Doggydaddy's Den: DoggyDaddy's Dailies 2/13/16

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Here is my UConn/Temple II Pre Game Report.

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Temple beat Houston by thirty points, 78-48, Friday night in their final game before the UConn game on Sunday.

Another great win for The Owls pushing them (ok, I'm pushing them) one step closer to an NCAA bid. They are now 17-7 overall and 11-2 in the conference. On their way to an NCAA seed!

Now, hopefully the committee ignores Sunday's game.

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From my friend Cat, quoting the Jim Fuller blog I link in the UConn link's section. Cat knows more about women's basketball than anyone I know. Her words are bolded.

New information courtesy of Jim Fuller who asked Tuck after practice today. No decision has been made and Morgan doesn't expect to make a decision until after the season and before the WNBA draft. So, while there was no specific mention of Senior Day festivities, my interpretation of today's comments is that Morgan will participate in Senior Day and decide later whether she'll return or not. So we may have the first player to go through Senior Day and then return for a 5th year.

It almost sounds like Morgan is genuinely unsure of what to do and doesn't want to make a decision until she has to. Tuck said no decision has been made either way and she doesn't believe she will announce her intentions by the Feb. 27 home game against Tulane that will serve as the Senior Day game.

"We are on the same page about it right now," Tuck said. "It is not a set decision yet. He has given me his (advice), he has talked to me quite a bit so right now he told me that we will deal with it when we have to, at the end of the season we will say what the decision. It will probably be closer to the end of the season."

From Geno:

"My conversations with Morgan haven't changed one iota, the same (discussions) we've had since the beginning of the season are what we have now," Auriemma said. "My advice to Morgan in November, maybe December was why worry about it, why have this on your mind the whole season. You don't have to make that decision today, the decision has to be made in April so why don't you wait and see how the season turns out. There hasn't been any time when Morgan walked into my office and said 'Coach, this is what I am definitely doing."

Cat just informed me that she spoke with Jim Fuller and he told her not to assume this means she'll participate in Senior Day. That also remains up in the air apparently. We will find out more when the participants are announced for Senior Day.

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From David in Naples

There are nine other teams in the top 10 with undefeated, #1 UConn. The Huskies have played and thrashed five of them, scoring an average of 82.6 pts against each. South Carolina and Notre Dame are #2 and #3, although the exact order depends on who you ask. UConn beat both soundly, leading by 22 and 21 points late in the game, before the final 12 and 10 point margins. Each of those two teams has only that one loss to UConn as a negative on their record.

The #5 and #7 teams, Maryland and Ohio State, both lost to the Huskies earlier in the season. Maryland went down at Madison Square Garden by 10 points and Ohio State was destroyed by 44 very early in November. Just for good measure, UConn thumped FSU, the #10 team, by 24 points at Mohegan Sun in December. Those five top 10 teams lost to UConn by a combined 100 points.

Baylor and Texas are #4 and #6 in the polls respectively. They each have 1 loss, but play each other at least twice more this season. Neither is scheduled to play the Huskies, unless they meet in the NCAA tournament. The same is true for #8 Oregon State and #9 Arizona. UConn also had great victories over #23 DePaul and #22 South Florida when they were ranked much higher.

In order to repeat as National Champions, the Huskies would probably have to play two games against either Baylor, Texas, Notre Dame or South Carolina. UConn would then have played seven games against top 10 teams. That is a tough schedule and something to brag about.

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So, I missed writing about the Tennessee win Thursday night.

One of their better games. It's amazing how much better they play without Diamond Deshields in the lineup. Warlick played her only 20 minutes in that game, 7th lowest on the team.

It's amazing how far she has fallen from the player that was expected to be the top player on the team and lead Tennessee back to the final four.

Amazingly, Tennessee won this game even though they shot 0-12 on threes.

They play Monday in the biggest game of the season for The Lady Vols. If they can beat the No. 2 Gamecocks at TBA, it could propel Tennessee towards the post season with some momentum. After playing South Carolina, Tennessee plays four teams they should beat in Auburn, Georgia, Alabama and Ole Miss.

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So, without further ado!!!

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