her family, especially her brother, who is blind. She transferred high schools so she could be with her brother.

Boykin will complete her final exams before finalizing her transfer. I always am happy for kids that realize they need to make a change instead of just being unhappy where they are. Good luck to De'Janae!

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No. 16 DePaul as upset by South Dakota State 88-79 at the Jackrabbit's home court. Now, this goes down as an upset but it really isn't. South Dakota State only lost to No. 3 Notre Dame by only 11 points and 7 points to No. 5 Maryland. And when you shoot 11-20 on threes, you make it difficult for a team to beat you, even one as good as DePaul.

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From David in Naples

How good is Gabby Williams?
1. Gabby has played 152 minutes in UConn's 8 victories. Far less than Moriah (260), Stewie (252), Morgan (253) and Kia (217). But, her stats match or exceed the other four in some cases.
2. Gabby has 32 baskets, two more than Kia (30).
3. Williams has 19 offensive rebounds, same as Stewie.
4. Her 18 steals are just four less than MoJeff's 22.
5. Gabby is 2nd on the team with 6 blocked shots, more than Tuck, Kia and Mo combined.
6. Williams is the only player on the roster not to try a 3 pt shot.

And here are some numbers from me........

There has been a lot of discussion comparing this year's version of the Huskies with last year's National Champion. I've seen some numbers thrown out there, but no comprehensive data through 8 games. After all, last year's wasn't the same 8 games in as they were at the end of the year, so using 8 games is the best way to look at it. Here they are.

2015-16 UConn 2014-15 UConn

88.5 Points Per Game 90.4

55.0 Opp Points Per Game 55.3

.547 Field Goal % .525

.365 Opp Field Goal % .334

.352 3 Point Field Goal % .405

.362 Opp 3 Point Field Goal % .318

39.6 Rebounds Per Game 39.9

29.0 Opp Rebounds Per Game 26.6

22.1 Assists Per Game 20.2

13.5 Turnovers Per Game 14.1
1.6 Assists/Turnover Ratio 1.4

13.5 Steals Per Game 10.7

5.6 Blocks Per Game 5.6

The numbers are remarkably close except for three point shooting. You can certainly see that KML is missed. Defensively, UConn has had some issues covering threes. But I firmly believe it is really a case of two hot teams (Notre Dame 13-20 and DePaul 13-29) that is making the difference. Remove those two games and you go from .365 to .201. That is a crazy difference.

Enjoy the numbers!

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A new DoggyDailies feature. What I'll do here is bring up some of the more controversial topics in WCBB (mostly UConn stuff). Some are conversations and reactions from fans on those wild and crazy message boards. Others are just things that are interesting to me. I'll give them my DoggyDaddy spin. Comment if you'd like. Hopefully you all enjoy the craziness!!

So, I saw an interesting post on a message board talking about highly ranked teams with weak Out Of Conference schedules. The one that really caught my attention was No. 9 Mississippi State. Credit to my Notre Dame fan for putting this together. All of the rankings are from Jeff Sagarin Basketball Ratings.

N)= neutral site game

Schedule rank to date - 349 out of 349
vs. Samford, W 68-47 (rank=164)
vs. Grambling,W 107-43 (334)
vs. Mississippi Valley State, W 109-37 (349)
vs. Norfolk State, W 92-34 (337)
vs. Savannah State, W 92-25 (320)
@ Texas, L 47-53 (9)
vs. Tennessee State W 82-54 (234)

remaining non-conference games:

@ Louisiana Tech (184)
(N) Florida Gulf Coast (83)
(N) Western Michigan (117)
(N) SMU (161)
vs. Southeastern Louisiana (343)
@ USF (32)
"Now that's a non-conference schedule! Bonus points for a) playing the actual worst team in the country, b) scheduling 5 of the worst 30 teams in the country, c) playing Texas on the road and STILL having the easiest schedule in the country. I can only imagine that they thought they scheduled Texas Southern."

Wow...what a horrible schedule. It deserves a real "what the ????" on it's own. But can you believe it? A fan from an SEC school (South Carolina) actually defended it.

"First off, we're talking about Mississippi State here. Miss St. is a program that has had losing seasons recently and is not known as a top program in WCBB, but they have improved substantiall and are on the upward ascent. But while saying that, it should be noted that they haven't arrived yet, but are still in the process of that ascent, which means they still have work to do in establishing the program in the minds of the sport, and more importantly, with the elite recruits. If they continue to make post-season play and win 20+ games a season, I expect them to improve on the depth of talent on their roster, and I certainly expect them to improve on the strength of their OOC schedules."

Just an SEC shill promoting the conference into something they aren't. What they are is overrated and Mississippi is part of that. No. 9 in the country?

So, playing incredibly weak teams helps Mississippi State how exactly??? I'm not saying they should play a UConn type OOC schedule, but the WORST IN THE COUNTRY?

I remember Georgia last season who went 12-0 to start the season and then over the next several week dropped out of the top 25. I can see the same thing happen to Mississippi State.

UConn plays one of the middle of the road LSU teams that has already lost to AAC school Tulane. that game could get ugly. But after that they play Maryland. Their OOC schedule is not much better.

MarylandSchedule rank to date - 332 of 349

N = Neutral site game

vs. UMass Lowell, W 102-53 (rank= 302)
vs. High Point, W 105-50 (281)
vs. Detroit Mercy, W 97-41 (245)
N Old Dominion, W 95-49 (235)
N South Dakota State, W 62-55 (70)
N Pittsburgh, W 70-49 (103)
vs. Syracuse, W 82-64 (49)
vs. Central Connecticut State, W 86-43 (275)
vs. Loyola Maryland, W 97-47 (294)
vs. Southern, W 94-61 (274)

remaining non-conference games:

@ Maryland Eastern Shore (279)
N Connecticut (1)

I can only imagine the culture shock when Maryland plays UConn after playing CCSU, Loyola Maryland, Southern and Maryland Eastern Shores the prior 4 games.

Come on, Brenda.....grow a pair!!!

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So, without further ado!!!

Ladies and Gents, DD looks at the news........