Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 12/10/19

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Image result for not pretty has to be gritty

It's not gonna be pretty, but it's got to be gritty!

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Quiet day in Day 3 in Florida. Weather is still beautiful. Possible thunderstorms on Wednesday just in time for golf. Hopefully it holds off until I'm done!!

I told Barrett the next UConn game is Monday

but he keeps changing the channels looking for the game.

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Image result for paige bueckers

Image result for diana taurasi uconn drive

When there is time between games, I have to look for things to write about. This time, it's pretty easy.

I mentioned the four recruits at the UConn/ND game but only one of them will be in the rotation in 2020. This young lady deserves a write-up EVERY day. She is just that good.

I'm sure you know by now I'm talking about Paige Bueckers (Pronounced Beckers).

For basically 20 years, we have never seen another player like Diana Taurasi. Until now. I mean it. I know it's a lot to put on a kid who has never played college ball. But Paige is something special.

So, what is so special. I'll give you my opinion and then I'll share some quotes from Geno.

1.Paige has incredible court vision. Just watch the highlights of her play. She just sees the court differently than any other player.

2. She has unlimited range. I mean unlimited. She has a sweet step back three pointer that can't be denied.

3. You won't find a more unselfish player. She seems to truly enjoy an assists as much as scoring.

4. She has a ton of finishes around the basket. Just when you think you've got her covered she will find a way to make the shot, sometimes in spectacular ways.

5. In one difference from Taurasi, Paige will come into college in terrific shape. She has embraced conditioning. Maybe not UConn shape, but close.

6. She is a true leader. Players respect her and I promise you, she will start at point guard for Dangerfield as a freshman and play that position for the Huskies for 4 years.

I'm sure there are more. Maybe David will ring in on this another day.

Geno has some great things to say about her. Things you don't usually hear from Geno.

“I’m going to be saying, ‘You know what? We wouldn’t have won the national championship without her. That’s what I’m going to say. By herself she can’t win anything. But with the people I think we’re going to surround her with, I think we can do great things."

"This kid was meant to be a basketball player. She was born to be a basketball player. She just plays like, ‘This is my personal playground. When I get the ball, I can do whatever I want with it and you can’t stop me.’ She makes the game fun for herself. And when she’s not playing basketball, she’s watching basketball. When she isn’t watching basketball, she’s shooting baskets. There are kids who play basketball, and then there are basketball players. She is a basketball player.”

“She’s humble. She’s a nice kid. She’s very respectful. All this stuff that goes on Instagram and other social media, that’s not her putting it out there. She’s just a Midwestern throwback kid who loves to play.”

“People are going to love watching her play. She is going to be under a lot of pressure. She is going to be under the same kind of pressure (Breanna Stewart) was, that (Diana Taurasi) was. A kid coming out of high school that is supposed to be all-everything and she’s going to have to live with that every single day. That’s not easy."

Ok, now it's time for some videos. This one is great. You can see her range in warm-ups. And watch her swagger as she walks on the court. It's just something about her body language. She handled the chants from the home crowd calling her over-rated by pouring in 31 points.

She also won the USA Female Athlete of the year after playing in four USA team events. I've put an article about this in the UConn section.

“It means a lot. When Carol (Callan) called me and told me, I was kind of amazed, seeing all of the people who have won it before. Me being one of the youngest to get it, it just means a lot to me. To be able to represent my country, alone, and then to get this award, it meant even more.”

Check out prior winners. Stewart is a three time winner. I think Bueckers will match that some day.

This link has a great article from SB Nation about her with some great videos. I think I might have posted some of them before but they are really worth it.

From day one she will be a special player at UConn. Can't wait!!

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One former opponent and one future opponent are playing each other Wednesday night as No. 16 DePaul (8-1) will be visiting South Bend to take on Notre Dame (5-6).

Depaul will have one more game after this one before taking on UConn on next Monday.

Both teams are hurting for height. DePaul has one player over 5'11" and Notre Dame has two but mostly only plays one. I haven't heard anything on Sam Brunelle, the 6'2" freshman for the Irish, who hurt her leg in the loss to UConn.

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By David in Naples!!!!!

Name the most unselfish college team in women's basketball. Answer: UConn, of course. Consider the assist stats for the current squad after just 8 games.

Leader = Anna with 24 assists.

2nd place = Megan and Christyn with 22 assists.

3rd place = Crystal, Olivia & Kyla with 21 assists.

That's right, UConn has six players with between 21-24 assists. Add in Molly with 9 and Aubrey with 5 and you get 145 total assists or 18.1 per game. I'll admit there are teams with more dimes, but SIX players all within a few assists of the team lead..!! Amazing..!

Last year there were three players with over 100 assists. Two season ago there were five with more than 100 assists. And five 3 years ago & four all the way back to 2015-16. My point is that the Huskies always have lots of players with over 100 assists. But the tight grouping of this year's team is unusual. It is possible for there to be SIX Huskies with 100 of more assists in a single season. That would be special and unselfish..!!

Go Huskies..!!

UCONN LINKS

Paige Bueckers is USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year
Geno expects big things from Bueckers, UConn moves to No. 2
Geno on Bueckers

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