Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 1/5/18

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So sorry for my family and friends dealing with the tough weather conditions in New England. Crazy snow and cold!!!

Still here in Florida with my son and family. The cold weather did reach us. It was in the 30's at daybreak and never hit 60 degrees. I'll be golfing Friday as it should hit 60.

I know....I'll just shut up now! Just enjoy Logan eating!!!

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Here is my UConn/South Florida Pre Game Report.

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Several Top 25 games Thursday night, and while there was only one upset, many of the underdogs gave the favorites a tough go of it!!

The upset was No. 17 Missouri losing to unranked LSU 69-65. This is the same LSU team that was beaten by Northern Colorado by 8. I've been waiting for Missouri to lose another game. They are not a very impressive team. They play No. 4 South Carolina next. Soon to be out of the Top 25.

No. 2 Notre Dame, playing with only seven scholarship players, was tied with unranked Miami going into the fourth quarter. Behind Ogunbowale's 12 points, Notre Dame was able to outscore Miami 28-21 for their seven point victory. It's not going to be an easy run through the ACC for the Irish. Especially now that the results of Lili Thompson revealed an ACL tear and her college career is now over. She was the only true point guard for the Irish. It's only a matter of time before the lack of a true PG and lack of depth will bring a few losses.

No. 19 Texas A&M had a tough time putting away an unranked Kentucky team. They had a four point lead going into the fourth quarter and stretched that out to 9 points. But Kentucky closed the gap to 2 points with 10 seconds left before A&M hit two free throws to end the game.

No. 7 Tennessee beat Auburn 70-59 in a game that was much closer than the final score showed. Tennessee put the game away in the last 4 minutes after being down 55-51. The score was tied when Freshman point guard Westbrook hit a big three with 1:47 left to give the Lady Vols the lead and then they put the game away at the foul line. It was 67-59 after Auburn his a three pointer with 14 seconds left. Tennessee inexplicably called a time out. Ok....no big deal, just a little weird. Holly probably told them to run out the clock. Wrong. Westbrook took another three and hit it for the final margin. Sigh....one more reason why I can't stand Tennessee. This was as unimpressive a win that I have seen for a team ranked no. 7. They had 28 turnovers. TWENTY EIGHT. Nine by Westbrook. Enough said.

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The results Thursday night just reinforce my opinion that the SEC is a very overrated conference. Outside of Mississippi State and possibly South Carolina, the rest of the conference is a bunch of team with no offense. On any give night, one SEC team could beat another. Is that parity? Or parody?

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By David in Naples!!!!!

If asked to describe UConn's scoring in one word, the correct answer would be "balanced." The top six scorers have made between 189-139 points. All six have led the team in scoring in a particular game. High point games include Katie Lou (33), Kia (27), Azura (25), Crystal (24),Pheesa (23), and Gabby (20). The location of the scoring is also balanced with 124 points coming from the charity stripe, 315 from outside the arc and 648 from down in the lane. How can you guard this balanced scoring..?? 8-)

The key tell is the assist total. Crystal leads with 62, but Gabby (52), Z (40), Pheesa (38) and Kia (34) are all right behind. (Notice Z is 3rd on the team with 40 assists..!) Lou, who missed 4 games, is catching up quickly with 29 dimes. The scoring and sharing has been so good that over the last five games, the Huskies are averaging 97.6 points per game. Two of those five games were 100+ point performances.

Fouling all these scorers doesn't work either. Five of the six make more than 70% of their free throws. Two of them, KLS and Kia, make over 80%. Three of the six are legitimate 3 point threats with Kia leading (32 makes) and Crystal (27) & KLS (23) coming on. Napheesa (8) and Z (4) can occasionally hit a deep ball too... In fact, a total of nine Huskies have made a 3 point shot.

Balance is a wonderful thing..!!

Go Huskies..!!

More from David -

Some great info about Azura Stevens season so far......

1. Azura has played 281 minutes in her 12 games, an average of 23.4 per game. 2nd lowest of the Big 6.
2. Z leads the team in rebounding with 106 boards, including 32 offensive..!
3. She is 3rd in assists with 40..!! Ahead of Kia (34) and Pheesa (38). Third..!!

4. Z leads the Huskies with 25 blocked shots, four ahead of Napheesa.
5. She has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.5 (40 dimes vs 16 to's) Crystal's ratio is 2.58... :cool:

To summarize, Z has played only 23 minutes per game but leads the team in rebounds and blocks, is 3rd in assists and barely turns the ball over 1 time per game. But can she score...?? :rolleyes:

6. Her 162 points is an average of 13.5 per game, but she is 2nd in made baskets w/ 69. Pheesa has 77.
7. Inside the 3 pt arc, Z is 65-96 or 68%.
8. But she is foul prone, right..? Well, she has more blocked shots (25) than fouls (24).
9. Azura's 10 steals are only 1 behind Katie Lou and 2 behind Kia.
10. Her high game for points was 25 (MSU) and for rebounds, it was 16 (ECU).

The best news is she is getting better game by game.