Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Doggy's Doghouse 3/31/2021

 








 








                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
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Happy Anniversary to my son Jay and his beautiful wife Julieane.

A wonderful couple who blessed us with two incredible granddaughters!    

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Maybe she will be playing??

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It was no surprise, but it was a surprising outcome. Paige Bueckers won AP Player of the Year for Women's College Basketball. Friggin' amazing. 

She is the first Freshman EVER to win this prestigious award. That is just something else. Videos are always better than words, so just enjoy these.






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"I'm Number One"

Congrats to Brenda Frese for winning the AP Coach of the Year. I guess they voted before the Elite Eight loss to Texas. 

I would have picked Tara Vanderveer. 

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The talking heads, especially Vople, just say the dumbest things. Here is her latest.

"That said, McDonald has looked as confident these past two games as she has all season, and that's something she's going to bring with her into Friday's matchup. After all, she has faced some very good defenses already here in San Antonio with Texas A&M and Indiana, plus the regular-season matchups with Stanford."

 Yes, she did a number on Indiana and Texas A&M. 

Very good defense? 

Indiana is 59th in team shooting percentage.
Texas A&M is 86th in team shooting percentage.

Indiana is 63rd in scoring defense.
Texas A&M is 114th in scoring defense.
 
And how did she do in two games against a really good Stanford defense?

Game 1 - 12 points. 3-18 from the field. 1-6 on threes. 
Game 2 - 20 points, 8-24 from the field, 0-6 on threes. 

That's 32 points, 11-42 (26.2%) from the field and 1-12 on threes. Yeah, Vople. Great analysis. 

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I haven't posted much about what is going on in the Transfer Portal this year, mostly because UConn is still playing and also that the Huskies have no room at the inn for any additional players. 

If you had to guess, how many players do you think are in the portal so far? 

I bet you didn't think it was over 1000. Well it is!

I found this article on the Top 12 players in the portal. Cutting and pasting the list.

1. Emily Engstler, 6-1 guard, senior, Syracuse

Engstler is currently one of eight Syracuse players in the transfer portal and, at this point, the headliner of the bunch. After starting 31 games as a sophomore, she moved into a role this season in which she was a spark off the bench. The result? She was named the ACC’s co-Sixth Player of the Year as she averaged 10.5 points and 9.1 rebounds per game while shooting 42 percent from the floor. Her 3-point shooting percentage went up 10 percent this season, but she also made major strides in her offensive rebounding and cut back on her turnovers. She’s a former top-10 recruit who will add a physical element to any roster.

2. Diamond Johnson, 5-5 guard, sophomore, Rutgers

Johnson had a huge freshman season for Rutgers, averaging 17.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.3 steals per game. She’s a true three-level scoring threat who shot 51 percent overall from the floor. Only five freshmen nationally scored more points per game than Johnson this season, and all five of those players were the primary scorers on their respective teams while Johnson was the secondary option behind Arella Guirantes. Johnson doesn’t turn the ball over often and she’s an efficient player, averaging 1.21 points per shot.

3. Gina Conti, 5-10 guard, super senior, Wake Forest

If a team is looking for an instant impact point guard with years of experience, Conti would be a very good pick. She started 98 games during her career at Wake Forest, and this season she averaged 13.8 points and 3.8 rebounds while leading the team with 4.6 assists per game. Her turnover percentage improved every season at Wake Forest (down to 18 percent in 2020-21) while her usage increased. When she was on the floor, the Demon Deacons assisted on more than 45 percent of their makes, as opposed to 35 percent when she was on the bench.

4. Anastasia Hayes, 5-7 guard, redshirt senior, Middle Tennessee State

With a grad transfer option, Hayes is likely making one final push for the kind of Power 6 career she began at Tennessee as a freshman. She finished this season as the nation’s second-leading scorer behind Caitlin Clark, averaging 26.5 points per game as well as 5.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game. Hayes is most efficient when creating and driving the lane. Even at 5-foot-7, she finishes at a clip of 56 percent at the rim. It’s hard to imagine that wherever she goes next she would be as much of a focal point as she has been at Middle Tennessee State — where she averaged the fourth-most shots nationally at 20.2 per game — but she’d certainly be an asset for several teams in major conferences.

5. Ariyah Copeland, 6-3 forward, super senior, Alabama

If a program is looking for an experienced big who does most of her work in the paint, Copeland is an intriguing option; more than 95 percent of her shot attempts came at the rim this past season, and she made 63 percent of them. She’ll leave Alabama as a 77-game starter with the program’s second-best career shooting percentage (55.8 percent). She’s not the kind of weapon who can reliably step out and attack opponents with mid-range shooting, but not every program needs that out of their posts. Copeland is an experienced player who can plant herself in the paint and make an impact on both ends of the floor.

6. Sasha Goforth, 6-1 guard, sophomore, Oregon State

Goforth announced her intention to transfer on March 29 and is now officially in the portal. The freshman wrote on Twitter that she wants to play closer to home (Fayetteville, Ark.), so that narrows her landing possibilities. She was a 20-game starter for the Beavers this season and showed a great amount of upside, averaging 11.6 points and 3.6 rebounds a game. There is one program very close to home for Goforth that will be looking to restock its roster this season — could we see Goforth in an Arkansas uniform?

