Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 3/15/18

*****************************************************************************

I'm going to keep this here to remind you all to vote for UConn players!!!!!

Gabby - CLASS Award (voting ends March 19)
Gabby Williams | Women’s Basketball 2017-18 | Senior CLASS Award

Kia, Lou, Gabby, Napheesa - Hoophall Award (voting ends March 23)
Hoophall Awards

Lou, Gabby - Women's Citizen Naismith Trophy (vote March 19-30)
http://naismithtrophy.com/vote/

***************************************************************

I haven't talked too much about my golf game while I'm vacationing in Florida but my round on Tuesday needs to be mentioned.

I had 4 birdies (three on the front side) for a 35-38 and one of my best rounds ever with a 73.

I've played 8 times and the game is rounding into shape for when I start golfing in Connecticut and I will have a big advantage over my golf buddies when the snow finally melts and the course opens!

*********************************************************

I was going to write a pre game report for UConn's first game against St. Francis (PA) but really, what could I possibly say. So, here are some details that you might find useful.

Game time is Saturday, March 17th at 11:00 AM. I know some fans are complaining about this. I'll tell you what. DVR the game and watch it at 7:00. Better?

The game is on ESPN2. I'm sure they will be doing some whip-around coverage. So be prepared. I would be that ESPN3/WatchESPN will have the full game.

St. Francis is 19-2 over their last 21 games, losing by one to Robert Morris and one to Sacred Heart. They are on an 8 game winning streak. They average a hearty 80 points per game. Here are some crazy stats.

In their 33 games, they have averaged 71.5 shots per game. UConn 65.1.
In their 33 games, they have averaged 33.2 three point shots per game. UConn 20.6.
In their 33 games, they have averaged 18 free throws taken. UConn 15.3.

The Red Flash has a problem. They take more threes, more shots, and more free throws per game than UConn. But they only shoot 40% from the field and 30% on threes. And that's not against the best defense in WCBB.

Keep an eye on Jessica Kovatch. No. 23, the 5'9" junior guard is the leading scorer for St. Francis.

Kovatch_2017

She averages 24.9 PPG, the 2nd highest average in the NCAA. She takes a ton of shots. 623 to be exact. 18.9 shots per game. Compare that to the UConn players. Collier leads with 359.

Over half of Kovatch's shots are threes. She has taken 365 in total. That's 11 per game. I can't imagine how tired her arm is! Samuelson has taken 169 threes in comparison to lead UConn.

The question is, will she be able to get off even half of those shots with Nurse and the UConn defense in her face.

If St. Francis takes that many shots against UConn, the Huskies could score more than 120 points.

Prediction? As many points as Geno wants them to score.

Watch this highlight video. Kovatch hits 10 three pointers and some of those were DEEP.

********************************************************

By David in Naples!!!!!

Part I

With the NCAA tournament starting on Saturday, here are the leaders for important statistical categories for UConn.

Points

1. Napheesa 493
2. Katie Lou 483

Rebounds

1. Azura 242
2. Pheesa 239

Assists

1. Gabby 162
2. Crystal 118

Made threes

1. Katie Lou 78
2. Kia 75

Steals

1. Gabby 81
2. Pheesa 53

Blocked shots

1. Azura 66
2. Pheesa 57

Can't help but notice how balanced the stat leaders are with six different Huskies either 1st or 2nd in the various categories. Anyone on this team can dominate a game and that will be important as UConn moves through the tournament.

Go Huskies..!!

Part II

Speaking of the NCAA Tournament, this Friday at about 2 pm, the 2,000th game will be played. The tournament began in 1982 with 32 teams so there were 31 games that year. They had 40 teams in 1983, back to 32 for 1984 and 1985, then increased to 40 teams in 1986, up to 48 in 1989 and then to 64 teams in1994, where it has remained ever since. That means a total of 1992 games have been played through the 2017 tournament.

The eighth game of this year's tournament will mark the 2000th game of the NCAA Tournament. The four games tipping off at noon on Friday will bring the total to 1996, which means the fourth of the four games scheduled at 2 PM will constitute the 2000th game.
Those 2 pm games are:
• Liberty – Tennessee
• Drake – Texas A&M
• Elon – NC State
• Dayton-Marquette

Since the start times in the NCAA schedule are approximate, and the actual starting times are staggered by a few minutes, so we may have to wait until closer to game time to know which is the actual fourth game. Or perhaps the NCAA will make sure one of the game is delayed a few minutes so it can be designated as the eighth game of the day and the overall 2000th game..!!

Congrats to the NCAA on this wonderful milestone..!!P.S. - From me and David - Shout out to the master stat guy, Phil for the info. Phil is maybe the most travelled UConn fan of ALL time. He goes to so many away games and I don't think he's missed an NCAA tournament game in years. Thanks Phil for pitching in!!

P.S.S. - Hi Michelle!!! Thanks for reading!

**********************************************************

Here is a new addition for the NCAA Tournament and maybe going forward in my Blog! My friend Rocky is going to contribute his great insight into the UConn program and WCBB in general. You will enjoy his knowledge, intelligence and best of all, humor.

WITH

Tennessee Deer In The Headlights or Ball State Revisited

Who is that you ask? It is Holly Warlick, of course, WHENEVER she is under pressure. And boy is she under pressure now. Hosting for the first 2 rounds for the first time since 2014, so that handy excuse isn't around. Still, Tennessee like most SEC schools does play significantly better at home and hosting Warlick says "is huge for us", but look at her say it. She's shaky, shaky, shaky.

Lady Vols take on Liberty to Open the NCAA Tournament

Oh, she should be fine about playing Liberty. They haven't played Liberty in 20 years and when they last played Liberty was destroyed. But that was in the height of the Pat Summit Era with Pat Summit in her prime. The pundits say this will be your typical 1st Round rout, with Massey saying Tennessee 73-53 with 96% Tennessee win probability and 538 has Tennessee at 98 %. BUT: Remember Ball State knocking off Tennessee as a 16 with Pat on the sidelines in 2008? There are parallels. That year Pat had a freshman loaded starting 5. Lets look back shall we:

Holly has many of Pat's moves on the sidelines down. She's got the cross crossed arms stand, the studied squat with pursed lips, the hand clapping (lots of hand clapping). But there the similarities end. Pat was very good at in game adjustment; Holly is notoriously poor at that - don't take my word for it, go to Vol Nation and look at all the "Fahr" Holly threads. And the unheard of in Knoxville occurred last year: The Hot Seat press got to work on Holly and her top rated freshman team.

Can Top Recruiting Class/Loyalty Save Warlick's Job

Yeah, but she has two WNBA bound seniors to steady them up, right. Mercedes Russell land Jamie Nared. Jamie is Tennessee's Kia Nurse, but she can't shoot straight, whether long or short. Russell will have to rapidly transform herself in the WNBA or she'll be gone, because she is the softest, least fired up big I have ever seen play. Her penchant for drifting out of the post into no man's land is as frustrating today as it was when she was a freshman ( yeah, but it's her feet- remember that?) The kids are good, even very good and they have played all year, but any disciplined ball team can make them stumble, because they have no discipline and so it is mostly one-on-one with them. Transition is their thing.

So there is every reason for Holly, always jumpy, to be very, very jumpy leading into Friday's game: 2:30 ESPN2

****************************************************************