Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 12/31/18

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From my family to yours!!!!

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Two more upsets Monday! You can tell conference play has started. Both of these upsets were in the Big Ten.

Lindsay Whalen's No. 12 Minnesota Gophers lost to Michigan 76-60 and in the big upset of the day, Rutgers beat No. 4 Maryland 73-65.

There were a lot of fans and so called experts (including me) who thought that Maryland could go through the Big Ten undefeated. They had an easy OOC schedule and the Big Ten was not as strong this season. But what we are seeing is a lot of parity in that conference.

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UConn's next opponent, No. 8 Baylor, tuned up for the Huskies with a real challenge.

They barely beat a game UT Rio Grande Valley team 98-37.

Ok, sarcasm aside, can anyone tell me how a game like this prepares Baylor for UConn? It doesn't. And it's embarrassing for a top team like the Bears to schedule them so late into the season. Maybe an opening game or in their first few outings it makes sense.

They were basically like a cat with a mouse in the corner, batting the poor Vaqueros around the corral.

UTRGV was lucky to even score one basket with the physical disadvantage that Baylor had. The most telling stat was the rebounding. The Bears outrebounded UTRGV 75-26. And they had more offensive rebounds than UTRGV had rebounds with 31. The Vaqueros had one player with 3 rebounds a few others with 1 rebound.

UTRGV was only able to shoot 16-59 for 16.9% from the field and 8-38 on threes for 21.%. They did manage 59 shots. So that's something. Baylor was able to put up 81 shots with their offensive rebounding advantage but only shot 45% from the field and 5-14 on threes. And they were 19-29 on free throws.

Baylor was able to get plenty of minutes for the bench. They put in 81 minutes! But it's impossible to judge Baylor on this game. I'll be looking at their more competitive games. A quick clue. In their 3 games that were determined by less than 6 points (1 loss), They played only one player off the bench in two of them and that same player was the only effective bench player in the third game. They are just not deep. And a game like they just had doesn't help the players who will see the most minutes against UConn play cohesively.

Here is my UConn/Baylor Pregame Report.

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By David in Naples!!!!!

Crystal and Christyn share more than a backcourt at UConn. They have virtually identical stats for the 11-0 Huskies..! Consider:

1. Minutes - Christyn and Crystal have started all 11 games and racked up 379 and 376 minutes of game time respectively. Their averages are 34.5 and 34.2 per game.

2. Both have scored 152 points.

3. They both 42 total rebounds with Crystal having more defensive & Christyn more offensive boards.

4. Both have 11 steals.

5. Christyn has 60 baskets, Crystal 54. The extra threes Crystal has made make up the point difference.

6. Crystal has taken 22 free throws and Christyn just 2 fewer at 19.

7. They both have a "Y" in their name. 8-)

The assists totals are the biggest difference with Crystal ahead 57-23. Both have low turnover totals with Christyn better at 13-27. Their overall stats show this duo are in sync and compliment each other wonderfully. Look for Crystal and Christyn to get better as the season rolls on & tournament time approaches.

Go Huskies..!!

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