Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 2/1/2021

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It was a great day in the snow for the boys!!!

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**** NOTE ****

If you are on a phone the videos I post don't appear to work.

As a workaround I made any video descriptions link-able.

Just click on it.

Sorry about that!!!

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Freshman of the Year

It's basically half way through the season and the battle for Freshman of the Year is getting clearer and clearer.

For a while I thought it was a three player race with UConn's Paige Bueckers, Iowa's Caitlin Clark and Louisville Hailey Van Lith. I based some of this on the stats and some of it on name recognition. Both of those weigh heavily for the voters that actually make the call.

Let's look at these three players statistically to date.

MPG = Minutes per game

PPG = Points per game

RPG = Rebounds per game

APG = Assists per game

SPG = Steals per game

TPG = Turnovers per game

FG% = Field goal percentage

3FG% = 3 point field goal percentage

FT% = Free throw percentage

Paige Bueckers

35.2 MPG, 18.5 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 5.7 APG, 2.5 SPG, 2.5 TPG, 55.5 FG%, 54.8 3FG%, 81.3 FT%

Caitlin Clark

31.8 MPG, 25.5 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 6.3 APG, 1.6 SPG, 4.8 TPG, 45.6 FG%, 35.4 3FG%, 80.9 FT%

Hailey Van Lith

30.1 MPG, 12.3 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.2 SPG, 1.6 TPG, 44.3 FG%, 38.5 3FG%, 87.1 FT%

I love stats. Of course they don't tell the entire story but they certainly tell plenty!

I'm just so excited to see three terrific freshmen and how quickly they acclimated to the quicker WCBB game. And there are others as well that I haven't listed.

Cameron Brink of Stanford. She is averaging 11.2 PPG and 6.7 RPG while shooting 62 percent from the field, and her 16.3 block percentage ranks third in the country, regardless of class.

Te-Hina Paopao has been terrific in replacing Sabrina Ionescu. She is averaging 12.2 PPG and 4.5 APG.

My first cut of the three at the top of my list is Van Lith. Her game has fallen off slightly since the hot start at the beginning of the season. She was just awful against North Carolina State Monday night, scoring only 6 points on 3-10 shooting missing her only 2 three pointers.

In my opinion it's down to Bueckers and Clark at this point and I don't see another freshman doing enough to knock these two off their 1-2 perch.

So, let's make a case for both of these incredibly talented young women.

Caitlin Clark is just a fantastic offensive player. She is leading the entire country in scoring at 25.5 PPG. Wow! And she is not just a one trick pony on offense. She also is a great ball distributor and rebounder. Just terrific stats. She is also a volume scorer. She takes an average 18.5 shots each game. And 8.7 three pointers per game. That is a lot. But her team needs her to do this. I don't take that as a negative. Her shooting percentages are very good, just not outstanding. She has unlimited range on her three pointer as well. She is great at getting to the basket and finishing as well. Because of her aggressiveness getting to the basket she gets to the line almost 7 times per game and at 80+% it's a big part of her scoring. Her defense is freshman like so that is one negative. Here is a video of some of her highlights. You will enjoy it!

I will first say that I am a little biased towards Paige Bueckers in this debate. Ever since she was a UConn target I have followed her game and I have seen countless hours of highlights and full game videos from HS, and of course, I have seen every minute of every game she has played at UConn. Paige is the consummate team player, sometimes to a fault. She is clearly the most talented player on a team full of some really talented players. The burden to dominate the scoring is not as severe as it is for Clark. So Paige only takes around 12 shots per game. But her shooting percentages are mind blowing. She is on pace to obliterate Sue Bird's single season record for three point shooting. Crazy. Her numbers would be even more insane if not for her ONE poor shooting game against Tennessee. Her court vision and basic basketball instincts are the best I've seen since, well, Taurasi. She plays with the game of a much more mature player. And she is a sneaky rebounder averaging almost 6 per game. She is also a surprisingly solid defensive player. Just like she can anticipate a play and hit her teammate with a nice pass, she can also anticipate the opposing team's play and gets her hands on a lot of passes defensively. Here is a repeat of the highlights from the DePaul game.

