Doggydaddy's Den: February 2022

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GO UCONN!!!!!

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Third and Final Reveal

1.   South Carolina (No. 1 seed – Greensboro Region)
2.   Stanford (No. 1 seed – Spokane Region)
3.   NC State (No. 1 seed – Bridgeport Region)
4.   Louisville (No. 1 seed – Wichita Region)
5.   Baylor
6.   Iowa State
7.   LSU
8.   Michigan
9.   UConn
10.   Texas
11.   Arizona
12.   Maryland
13.   Tennessee
14.   Iowa
15.   Indiana
16.   Oklahoma

Bridgeport Region:
1.   NC State
2.   Iowa State
3.   Maryland
4.   Tennessee

Greensboro Region:
1.   South Carolina
2.   Michigan
3.   UConn
4.   Oklahoma

Spokane Region:
1.   Stanford
2.   LSU
3.   Texas
4.   Indiana

Wichita Region:
1.   Louisville
2.   Baylor
3.   Arizona
4.   Iowa

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GAMES

No. 5 Baylor 87 No. 8 Iowa State 62

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Straight from the Dog

One more time.

Michigan is 2-3 in their last 5 games since the reveal on February 10th when they were the No. 1 two seed.

UConn is 5-0 in that same timeframe.

Michigan is still a 2 seed according to Charlie SECreme.

UConn is still a 3 seed according to Charlie "I hate UConn" Creme.

Then the reveal comes out and whadaya know. Charlie got it right.

Michigan is the worst 2 seed and UConn is the best 3 seed.

I guess I just don't understand their criteria.

Monday night Baylor beat Iowa State cementing their well deserved 2 seed. But Iowa State is still a 2 seed? Yeah, I know, this game was not over before the reveal. But will they stay a 2 seed? Even after a 25 point loss at home? Sigh.....

My head about exploded when I heard them say that the committee always takes injuries into account.

Does anyone think that UConn loses to Georgia Tech, Louisville, Oregon or Villianova with their full roster of players? Please....what bullshit.

Whatever UConn is seeded and whatever region they are assigned, this Husky team is going to beat the hell out of whoever they play.

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Looks like UConn fans are not the only ones complaining about the seedings. Since the first reveal, Tennessee has lost 6 games. It dropped them from a 1 seed to a probable 5 seed.

This particular fan doesn't blame the team's play for losing, he blames the schedule.

"I do think Coach Harper may need to rethink the schedule if it turns out that teams with about the same number of losses get a home bid over us with sos over 30 and rpi over 20. He is giving Iowa the four seed and their Net is 18 , their rpi is 25, and their sos is 30. To add their quantran one and two record is 13 and 7 while our is 17 and 7. Net 17, rpi 8, sos 4 Really makes no sense to me but we'll see if he is right or not. Also Notre Dame another weak resume and got blown off their home court is another four seed. Hard to understand the logic since they have a 30 rpi, a 13 and 7 win loss quantran 1 and 2 and 20 net with an sos of 35. These are two of his four seeds that he is putting over us. I mean we could drop Stanford and Uconn and schedule Tennessee State and Austin Peay for 40 point wins if that is what they are using these days."

A really dumb take on this. It's not the strong schedule that is the problem. It's losing games to Auburn, Alabama, by 25 to Florida and 24 to UConn. They deserve to be dropped to a 5 seed.

It's also Charlie SECreme's take, not the committee.

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By David in Naples

What do Napheesa Collier, Stef Dolson, Rebecca Lobo and Stewie have in common with Olivia Nelson-Ododa..? They are all members of the 1,000-750-250-250 club.

Liv is the newest member with 1,117 points, 834 rebounds, 296 assists, and 253 blocked shots. She is closing out her UConn career with impressive numbers that put her in select company. There may be as many as 9 games left for Olivia to add to those already impressive totals.

Go UConn..!

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Here is an option for any contributions for my time in putting together this blog.

I'm not requiring the contribution in order to read the blog. It's totally voluntary. And I'm not recommending how much to donate or how often.

Thanks to all my loyal readers!!!

If you don't have Venmo, you can sign up here

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And here is another option that is being pushed by Paige!!

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UCONN LINKS

Several links are pay sites. Sorry!

UConn tabbed for Greensboro in final reveal Courant

UConn ranked No. 9 in Greensboro CT Insider

Dorka Juhasz - "I felt so loved" CT Insider

Nelson-Ododa indispenable in up and down season Courant

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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

UCONN Information

UConn 2021-22 Online Media Guide

UConn 2021-2022 Roster

UConn 2021-2022 Statistics

UConn 2021-2022 Schedule

I'm always open for suggestions. Just please reply to this blog or email me at:

doggydaddy.UConn@gmail.com

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GO UCONN!!!!!

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UConn Providence
88 31

What an emotional day.

