Doggydaddy's Den: DoggyDaddy's Dailies 12/31/15

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UConn had their way with Cincinnati Wednesday night, winning 107-45. I believe I called a 60+ point win. Hey, after my bad prediction for the Maryland game, I was due for a good one.

The big news is that Natalie Butler finally saw some game action. She showed us what UConn fans have been hoping for, a presence in the middle. She played 15 minutes, scored 11 points, grabbed 8 rebounds and had 2 blocks and 2 steals. She looked pretty darn good. I'm sure she will improve her conditioning as she did look a little tired at times. She has great hands. Strong in getting post position. I love how she keeps the ball high when she rebounds. The good news is she will only get better.

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Interesting game between No. 20 South Florida and No. 8 Mississippi State. The Bulldogs defeated the Bulls 68-58.

I was impressed with a couple of players on the Mississippi State team. Victoria Vivians is a terrific player. Big and strong, she has a nice pull up jumper and uses that to up fake and drive to the basket. She has a great WNBA body. She can also hit the three. She scored 23 points in this game. Morgan Williams is their point guard and she is a solid player. She is strong and smart. She added 15 points with 7-8 FTs to hold off a nice South Florida rally.

South Florida looked off in this game. They made a ton of unforced errors including several offensive fouls. It was not pretty. Courtney Williams had a terrible game missing her first 10 shots before ending up 4-20 scoring only 12 points, half her season average.

Disappointing loss for USF, and a nice win for Mississippi State.

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Big upset tonight as No. 4 Baylor lost on the road to unranked Oklahoma State 52-45.

The Lady Bears were only able to score two points in the second quarter. TWO points. That is unbelievable to me. I mean, this is the number 4 team in the country, undefeated to this point. To score only 45 points puts a different perspective on Baylor.

Nina Davis did her best to keep Baylor in the game but even she was struggling, going 6-18 from the field in scoring her 18 points. Only Beatrice Momprimier with 10 was in double figures. Duke transfer, Alexis Jones had a nightmare of a game. She was 2-18 from the field, 1-10 on threes with five turnovers.

They were missing their point guard Nia Johnson, who was out with a bone bruise in her. I'm sure her absence made a huge difference in the Baylor offense. She is just so dominant in distributing the ball to her teammates.

Ugly loss for Baylor and a great win for Oklahoma State, who moves to 11-1.

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From David in Naples

Double doubles occur when a player reaches double figures in two statistical categories (points, rebounds, assists, steals or blocks) in one game. The most common is points and rebounds, but point guards often get point/assists doubles.

1. Gabby Williams is 2nd on the team with 3 double-doubles this season and 8 in her young career.
2. Morgan Tuck has 1 double double this year, but only 2 in her career.
3. Despite playing in 128 games, MoJeff only has 1 double double in her UConn career.
4. Saniya Chong also has 1 double double in her time at UConn.
5. Stewie leads in double doubles this season with 4. She has 29 so far in her 124 games.
6. No one on the team has the elusive triple triple, where 3 stats reach double figures.

Look for more double doubles now that UConn is in AAC conference play. 8-)

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Boy, do people like controversy. Katie Lou Samuelson was held out of the first 28 minutes of the game before playing the last 12 minutes of the game. It was clear after the game that Geno was sending a message. When asked why she didn't play earlier, he said that "players have to play hard and she needs to do more than shoot.". It's clear she had a bad practice or two.

Holding her out is just a message being sent as he did last season with Tuck and Stewart. It's worse for upper classmen. This message was pretty mild.

So, what's my beef? Well, some fans felt the need to say that she was in the dog house.

"KLS was making a visit to Chateau Bow-wow tonight. She didn't enter the game until about a minute was left in the third quarter, with UConn up by about 35 or 40 points. The announcers showed her on the bench in the first half, looking puzzled but not overly upset."

That is a little too extreme. Believe me, I know what a doghouse is!!! And I love the analysis of her face. Like someone can tell what she is thinking from their living room couch watching a quick glimpse of her face on the bench.

Sigh..........

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So, without further ado!!!

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