Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 3/24/18

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

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/

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It's hard to believe but I have broken the 1,000 barrier on the number of blogs I have written since I have started Doggy's Doghouse. Whew!!!

My first one was October 5th, 2014. Here is what I wrote.

This is my new blog for my Uconn women's basketball opinion. As you will see, I have plenty of them.

Look for game previews, post game analysis, inside info and more.

It's still off season, but look soon for a preseason look at the National Championship Huskies!!!

Not much to it, huh. We have come a long way. We have added David from Naples great numbers analysis and more recently Rocky's irreverent look at WCBB. Plenty of what I promised, previews, post game analysis and the occasional inside information and the more seemed to be my opinion and my grandchildren.

I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

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UConn/Duke Pre Game Report

UConn Pre Game Interviews

Duke Pre Game Interviews

Collier, Camara and Dangerfield interviews

Stevens Interview

1 Seed Mississippi State 71

4 Seed North Carolina State 57

This game was interesting for around 22 minutes before Mississippi State was able to impose their will on North Carolina State. The Tigers outscored the Wolfpack 22-10 in the third quarter to put the game out of reach. Teaira McCowan dominated the game with 24 points, 15 rebounds and 4 blocks along with countless intimidation plays. I knew when Morgan William hit the exact same jumper that beat UConn last year that MSU would win this one. North Carolina played hard but just had no answer for the big girl. Leslie was amazing for NC State with 27 points and going 8-13 from the field and 2-2 on threes and going 9-10 on free throws.

2 Seed Baylor 67

6 Seed Oregon State 71

This game was SO entertaining. Just watching Mulkey go crazy on the sidelines is worth the price of admission.

Image result for baylor oregon state mulkey

Baylor was one of the teams that many UConn fans (not me) were worried about. With the big two of Brown and Cox they looked like a matchup problem for UConn. But it is not to be as OSU was just great in this game. They harassed Baylor into a terrible shooting night. They were only able to hit 38% from the field and 3-17 on threes. Hard to win shooting like that and OSU was able to hit 45% of their threes going 9-20. And their center Gulich outplayed both Brown and Cox with 26 points, 9 rebounds, 3 steals and a block. And several hustle plays that set the tone for the Beavers. She was also able to foul out Cox. I have to say, I'm thrilled every time Baylor loses.

3 Seed UCLA 84

2 Seed Texas 75

Another fun game to watch. UCLA was just too quick for Texas. Jordan Canada ran the team like she was the best point guard in the country. Sometimes a little out of control, she single handily broke the Texas press time after time and she refused to slow down and was able to get to the basket. One of her drives was just sick. And over the head back to the basket layup and the foul. Along with Canada, who had 22 points and 8 assists, the other senior Billings was just as awesome in the paint. She added 17 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks, on of which was a game changer. Texas was another team that UConn fans fretted about. No worries about them now. I love the UCLA coach Cori Close. She was just a class act in the post game handshake line, talking to both Texas seniors, even bringing a smile to McCarty's face in defeat.

1 Seed Louisville 86

4 Seed Stanford 59

I did not watch this game. It appears that Louisville took control early and just stretched out the lead.

I'm not surprised. I don't think Stanford deserved that 4th seed. They showed that in this game.

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By David in Naples!!!!!

UConn faces Duke in a Sweet Sixteen matchup on Saturday at 1:30 pm. This will be the first meeting between the Huskies and Blue Devils since 2014. While records and stats don't matter in the NCAA tournament, UConn seems to have some important differences with the Dukies. For example, Duke is led in scoring by Lexie Brown. Her 631 points are almost 250 points higher than the 2nd place scorer, Rebecca Greenwell, at 383 points. Not exactly balanced scoring.

UConn, on the other hand, features a balanced scoring attack with just 32 points separating the top three point producers. (Pheesa at 541, Z with 512 and Katie Lou at 509) Behind them are Kia with 470 points and Gabby at 352. Duke's 3rd best scorer would be 7th if they played for UConn.

Duke scored 2,212 points this season. That comes to an average of 69 pts per game. UConn scored 3,053 points this year and averaged almost 90 per game.

Duke had more turnovers (492) than assists (478). UConn had 780 assists and an assist/turnover ratio of 1.86

UConn shoots 53.5% from the field and 77.5% from the free throw line. Duke comes in at 45.9% and 69% for those stats.

Lexie Brown shoots free throws at an 83% rate and had more makes than the next three Duke players combined. UConn had made free throws of 74, 68, 68 and 67. Balanced...

The key for UConn will be shutting down Lexie Brown. She leads the team in scoring, assists and free throws. She also has 99 turnovers. Pressure her, deny the ball and make someone else on Duke step up. That hasn't happened much this season. UConn by 29 points.

Go Huskies..!!

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Image result for laughter is the best medicine

I cannot believe I escaped the flu all winter only to get it 2 days before the Sweet Sixteen! So, here is another cheap cop out funny. Stick with it even though it's NBA. Some of it is ridiculously funny: