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I'm going to keep this here to remind you all to vote for UConn players!!!!!
Gabby - CLASS Award (voting ends March 19)
Looks like Gabby won the fan vote with 44%. That is only 1/3 of the voting but I have a good feeling that Williams will win this award.
Kia, Lou, Gabby, Napheesa - Hoophall Award (voting ends March 23)
Lou, Gabby - Women's Citizen Naismith Trophy (vote March 19-30)
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Great day today with our beautiful Granddaughters at Lion Country Safari!
Wearing my UConn hat proudly!!!
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In the opening game against St. Francis, they were true to their team and identity and played like they had all season long. They launched three pointer after three pointer. And they lost by a ton of points.
In this game, Quinnipiac did the same thing. They were true to their team and identity and played like they had all season. They took their time on offense and took care of the ball with only 7 turnovers. They played tough defense and was able to create 13 turnovers for UConn. They took a lot of threes as well.
But as we know, the slow down game doesn't work against UConn. Oh sure, it will keep the game closer, but closer doesn't win games.
UConn was efficient shooting 59.1% from the field and 50% on threes. They also had 18 assists on their 26 baskets. I especially liked the 13-14 from the free throw line. Scoring was down but that was a direct relation to the slowdown game from Quinnipiac.
Now it's time for UConn to renew the long time series/rivalry with the Duke Blue Devils. With a few days available I might even put together a pre game report.
The three other early games were all interesting in their own ways including TWO 3 vs 11 upsets.
Buffalo played some solid defense but FSU couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. They shot 33.8% from the field and were only 3-25 on threes. But biggest culprit was Imari Wright, who shot the Seminoles right out of the game going 2-15 from the field and a big o-fer on 10 three point tries. Similarly to the other 3/11 upset, Buffalo put the game away at the foul line going 27-30.
FSU's Shakayla Thomas finished her career with a terrific game but it just wasn't enough. She had 25 points but was 5-10 on free throws. I'm sure she will be a 1st round pick in the upcoming WNBA draft. She is one of the most athletic players in the NCAA, rivaling Gabby.
In a game that has direct implications for UConn, 5 seed Duke "upset" 4 seed Georgia 66-40. Let me tell you, Duke is not a great team. They are not even a very good team. But I think this final shows you what a wretched offensive team that Georgia is. I hear over and over what a tough defensive league the SEC is, but the truth of the matter is it's a terrible OFFENSIVE league.
Duke was able to parlay solid games from their starters. Rebecca Greenwell, the 20th year senior, Lexi Brown, the former Maryland Terp, and sophomore forward Leona Odom, all had nice game.
I don't know if I have seen a player with quicker hands than Lexi Brown on defense. In this game she had 7 steals. And she was able to convert those into baskets.
I'm going to give my first post season Uggy Award to Georgia.
In this game they shot 23.5% from the field, 1-17 on threes, 7-14 on free throws. They had only 8 assists and 16 turnovers. Yeah....their performance was ugly
Another overrated, overranked and just horrible offensive SEC team. Congrats Bulldogs. You just won an UGGY!
Not much to say about the late games. All Chalk. Look for the links in the Links section Tuesday morning.
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11 Seed Central Michigan continued it's Cinderella tournament with a surprisingly easy 95-78 win over 3 seed Ohio State. I pretty much called this game. I thought OSU was overrated for most of the season. And it's hard to win in the NCAA tournament when you can't stop the other team. The Buckeyes gave up 14 three pointers and were outrebounded by 11. Not a good combination.
You can't take anything away from CMU. They were on fire from the field and long range and hit their free throws, going 25-27 as Ohio State had to foul to try to get back into the game.
Kelsey Mitchell, in her final game, scored 28 points, but as usual did that with volume shooting. She took 29 shots to create her 28 points. I think she is pretty much the same player that she was in her freshman season. She will be a high WNBA draft pick, but I don't see her being a big success there.
You can't take anything away from CMU. They were on fire from the field and long range and hit their free throws, going 25-27 as Ohio State had to foul to try to get back into the game.
Kelsey Mitchell, in her final game, scored 28 points, but as usual did that with volume shooting. She took 29 shots to create her 28 points. I think she is pretty much the same player that she was in her freshman season. She will be a high WNBA draft pick, but I don't see her being a big success there.
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Buffalo played some solid defense but FSU couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. They shot 33.8% from the field and were only 3-25 on threes. But biggest culprit was Imari Wright, who shot the Seminoles right out of the game going 2-15 from the field and a big o-fer on 10 three point tries. Similarly to the other 3/11 upset, Buffalo put the game away at the foul line going 27-30.
FSU's Shakayla Thomas finished her career with a terrific game but it just wasn't enough. She had 25 points but was 5-10 on free throws. I'm sure she will be a 1st round pick in the upcoming WNBA draft. She is one of the most athletic players in the NCAA, rivaling Gabby.
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In a game that has direct implications for UConn, 5 seed Duke "upset" 4 seed Georgia 66-40. Let me tell you, Duke is not a great team. They are not even a very good team. But I think this final shows you what a wretched offensive team that Georgia is. I hear over and over what a tough defensive league the SEC is, but the truth of the matter is it's a terrible OFFENSIVE league.
Duke was able to parlay solid games from their starters. Rebecca Greenwell, the 20th year senior, Lexi Brown, the former Maryland Terp, and sophomore forward Leona Odom, all had nice game.
I don't know if I have seen a player with quicker hands than Lexi Brown on defense. In this game she had 7 steals. And she was able to convert those into baskets.
I'm going to give my first post season Uggy Award to Georgia.
In this game they shot 23.5% from the field, 1-17 on threes, 7-14 on free throws. They had only 8 assists and 16 turnovers. Yeah....their performance was ugly
Another overrated, overranked and just horrible offensive SEC team. Congrats Bulldogs. You just won an UGGY!
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Not much to say about the late games. All Chalk. Look for the links in the Links section Tuesday morning.
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Last SEC rant for a little while. This "power" conference had 7 teams make the tournament. How did they do?
1 seed Mississippi State - Sweet Sixteen
4 seed Texas A&M - Sweet Sixteen
2 seed South Carolina - Sweet Sixteen
3 seed Tennessee - lost in 2nd round to 6 seed
4 seed Georgia - lost in 2nd round to 5 seed
5 seed Missouri - lost in 1st round to 12 seed
6 seed LSU - lost in the 1st round to 11 seed
See the pattern here? Seven teams in, four of them are gone. And all lost to lower seeds.
Texas A&M was fortunate to beat DePaul on a late three pointer and South Carolina had a tough time with 10 seed Virginia.
Hey, the AAC has half of their teams still in the tournament after two rounds. The SEC can't say that!
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Picks of the Day
These were from yesterday.
5 seed Duke is playing 4 seed Georgia and sad for my friend David, I think that Duke should win this one. I haven't been impressed with Georgia all season. They beat up on the weak teams in the SEC and had few signature wins. The did beat Missouri twice but the luster is off those wins with the Tiger loss in the NCAA's. I'm picking the Blue Devils in this one.
Called this win!!
There are two 3 vs 11 matchups. Is there an upset brewing in either one of those? 11 seed Central Michigan will be playing 3 seed Ohio State. I just have a feeling that the Buckeyes have a clunker in their future. Will it be this game?
It sure was!
And 11 seed Creighton will take on 3 seed UCLA. The Bruins have had a few bad losses and could be susceptible to another against a feisty Creighton team. Stay tuned!
Yeah, not so good. Hey, two out of three ain't bad!