Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 3/16/2022

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

GO UCONN!!!!!

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

I am leaving all the data for the tournament match ups and times and TV.

I will update with final scores and links when they happen.

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

Join my Group!!

I have created a Tournament Challenge group for this blog.

It's called Doggy's Doghouse and the password is doggydaddy.

Just click on the link.

Two entries per person!!

Have at it! And good luck. I'll be reporting the results after each round.

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

And to help you with your picks, here is Alexa's ESPN Preview.

Women's Tournament Preview

Time and TV

First Four Games Play-in

No. 16 Incarnate Word 51 No. 16 Howard 55

No. 11 DePaul vs No. 11 Dayton Wednesday 9:00 ESPNU

No. 16 Mount St. Mary's vs No. 16 Longwood Thursday 7:00 ESPN2

No. 11 Florida State vs No. 11 Missouri State Thursday 9:00 ESPN2

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

Bridgeport Region

Reynolds Coliseum

Raleigh, NC

No. 8 Washington State vs No. 9 Kansas State Saturday 11:30 AM ESPN2

No. 1 North Carolina State vs TBD Saturday 2:00 PM ESPN

Gampel Pavilion

Storrs, CT

No. 2 UConn vs No. 15 Mercer Saturday 1:00 PM ABC

No. 7 UCF vs No. 10 Florida Saturday 3:30 PM ESPNN

Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall

Bloomington, IN

No. 3 Indiana vs No. 14 Charlotte Saturday 1:30 PM ESPN2

No. 6 Kentucky vs No. 11 Princeton Saturday 4:00 PM ESPN

Lloyd Noble Center

Norman, OK

No. 5 Notre Dame vs No. 12 UMASS Saturday 7:30 PM ESPN2

No. 4 Oklahoma vs 13 IUPIU Saturday 10:00 PM ESPNU

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

Spokane Region

Maples Pavilion

Stanford, CA

No. 8 Kansas vs No. 9 Georgia Tech Friday 7:30 PM ESPNU

No. 1 Stanford vs No. 16 Montana State Friday 10:00 PM ESPN2

Pete Maravich Assembly Center

Baton Rouge, LA

No. 6 Ohio State vs TBD Saturday 2:30 PM ESPNU

No. 3 LSU vs No. 14 Jackson State Saturday 5:00 PM ESPNU

Xfinity Center

College Park, MD

No. 5 Viriginia Tech vs No. 12 Florida Gulf Coast Friday 2:30 PM ESPNU

No. 4 Maryland vs No. 13 Delaware Friday 5:00 PM ESPNU

Frank Erwin Center

Austin, TX

No. 7 Utah vs No. 10 Arkansas Friday 5:30 PM ESPNN

No. 2 Texas vs No. 15 Fairfield Friday 8:00 PM ESPN2

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

Greensboro Region

James H. Hilton Coliseum

Ames, IA

No. 6 Georgia vs TBD Friday 7:30 PM ESPNN

No. 3 Iowa State vs No. 14 UT Arlington Friday 10:00 PM ESPNU

McKale Center

Tucson, AZ

No. 5 North Carolina vs No. 12 Stephen F. Austin Saturday 7:30 PM ESPNN

No. 4 Arizona vs No. 13 UNLV Saturday10:00 PM ESPN2

Colonial Life Arena

Columbia, SC

No. 8 Miami vs No. 9 South Florida Friday 11:30 AM ESPN2

No. 1 South Carolina vs TBD Friday 2:00 PM ESPN

Carver Hawkeye Arena

Iowa City, IA

No. 7 Colorado vs No. 10 Creighton Friday 1:30 PM ESPNN

2 Iowa vs 15 Illinois State Friday 4:00 PM ESPN

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

Wichita Region

Crisler Center

Ann Arbor, MI

No. 6 BYU vs No. 11 Villanova Saturday 1:00 PM ESPNN

No. 3 Michigan vs No. 14 American University Saturday 3:30 PM ESPN2

Thompson-Boling Arena

Knoxville, TN

No. 4 Tennessee vs 13 Bufalo Saturday 3:00 PM ABC

No. 5 Oregon vs 12 Belmont Saturday 5:30 PM ESPN2

Ferrell Center

