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Hi everyone!! I first want to thank the posters that emailed me and asked if I was going to blog this season. I have to say that I wasn't sure I would. Every year it's always hard to get started after a long spring and summer. This year was even harder with COVID disrupting life. I didn't know if there would be a season. And then games were cancelled. It just didn't feel right.
But after 6 games, I just felt it was time. I'm hopeful the team can get in the remaining games on the schedule. We will see what havoc the holidays bring.
So as you might have seen, I posted a DePaul pregame report and will follow that up with a Baylor pregame report.
My "Dailies" might not be every day, but as always I'll do my best to keep you up to date in the world of UConn Huskies and WCBB in general. I'll share UConn links and Top 25 scores and links as well. You know the drill.
I hope everyone has had a good holiday season and looking forward to a much better 2021.
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My two Granddaughers Mya and Noa.
Since I last posted Mya is now taller than her big sister!!!
And Logan is now 5 years old and in Kindergarten!!!
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I hope you all have enjoyed the season for the Huskies as much as I have so far. 6 games in and this team is really fun to watch. With 6 freshman and a RS junior transfer, it's like a a brand new team!! With no seniors, this is the youngest team I can remember. And one of the most talented!!
Over the next couple of weeks I'll give you my thoughts on every player. I'm sure it won't be news on how good I think they all are!
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FROM GENO
I saw this on spreadsheet another board. Geno has been saying it's the worst shooting team in his 37 years of coaching at UConn. However the stats don't agree. While three point and free throw shooting is in the lower third, their overall field goal percentage is 8th.
While not a great shooting team in some ways, I prefer to look at the assists. They are fourth and at their highest level in 7 seasons.
One more caveat. It's only 6 games.
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So, a few weeks into the season and the Top 25 has had only a few changes.
Preseason No. 1 South Carolina lost to North Carolina State.
Preseason No. 4 Baylor lost to Arkansas
Preseason No. 6 Mississippi State lost to South Florida
Preseason No. 11 Kentucky lost to DePaul in a big win for the Big East
I think there will be plenty more upsets and great games to talk about. As long as they can play them.
Night after Night there are games that had to be cancelled.
On New Years eve there were some fun games to watch and a couple of upsets.
No. 3 NC State was able to hold off Georgia Tech 84-75. They move to 9-0 and 4-0 in the ACC and will retain their spot in the rankings with this nice win. Jada Boyd led them to the win with a 26 point and 10 rebound double-double. There is a Lotta to love with the performance of Lotta-Maj Lahtinen who had her own double-double of 30 points and 11 rebounds for Georgia Tech.
No. 5 South Carolina used a big first half to beat a game Florida team 75-59. The first quarter was really really ugly. Florida was 3/19 from the field, 0-3 on threes, 7 turnovers and South Carolina was 6/23 from the field, 0-3 on threes, 4 turnovers. The score was 14-6 after that 10 minutes. UGLY! Aliyah Boston finally had a big game this season with 28 points and 16 rebounds. She even hit two three pointers. Zia Cooke added 26 points. Yeah, that's 54 of the 75 points for two players. It was a good win but I was not impressed with this South Carolina team. Only 6 points off the bench and no other players than Boston and Cooke in double figures.
In one upset, No. 10 Arkansas lost to No. 13 Kentucky 75-64 in a game that was closer than the final score. Rhyne Howard turned it on in the second half for the Wildcats scoring 24 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. They looked out of sorts in the first half but behind former Tennessee player Jazmine Massengill playing the point the final 10 minutes, they pulled away from the previously undefeated Razorbacks.
No. 12 Mississippi State was able to hold off Georgia 69-62 in another tough SEC contest. To tell you the truth I wasn't too impressed with either team. I always wonder if it's the good SEC defenses or the bad SEC offenses that make these games look like a shit show. I'll go with a little of both in this contest.
On to the Big Ten where No. 14 Maryland hammered Penn State 96-82. Ashley Owusu was terrific with 34 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Terps. Another former Tennessee Lady Vol, Mimi Collins had a nice line with 8 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Yeah, just a fair line, but I do like rubbing it in to Tennessee...lol.
In the second Top 25 upset, No. 15 Northwestern lost to a pretty mediocre Nebraska team 65-63. I wasn't calling for this upset, but it was no surprise to me. I think Northwestern was a little overrated. Look for more losses and a trip out of the Top 25 in the next few weeks.
That's enough for the New Years Eve schedule.
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What blog would be complete without my UGGY award for the ugliest game of the day.
In sticking with the SEC theme of the evening two terrible teams hooked up in Auburn and LSU. In this particular game, LSU was able to win this semblance of a basketball game 56-43 over Auburn.
The Tigers were just terrible in this game. They only scored 43 points. You can see why. They were 17-60 from the field for 28.3% and 3-18 for 16.7% on threes. They also had only 7 assists and a whopping 24 turnovers.
This UGGY award was well deserved!!
The team I love to hate, Tennessee, is off with COVID issues for the next couple of weeks. I have no details on if any players contracted this disease, but I do know they all went home for the holidays. Maybe a really dumb decision to let them do that? UConn had their players stay on campus where I read that the entire campus of 700 students were COVID free.
They have the usual delusions of grandeur on the Tennessee message board. I'm sure I'll have more to say on that unranked and undisciplined team in future blogs. It's just fun to do.
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UCONN LINKS
Sorry if some links need a subscription
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Message Boards
UConn Territory - The best UConn women's message board ever!!!
College Fans Only - WCBB board where no holds are barred
Vol Nation - Tennessee women's basketball board
ND Nation - Notre Dame women's basketball board
Rebkell - WCBB for everyone that thinks they are smarter than everyone else
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