Doggydaddy's Den: DoggyDaddy's Dailies 11/7/16

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What a great day at the UConn/Pace game. David from Naples and his brother along with our friend JD (Meyers) were in attendance. David was kind enough to have an extra ticket for me and it was a blast.

We sat in what they call the Loge section. Right across from the UConn bench at the top of the 100's section. They have leather lounge chairs, TV's and a touch screen to order food. It was very cool.

I took some pictures and some notes during the game. I'll embellish the notes and give a player by player analysis and caption the pictures for you!!!

I guess the big story that ended up a non-story (kinda like the latest FBI stuff) was that Katie Lou Samuelson didn't start. In fact, she didn't get in the game at all in the first half, entering the game around the 5 minute mark of the third quarter.

Geno cleared that up after the game saying "When the games are kind of already decided, already out of hand and you never get to go out there with the starting lineup. Sometimes players like Lou, they just kind of coast through things in the exhibition season, they wait for big games to come so I just thought it was a good time to get other guys into the game and not worry about Lou."

As David said to me several times, Geno is experimenting with all the lineups. I think by saying that Lou skates through exhibition season, Geno was sending a signal to her that he won't put up with any skating once the bell rings.

You can't start this analysis without talking about Gabby Williams. She is just an amazing talent. Williams had 13 points in the first 4 minutes of the first quarter. And exciting for UConn fans and devastating for UConn opponents, Gabby hit her only three pointer of the game. I felt for the first time in watching her that she is the best athlete ever to put on a UConn uniform. Please, Maya fans, don't kill me!!! She finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds.

Kia Nurse was terrific this game. She did exactly what Geno wants her to do. Direct the offense and hit the outside shot. With her 5 assists and 0 turnovers along with going 2-3 on threes, she had an excellent effort. David noted she was the only one meeting at half court with the officials. She is the de facto leader of this team. Nurse had 11 points and 3 steals. Great stat line.

Napheesha Collier had a double double in this game. She shot a high percentage and with her long arms and increased muscle (it's noticeable) she gets to every rebound in her area. Sometimes outside her area. She also blocked a couple of shots. The only negative was that she was a little sloppy at times with 4 turnovers. She his a nice baseline jumper in what I call her "Team USA" shot, something she did a lot in the U-18 game against Russia. I think Geno will take 11 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists every game from her.

Sanyia Chong started again and I think she has earned that distinction for the season opener and beyond. She was in double digits again. I'd love to see her hit those open threes but she didn't hesitate in taking them and that bodes well for the future. She had what I call her "High School" move, driving through the entire defense with tricky dribbles and hesitation moves for a layup like she did at will in HS. I'd love to see a LOT more of that.

Crystal Dangerfield got the start in Lou's place and she had a terrific start, playing with aggression in drawing a foul for the first point of the game. But in her 32 minutes, she didn't do much else when you look at the box score. I'm here to tell you that she is going to be one terrific point guard for the Huskies. She didn't have any assists, but she still looked solid with the ball in her hands. She did have several open threes, only hitting one. But as I noted to David, freshman always struggle early with the three pointer. Even KML. But I liked she only had one turnover. Geno wanted her to get her work in by giving her so many minutes.

I think I cheered louder for Natalie Butler than any other player. I guess it's because of the lack of support from some UConn fans. I'm sure Geno was extremely pleased with her entire game. She scored 16 points on 7-9 shooting. Snared 5 rebounds. I loved when she passed from the foul line to Irwin. Very Dolsonessque. And she hustled the entire time on the court. Loved her effort!

Kyra Irwin is quickly becoming my favorite player. Watching Irwin off the ball, she does a ton off good things. Screens, post ups., post defense, taking offensive fouls. She is just a smart player and you can tell she is a coaches kid. UConn is going to need her bulk in games ahead.

Good Golly Miss Molly!!! This is one player who is better than advertised. She is really athletic in (dare I say it) a Sue Bird kind of way. She even his a Bird like pull up jumper. Only 1-4 on threes, I am hopeful she will start hitting them. Like I said about Dangerfield, it's tough for freshman to hit open threes and she had four of them hitting just one. Here is the good news. 5 assists and no turnovers.

Katie Lou did end up with 12 pretty bland minutes missing her only two threes. No worries. She will be there in the Florida State game!

So, who do you think is the toughest player on the team? I'm not sure many of you would say Tierney Lawlor. But trust me when I tell you that there is no one tougher. She hit her obligatory three pointer, but played tough defense, out-scrapping Pace players and even her own, for loose balls.

So, that's it for the player by player. A great glorified practice that will really help going into the Florida State game. I'm less nervous about it after seeing them in person. The Gabby Williams vs Shakayla Thomas matchup in that game will be worth the price of admission!

David from Naples and DoggyDaddy

Two Dogs!!!!

JD (Meyers), Dave and DD

My buddie Phil, who sees more UConn games

than anyone I know!!

DannyK and DD UCONN-UCONN-UCONN!!!!

DoggyDaddy and his good friend Rebecca

Some great Geno quotes after the game.

"For all of our players for this season it is going to be a struggle for them at times to fight their nature," Auriemma said. "Their nature is since they have been in college there really hasn't been any great expectations of them. Saniya is a perfect example of that. Saniya just spent three years at Connecticut feeling like there are no expectations of me so what does she deliver, no expectations. This year she is off to a much better start somewhat because she senses that the expectations for her are very high,. I haven't changed my expectations for her, she has changed them for herself. Some players get that very early, some get it late and some never get it.

"For this season whether it is Lou, Pheesa, Gabby, Kia all of these guys that have been in situations where what are the expectations for me? Even if I don't play in the national championship game, we are going to win by 30 so how important am I during the course of the season? Well, that is your nature so if you come out this year because you are the same way because that is how you are, that has to gradually start to change if we are going to grow as a team."

"If there are 20 things that you would look for in a player to be good at Connecticut there are probably 15 of them that she (Bent) doesn't do very well," Auriemma said. "The five things that she does very well are going to get her a lot of playing time. It that the case for most freshmen? Somewhat. But there is something about the way she carries herself, the way she gets herself involved in a lot of things that make you want to have her on the court at certain times. That says a lot about players that you want them on the court, there may not be times when you can afford to have her on the court but she is someone who you put them in because you feel sorry for them and 'OK, I want to keep them in the mix.' She is very determined to be a very good player. She is a lot better player now than she was last week and will be a lot better player next week than she is today."

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Congrats to the UConn women's soccer team on the AAC title!!!

And congrats to the UConn women's field hockey team on their Big East title.

Local roundup: UConn women win soccer, field hockey titles The Day

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By David in Naples!!!!!

With UConn having won 121 of the last 122 games, most fans don't even consider that the Huskies might lose. Other followers, negative nellies, dwell on the graduation of the Big 3 and any possible weaknesses as a sign UConn might lose every other game. So when was the last time the Huskies lost back to back games?

The answer is Providence and Louisville on March 7th and 17th in 1993..!! So the Huskies have gone 849 games without two defeats in a row. That makes their record 57-0 following a loss during that period. That streak will be tested early this season. UConn opens the regular season at FSU and then hosts Baylor Nov. 14 and Nov. 17. Another test will be Texas on Dec. 4, followed by Notre Dame (there) on Dec. 7.

This is a season when anything can happen and nothing should be taken for granted.