Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 12/18/2023

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

Even my daughter (mother to Logan and Barrett)

is looking for my Blog!!!

GO UCONN!!!!!

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

Short turnover time between games and against a weaker opponent and a very busy Sunday means a brief Pregame Report. Especially since we have company over for dinner and a show at the clubhouse tonight. If you ever get a chance to see Jane Curry, do it. She is a singer, dancer, comedian and story teller. Her band is outstanding. It was just a great show!!!

Now about Butler. Here is the head to head record.

UCONN LEADS 5-0 OVER BUTLER

H: 2-0 | A: 3-0 | N: 0-0

01/19/21 #3 UConn 103, Butler 35 Storrs, Conn.

02/27/21 #1 UConn 97, Butler 68 Indianapolis, Ind.

01/12/22 #10 UConn 92, Butler 47 Indianapolis, Ind.

01/03/23 #5 UConn 80, Butler 47 Indianapolis, Ind.

01/21/23 #5 UConn 79, Butler 39 Storrs, Conn.

UConn had never played Butler until the Huskies rejoiined the Big East in 2021. And it hasn't been pretty for the Butler Bulldogs. This game should be no different.

Butler is led in scoring by 5'11" senior guard Caroline Strande. She averages 16.1 PPG and shoot very well from three point range at 46.2%. She is also the leading rebounder at 7.4 RPG. At her height, it's all effort. She also gets to the free throw line more than anyone else on the team. More aggressiveness.

6' sophomore guard Jordan Meuleman averages 11.1 PPG and is a terrific three point shoot at 50.8% and she takes six per game.

Rachel Kent, a 5'11" guard is a grad student that transfered from IUPUI. Third on the team in scoring at 10.3 PPG. She also takes around 6 three pointers per game big only shoots them at 33.3%.

Sydney Jaynes is a 6'3" junior and the only height in the starting lineup. Yet she only averages 3.9 RPG. Jaynes averages 8.3 PPG but only shoots 41.8% from the field.

The last starter is Ari Wiggins, a 5'8" junior guard. Averaging 5.6 PPG. She leads the team in steals with 22.

Off the bench is 5'6" freshman guard Karsyn Norman, 5'10" senior guard Kendell Wingler, 6'2" freshman forward Riley Makalusky and 6'4" freshman forward Cristen Carter.

Even though they are 7-3, their wins are all against pretty weak opponents. They even played a team in Roosevelt that doesn't have a ranking by Massey. Maybe Div II? Their last game was a win against Chigago State who is ranked 360 by Massey. Quite the jump to play UConn.

Butler only averages 67 PPG, shoots 43.1% from the field, a respectable 35.8% on threes. They don't rebound well averaging 34.1 RPG.

UConn has every advantage in this game. More talent, at home and starting to play really well together. A UConn loss is not a possibility. A blowout is probable.

My pick is UConn by 40+.

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

** Designates Upset

Wednesday, 12/14

Scores and Links

No. 7 LSU 81 Northwestern State 36

No. 14 Notre Dame 76 Purdue 39

No. 16 Virginia Tech 84 Rutgers 59

No. 19 Marquette 99 Applachian State 91

No. 20 Creighton 89 Drake 78

No. 21 Gonzaga 83 South Dakota State 58

No. 22 Florida State 76 Drexel 56

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

NJ Ladies Hoops "PLAYER OF THE DAY"

'25 @UConnWBB BOUND 6'4" Surging Hooper@GandyMamel8 @GSB_WBB 4 Coach @markgnapp

New to game yet turning many heads w/intense
physicality & energy of a 5'4" jitterbug.

27 & 14 last night vs a Top 20 team.

Fan Club Co-Prez : Robert & Paras pic.twitter.com/O74Bwl6zxp
— NJ Ladies Hoops (@NJLadiesHoops) December 17, 2023

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

Straight from the Dog

Once again LSU played a really really weak opponent in their really really weak OOC schedule. This time the poor sucker was the Northwestern State Demons. The Tigers did what they do to weak teams and beat the crap out of them. The final was 81-36 in a game that wasn't even that close. LSU dominated each quarter winning each one by 13, 6, 15, and 11 points. Just a slow and grinding win.

