Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 11/27/2021

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GO UCONN!!!!!

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ESPN’s #8 RANKED + UCONN Commit KK Arnold (@Kamorea_2023 ) showed out last night at the Kettle Moraine Thanksgiving Classic. 👀 The Junior dropped 33PTS & led Germantown to the DUB 🔥🔥 @UConnWBB @brhoops

🎥: @stunnashotit

CHECK US OUT
🌐 https://t.co/Dn8HiSOSuu pic.twitter.com/HXiaAWDfPm
— BallHype Media🔥 (@ballhypemedia) November 27, 2021

I just love her game. She shot the long ball with ease and on her drives to the basket, she just bounced off the defenders and kept on going to the basket.

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Every year it looks like there might be some parity in WCBB. And every year, the same teams win. But that might not be true again. It's hard to believe that the final four won't consist of UConn and South Carolina. But outside of those two teams, the rest is a toss up between a bunch of teams.

I don't think I have seen so many upsets in the Top 25. I believe I counted 12 Top 25 upsets do date. That is just an amazing number.

And there were some surprisingly close games. Quinnipiac gave No. 4 Indiana all they could handle. Vanderbilt almost beat No. 9 Arizona.

In the past you could just pick the favorites in each game and have a good chance of getting it right. Not any more. The NCAA tournament could get CRAZY!!!

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What a busy schedule today with 19 of the Top 25 in action. Several upsets again.

Not really sure this is an upset. No. 7 Stanford beat up on "Not for long" No. 2 Maryland, winning 88-67 in a game that was never close. The Cardinal pulled out to an early lead and the game was never in doubt. I know that Maryland is missing a couple of players including their best three point shooter in Katie Benzan, but Stanford was also missing a big part of their team in Asten Pretchel. It looks like Tara decided to shake things up. She started Belibi and Jump and pardon the pun, that jump started the Stanford offense. Brink and Wilson went to the bench and played limited minutes. Kinda weird with Brink having two great games in a row, but it appears to have worked. It should be interesting to see where these two teams end up in the Top 25 poll. Both teams have 2 losses.

On edit from my friend Grrrr - "Cameron Brink got sick right before the game, couldn't start and ending up pulling a KLS into a garbage pail. Prechtel was also out sick. Hannah jump started in place of Brink and pumped in 7 three's. Brink was able to play a little, 9 minutes total. 8 points, 4 boards, one block. Haley Jones pulled a Haley Jones, 15 points, 13 boards, 4 assists. Maryland only dressed 7 players, 2 didn't make the trip because of illness and one got hurt earlier."

Brenda Frese on today’s loss to Stanford. #Terps #ncaaW pic.twitter.com/hm07cMhS7k
— Mitchell Northam (@primetimeMitch) November 28, 2021

No. 16 Oregon State lost to Notre Dame 64-62 in a crazy game and finish. The Irish were in total control of the game expanding their lead to 20 points, 56-36 entering the fourth quarter. But the Beavers flipped the switch and starting scoring with regularity and did a great job shutting down Notre Dame. They outscored the Irish 26-8 to end the game but it just wasn't enough. They had the ball down two 12 seconds left and just couldn't hit that shot to tie the game up. They missed a jumper, got two offensive rebounds and were finally fouled with 1 click on the game clock remaining. However, Kennedy Brown missed both free throws and Notre Dame pulled off the upset.

No. 17 Florida State lost their second consecutive game. They lost yesterday to an underrated BYU team and then Saturday to Purdue 66-61. It was a really weird game. Purdue jumped out to a 26-15 lead after one quarter. Then FSU outscored the Boilermakers 18-0 in the second quarter. Now, unless ESPN has the numbers wrong, yes, Purdue was shut out in the second quarter. Crazy. Then Purdue outscored the Seminoles 40-28 in the second half. It could make your head spin. Will FSU fall out of the Top 25? Depends on the teams below them but it's possible.

No. 19 UCLA also lost their second game in two days. After an embarrassing loss to Kent State, the Bruins lost to the then 2-4 South Dakota State Jackrabbits 76-66. Just another terrible loss and I'm pretty sure you can say goodbye to the Top 25 for UCLA. My friend Bulkey said this "Cori Close: turning 4 star athletes into 3 star athletes since 2011....Next year, she'll have the chance to turn 5 star athletes into 4 star athletes". So true, so true.

No. 22 West Virginia lost to Top 25 killer BYU 58-57 in a great back and forth game. Another bottom of the Top 25 teams that might drop out in the Mountaineers. And one drops out (or three drop out) and one enters. BYU is undefeated and two wins against Top 25 teams. The Cougars are a very good team. It will be a good battle between them and Gonzaga for the top of the Mountain West.

In other non-upset games, just a few quick comments -

Rutgers only scored 8 points in the first half, on their way to an UGGY award. But they saved grace, scoring 36 points in the second half. They still lost to No. 9 Arizona 80-44. Coach Springer picked a good year to take off.

This is the "Credit is due" write up. No. 11 Tennessee did what they were supposed to do in beating up on unranked Oklahoma State. The Lady Vols are still undefeated and they scored 80 points in this game. They still can't shoot very well from deep and still had 23 turnovers, but they are a much improved team. And hopefully for them, their best player, Rae Burrell will be back from her knee injury and make them even better. Ok, after saying all those nice things about Tennessee, I'm going to take a shower.

No. 4 Indiana squeaked by Miami 54-52. The Hurricains had a shot at winning, taking and missing a three point shot with 1 second left in the game.

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