Doggydaddy's Den: DoggyDaddy's Dailies 2/23/16

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The three teams right behind UConn played Monday night.

No. 2 Notre Dame took on No. 12 Florida State. Let me say that when Notre Dame is hitting from the outside, they are scary and they are clearly the main threat to UConn winning the NC. The two freshman guards, Mabrey and Ogunbowale were just terrific, hitting 6-7 threes between them. Turner was much more aggressive in the post. And overall ND was 8-12 on threes for the half. They had a 19 point lead in the first half before two late baskets by FSU closed the gap to 15, 43-28.

Notre Dame becomes much easier to play when they are not hitting their threes as happened in the second half. After the 8-12, they were 2-8 the last 20 minutes. FSU outscored Notre Dame 22-19 in the third quarter and actually closed to 5, 71-66 with 8 seconds left. For the half, it was all Seminoles, outscoring the Irish 38-30. Notre Dame clinched a tie for the regular season ACC title. You can talk about UConn's dominance of the AAC, but Notre Dame has only lost one game in their time in the ACC.

No. 3 South Carolina took care of Alabama 66-46 behind A'ja Wilson with 16 points and 10 rebounds along with Alaina Coates, who had 13 points and 18 rebounds. South Carolina won this game as they do most games in the SEC. With solid defense against the offensive ineptitude of their opponent. Alabama shot only 28% from the field and 3-28 on threes. You'd think after missing 15 of them, they might try something else.

No. 4 Baylor beat No. 23 Oklahoma behind 20 points from Duke transfer Alexis Jones. Baylor jumped out to a 16-8 lead after on quarter. They stretched the lead to 12 and Baylor held on. They pushed the lead to seventeen points at one point before Oklahoma came back to close to 38-28 at the half. The second half was similar to the first in that for every run that Baylor made, Oklahoma made one of their own. Baylor had a 19 point lead in the middle of the quarter but at the end of the 3rd quarter the lead was only eleven, 56-45. The fourth quarter was a different story, as Oklahoma continued their comeback, closing to two, 60-58 with four minutes left in the game. Alexis Jones then had two big baskets and Prince another to push the lead back out to eight and it never got any closer than five. Got to give Oklahoma a lot of credit. They were down big a few times and kept on working. Baylor is an interesting team. A few scorers and some size. And Johnson is a terrific point guard. They will be tough. I'd love them on the ND side of the bracket.

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It's always sad to see a player have to stop playing the game they love due to injuries.

Tennessee's Jasmine Jones will not be returning anytime this year or next season. Tennessee has released this statement.

"Due to the contact nature of basketball and the risks of further injury, the UT Athletics Medical Staff has decided Jasmine Jones will no longer be cleared to participate on the women's basketball team. Instead, she will be focusing her athletics ability on non-contact and throwing events on the women's track & field team."

Wishing her the best.

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Tennessee is out of the Top 25 for the first time in 31-years. They had a record streak of 565 consecutive weeks in The Associated Press women's basketball poll. The streak started on Feb. 17, 1985.
UConn now has the longest active streak. The Huskies, who remain No. 1 in the poll this week, have been ranked for 428 consecutive weeks. Check back in eight years when UConn passes Tennessee's record.
Some interesting factoids:

The Lady Vols had been ranked No. 1 103 times.
They were in the top five for 407 weeks
They were in the top 10 506 times.
Since the poll began in 1976, Tennessee had only been left off it for a total of 15 weeks before Monday.

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From David in Naples

Cincinnati and East Carolina each made 4 three point shots versus UConn. The good news is those two teams took 17 and 20 shots respectively for a combined accuracy rate of 21.6%. The Huskies have now held opponents to 144 made threes out of 468 attempts. That gives opponents a success rate of 30.8%, well below the average after the first dozen games.

For UConn, four players have emerged as legitimate three point threats. Katie Lou has made 47 threes for a 35% accuracy rate. Kia and Moriah each have 36 threes, although MoJeff hits 42% of her tries vs Kia's 34%. Stewie also makes 42% of her threes (30-72), but tries fewer threes than the other players. Saniya has been battling injuries, but has hit 19-49 threes or 39%. Morgan Tuck has tried 48 threes, but made only 13 or 27%.

