Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 11/6/2023

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Even my daughter (mother to Logan and Barrett) is looking for my Blog!!!

GO UCONN!!!!!

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At his press conference Geno mentioned that he really only wants to play Aubrey Griffin in 3-4 minute spurts to protect her back. Extended periods on the court seem to bother her back.

He also talked about Caroline's minutes. And easing in Ice Brady due her her knee injury last year. And I would think he will limit Amari DeBerry off of back surgery and Ayanna Patterson, coming off of knee surgery and didn't play in the secret scrummage or the exhibition game. Oh, I forgot Paige and Azzi.

Yes, Geno says he will monitor all their minutes. And with a deep bench that is what he will do in the 95% of the games. But in the 5-7 competative games? In games against NC State, South Carolina, Notre Dame, Texas, UCLA, Maryland and in the Big East Creighton? I can promise you that he will play Paige and Azzi as many minutes that he needs. And Aubrey will play 10 minutes straight and Caroline will be over 25 minutes. It's how he rolls.

So all you fans all panicked about Griffin and Caroline. And even Paige and Azzi. Relax. It's mostly just Geno-speak.

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Eight of the top ten teams are playing Monday with only No. 2 UConn and No. 9 Indiana taking the night off.

I have my cable box working hard to record the games I want to see and I'll post about them in tomorrow's blog. In the meantime, there are a few great freshmen that I can't wait to see play.

No. 10 Notre Dame takes on No. 6 South Carolina at 1:00 on ESPN. Notre Dame is missing their start play Olivia Miles, whose season ended late with an ACL team. Her return date is unknown. But they had a really talented freshman point guard to fill in for Miles. That's Hannah Hildago, a 5'6" ball of fire. I'm really looking forward to watching her player.

As I mentioned the other day, South Carolina is restocking after all 5 starters graduated. We will see how good a job Coach Staley did. One player in particular, freshman Miliaysia Fulwiley, is maybe the most explosive scorer's among all the great freshmen in this class. She can shoot the three pointer from NBA range and will do it without fear. And she also has a great handle. A fun player to watch. Her behind the back stuff would make Geno crazy.

No. 7 Ohio State is taking on No. 21 USC. We all know about Ohio State as they knocked UConn out of the tournament last season. And they should be a really good team again this year. USC has the No. 1 recruit adding to their freshmen class in Judea Watkins. She is some kind of player. A physical guard at 6' tall she drives and finished hard at the basket. Her mid-range game is great and she is just so strong in the paint.

No. 1 LSU plays No. 20 Colorado. I'm glad the defending champ plays a reasonably tough first opponent before entering the "Cupcake Zone". It will be interesting to see how they have melded together with three new starters, although very talented. Yes, Angel Reese is joined by Hailey Van Lith, doing on the job PG training, and Aneesha Morrow, an undersized but effective power forward. But the most important addition could be 6' guard No. 2 ranked player in the 2023 class Mikaylah Williams. A similar game to Judea Watkins, Williams is a superior three point shooter to compliment the rest of he mature offensive game.

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Monday, 11/6

Opening Day

No. 1 LSU vs No. 20 Colorado

No. 3 Iowa vs Fairleigh Dickinson

No. 4 UCLA vs Purdue

No. 5 Utah vs Mississippi Valley State

No. 6 South Carolina vs No. 10 Notre Dame (Paris, France)

No. 7 Ohio State vs No. 21 USC (HOF game)

No. 8 Virginia tech vs High Point

No. 12 Ole Miss vs Queens University

No. 14 Maryland vs Harvard

No. 17 Louisville vs Cincinnati

No. 18 Florida State ve Charleston Southern

No. 19 Baylor vs Southern

No. 22 Creighton vs North Dakota State

No. 24 Washington State vs Cal Poly (HOF game)

No. 25 Mississippi State vs Alcorn State

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I appreciate every school that showed interests in me through out this process… pic.twitter.com/aYjxLQlt9F
— ZaKiyah Johnson (@ZJohnson_06) November 5, 2023

Ok, let me know when you cut the list to 4 teams and I'll tune in.