So, who do I think is the Freshman of the Year so far? Well, I think both are equally talented. And they play such different rolls on their teams the stats are geared to that situation. But two things stand out to me.

One is the turnover difference. Clark's 4.8 TPG is not good. At that number she definitely impacts the game in a negative way. Buecker's 2.5 is decent, but it's also been much better since her back to back bad games of 5 and 6 turnovers early in the season. Her first 4 games? She averaged 4.25 TPG. Her last 7 games since then? 1.56 TPG. That is just terrific.

The other is the difference in FG%'s. Both 2 PT and 3 PT. Paige is just the more consistent shooter. It matters. Maybe if you switched teams Paige would shoot more and Clark with more talent would shoot less. But I'm not sure the shooting percentages would be that much different.

So, my choice is clear and it's Paige Bueckers. I also believe that the voters will also choose her but one other factor will come into play for them. It's the UConn factor. We all know that UConn gets the publicity, her performance on Fox against DePaul will go a long way, and UConn's success is always part of the equation.

Maybe they get back to backs??? Hellooooo Ms. Fudd!!

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No. 24 Mississippi State at Vanderbilt - Cancelled

No. 13 Michigan at Rutgers - Postponed

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By David in Naples

Christyn Williams had a personal record for scoring against DePaul with 29 points. She was 2-4 from outside the arc and an amazing 10-11 from closer to the basket. She finally focused on what she does best, drive to the basket. She is quick, strong and can use both hands to finish at the rim. Geno needs to direct her to limit the 3 point shots and drive, drive, drive...

This season, Williams is shooting 80-166 or 48% on the basketball court. The difference, however, in accuracy from 3 point range and inside the arc, is dramatic. From three range, CW is 20-68 or 29%. That means she will miss 7 of every 10 shots she takes outside the arc. On the other hand, closer to the basket, with her pull up jumper and layups, she is 60-98 or 61%. Why take shots that have less than a 30% chance of going in? She is twice as accurate taking shots from closer in..! This is a no brainer...

There are a few others Huskies that would benefit from minimizing their three point attempts. Aubrey is now 2-11 or 18% from long range. Mir is 1-2 or 50%, but clearly 3's are not her thing. Olivia has made 3 of 8 tries, but needs to stay closer to the rim to be effective. Aaliyah has not even tried a 3, and that is a good thing right now.

Go Huskies..!!

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No. 1 Louisville 60 No. 4 North Carolina State 74 - It was a loss that was going to happen sooner or later. No. 4 North Carolina State spanked No. 1 Louisville on the Cardinals home court, The Yum. It was a great effort by the Wolfpack in their first game back with their star center Elissa Cunane since January 6th due to a Covid issue. She made a huge difference with 16 points on 7-9 shooting and 6 rebounds. Raina Perez did a great job controlling the pace of the game and scored 15 points hitting 3-7 three point shots. Jakia Brown-Turner added 16 points and 7 rebounds. Jada Boyd came off the bench to score 16 points. Louisville was just awful in this game other than their star Dana Evans. She scored 29 points hitting 5-8 three pointers. The next highest scorer had 8 points. You just can't win with one player doing all the scoring like Louisville had in this game. Louisville only had 6 assists on their 23 baskets. The Cardinals were due to lose as they barely escaped with a win against Wake Forest and Miami, two mediocre ACC teams. This should shake up the rankings next week.

No. 11 Ohio State 57 No. 22 Northwestern 69 - Wow, two for two on upsets on Monday night. Northwestern was in control the entire game before putting the win away from the foul line in the fourth quarter. Veronica Burton was just one assist short of a triple double as she scored 20 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and added 9 assists. Now, I get Evina Westbrook at 6' grabbing 14 rebounds, but Burton is a 5'9" guard. That is just crazy.

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UCONN LINKS

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Bueckers named to Leiberman Award for top point guard list of 10 players

Taurasi re-signs with Phoenix for two more years

Bueckers selected to Leiberman Award Top 10

Williams aggressiveness pays off for UConn

Bueckers named Big East Freshman of the Week

Fox telecast of UConn game filled with clutter

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