Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Doggy's Doghouse 4/3/19












                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
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Image result for condo for rent sign

Ok, a little personal plea!!! My daughter is renting out her condo in New Britain. It's a 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath townhouse. 2 car attached garage and access to a community pool! It's a really nice place.

If you know anyone looking for a place I've provided the link on Zillow.  

177A Brittany Farms Road

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I have a link in the WCBB section where WNBA Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeves talked about the WNBA draft. I thought I would highlight what she said about Napheesa Collier.

“Napheesa Collier is a tremendous basketball player. My experience with USA Basketball gave me the opportunity to see the things that she can do and how versatile she is, and she’s not limited in terms of the position that she can play. She’s anywhere from — I think at Connecticut, at times she played the 5, but a 4. She’s a little undersized there, but I think she’s shown the ability from a length standpoint and her ability to rebound the ball and deflect. This is a quality basketball player that will have her work cut out for her as a small forward in this league, but I saw her do that for the national team. This is a player that’s going to do well for a long, long time and have a great career in the WNBA.

And late breaking news, Collier is one of five players on the Wooden Award list!!!!  

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Now that Bueckers has decided to come to UConn, it seems that her BFF Azzi Fudd won't be far behind. Fudd is the No. 1 player in the 2021 class and it's not even close. She is that good. So, just for fun, here is when they met on the AAU circuit last June where Bueckers' team beat Fudds team. 


And here is a video of them goofing around!




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Image result for crystal ball basketball
So, let's look into Doggy's Crystal Ball and check out the future of the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame for the 2019-2020 season.

UConn fans like to panic about next season, losing their two best players in Samuelson and Collier. That is a big chunk of scoring and rebounding. But no where near the unprecedented situation for Notre Dame. Unprecedented for them that is.    

The Irish will probably lose all five starters including Jackie Young, who can declare for the WNBA based on her age. I can't imagine coming back while your fellow starters leave. For the purposes of this exercise, I'm going to assume she is leaving.

So, let's look at the numbers!

87.4% of their points
72.2% of their rebounds
86.2% of their assists     
77.9% of their blocks
78.0% of their steals
72.8% of their minutes

That being said, I'm a firm believe in the rule that it's more important who you have coming back and who you have coming in as freshmen/transfers than who is leaving. Maybe not so much in this case. And they do have some players coming back next season.

Next year they will have 1 senior, 3 juniors, 4 sophomores and 2 freshmen.

A small roster of ten players. But in looking at the talent level, I'm not sure they will get past the first eight. The Senior Cole sat out this year and really hasn't seen much time and Benz, a junior, just isn't talented enough for this level.

That leaves two juniors, 6'3" Vaughn (ranked 56), and 6'2" Patterson (30). Along with 6'4" sophomore Cosgrove (68) to play the center and power forward spots. The small forward slot will be handed to 6'2" freshman Brunelle (4), at one time a UConn recruit. Maybe the next Notre Dame star? She is probably the best player on the team immediately.  They have four guards on this team and three of them are point guards. Gilbert (27), Nixon (38), and Peoples (21) are the PG's and Prohaska (78)  is the fourth guard. 



The players that are leaving? - Young (11), Shepard (3), Ogunbowale (10), Mabrey (24) and Turner (2).  

Just look at those recruiting rankings before they came to Notre Dame. 

One player in the top 5.
Two players in the twenties (21,27)
Two players in the thirties (30,38)
Three players over 50 (56,68,78)

As a comparison, UConn will start Dangerfield (3), Williams (1), Walker (1), Nelson-Ododa (5) and Griffin (33). See the difference? Oh, and Bueckers (1) in 2020.   

Rankings aren't always the be-all of analyzing a roster. But none of these players averaged more than 15 minutes per game. So, not only are these players not highly regarded, they are inexperienced. 

Next season could be really ugly for Notre Dame. 

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By David in Naples!!!!!

I have often said that when (if) I grow up, I want to be like Phil from UConn Territory. He is in town and gave me some great info for tonight’s Fun w/ Numbers.

Everyone who matters knows UConn has been to 12 straight Final Fours. Do you know how many total Final Fours the top three teams have been to?
1. UConn = 20
2. Tennessee = 18
3. Stanford = 13

How about Sweet Sixteen rounds? Well, care to guess who has the most?
1. UConn = 26 (consecutive and still going)
2. Stanford = 12
3. Baylor = 11
4. Notre Dame= 10

Note- Tennessee has 27 total but the consecutive streak was broke years ago. 

Finally, what are the Final Four streaks after UConn’s 12 straight.
1. UConn (again) = 5. (2000-2005)
2. LSU = 5. (2004-2008)
3. Stanford = 5. (2008-2012)

There is an awful lot of UConn in those Fun Numbers. And, quite a bit of separation between the Huskies and the rest of the teams..!! 😁

Tampa Bay Final Four
National Semi-Final
Friday, April 5th

1 seed Baylor vs 2 seed Oregon 7:00 PM ESPN2

1 seed Notre Dame vs 2 seed UConn 9:30 PM ESPN2

NCAA Links
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