But Mulkey was not happy. LSU shot only 41% from the field and 2-15 on threes. Or maybe it was her outfit.

Whatever it was, it was enough to get her tossed from the game. She was ejected from the game with 4:56 left and LSU leading by 39 points. She was given two technical fouls for protesting a charging foul call against Morrow.

My money is on that horrendous outfit.

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

By PHIL

Most recent game against UConn

The win over Louisville got me to thinking about teams who can say their last game against UConn was a win. I thought I’d investigate it.

If my casual counting is correct, UConn has faced 200 different teams over the course of its history.

There are a number of teams who can make the claim that their last game against UConn was a win, but I want to put them into two different categories. First there are seven teams who can make this claim, but those wins were pre-Geno.

• Brooklyn 1976
• District of Columbia 1980
• Keene State 1979
• Montclair State 1994
• Queens 1985
• Southern Connecticut State 1983
• Worcester State 1977

Those teams can make this claim, but my guess is they are not going to emphasize it, and perhaps only mention it as a curious aside. One interesting note, UConn played Southern Connecticut this year, and won, but it was an exhibition game so I’m not removing it from the list.

Now let’s move on to the Geno era.

At the beginning of the season, there were 13 teams who could say their most recent game against UConn was a win.

1. Arizona April 2, 2021
2. Georgia Tech December 9, 2021
3. LaSalle December 29, 1989
4. Mississippi State March 17, 2017
5. New Hampshire December 3, 1987
6. Notre Dame December 4, 2022
7. Ohio State March 25, 2023
8. Oregon January 17, 2022
9. St. John's February 21, 2023
10. South Carolina February 5, 2023
11. US international team November 28, 1986
12. Louisville December 19, 2021
13. Maryland December 11, 2022

I confess I had forgotten that my alma mater, University of New Hampshire is on the list. The program has been struggling. It was 36 years ago so not exactly a recent result.

This year hasn’t gone as well as expected, although the prospects are much brighter today than they were a couple days ago. UConn put together a brutal out of conference schedule, currently ranked number one in the nation, and three of those teams, while expected to be good, have outperformed expectations and are all in the top five. UConn lost to each of those three teams so add three teams to the list:

• NC State
• Texas
• UCLA

Two of those especially hurt as UConn had been undefeated against Texas (10 games) and UCLA )7 Games).

While the list has grown, we’ve also removed some from the list.

Wins over Maryland and Louisville eliminated their ability to make that claim.

We also have additional potential for whittling down the list as our remaining schedule includes three teams on the list:

• St. John’s
• Notre Dame
• South Carolina

I feel confident about St. John’s, hopeful but less confident against Notre Dame, and certainly will be pulling for UConn over South Carolina but I’m not counting on removing that team from list yet.

Milestone watch

• Aaliyah Edwards has 1362 career points after the Louisville game. She is in 39th place. She needs 3 points to catch Charde Houston, 16 to catch Sue Bird, and 19 to catch Carla Berube.

• Nika Mühl had 481 assists after the Louisville game. She is in sole possession of 16th place. She recently passed Svetlana Abrosimova (473) and Ketia Swanier (479). She needs one more to tie Gabby Williams (482) and two more to tie Tiffany Hayes (483).

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

SPIDER STATS

Plus one for every assist block point rebound and steal. I don’t add extra for offensive rebounds as it already seems to favor the bigs. Minus one for every missed shot (2, 3 or foul), turnover or foul committed.

UConn 100 Louisville 34

Aubrey 30, Aaliyah 25, Paige 25, Nika 12, KK 10, Ashlynn 1, Amari 0, Ines 0, Ice 0, Qadence -5.

Paige Blockers: 5 blocks.

Look out, Butler,the storm is comin' through
And it's runnin' right up on you
Look out, Toronto, there'll be thunder on the hill
Bye bye, baby, don't you lie so still

Could Paige get a quintuple half double? Can Aubrey bring it every night? Fun team to watch!!

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

UCONN LINKS

Several links are pay sites. Sorry!

Griffin hopes to build on big game

What we know as UConn opens Big East play

Will UConn get a bump in the AP Top 25?

Huskies open Big East play against Butler

Why Aubrey Griffin led UConn against Louisville

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

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.