Doggydaddy's Den: DoggyDaddy's Dailies 2/1/2016

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Another fun day with my Florida family. My oldest granddaughter was in a cheerleading competition. It's crazy there!!! Just think Dance Mom's on steroids! But the team did great and won the competition for their grouping.

So, not enough time to write the UConn/Memphis Post game report. Sorry! But I did have time Sunday night to put this together.

Two more days here in Florida. Tomorrow rain, but our last day, Tuesday, will be beautiful!

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Here is my UConn/Tulane Pre Game report.

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Interesting day in the top twenty-five Sunday. There were 14 teams in action and only South Carolina, at No. 2 and Texas A&M at No. 10 ,were top ten teams playing and they played each other.

Only No. 12 Kentucky was upset, losing to Florida, 85-79. Proving once again that there is parity and mediocrity at the same time in the SEC.

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I had a chance to watch most of the South Carolina at Texas A&M game Sunday evening that SC won 70-63. It was a fun game to watch as both teams had their moments of really nice play. Courtney Walker was terrific for A&M in scoring 23 points and adding 7 rebounds. Some of her moves in the lane were spectacular. The other Courtney, Williams added 13 points and their terrific point guard Jordan Jones added 10 points 3 assists and 3 steals. But it wasn't enough to win this game at home.

South Carolina showed at times why they are undefeated and at other times they made you wonder how the hell they ARE undefeated. A'ja Wilson was absolutely a beast in the paint. When she misses she is able to collect the rebound and she either makes the layup or gets fouled. But she has no outside game other than the occasion jumper from inside the foul line. In this game she hit 9-10 free throws way above her usual average in scoring her 27 points. She added 10 rebounds and 4 blocks. But she also had 5 turnovers.  The Gamecocks hit 20-25 free throws in this game for 80%. For a team that usually shoots 63%, it could mean the difference between a win and a loss and might have done just that in this game.

Tiffany Mitchell did score 20 points but once again she struggled on her with her three-ball, only shooting 1-7. Coates had six assists and all had to be to Wilson on the High-Low. They really had that going!

The most interesting stat for South Carolina was that until a free throw by Tina Roy with 14 seconds left in the game only four players, Wilson, Coates, Mitchell and Sessions scored for SC. That means that the other five players on the floor scored exactly one point. They didn't add much else as they had 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal. They did add 5 turnovers.

The lack of bench help is going to hurt South Carolina in their matchup with UConn. They will need a lot more help to have any chance against the Huskies.

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No. 20 South Florida defeated SMU 66-48 in an AAC clash Sunday. SMU played USF tough early on but the Bulls were just to much for the Mustangs. The difference were turnovers where South Florida only had 8 to the 20 by SMU. Both teams really struggled from the field with USF shooting only 31.7 and SMU 29.6. Three point shooting was just as bad. Plenty of bad basketball in this contest.

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From David in Naples

UConn has started with a 20-0 record and a #1 ranking in the country. But, the Huskies are playing twice as well as their opponents, at least in some statistics. For example, for the season, UConn has scored 482 points in the 1st quarter, when it matters, while holding opponents to 234.

When it comes to assists, the Huskies are also twice as generous, 442 vs 214. On made free throws, UConn is even better than twice as talented at 238 vs 86. That is 2.76 times better. The Huskies have also stolen the ball twice as often, 245 vs 123 for the other guys.

By far the most dominant statistic for UConn is blocked shots. They have 132 blocks, while opponents have managed just 45. That is nearly three times as many. Finally, the Huskies boast the best two players in the country, Stewie and MoJeff. With those two, it makes sense that UConn would play twice as well as opponents.

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I'm pretty quick to point out the issues with Tennessee to the point of being a little obsessed with it. I can live with that. But I'll try to be fair and point out that they had a pretty good game against Alabama Sunday.

Behind 17 points and 10 rebounds by Jamie Nared, a double-double for Mercedes Russell and 17 points for the freshman point guard, T'ia Cooper.

Ok, enough nicety...lol. Diamond Deshields was relegated to coming off the bench and played 18 ineffective minutes. Not only ineffective, but really bad. She shot 1-10 from the field, 0-4 on threes. She did have 5 rebounds and 3 assists. But all that is negated by her 6 turnovers. If you look at the rest of the team without Deshields, their stats are actually really good for this game.

With Deshields they shot 44.3% from the field, 38.1% on threes, 22 assists and 21 turnovers.

Without Deshields they shot 51% from the field, 47% on threes with 19 assists and 15 turnovers.

They can't bench her, but it's going to be difficult for Tennessee to beat good teams when she is playing this poorly.

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So, without further ado!!!

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