Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 11/29/2022

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GO UCONN!!!!!

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Making that NIL Money!!!

More on 🎯than @azzi_35‼️ Nerf tested our skills with the Elite Motoblitz 2.0 - loser gets soaked with a Super Soaker 👀 watch til the end https://t.co/gx5DsW0znT #nerfpartner #nerf #itsnerfornothin #ad @hasbro @MurphFromNerf pic.twitter.com/TOwCBJPBzz
— Paige Bueckers (@paigebueckers1) November 29, 2022

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She is going to be a star at UConn. Unbelievable skills. The Huskies won't miss a beat with her on the roster eventually running the point.

Brady Peterson

@BradyJ_Peterson

5'10 2023 G and UCONN commit KK Arnold (@Kamorea_2023
) never siezes to amaze me. The way she navigates traffic in the paint is unreal, her change of direction and vision is matched by very few in the country.

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GAMES

UPSETS IN RED

No. 1 South Carolina 73 No. 15 UCLA 64

No. 8 Iowa State 93 SIU Edwardsville 43

No. 11 LSU 63 SE Louisiana 55

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Straight from the Dog

This team's resolve in the face of adversity is just something to behold. It's just hard for me not to imagine what the backcourt rotation would be like with Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd, Nika Muhl, Lou and Caroline Ducharme. Unreal. But it was not to be.

However, we can imagine what it will be like with this version of Caroline and the double double center in Dorka Juhasz.

I'm pretty sure Geno will return Aubrey Griffin to the bench when Dorka is ready. That leaves a bench of Griffin, Ducharme and Patterson. I can't imaging a better bench in the country getting even better as Patterson improves.

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I love to read the Tennessee message board. It usually gives me plenty to write about. But there is an added attraction there. A South Carolina fans who is over the top about their team. Rooster1, as he/she goes by, says some outrageous things.

Rooster1 likes to use season stats about how deep SC is. But as we know and what I constantly say, you have to look at the competative games to understand the truth about depth. In all of the games outside of Stanford, the Gamecocks won by 70, 25, 54, 43 and 47. Of course in those games, the team can play every player and I believe they have 13 on the roster.

But in the Stanford game, they really only went 8 deep with double digit minutes and two starters went 38 and 37 minutes each.

They have a nice rotation and we will see how deep Dawn goes into the bench when there are competative game. I would guess no more than 8.

Ok....I wrote the above earlier today. The South Carolina/UCLA game just verified my thoughts. The Gamecocks went only 8 deep in double digit minutes. And only 4 players contributed to the offense.

Now, there is nothing wrong with a team only playing 8 players. In competative games, most teams whitle down their rotation to the best players and therefore the best chance to win. But please, let's not go overboard Rooster1 about the depth of your team.

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Gotta hand it to South Carolina. They were tied with No.15 UCLA going into the fourth quarter and behind Cardosa, their backup 6'7" center, won the game by 9 points. The Gamecocks had an amazing 15 blocked shot, contributing to the 32.3% shooting for the Bruins. But the low numbers for South Carolina was just bad shooting. They shot 39.7% from the field and 1-14 on threes. And only 66% on free throws. Eventually that kind of shooting will contribute to a loss for South Carolina and great outside shooting teams can avoid the blocks. Hmm....sounds like a team I know.

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No. 11 LSU continued their run of cupcakes this season, taking on a directional school, SE Louisiana. The Tigers started the season scoring 100+ points in their first 5 games. They only scored 80 in their next game but bounced back with 99 in their last game. But a funny thing happened on the way to the final buzzer. LSU didn't score 100 points, or 90 points, or 80 points, or even 70 points. They were only able to beat the Lady Lions 63-55. They shot only 41% from the field, 5-20 on threes and 57% on free throws. Very unimpressive. Sadly, they only play ONE ranked team for the rest of the entire season and that is fellow SEC team South Carolina. Come on Mulkey. This is pathetic.

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By PHIL

Nancy Lieberman Award watch list

There is some social media discussion about the omission of Nika Mühl from the Nancy Lieberman award watch list. Rather than simply join the chorus, I thought it be interesting to look at history and see what that tells us.

In 2022, Caitlin Clark was the national leader in assists per game, was on the watchlist and went on to win the award.

In 2021, Tiana Mangakahia of Syracuse ended up being the national leader in assists per games and was on the watchlist. UConn’s Paige Bueckers ended up winning the award.

In 2020, Sabrina Ionescu of Oregon ended up being the national leader in assists per games and was on the watchlist. She went on to win the award.

In 2019, Amy O'Neill of St. Francis (Brooklyn) ended up being the national leader in assists per games, but she was not on the watchlist. Sabrina Ionescu of Oregon won the award that year. What can we conclude from the fact that the nation’s leader didn’t make the watchlist? I don’t want to be overly critical of St. Francis – a family friend and neighbor played there for four years and was good enough to go on and play in Europe, but realistically St. Francis is not a top-tier team. In 2019, Massey the team at #280 with a strength of schedule ranked 339. Numbers put up against opposition like that can’t realistically be compared to numbers put up against a more challenging schedule (are you paying attention Kim Mulkey?).

2018 is quite interesting. When the 20 player watchlist was initially revealed, the eventual winner Sabrina Ionescu was on the list (along with UConn’s Kia Nurse), but Tiana Mangakahia of Syracuse, who would go on to lead the nations in assists per game was not on the list. However, in February when the list was narrowed to 10, Mangakahia had been added to the list. They do emphasize that the initial list will be narrowed in February but note that while deletions are necessary, additions are possible, so maybe talking Nika up will help.

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