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GO UCONN!!!!!
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Congratulations to my wonderful granddaughter Noa!!!!
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The timing couldn't be better for UConn to have an exam week break. The ole Dogster is going to take some time off as well.
It won't be a full break. I'll still get the blog out. But I won't be spending the hours I put into it on a daily basis. Just links and whateven David and Phil send me.
We are headed to Florida on Tuesday so the blog will be posted remotely.
My goal is to get out a pretty comprehensive Louisville preview. I watched the Cardinals beat Kentucky today so I have a decent opinion on that team. I believe UConn has a very good chance of beating Louisville. More to come.
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I missed this one yesterday. Fun hearing Dorka talk. She sure has the Geno talking points down pat!!
Geno getting a T.
Fun to watch again!!
Care to relive that last minute again?
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5 Star Ayanna Patterson (@ayannap34) Had A Fantastic Weekend At Run 4 Roses, Leading @oh_united To 2021 Aqua Platinum Finals #Roses20
— TFN's Run 4 Roses (@TFNsRun4Roses) September 8, 2020
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ pic.twitter.com/6pUNhzMR4S
Next year's fron line is going to be imposiing. This young lady is the most athletic high school big in the country. She is going to be a matchup nightmare for coaches.
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UPSETS IN RED
MOST SCORES HAVE CLICKABLE LINKS TO A GAME STORY
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Straight from the Dog
In the big game of the day, No. 1 South Carolina defeated Maryland 66-59. The Gamecock defense and rebounding was the difference, holding the offensive minded Terps to 33% from the field and out rebounding them 61-34 with 24 offensive rebounds. South Carolina is the gang that can't shoot straight but still find a way to win. They were only 36% from the field 3-17 on three pointers and 15-27 on free throws. Can you imagine how ugly the Tennessee/ South Carolina game will be?
The Big East had two big wins recently. Thursday DePaul beat No. 14 Kentucky and Sunday Villanova beat No. 23 Oregon 56-52. If the Wildcats can get a few more wins maybe they can make a run at a tournament spot.
There was one other upset and one near upset. TCU really put the hammer to No. 18 Texas A&M beating up on the Aggies 87-75. They had a 18 point lead going into the fourth quarter but A&M made a mini-run at them scoring 32 in the fourth quarter. But the Aggies had no answer to the Horned Frogs' offense allowing 26 points in the quarter. This is the second loss in three games after winning their first 8 games. For TCU, Lauren Heard had 33 points and amazingly went 18-21 from the foul line. Really. 21 FT attempts.
In a near upset, Northern Iowa lost to No. 15 Iowa State 70-69. The Cyclones had an 9 point lead with 2:14 remaing on an Ashley Joens three pointer, but the Panthers scored the next 8 points to close to the 70-69 with 34 seconds left. Northern Iowa had a couple of shots at the lead but just couldn't get the basket. They turn over Iowa state with 19 seconds left and then missed to open jumpers the last with 3 seconds left.
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Over and over I hear fans of teams in the so called Power-5 conferences bad mouthing UConn and their in conference schedule. As you probably know, I think that is just overblown. A good example is over the past week, unranked DePaul beat No. 14 Kentucky in Rupp arena. And as I mentioned before unranked Villanova beat No. 23 Oregon State 56-52.
Both Kentucky in the SEC and Oregon State in the PAC12 are in what is called the Power 5. So, not only did Big East teams beat them both teams were ranked.
Creighton beat another PAC12 team Arizona State.
In SEC action, ranked teams Kentucky lost and Texas A&M lost.
Sure, there is a difference in the Power-5 conferences compared to the Big East. But the bottom of the leages are equivalent and UConn is as good when healthy as any of the top teams. There is maybe more depth in the power 5's but even then, I'm not sure that the difference is very big.
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Growing Up?
I am not going to lie, I was very discouraged early in the game. UCLA is not that good a team and we had fallen 11 behind, 28 – 17. I saw a stat before the end of the first half listing eight turnovers, not exactly record territory, but exactly not a pace consistent with a team vying for top of the heap.
Watching people grow up is a fascinating, although at times, an exasperating experience. It rarely happens while you are watching it. You wake up one day and realize a person is very different than they were not so very long ago, but it never seems to happen while you are watching.
I saw a team on a pace to some very troubling records, turn it around. Eight turnovers before halftime, but only 12 for the game, so a remarkable turnaround.
It seemed like we were losing the rebound battle early on, especially the 50-50 situations, but we ended up with 50 rebounds and outrebounded UCLA by six.
Early on, nobody not named Evina could hit a basket. We ended up at 41%, not exactly vintage UConn numbers, but a significant improvement from early in the game.
I think I heard it reported that UCLA was nailing 40% of their three-point attempts. They took 31 shots but hit 26%, so we held them significantly below their average.
Like human growth, it wasn’t completely smooth — a 14 point fourth-quarter lead evaporated down to four points in 76 seconds, but the team dug down deep, and brought the lead back to 10 points.
This was a game for everyone. If you wanted to pick nits, there were to pick. Don’t get me started. But I choose to focus on the positives. Massey had UConn as the seventh ranked team in the nation (not close to a three seed) expected to beat UCLA by 8.5 and we exceeded that. Not by much but on the right side of the ledger. We still have a ways to go, but we are going in the right direction.
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By David in Naples
Against UCLA, Geno started Caroline Ducharme in place of Aaliyah Edwards on the wing (3 spot). This makes sense since Edwards is really more comfortable under the basket playing the 4 or power forward role. Ducharme played well and scored 14 points and 2 critical three point baskets. This move by Geno is a big improvement for the following reasons.
1. Adding Edwards to a lineup with Ono and Dorka gives UConn too much inside presence and not enough 3 pt shooting.
2. Ducharme is a better free throw shooter (4-4 yesterday) and gets fouled more often than Edwards. Aaliyah has only 4 attempts in 182 minutes vs CD at 8 in 99 minutes.
3. CD has 4 blocked shots vs 3 for AE.
4. Caroline is a much better outside shooter with 5 moade threes vs 1 for Edwards.
5. Edwards makes more turnovers, 15 already this year vs 8 fo CD.
6. Ducharme is constant motion at the offensive end. She can score outside and on inside cuts. Edwards is more of an inside scorer.
7. Edwards off the bench gives Geno backup for Liv and Dorka.
Caroline had a strong game against UCLA. She looked calm and is not shy about shooting, something Geno has had to push Paige and Azzi to do. With more practice, she should develop into a nice scoring option and more than average defender through the season.
GO Huskies..!!
1. Adding Edwards to a lineup with Ono and Dorka gives UConn too much inside presence and not enough 3 pt shooting.
2. Ducharme is a better free throw shooter (4-4 yesterday) and gets fouled more often than Edwards. Aaliyah has only 4 attempts in 182 minutes vs CD at 8 in 99 minutes.
3. CD has 4 blocked shots vs 3 for AE.
4. Caroline is a much better outside shooter with 5 moade threes vs 1 for Edwards.
5. Edwards makes more turnovers, 15 already this year vs 8 fo CD.
6. Ducharme is constant motion at the offensive end. She can score outside and on inside cuts. Edwards is more of an inside scorer.
7. Edwards off the bench gives Geno backup for Liv and Dorka.
Caroline had a strong game against UCLA. She looked calm and is not shy about shooting, something Geno has had to push Paige and Azzi to do. With more practice, she should develop into a nice scoring option and more than average defender through the season.
GO Huskies..!!
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UCONN RELEVANT LINKS
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Message Boards
UConn Territory - The best UConn women's message board ever!!!
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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Congratulations to your granddaughter. Great accomplishment!
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