Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 3/11/2022

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GO UCONN!!!!!

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Spotted: @UConnWBB's Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd at the @IvyLeague WBB Tournament. @PrincetonWBB head coach Carla Berube is a UConn alum, and @CULionsWBB's Carly Rivera and Fudd both went to St. John's College HS in DC. #IvyMadness @TheNextHoops
— Jenn Hatfield (she/her) (@jennhatfield1) March 12, 2022

I've said before that UConn should add a shooting guard to back up Azzi Fudd and while Paige and Azzi were taking in the Princeton game, maybe they had a chance to talk to Abby Meyers? She is the leading scorer on the Tigers at 17.9 ppg and a great shooter. She hit 41% of her threes and 81% from the line this year. She would be a great Grad Student for the Huskies.

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Caroline Ducharme 2021-22 Mix Tape

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Congratulations to senior Ayanna Patterson, she was just named the 2022 Indiana Miss Basketball! pic.twitter.com/QjlhYeq4Qp
— Homestead Athletics (@Spartytweets) March 11, 2022

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GAMES

No. 4 Baylor 76 Oklahoma State 36

No. 8 Texas Kansas State

No. 10 Iowa State 66 West Virginia 60

No. 21 Oklahoma 80 Kansas 68

No. 24 Princeton 72 Harvard 67

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Straight from the Dog

In the championship game from UConn's former conference, the AAC, Central Florida beat South Florida 53-45 on the backs of a 16-5 fourth quarter. No doubt that UCF plays some of the toughest defense in the country. Many UConn fans would say they play a little dirty and they may be right. But it's certainly effective and it could take them a few rounds into the NCAA's. But bottom line.

You need to score to win. And the Knights just don't play enoough offense to do that.

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Baylor is closing in on a No. 1 seed after their destruction of Oklahoma State, winning 76-36. OSU is more on the level of the lower end Big East teams, so it's not like beating Villanova by 30. But still, an imperessive outing for the Bears. And in something I don't think I have seen before, they shut out the Cowboys 23-0 in the first quarter. More on that is David's Stats.

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No. 10 Iowa State had a tough time with unranked West Virginia, winning 66-60. When you are striving for a higher seed, games like this don't help. The Committee use the eye test as part of their critiea. The Cyclones didn't pass it.

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By PHIL

No All-Americans?

I have seen some discussion of names for All-American lists, and there’s a chance that there won’t be any UConn players on the first-team lists. Someone is bound to wonder if having an All-American on your team is a de facto requirement to winning a national championship.

The short answer is no.

I did a little research which turned out to tougher than I expected. I started with a lazy decision — there are several All-American lists, but I decided to pick the WBCA All-American list (formerly the Kodak All-American lists) because they were handy, and also because they included 10 names which means it is likely, although not impossible that that list would include the names on other lists.

The Kodak All-American lists goes back to 1975. (As an aside, there is a Connecticut player listed - not University of Connecticut, but Sue Rojcewicz, of Southern Connecticut State University.) This review covers 46 years of AIAW championships and NCAA championships. For the each of the AIAW years, 1975 through 1982, the championship team had an All-American on the team. Then I started with 1982, which also had an NCAA champion, and I found three teams (but I’m concerned about one).

Starting with the ones I’m sure of:

• 2006 Maryland

• 1997 Tennessee

In both cases, while the team that won the national championship did not have players making the All-American lists, they had players that would go on to win All-American honors.

The 2006 Maryland team had two freshman Kristi Tolliver and Marissa Coleman, plus a sophomore Crystal Langhorne, each of whom would win All-American honors in subsequent years.

The 1997 Tennessee team had Bridgette Gordon, would also go on to win All-American accolades but not in 1997.

The puzzling team is the 1985 Old Dominion team. Medina Dixon (who died last November at age 59) was an incredible player, and I was surprised not to see her on the All-American list. According to her bio she won a Kodak All-American honor but it says 1995 which doesn’t make sense. I’m reaching out to others to see if I can figure out what’s going on that I probably won’t have the answer before this goes to press.

However, the bottom line is a balanced team without All-Americans can win a national championship.