UConn coach Morgan Valley is now following this young lady Maddyn Greenway. Remember that name. She played varsity as an 8 grader and played as a freshman as well. She scored over 2000 points in those two seasons.

I really like her game. Hope she likes UConn!!

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A post shared by Fresh Coast Hoops (@freshcoasthoops)

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Straight from the Dog

Tennessee hosted the National Team on Sunday and it was so much fun to watch this game. I not only got to see Tennessee get squashed but I got to see 41 year old Diana Taurasi go 3-3 on threes and 2-2 on free throws in the USA teams 95-59 win over the Lady Vols.

This is kinda like the UConn exhibition game in reverse, where you can't take too much from the game because of the difference in the talent of the two teams. But you certainly can make some conclusions. Well, maybe more like opinions on how Tennessee did.

Coach Harper made sure everyone got to play, and I thought that was great. You don't get to play against a team with players like DT and Griner etc and what an experience for these young ladies. Every player got double digit minutes, even non-scholarship player Edie Darby.

Rickea Jackson showed she is an AA contender. She had 14 points in the first half on a variety of moves including a nice three point shot. She was held to one point in the second half but she did have 5 rebounds and 2 steals. No one else was in double digit scoring.

The supossed great backcourt the Lady Vols got from the transfer portal really struggles against Team USA. Jewel Spear was 1-4 from the field, all three pointers for her 3 points. She had an assist and a good sign had no turnovers. All in 15 minutes. The other guard, Destinee Wells, was 0-4 from the field with no assists and 2 turnovers. A tough outing but hey, look who they were playing.

It was great to see Tamari Key on the court again. Hopefully she is 100% recovered from her blood clot issue from last year. She was totally ineffective against Griner but she did have a nice block.

As a team Tennessee shot 21-64 from the field. That would have been 14-50 without the 7-14 of Jackson. Ugly. They did hit 39% of their threes a good sign for a traditionally poor shooting three point team.

They interviewed Diana at halftime and she was so nice about Tennessee. At the end she said "Go Vols". I couldn't believe my ears. But then I remembered who said it. I love her sense of humor.

The handshake line at the end was wonderful. The players really embraced. I think they all bonded at the Lady vol facility. It was very sweet.

Tennessee takes on Florida A&M on Tuesday. I'm sure they will bounce back. Massey has them favored by 42 points.

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By PHIL

Some comments on the Lady Vol - USA game first.

USA won by 36. It should have been 50. USA was up by more than 40 even though they missed layup after layup and open bunnies. Ended up a 36 point margin but USA kinda lost interest. The announcers certainly did.

Key is back and if she is the Key so to speak for this team, we didn't didn't see it tonight. 2 points. She did get a block.

Jackson is still to go to player -- only Vol in double digits.

Tennessee fan Coach Jumper predicted LVs would keep it within 15.

I didn't see the first half because of the Auburn volleyball game, but looking at the play by play I see that 5 minutes into the game, Tennessee had 7 and DT had 9. Yes, 41 year old Diana who shouldn't be playing according to some LV fans was outscoring the entire TN team.

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Some interesting stats from the exhibition game.

The team shot 52% from the field. Hitting over 50% is always worth celebrating. On the one hand, one can argue that you expect more open shots playing a Division II team, but you had 76 minutes from players in their first ever game, and a 111 minutes from the bench in the first game of the season which normally doesn't translate into a great shooting percentage so it's impressive. The starters hit 64%.

While the overall shooting percentage must be viewed in the context of the competition, a shot at the free-throw line is the same whether it's a ranked D1 team or a pickup practice squad, and this team hit 18 of 22 for 82%

Only 8 personal fouls - could the refs be taking it easy because it's an exhibition game? I can imagine they might call it differently if it were a charity game or an All-Star game, but while this was "merely" an exhibition, I'll bet the refs treated it like a regular game in terms of calling fouls.

Lots of players deserve lots of kudos but let's call out Aubrey who was 5-6 from the floor making every two pointer she took and 4-5 from the free-throw line.