First UConn's seniors have their day with plenty of tears in Storrs. I had a few myself.

I also loaded my car for shiping back to Connecticut and then on Wednesday we fly home after a great 10 weeks in Florida.

The game? Wow. This team is as focused a UConn team as I have seen. And as tight. So much love between teammates. They love to share the ball as well. Another 20+ assist game for the Huskies.

I'd love to award Providence an UGGY award, but I don't have the heart. But they sure do deserve it.

31 points is as low as any UGGY winner has scored this season. They were 10-55 from the field for 18.2%. They were 3-17 on threes for 17.6%. They were outrebounded by 22. And they had 17 turnovers. UGGY!!

But let's give credit to UConn's defense, which has been amazing the last 3 games. David texted me this -

In the last 12 quarters, UConn has held their opponents to single digit scoring in 7 of them. the most points in those 12 quarters? 13. Just fantastic defense.

Geno gave us some insight why. With having a 9 player rotation, the players feel like they can go all out for as long as possible and Geno will sub for them to keep them fresh. It's pretty much 100% defensive intensity all the time.

Ok, lets look at the player starting with the seniors.

Christyn Williams led UConn in minutes with 29 and points with 16. I loved that she went 4-9 on three pointers. She is up to 37.1% on threes, the highest percentage of her career. She added 5 rebounds and a steal.

Dorka Juhasz played a terrific game. In her 22 minutes, she had a double double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. It doesn't show up in the stats but her defense has been great. She is so good at jumping out at a guard and then returning to guard the post. She added 2 assists and 2 blocks.

Evina Westbrook looked to be impacted by senior day more than anyone else. She is such an emotional person anyway, but her shooting was just way off. In her 22 minutes she was 3-13 from the field and a big ole goose egg on her 6 three point attempts. In spite of poor shooting she still managed 7 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals.

Olivia Nelson-Ododa is playing so strong in the post. She is fighting through contact better than ever. She played 22 minutes and she had 13 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks. It was so disaappointing to see her regress on her FT shooting. She was only 3-7 from the line. Gotta go better than that.

Well, that's it for the seniors. How did the rest of the team do?

My question is, did Paige only start because it was Senior Day? Or is the permanently back in the starting lineup? I'm guessing the latter. She deferred to the seniors in her 13 minutes of play. She only took 1 shot (which she missed) but hit 2 free throws. She had 5 assists, some spectacular. She is rounding into shape. I'm guessing with all the practices before Saturday and the three BE Tournament games and the first two NCAA tournament games, she will be playing 20-25 minutes from the Sweet Sixteen to the Champioship game. Yes, I said that.

Geno is just enthralled with her shooting. I think he can't believe how good she is. In this game she played the second most minutes on the team with 26. Geno just wants her on the court. And with good reason. She had 13 points on 5-7 shooting and 2-3 on threes. She brough her three point percentage up to 48.3%. She added 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block.

Nika has probably lost her starting job to Paige and I bet it doesn't bother her one bit. She is just that good of a teammate. And who could complain to lose it to the best player in WCBB. Nika played 18 minutes, and didn't make a shot. She did have 3 assists and 2 steals. And total hustle as this picture shows. She was also the most emotional player during the Senior Day ceremonies. She is a crier....lol. Big time.

It was a nice, solid game in limited minutes for Edwards. Just a sophomore letting the seniors have their day.

She played only 19 minutes and had 7 points and 5 rebounds. She is just playing more under control. That helps the Huskies a ton.

Similar to Edwards Caroline Ducharme had a nice but under the radar game. She played 21 minutes and was 4-7 from the field and hit her only bree throw for her 9 points. She was big on the boards as she grabbed 7 rebounds. And she handed out 3 assists. Nice game.

She only played 4 minutes, but we are all starting to see what Geno was talking about with her being the most skilled post player on the team. Her three point shooting form is perfect and the one assist she had in this game was a thing of beauty.. Fans are worried about the post next year if Dorka doesn't come back but I believe it will be in good hands with DeBerry.

No action shot for Piath Gabriel that I could find. But in her 4 minutes, she had 4 rebounds. I still believe she can be a solid contributor to the team next season.

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UCONN VIDEOS

SENIOR DAY CEREMONY

Geno Post Game Interview

Westbrook and Nelson-Ododa

Post Game Interivew

Williams and Juhasz

Post Game Intervew

GAME REPLAY

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Senior Day Photos

God Bless Ukraine

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K K Arnold: 33 points (10-34 FG, 2-11 3-PT, 11-16 FT), 10 rebs, 6 assists

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GAMES

No. 1 South Carolina 71 Ole Miss 57

No. 3 NC State 68 No. 23 Virginia Tech 66

No. 4 Louisville 86 No. 14 Notre Dame 64

No. 6 Michigan 80 No. 21 Iowa 104

No. 8 LSU 57 No. 16 Tennessee 54

No. 15 Florida 73 Missouri 78

No. 17 Ohio State 61 Michigan State 55

No. 18 North Carolina 74 Duke 46

No. 22 Georgia Tech 64 Wake Forest 56

No. 25 Georgia 67 Texas A&M 58

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Straight from the Dog

Well, one more loss for a projected 2 seed and it was an ugly one at that.

