Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 12/30/2021

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GO UCONN!!!!!

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I fought the Covid and the Dog won, I fought the Covid and the Dog won......

Well, Friday is Day Ten since I first had symptoms and I'm feeling close to 100%. At least as 100% a 69 year old man can feel!!

Thursday was my Birthday and it was a really nice day. Walks, swimming, lounging at the pool and then out to dinner with my lovely wife.

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So, I temporarily lost my motivation to post my blog. No UConn women's basketball can do that. All the cancellations added to it. Then I remembered this.

AND WCBB. So, I looked at Thursday's schedule and there were some interesting games coming up. And a few worth commenting on.

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And if Paige can put up shots on one leg, I can certainly post about it!!!

Here’s the video of Paige Bueckers getting shots up pre game. Needed this pic.twitter.com/8IUntK3wFm
— Bueckerszone (@bueckerszone) December 19, 2021

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GAMES

MOST SCORES HAVE CLICKABLE LINKS TO A GAME STORY

No. 1 South Carolina 69 Missouri 70 OT

No. 3 Louisville 79 Boston College 49

No. 5 NCST 79 Clemson 52

No. 7 Tennessee 62 Alabama 44

No. 13 Georgia 62 No. 19 LSU 68

No. 15 Duke 55 Virginia Tech 77

No. 24 North Carolina 79 Syracuse 43

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Straight from the Dog

I tried to change the color of the Top 25 upsets to red but for some reason, the software won't let me do it. But trust me, there were three upsets, and one was kinda big.

No. 13 Georgia lost to No. 19 LSU in a road upset by the Tigers. Kim Mulky is showing her stripes with her move from Baylor to LSU and is turning them into a solid Top 15 team if not better. You just can't downplay a well motivated team. With a shortend roster, the Tigers had to play 3 players 40 minutes and nother 37 minutes. LSU only played Gusters off the bench for 10 minutes. Khayla Pointer led the Tigers with 21 points. They are now 13-1 while No. 13 Georgia falls to 11-2 with their only other loss to UConn killer Georgia Tech.

No. 15 Duke was obliterated by unranked Virginia Tech 77-55 in a game that wasn't even that close. It was 59-31 going into the fourth quarter and only a 24-18 final 10 minutes allowed the game to be as close as 22 minutes. It also helped Virginia Tech that they went 20-20 from the foul line. WOW!! And this was a Hokie team that lost by 19 points to Libery. A really bad loss by the Blue Devils and should drop them several spots.

The final upset was the big one!!! Unranked Missouri, missing one of their best players, beat No. 1 and undefeated South Carolina 70-69 in overtime. What a game!! Missouri was missing leading scorer Aijha Blackwell and four other palyers while South Carolina had their full compliment of players available. Missouri had a 6 point halftime lead but the Gamecocks were able to tie it after three quarters. The Tigers had 6 point lead with 3 minutes remaining the South Carolina was able to tie it with 21 seconds left. Neither team could score to finish the fourth quarter. The Gamecocks scored the first five points of the OT period in the first 1:25 but failed to score the rest of the game. And Missouri fought tooth and nail to get the ball with 23 seconds left after a miss by Destinee Henderson and converted on a great layup by Lauren Hanson with one tenth of the second remaining. Boston make a shot on the inbound pass, but that was waived off as after the buzzer went off. You can't catch and shoot in only .1 seconds. An east call by the ref. BIG win by Missouri and while I'm sure the South Carolina fans will shrug it off, a bad loss for the Gamecocks.

While I'm at it, congrats to No. 7 Tennessee for their 62-44 win over Alabama. I was thinking that David's prediction of an upset was going to happen with the score 38-37 after three quarters. But in a recurring happenstance, Tennessee turned up the defense to beat the Crimson Tide 24-7 over the final 10 minutes. Tennessee still can't shoot the ball, with two of their inside players shooting 8-11, but overall they were only 42.9% from the field, 4-15 on threes. I thought holding Alabama to 44 points and an UGGY worth 26.9% from the field and 5-29 on threes was impressive until I looked at who Alabama played and who they lost to. They lost to this Duke team that was gobsmacked by Virginia Tech and to Tulane. Yep, AAC's Tulane. They have beaten a bunch of really bad teams. So, my congrats to Tennessee are tempered by their opponent. Blech!!!!

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By David in Naples

If we can't watch UConn play and win, the next best thing is watching teams we hate play and lose. Several possible upsets are on tap for tonight as ACC and SEC conference games begin.

1. Syracuse (8-4) vs North Carolina (11-0) - Always fun to see the Cuse get schmized...
2. Alabama (9-2) vs Tennessee (11-1) - Upset prediction. Alabama is 7-0 in last 7 games and Tenn. is nt as good as their record might indicate.
3. South Carolina (12-0) vs Missouri (11-2) - SC must go down to Missouri and risk an upset.
4. LSU (12-1) vs Georgia (11-1) - Two ranked teams, one must lose. LSU has played cupcakes all year.

Of note, 8 games postponed or cancelled due to Covid.