Doggydaddy's Den: DoggyDaddy's Dailies 10/15/16

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Logan's official Daycare photo.

My non-biased opinion says he is the cutest kid.....IN THE WORLD!

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God, I love first night!!! It's been a long off season, and I admit, I haven't been motived to write that much. Sure, I have posted my blog plenty, but it was mostly about the Olympics, and the WNBA.

Now....it starts. It starts for real. We should be getting regular reports on practices and before you know it (11/1) the first exhibition game will be here.

I did watch all of First Night....it was awesome. I love the introductions. The clear winner of the dance into was Kia Nurse. She was fantastic!!!!

Geno and Kevin were great in thanking the fans and supporters as Ollie called them. Geno made fun of the player's dancing of course. And he looked as relaxed as you will see him all season.

The shooting contest was great. Two players and a student on each of four teams. Terry Larrier, Natalie Butler and their student made a layup, a foul shot, a three pointer and a half court shot in 27 seconds to win the contest. Natalie hit the foul shot. Larrier hit the three and the half court shot. The student hit the layup.

The skill challenge was fun. Dribbling through chairs, making a layup and hitting a three. Two player teams. Molly Bent and Noyes had the best time of 44 seconds until Vance Jackson and Gabby Williams hit the three with 1.2 seconds to beat the previous time.

The slam dunk contest had come familiar faces as judges. Tina Charles, Bria Hartley, and Kalana Greene. The contest itself was just horrible. Terrible....lol. But the winner, Connecticut product Stephen Enoch, was spectacular with a bounce toss, between the legs and slamaroo dunk to get the crowd going!!

Finally the scrimmage started. It was a 20 minutes game of running clock. 5 minutes of women, 5 minutes of men and then 10 minutes of a mixed scrimmage.

In the women's scrimmage -

Kyla hit a nice three but looks slow on defense. That is where she will struggle.

Gabby was active as always with two offensive rebounds and put backs.
College basketball, beware, Gabby also hit a three!!!!

Crystal Dangerfield is going to be awesome. She had an amazing baseline spin move and dish to Butler. To even try that play showed what confidence she has. She might be short at 5'5" but she is buff!!!

Kia hit a nice corner three and was all over the court.

Natalie definitely is in better shape than last year at any time. We can only hope that leads to better play.

Stevens had two offensive rebounds and put backs. Boy, I wish she could play this season.

Hey, you really can't get too much out of these 5 minute games, but it was fun to see them on the court again.

A few observations in the mixed scrimmage of 3 women and 2 men on each team.

Napheesa had several offensive rebounds, even with four guys on the court. She is a real ball hound and will average 8-9 rebounds a game this year with enough minutes.

Molly had an offensive rebound and put back. Really!

Seven foot Amida Brimah took the ball coast to coast finish against 5'8" Saniya Chong.

Gabby threw an Alley-Oop pass for a slam by Brimah. I'm sure that was really fun for the Gabster!

Crystal threw an amazing bounce pass to Saniya for a layup. And after that, she used a behind the back dribble to create space and hit a step back three pointer that just tickled the net. WOW! Dangerfield just might earn that starting point guard spot.

A great night and of course they had the obligatory shot of Big Red (the REAL Tom Emery) leading the UConn cheer!

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By David in Naples!!!!!

The term "double-double" is basketball slang for when a player has double digit totals in two statistical categories. For larger posts and forwards, those categories are usually points and rebounds. For smaller guards and wings the double-double is often points and assists. It is harder than most people think to get a double-double at UConn. Consider that Moriah Jefferson had exactly ONE in her career..!!

Saniya Chong also has 1 double-double in her three years with the Huskies. Morgan Tuck is credited with 3 double-doubles, with 2 of those this past season.

Among the returning players, Napheesa Collier and Natalie Butler already each have 1 double-double. When she was at Georgetown, Butler had 24 of those. By far, the leader in double-doubles, on this years team, is Gabby Williams. She had 4 double-doubles this past season, bringing her total to 9 for her freshman and sophomore years. All of Gabby's doubles have been points and rebounds. Only one player, Breanna Stewart, had double-doubles in multiple categories. Despite playing only 3/4ths of most games, Stewie had 42 career double-doubles. Forty-two..!! 8-)