****************************************************

GO UCONN!!!!!

**************************************************

88 58

"UConn by 35+."

Game Replay

I blame it on the outrageous outside shooting by Minnesota.

So, I didn't watch the game. But I did read a couple of game threads on message boards, post game analysis by some of my favorite posters. And of course, my usual stat analysis.

Phil, our very own Philosopher King, had an excellent post on UConn Territory, the phinest UConn message board on the internet.

Phil's Phantastic Review

An odd game from a game flow point of view.

UConn 0pened with a 10 nothing run, prompting Lindsay to call a timeout. UConn extended the streak to 12 nothing before Minnesota scored, and were up by 15 shortly thereafter.
At one time, I glanced at the stats and we were hitting close to 60% and they were in the 20s
Just when it looked like we were headed for an epic blowout Scalia decided to shoot threes, In the cut the lead to a single point.

I checked the stats again and are shooting was down to 48%, obviously not bad but down a lot from 60, and they were at 50% so they were outshooting us.

We more than matched her opening 12 nothing run with the start of the second half scoring 16 consecutive points in reaching the media timeout before Minnesota scored again.

For practical purposes, the result was in the books in both teams could work on getting bench players involved.

Both teams seem to make halftime adjustments. The commentators were talking about how many times Williams burnt Minnesota for a backdoor cut and just as I finished the sentence she scored one. They predicted that Lindsay would work on this is a halftime adjustment, and she probably did but in the chess match, Geno was one step ahead. In the second half she didn't try for backdoor cuts but popped in three-pointers.

I think I saw Scalia with 15 points at halftime and she ended with 17 so if Geno made halftime adjustments they were effective.

Great job Phil!!!

Stat Analysis

Lots of positives to take out of this game.

Christyn Williams had a career high 31 points. 12-14 from the field, 3-4 on threes and 4-4 on FT's. I believe she is on a mission to make some post season AA teams. Her confidence is through the roof.

Evina Westbrook had another solid game. She was the only other double digit scorer with 16 points. A very nice 4-7 from the field, 3-5 on threes, 5-7 on FT's. She also added 4 assists.

Paige Buckets did not live up to her name but she had the type of game that many thought she would have. Less scoring and more assist. She had 8 points but also had 8 assists and 6 rebounds. Her next turnover will be her first this year. Her defense is another level. 2 blocks and 3 steals. A really nice stat line.

Aaliyah Edwards looked a litte more like the terrific player from last season. She was 4-4 from the field for her 8 points. I'm looking for a really big game for her against UConn's next opponent.

Olivia Nelson-Ododa played her point forward role well. She had 6 assists and many were back door to Williams. She added 6 points and 8 rebounds. I believe she is giving Geno exactly what he wants.

UConn got decent contributions from the bench of Duhasz, Fudd, Ducharme and Muhl. They combined to shoot 8-17 from the field, 19 points and 9 rebounds. I believe they have more to give. And when they get more comfortable and confident, you will see that. Fudd is so much better shooter than she has shown. Remember Anna Makurat? She was 0-USA from deep to start her freshman year and then hit close to 50% after that.

As a team, UConn shot 62.3% from the field, 40% on threes and 82.4% from the FT line. Those are really good numbers. They had 24 assists on 33 baskets and only 13 turnovers. More good numbers.

* A side note. Sara Scalia, who was so hot in the first half, is the cousin of maybe the most optimistic UConn fan around, Tony C. Famous around the UConn message boards and a good friend and overall great guy.

**************************************************

No. 2 UConn, 2-0 No. 23 USF Bulls, 3-1

South Florida did a number on unranked Syracuse, beating the Orange 77-53. They were led by 6' senior forward Bethy Mununga with 18 points and 11 rebounds. 5'10" Junior guard Sydni Harvey added 17 points and hit 3-7 three pointers. 5'7" sophomore guard Elena Tsineke also had 17 points on 6-12 shoot. Elisa Pinzan, a 5'8" junior point guard was 0-6 from the field and 0-4 on threes. But she had 9 assists and only 1 turnover.

USF dominated the boards and that was the main difference in the game. They outrebounded Syracuse 49-31 and the Bulls had 17 offensive rebounds. They also got to the free throw line 17 times making 14 of them, while the Orange only had 4 attempts.

History does not bode well for South Florida.

USF | UCONN LEADS 32-0

H: 11-0 | A: 13-0 | N: 8-0

12/28/02 #3 UConn 72, USF 56 Tampa, Fla.

12/01/04 #8 UConn 75, USF 65 (OT) Storrs, Conn.

01/24/06 #5 UConn 77, USF 47 Hartford, Conn.

02/20/07 #3 UConn 81, USF 67 Tampa, Fla.

03/04/07 #3 UConn 74, USF 54 Hartford, Conn.

01/30/08 #1 UConn 71, USF 48 Hartford, Conn.

01/06/09 #1 UConn 83, USF 37 Tampa, Fla.

03/08/09 #1 UConn 79, USF 42 Hartford, Conn.

01/04/10 #1 UConn 84, USF 42 Hartford, Conn.

12/02/10 #1 UConn 80, USF 54 Tampa, Fla.

01/28/12 #3 UConn 77, USF 62 Hartford, Conn.

03/02/13 #3 UConn 85, USF 51 Tampa, Fla.

01/26/14 #1 UConn 81, USF 53 Hartford, Conn.

02/16/14 #1 UConn 63, USF 38 Tampa, Fla.

01/18/15 #2 UConn 92, USF 50 Storrs, Conn.

03/02/15 #1 UConn 88, USF 65 Tampa, Fla.

03/09/15 #1 UConn 84, USF 70 Uncasville, Conn.

01/10/16 #1 UConn 75, #22 USF 59 Tampa, Fla.

02/29/16 #1 UConn 79, #21 USF 59 Tampa, Fla.

03/07/16 #1 UConn 77, #20 USF 51 Uncasville, Fla.

01/10/17 #1 UConn 102, #20 USF 37 Hartford, Conn.

02/27/17 UConn 96, USF 68 Tampa, Fla.

03/06/17 UConn 100, USF 44 Uncasville, Fla.

01/06/18 #1 UConn 100, USF 49 Tampa, Fla. 0

2/26/18 #1 UConn 82, #20 USF 53 Storrs, Conn.

03/06/18 #1 UConn 70, #19 USF 54 Uncasville, Conn.

01/13/19 #3 UConn 63, USF 46 Storrs, Conn.

03/04/19 #2 UConn 57, USF 47 Tampa, Fla.

03/10/19 #2 UConn 81, USF 45 Uncasville, Conn.

02/16/20 #5 UConn 67, USF 47 Tampa, Fla.

03/02/20 #5 UConn 80, USF 39 Hartford, Conn.

03/08/20 #5 UConn 79, USF 38 Uncasville, Conn.

Yes, it's true. UConn has never lost to USF. I don't expect that to change in this game. Before the Syracuse game, I was able to watch them play and lose to Tennessee 52-49 in a game they really should have won. They only scored 5 points in the fourth quarter. I'm sure the Tennessee fans would say that it's a reflection of their great defense, but not really. USF missed several open shot.

As usual, the Bulls under Jose Fernandez, one of Geno's good friends in the coaching fraternity, has almost exclusively foreign born players. Only 4 of the 14 players are USA born.

So, how will this play out? Well, for one, I don't see USF outrebounding UConn so that cuts into their ability to score. They will battle on the boards and get their share of offensive rebounds but it will be a losing proposition. They are not a particulalry quick team so I don't see them getting a ton of open shots. They could get hot like Minnesota did from deep, but somehow I don't see that happening.

Bottome line, it will be similar to the last few games that UConn played against USF.

UConn by 40+

**************************************************

No. 8 Oregon 98 Oklahoma 93

I didn't watch this game, but following the play by play on gamecast it had a feel to it of the UConn/Arkansas game last year. Only this time the team behind came back and won.

I remember a few of the Oklahoma players when the Huskies played them in 2018-19 and 2019-20. In her freshman year she led Oklahoma to a 12 point lead in the second half before Naphessa Collier led UConn back to a 72-63 win. Robertson had 23 points and was 6-12 on threes. In her sophomore season Taylor Robertson had 24 points on 7-14 shooting on three pointers. They lost to the Huskies 97-53 but for the second year in a row she left a big impression on me. Just a fearless player with unlimited range.

In the game against Oregon, Robertson scored 29 points and was 7-10 on threes. She is at the top of the list of three point shooters that I've seen on college basketball. But it wasn't enough to topple the Ducks.

In spite of their point guard Te-Hina Paopao not making the trip due to injuries, Oregon was able to oversome an 11 point deficit with 30 second left in the third quarter. The Ducks outscored the Sooners 42-26 the rest of the way for the five point lead. 6'5" junior Nyara Sabally led the way with a terrific game. She scored 30 points on 11-19 shooting and added 11 rebounds. Sedona Prince, the 6'7" junior. also had a double double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

No. 1 South Carolina 88 Buffalo 60

South Carolina handled Buffalo like expected. They overwhelmed them on the boards, with Boston and Cardoso dominating the paint. This game will do nothing to prepare them for the size of Oregon as Buffalo played 7 guards and 2 forwards and one is 6'2" and one is 6'3".

Aliya Boston left the was with 23 points on 9-15 shooting. New center transfer from Syracuse, Kamilla Cardoso had a nice double double with 12 points and 10 rebounds along with 6 assists. And Destini Henderson was their outside thread with 14 points on 4-5 shooting from long range.

The only issue is the ongoing problem with turnovers. They have 68 assists and 73 turnovers. That's 18.3 turnovers per game. Eventually that will bite them in the butt.

Really looking forward to the South Carolina vs Oregon matchup.

**************************************************

No. 4 Indiana 67 Quinnipiac 59

No. 10 Louisville 61 Washington 53

No. 13 Michigan 69 Central Michigan 45

No. 15 Oregon State 82 CSU Bakersville 51

No. 25 Virginia Tech 84 Campbell 39

**************************************************

By Phil

Men versus women – how deep?

I used Massey’s matchup option, pitting the number one team against the team just out of the top 25, just out of the top 100 etc. and then against the top D2 and D3 teams.

It won’t surprise anyone that the men’s teams are more tightly bunched than the women’s teams but looking at various matchups gives us a way to quantify that obvious statement of fact.

The top men’s team playing the team just outside the top 25 is looking like it could be a five-point game, while the comparable matchup on the women’s side just reaches double digits.

Another way of looking at it is that the woman’s number one versus 26, is roughly like the men’s number one versus number 51.

One of the nice things about Massey’s analysis is that you can compare teams across divisions even though there’s not a lot of actual games to analyze.

I think I knew, but this quantifies that the best D2 teams are better than the weakest D1 teams. You can see that the men’s number one Gonzaga is expected to be teams ranked 300 or so by more than 27 but if they play the top D2 team the margin would be about 20 which is roughly confirmed by having them play head-to-head in the top D2 team is expected to beat the D1 number 301 team by five.

This also holds true on the women’s side, with South Carolina expected to have a tougher battle against the top D2 team, then a D1 team ranked 301. Looking at the head-to-head, the top D2 team is expected to be D1 301 by about the same margin – six points for the women five points for the men.
There’s a big drop off when you go to D3.

I think there’s a better way to portray this data which I will work on.

**************************************************

Funny Quotes from Vol Nation

What a very bitter fan base.

"Hartford is the violent crime capital of New England, not to mention the armpit of the earth, and being 1 1/2 to 2 hours away from someplace isn't of much use to someone with the time commitments of an intercollegiate sport. The whole state is a dump unless you're ultra-wealthy and live in one of the most upscale areas."

And just dumb.

"What could have been. Massengale would be great playing along with Key and if Green was here and Westbrook came back like she did with the Univ of Conn Artists we would be a Final Four Team"

**************************************************