AP No. 6 Michigan lost to AP No. 21 Iowa 104-80. The amazing Caitlen Clark had 38 points and 11 assists to lead the Hawkeyes.

Michigan is now 2-3 in their last 5 games since the reveal on February 10th when they were the No. 1 two seed.

Let's look at the other three teams since the last reveal.

Arizona is 3-3

Iowa State is 4-1

Indiana is 2-4

Iowa State deserves to keep their two seed. The other three? Not so much.

So who would replace them? Let's look at the three seeds to see who could slide up into their spots.

Oklahoma is 2-3

Baylor 5-0

UConn 7-0

Tennessee 2-3

Hmmm....I'd put UConn and Baylor in the 2 seed slots with Iowa State. One spot left. Maybe a 4 seed could move two seedings?

LSU 5-0

Notre Dame 2-2

Texas 5-0

Oregon 3-3

Either LSU or Texas. Kim or Vic. It's a tossup.

In any event, if UConn isn't a 2 seed, something is terribly wrong.

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I said in yesterday's blog - "Hopefully, UConn will continue to build on their momentum. They are coming off their best game of the season against St. John's. You can bet that Paige will be closer to 20 minutes in this game. And I promise you that Geno will devise his defense to make sure Crooms doesn't come close to 27 points. UConn by 35+."

I never expected UConn to hold Providence to 31 points. I figured 45. But I did nail what UConn would do ti Crooms. 1 points in the first half and 6 total.

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I meant to mention this in yesterday's blog.

Aliyah Boston broke Sylvia Fowles SEC record for consecutive double-doubles with her 20th straight game with that mark. Great for her. She is a great player.

But I'm not a fan when a personal record is so important that you have to force the record. Boston threw the ball against the backboard on purpose and grabbed the ball for her 10th rebound of the game with under a minute left in the game.

HISTORY FOR ALIYAH BOSTON 👑

Her 20th straight double-double sets a new SEC record! pic.twitter.com/rJ7QLtM182
— ESPN (@espn) February 25, 2022

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A tough loss for the Lady Vols against Kim Mulkey and her LSU Tigers. After being down big in the first half, missed foul shots and sloppy play by LSU allowed Tennessee to get back into the game with a chance to win.

LSU was up 56-41 with a little over 5 minutes left in the game. Tennessee then went on a 13-0 run to close to 56-54. In that run the Tigers turned the ball over 6 times and missed 4 foul shots. One really bad non-call by the refs allowed Rae Burrell to score the last basket for Tennessee. She clearly had an offensive foul on the play but got the homer call from the refs.

So, they had the ball with 26 seconds left and a chance to tie, but with 5 seconds left Tamari Key missed her short shot. LSU grabbed the rebound and was foul with 4 seconds left. Of course, Kayla Pointer only made one free throw but Tennessee turned the ball over for the final margin.

A mediocre Tennessee team is now 4-6 over their last ten games heading into the SEC tournament and then the NCAA tournament. My prediction is a 2-2 finish and an end to their season in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

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By David in Naples

The start of the Providence game was about as far from perfect as can be, with the Huskies starting 0-7 shooting. The Friars actually led 4-1 when the Senior Game emotions finally ended. Then it was all UConn well into the 2nd half. Lots of fun stats...

1. UConn started 4 seniors and Paige, their 10th different starting line up.
2. The Huskies had 57 rebounds, including 19 offensive.
3. 10 players scored and 10 players had at least 1 rebound.
4. Dorka had a double-double with 10 boards and 14 points.
5. Olivia made 3-7 tries from the foul line. The rest of the team went 13-13.
6. Crooks from Providence, who torched the Huskies earlier in the season, had 1 point at the half.
7. Her 6 turnovers equaled the whole UConn team’s 6 to’s.
8. Providence missed 45 of their 55 shots.
9. The Friars bench shot 2-23.

Great victory to end the regular season. Now on to the Big East tournament and then the Big Damce..!

Go Huskies..!

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Here is an option for any contributions for my time in putting together this blog.

I'm not requiring the contribution in order to read the blog. It's totally voluntary. And I'm not recommending how much to donate or how often.

Thanks to all my loyal readers!!!

If you don't have Venmo, you can sign up here

or add the app to your iPhone or iPad.

And here is another option that is being pushed by Paige!!

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

UCONN LINKS

Several links are pay sites. Sorry!

UConn rolls past Providence on Senior Day The Day

Bueckers returns to starting lineup, UConn routs PC CT Insider