7. Kiara Lewis, 5-8 guard, super senior, Syracuse

There aren’t a ton of all-conference players who enter the transfer portal, but Lewis is one of them. Lewis was All-ACC during the 2019-20 season and an honorable mention pick this season as she led the Orange with 14 points per game. The Chicago native began her career at Ohio State before transferring to Syracuse after one season. Now as a graduate, she’ll be immediately eligible to play for any program.

8. Madison Hayes, 6-foot guard, sophomore, Mississippi State

The former five-star player started the final nine games of the season for the Bulldogs and averaged 4.7 points, 1.1 assists and 4.7 rebounds in 20.4 minutes of play per game. Hayes committed to Mississippi State in September 2019 and kept her commitment even after Vic Schaefer left for Texas. It’s possible she didn’t see minutes opening up for her at Mississippi State considering there were no seniors ahead of her on the Bulldogs’ depth chart. Perhaps we’ll see her land closer to her home of Tennessee, or perhaps we’ll see her re-connect with Schaefer in Austin.

9. Kayana Traylor, 5-9 guard, senior, Purdue

Traylor accumulated 70 career starts during her three years at Purdue. She averaged a team-leading 15.0 points and 3.9 assists per game this year and has kept her shooting percentage at a steady 39 percent through her entire career. In Traylor, teams can expect a two-year player. According to her recent tweet, she’s expecting to take this past season as a “free” year and use her five years of eligibility before making any pro or post-college moves. That kind of stability at a guard spot, especially from someone with as much starting experience as Traylor has, will be very attractive to some schools looking to build guard depth.

10. Alasia Hayes, 5-7 guard, sophomore, Notre Dame

When Hayes entered the transfer portal a few weeks ago, there was thought that she might join her older sisters — Anastasia and Aislynn — at Middle Tennessee State. Now, with all three sisters in the transfer portal, that’s not going to happen. Hayes was the No. 44 player in the 2020 class and the 2020 Tennessean Girls Basketball Player of the Year, but she didn’t see the floor much this past season in Notre Dame’s rotation. She appeared in only 13 games and averaged less than eight minutes, but as a proven scorer — she averaged 24 points per game as a senior in high school — she could be a valuable addition to many rosters.

11. Digna Strautmane, 6-2 forward, super senior, Syracuse

Strautmane has started every game in which she’s played for the Orange, averaging 7.4 points and 5.8 rebounds this past season. She has experience on the international stage with the Latvian youth team and has continued to improve during her college career. Her best game of the season came in Syracuse’s NCAA Tournament opener when she had a double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds). On the offensive end, she’s solid around the hoop and has a reliable mid-range jumper, though she hasn’t employed it much of late.

12. Taylah Thomas, 6-1 forward, super senior, Arkansas

Thomas has worked her way from being one of the best unsigned players out of high school to a 62-game starter at Arkansas who’s a top player in the transfer portal. She averaged 4.2 points and 6.0 rebounds per game this past season for Arkansas. Those six rebounds came on a team that takes a lot of long shots, which leads to a lot of long rebounds, so Thomas is probably a more effective rebounder than her stats suggest.    

Syracuse has three of the top twelve. Not surprising since they have TEN players in the portal. Isn't that nuts? 

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By David in Naples

Dijonai Carrington is a sneaky player. She is very physical and complains about every foul except the ones she commits. How physical? She fouled out of 3 games this season. Just for fun, re-watch the game and follow her every move. Watch her complain about everything..!! She was called for 2 fouls (both charges) and was "fouled" 7 times. She took 10 free throws, UConn as a team took 16. She guarded Paige after Richards hurt her hamstring. She grabbed, held, bumped and fouled Paige at least a dozen times. Her attempted block on Paige's lay-up was a flagrant foul. Tough is one description, "Whiner" might fit as well.

Both Bueckers and Carrington took 22 shots in the game. Paige made 10, Carrington 7. Carrington went 2-12 in the 2nd half and took 7 total threes. Given she is a 29% three point shooter, one wonders what she was thinking. Her 1-7 from three range is 14%. Moon Ursin, on the other hand, is a 38% three shooter and took only 1 three (and made it). Carrington's 3 assists are more than Paige's 0, but she was guarding Paige during the 19-0 run and Paige had 10 of those points.

Bottom line for Carrington:

1. 2-12 in the 2nd half is 16% shooting. Pass the ball.
2. 1-7 from three is dumb given your lousy shooting all season from that range.
3. The player you guarded smoked you for points whenever she wanted to.
4. In a close game, your 4th quarter stat line was 0-4 from the field, 3 turnovers and 0 assists. That is bad.

Like Doggy, I'm done with the Baylor game and love the UConn win. Just wanted to point out the contrast between Paige and Dijonai during and after the game. Class vs drama.

Go Huskies..!!

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