Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 12/13/17

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Image result for coming out of the woodwork

Well, thank god for Tennessee fans for giving me something to write about on this long break. I should spread them out some, but there is so many, I don't think I'll run out of things to respond to.

Here is a Tennessee fan rationalizing the poor yet winning performance against Texas.

I understand that to many/all UCONN fans the game looked messy, too fast, and sloppy at times, but that was part of the game plan. Tennessee’s style is a mix between an up-tempo style defense with constant crowding of the ball/movement, and a grit & grind style of offense with constant penetration, kick outs, sprinting, and searching for contact.

Ok....so looking messy was part of the game plan. Seriously? I mean SERIOUSLY?

Was it sloppier than the coaches, players, and fans would’ve liked? Yes, absolutely.

If looking messy was part of the game plan, wouldn't sloppier be a good thing? Maybe it wasn't sloppy enough?

With that being said, Tennessee clearly wanted to speed Texas up to the point that they were erroneously making uncharacteristic mistakes. We knew we could play through our mistakes because we’re so young, and we’ve had to do it all year. Mistakes don’t bother us because with our style of play they are going to happen, so you just immediately have to make up for it on the other side of the court.

Ok, the use of "erroneously" was erroneous. But we all make word mistakes, especially me..lol. So, "they do better at playing through their mistakes because they are so young and had to do it all year"? That makes no sense. All of 9 games and now they know how to play through their mistakes. And against a really weak schedule. But aren't their two best players seniors?

We placed our bets on the idea that Texas couldn’t play through them the way we could, and we won that bet. They couldn’t.

Oy....they thought Texas would be more sloppy and so Tennessee would win. I guess sloppy wasn't in the Texas Game plan. Silly them.

I understand that UCONN plays a completely different style of play than us, but that doesn’t mean that our style of play is somehow less than. We wouldn’t thrive in a pace and space style of offense that UCONN runs, and personally I don’t think UCONN would thrive as well in a down and dirty, gritty/physical style game.

No, playing sloppy and out of control on purpose is not less than how UConn plays. Too funny. And trust me, UConn can play gritty and physical. Did he watch the last quarter of the Notre Dame game?

UCONN players are well oiled robots who run impeccable sets on offense and have great defensive IQs. Tennessee players are a bunch of passionate hungry hound dogs who love to sprint, bang bodies, and get the other team out of rhythm. We thrive on flustering other teams with constant physicality.

Fluster other teams with constant physicality? Lets see when they play on the road and don't get so many calls go their way.

It’s ok to respect and understand that no team plays the exact same way. Our game plan worked, therefore I’ll take the W and be happy.

Good luck with that.

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So, back on my SEC rant.

Kentucky, as I predicted, fell out of the top 25 after losing back to back games.

Yes, they have three teams in the top 7 in both polls. Well deserved at this time. But you have Missouri at No. 16/16 and Texas A&M at No. 19/22.

Lets look at both teams.

Missouri has surprised me. I didn't think they would have only one loss at this point in time. I thought they would lose to California but they squeaked this one out in an offensive explosion, 55-52. Their only loss was in the first game of the season to Western Kentucky, so every win since then over a weak opponent moved them up the rankings a little bit. They play only game on the road in the next 6 before playing anyone worth talking about in South Carolina. So they could, and I mean could have a 14 game winning streak going into that game. But I wouldn't be surprised if they are upset in one of these games.

Texas A&M is a team I have a problem with being in the top 25. I do like their freshman, Chennedy Carter, but this is not a top 25 team. They have had a weak schedule except for two games, a 15 point loss to No. 10 Oregon and a 14 point loss to No. 11 West Virginia. And both of those games were at home for the Aggies. They were tied with Rice after three quarters before winning late by 6 and in their last game, they only beat Central Arkansas by 11 points, and it took a very late 8-0 run to do it. On Friday they play 8-0 USC on the west coast in a game I would be surprised if they won and then play No. 9 Oregon two games later. My best guess is they are out of the top 25 on the poll right after Christmas.

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Ok....I'll try to write about UConn soon. I promise!!! At least David has some UConn numbers for you!

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By David in Naples!!!!!

Geno and the Huskies go for win number 1,000 next Tuesday against Oklahoma.

With an overall record of 999-135, Geno has a winning percentage of .8809%, just ahead of the legendary Leon Barmore, from Louisiana Tech. That makes Geno the winningest coach ever, based on win percentage. If you prefer to look at total victories, Geno is still 3rd behind Pat Summitt with 1,098 and Tara VanDerveer at 1,018. Geno is in his 33rd year of coaching, while Summitt coached 38 years and VanDerveer is in her 37th. In other words, Geno's pace is well ahead of the other two... 8-)

Starting with the 2012-13 season, Stewie's freshman year, Geno's record is 195-6. That is an amazing winning percentage of .9701%.

The record was not always that pretty. The early years, from 1985-1993 saw Geno and CD building UConn up from nothing. In fact, 78 of Geno's 135 losses came in those first eight years. His first year, UConn was 12-15. That was the only year with losing record, as the Huskies went 14-13 the next season.

While there have been 11 National Championships, only six teams went undefeated. Two of those undefeated teams were during the Stewie-MoJeff years. This year's team is off to a good start at 8-0 and the AAC schedule starting.

Go Huskies..!!

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UCONN LINKS

I looked EVERYWHERE! No links!

WCBB Top 25 Results