Overall, the Huskies have made 195 three point baskets or 36.2% of their attempts. They are getting hot at just the right time, shooting 40%, 38%, 37% and 41% from three in four of the last five games. Scoring from the arc pulls the defense out and opens up the lane. An open lane invites Stewie, Tuck, Gabby, Natalie and Collier to score from in close. Go Huskies..!!

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It's hard to believe that I actually saw that some fans are saying that Tennessee could bounce back in 2016-17.

" is the sky really falling? The team is loaded with talent. With another year together under their belts, I would think tn (on paper) would be a contender next year (I know, they should have been one this year). "

"Provided that no one transfers, I could see them turning it around next year. In spurts, they have played well enough to be a top-10 team. I could imagine them turning it around next year, signing a decent class in '17 and continuing to be a top program."

With the announcement that Jasmine Jones won't be back do to recurring concussions, and the graduation of Bashaara Graves and Nia Moore Tennessee has exactly one post player returning, 6'6" Mercedes Russell. They will have only three other players over 5'11" tall, 6'1 Diamond Deshield, 6'2" Courtney Dunbar and 6'2" Jamie Nared. None of them are posts and all three are mostly perimeter players.

Maybe T'ea Coooper makes a leap her sophomore season. Maybe Deshields starts to play with passion. Maybe their two senior guards, Carter and Reynolds play better than they did their first three years. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

It's much more likely that Deshields is so miserable, she leaves the team to play in Europe for a season and is in the WNBA draft next year as a possible No. 1 pick.

It's much more likely that Cooper transfers as she was once a UNC recruit before changing her mind when Deshields announced her transfer to Tennessee. If Deshields leaves, is Cooper far behind?

2017 recruits? You might get someone to see past the shit fest that is the Lady Vols this year. Maybe.

Early this season, Tennessee was ranked No. 4 in the country. They were favorites to finally be in the final four again. To overestimate them again seems kinda silly.

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Muffet McGraw reminded me why I really don't like her during the post game interview when she was extoling the virtues of her terrific point guard, Lindsay Allen. When she said Allen is "the best point guard in the country" I got a little annoyed.

Jefferson was better than her last year, and she is better than her this year. Hey, I'd say she is the second best and will be the best next season in her senior year. But come on, McGraw. Are your leather pants cutting off your circulation?

Allen Jefferson

48.7 FG% 58.5

29.2 3FG% 41.9

69.6 FT% 88.6

9.1 PPG 13.6

3.9 RPG 2.4

5.4 APG 5.6

141 Assists 140

60 TOs 54

33 Steals 74

So, you tell me. Who is better?

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So, without further ado!!!

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

UConn women No. 1 in AP poll for 200th time Middletown Press

Olympic Duties Leave UConn Coach Right at Home New York Times

U.S. women’s basketball team holds practice at UConn Sportzedge

Geno Auriemma: UConn wouldn’t ‘make it at the Olympics’ NBC Sports

When UConn came calling, L.D. Bell star was ready to commit Star Telegram

UConn visit provides chance to witness greatness Reflector

UConn No. 1 in AP women's basketball poll, now have longest active streak Norwich Bulletin

Some more history at UConn Jim Fuller

Former UConn star Dolson looking to impress Jim Fuller

Former UConn star Bird not yet ready to fly off into sunset Carl Adamec

Upsets in Red

Late games in Green

Turner Scores 15 as No. 2 Notre Dame Beats No. 12 Florida St ABC News

Coates, No. 3 South Carolina Rout Alabama 66-46 ABC News

4 Baylor Oklahoma

NO AAC GAMES SCHEDULED

Thanks to Johnny C for sending me many of these numbers!!!

Alexis Jones Baylor 22 points
Lindsay Allen Notre Dame 11 assists
A'ja Wilson South Carolina 16 points 10 rebounds
Alaina Coates South Carolina 13 points 18 rebounds

NaJai Pollard Delaware St. 21 points 10 rebounds

Britney Washington Southern 25 points

Lamaria Cole Praitie View 29 points

Jasmine Nwajei Wagner 33 points 13 rebounds

Leah Fechko St. Francis (Bklyn) 27 points

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