Waco, TX

No. 7 Ole Miss vs 10 South Dakota Friday 1:30 PM ESPN2

No. 2 Baylor vs No. 15 Hawai'i Friday 4:00 PM ESPN2

KFC Yum Center

Louisville, KY

No. 8 Nebraska vs 9 Gonzaga Friday 3:30 PM ESPNN

No. 1 Louisville vs No. 16 Albany Friday 5:00 PM ESPNU

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

Straight from the Dog

DePaul showed it's usual bad defense in the first half against Dayton.

The Flyers were on FIRE from three point land. 11-13 from deep. Nope, that's not a misprint. 11-13!!

While some were wide open looks, several were quick release threes with a defender in their face.

Impressive! And embarrasing for Doug Bruno's Blue Demons.

____________________________________

Congrats to all the players who made the AP All-American team.

First Team:
*Aliyah Boston, SC
*Caitlyn Clark, Iowa
*NaLyssa Smith, Baylor
Rhyne Howard, UK
Haley Jones, Stan (t-5)
Naz Hillmon, Mich (t-5)

*unanimous pick

Second Team:
Ayoka Lee, KSt
Ashley Joens, IoSt
Khayla Pointer, LSU
Elissa Cunane, NCST
Aneesah Morrow, DePaul

Third Team:
Elizabeth Kitley, VaTech
Maddy Siegrist, Nova
Veronica Burton, Northwestern
Cameron Brink, Stanford
Angel Reese, Maryland

HONORABLE MENTION (alphabetical order)

Shakira Austin, Mississippi; Kiersten Bell, Florida Gulf Coast; Katie Benzan, Maryland; Grace Berger, Indiana; Paige Bueckers, UConn; Nia Clouden, Michigan State; Jennifer Coleman, Navy; Zia Cooke, South Carolina; Monika Czinano, Iowa; Jasmine Dickey, James Madison; Emily Engstler, Louisville; Dyaisha Fair, Buffalo; Shaylee Gonzales, BYU; Destanni Henderson, South Carolina; Rori Harmon, Texas; Jordan Horston, Tennessee; Abby Meyers, Princeton; Olivia Miles, Notre Dame; Ashley Owusu, Maryland; Cate Reese, Arizona; Taylor Robertson, Oklahoma; Jacy Sheldon, Ohio State; Christyn Williams, UConn; Macee Williams, IUPUI; Katelyn Young, Murray State.

______________________________

It's hard to argue any of these selections. This is the first season in a long time that a UConn player wasn't on any of the top 3 teams. We are blessed that Christyn Williams made honorable mention. But we can take solace that if Paige or even Azzi played a full season, there would have been representation from the Huskies. Next year.

It was great to see two Big East players on the team in the wonderful freshman from DePaul, Aneesha Morrow, make the seond team. And BE player of the year Maddy Siegrist from Villanova make the third team.

______________________________

However, leave it to the Orange Idiots to make this all about them. They are crying like little babies that one of their players, Jordan Horston, did not make any of the top 3 teams.

"Horston nearly averaged a double double and we were in the top 15 the majority of the season. Our players get overlooked and shit on like you wouldn’t believe. Hope it continues to motivate them."

I would certainly give credit to Horston for her 16.2 PPG and 9.4 rebounds per game. I would even give her credit for her almost 4 assists per game. But three very important categories just kill and chance she had at being a 1st, 2nd or 3rd team AA. She was fortunate to get Honorable Mention.

FG Percentage - 37.9. This is just terrible. I tried to find wher that ranked in WCBB but they only list the top 250. She is worse than that.

3PT Percentage - 27.6. Better. She is around 160th in the country.

Turnovers - They don't list this in the NCAA Stat site, but her 103 turnovers are really bad.

How about this one? Bitter much???

"This list just goes all over me!! Jordan Horston should have been on it! Next year the WBB poo bahs will Remember Her Name! Interesting side note poo bahs spell corrects to poop bags so……."

Sigh....these "poo bahs" are made up of 62 sportswriters and broadcasters from across the country. No agenda against Tennessee. Just more paranoia.

And of course, the obligatory insule to the Big East.

"Two players from the Big East? Give me a break. Even if they aren’t from UConn that’s a joke. Whatever happened to rewarding players for wanting to play against the best competition?"

A joke? I mean, disagree with the picks if you'd like. But to call it a joke because these two players were selected is just pathetic. That is the JOKE. They did well agaihnst ALL competition. Does this idiot think that the players control the schedule? Or is he seriously dissing their choice of college? This is not a Power-5 All American team. It's WCBB AA team. They don't seem to understand that.

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

By PHIL

68 teams

As we anxiously await the first games to start, I recall someone, somewhere, asked why 68 teams, and why the extras are two 16 seeds and two eleven seeds. I thought I recalled the answer and started to compose a reply but I couldn’t remember the exact years things happened, so I looked it up and I’m glad I did because my recollection didn’t match the actual history.

Both the men’s and women’s tournaments have changed over the years in terms of total number of teams invited and automatic versus at-large teams. I won’t go over the complete history, I will start with a brief period of calm, 1997 – 2000 when both the men and the women had the same selection procedures. In these years both the men and women invited 64 teams, there were 30 conferences each with an automatic bid, living room for 34 at-large bids.

Things changed in 2001. The Mountain West conference had been created in 1999 but in 2001 it was awarded an automatic bid, so they were now 31 automatic bids. The woman simply reduced the number of at-large from 34 to 33 and continued with a 64 team field. In contrast, the men introduced the concept of a play-in game. The winners of two of the automatic bids would play an opening-round game for the right to become part of the traditional 64 team bracket.

That minor difference persisted until 2011. Although the initial playing game was prompted by the new conference and the desire not to reduce the number of at-large bids, the 2011 decision was more motivated by a feeling that the sport had grown and some truly deserving teams were not getting invitations. In that year, the men introduce the concept of the first four, thereby increasing the total field to 68 teams.

(My mistaken recollection was that they initially made all four additional teams 16 seeds, and then changed the approach when they got push back, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Perhaps they considered it and I recall the discussion but, in any event, it didn’t happen as I thought it happened.)

The additional teams were comprised of four automatic bids involved in two play-in games resulting in two teams making the round of 64, as well as the four lowest rated at-large bids playing for two spots as 11 seeds.

When the women decided to make the change in 2022, they simply adopted the approach used by the men, selecting a total of 6 16 seeds for which play for two spots and 6 11 seeds, the lowest of the at-large teams, four of which compete. For two spots.

It is mildly interesting to note that the number of conferences increased to 32 in 2014, back to 31, in 2021 and back to 32 in 2022, but they simply adjusted the at-large counts to add up to either 64 or now 68.

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

By David in Naples

Geno’s head coaching debut was hardly flawless. His first year, UConn went 12-15 and finished 7th in the conference. The next year was better, but not by much. The Huskies were 14-13, but stayed in 7th place in the Big East. In Geno’s third season, 1987-88, UConn improved to 5th in their conference and 17-11 overall.

These days fans get bent with a few losses and losing 1 conference game out of 170. Can you say spoiled... The current team lost 5 games but managed to crush their Big East conference foes. They are 22-5 and trying to calm the faithful who complain about 4 straight loses in the Final Four and no National Championship since 2015-16.

The last time UConn had 5 losses going into the NCAA tournament was 2004-05 when the Huskies went 25-8 and lost in the Sweet Sixteen. But this team is different and the won/loss record can be thrown away. Everyone is as healthy as they have been all season, and everyone in the top 9 rotation has started at least 11 games, except Paige. She has started 7.

Going to be quite a tournament..! Go Huskies..!

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