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Even my daughter (mother to Logan and Barrett)
is looking for my Blog!!!
GO UCONN!!!!!
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88 62
Two big stories for this game. One for UConn and one for Butler.
For Butler, it was the story of them shooting out of their butts and hitting 62.5% on threes going 10-16. In the first half they were 7-9. Check out these three players.
Norman was 2-2 and coming into the game was 3-21.
Kent was 4-4 and coming into the game was 22-66.
Wiggins was 1-2 and coming to the game was 3-18.
Sometimes it happens. That is how Geno looked at it because at half time he thought the defense played great.
For UConn, it was the story of the coming out party for Ashlynn Shade. She was just terrific in this game. I loved how aggressive she was offensively. She took a team leading 15 shots and she hit 9. She was the outside threat UConn has been missing with Fudd on the sidelines. She was 4-10 on threes. She also added 4 assists. Her on the ball defense was solid as well. If we can see more of this version of Shade the Huskies are on another level. I think she locked down the Big East FOW already. It's going to be a battle between her and KK.
Those were the two big stories, but there were minor short stories.
Muhl was 3-7 on threes. One more game where she makes liars out of the fans that say she can't shoot and the other team leaves her open. She is still over 40% on threes.
Shade's good shooting night has her over 30% at 32.5%. Great to see her stats going up. And her PPG is now at 8.2. Can she get to double digits?
After a weak first half, Edwards had a terrific second half and ended up with a double double of 12 points and 12 rebounds. Nice!
Paige got banged around but always bounced back. She was 5-6 from the FT line and had 16 points on the night. She did a great job running the show with 7 assists and only 1 turnover.
KK is so damn quick. I just love watching her get a defensive rebound and take off on a fast break. Her stats don't show it but she had a nice game.
Finally, back to back great games by Griffin. She really filled the stats columns. 14 points, 4 rebounds (felt like more), 3 assists, 4 steals and 1 block.
Ice got some good minutes and as usual there was good and bad. She hit a beautiful bounce pass on a back door cut by Buecker who finished the play with a nice basket. Ice was 3-4 from the field and while lost on some offensive stats, is starting to get it.
Samuels did her thing, going 2-3 on three pointers. She really has great form. And she had a great assists. But she got beat badly on a back court cut for a layup for Butler. It's those kind of plays that keeps her on the bench.
This was the type of game that Geno envisioned with the roster he had to start the season.
88 points, 56% from the field, shoot 27 three point shots, hit 44.4% of those. 24 assists on 33 baskets. And only 8 turnovers. Out rebounded the other team by 10.
Just a great effort tonight. Yeah, all those three pointers by Butler were crazy. But on a normal night shooting, they score 15 less points and the final is more like 88-47.
On to Toronto. I hope Aaliyah has a great time and a great game on Wednesday. I'm sure she is looking forward to it.
Game Replay
Game Highlights
Geno Postgame Courtside Interview
Geno's Post Game Interview
Edwards, Shade and Griffin Post Game Interivew
Ashlynn Shade Courside Postgame Interview
On our UConn Post Game show, @gappleSNY and @biggirl52 look at the career-high 22-point performance from Ashlynn Shade tonight vs. Butler https://t.co/TELlYHHZ5Y pic.twitter.com/gFrIkLfGkK
— UConn on SNY (@SNYUConn) December 19, 2023
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Count 'em! 1⃣-2⃣-3⃣@KamoreaArnold is the Freshman of the Week for the 3rd time this season and @UConnWBB have claimed 5 of the 6 FOTW awards! pic.twitter.com/i8wHjL0TT5
— BIG EAST WBB (@BIGEASTWBB) December 18, 2023
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We know you've wanted to know...
so here's our players' wingspans pic.twitter.com/9Q2DxKhMOZ
— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) December 18, 2023
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** Designates Upset
Wednesday, 12/14
Scores and Links
No. 6 Cal vs Cal State Fullerton (Late Game)
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Straight from the Dog
More on Kim Mulkey losing her mind. Remember 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. There is something wrong with this woman.
quite the Sunday here at the PMAC
— ABBY ALONZO (@abbigail_alonzo) December 17, 2023
Kim Mulkey is HOTTTTT#LSU pic.twitter.com/4vXtSK5f2W
She is just a yapping little dog.
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By PHIL
Seriously?
Really?
I mentioned the results to the sensible member of my household whose response was, “who cares it’s December”
I predict that if you ask Geno, his response will be functionally the same although perhaps more colorful.
That’s fine, I don’t want Geno wasting his time thinking about ratings. His talents lie in teaching players how to pay basketball, and I… can’t.
But there are times when you feel you must rant and rave.
For the record, I don’t always rant and rave. When UConn dropped to 4 – 3, and the posters saw fit to move us to number 17, I don’t think I uttered a peep.
I thought that was an overreaction, but I understood that losing several key members of the team and others very much in limbo meant it was hard to assess our strength. I’d like to say I was supremely confident we would return to our winning ways, but I was nervous about the future. The win over North Carolina helped restore my confidence that even our shorthanded team was going to be very good, and the solid win over the even stronger Louisville cemented that feeling.
Yet, two weeks and three victories later, and we haven’t moved an inch.
I don’t put a lot of stock in NET at this time of year but I checked the rank just in case it was terrible and might be affecting some of the posters. The NET rank is 12. That’s not why the pollsters have us down at 17.
I have more faith in Massey, perhaps too much faith but it has been a pretty solid indicator. Massey has us at 8 up two spots from 10.
The posters moved Louisville down one spot after losing to UConn. The only way to justify barely moving a team after a 24-point loss is enormous respect for the team that beat them. That all makes sense except for the lack of the enormous respect as shown by the posters moving UConn not at all.
Massey has Louisville at number 17. I looked to see who was just ahead of Louisville and it was Kansas State at 16. I use the matchup tool to see what Massey expected in a game between the two at Kansas State’s home court. He had Kansas State winning by a single point. In other words, that’s what you’d expect between two teams ranked so closely. UConn’s 24-point win doesn’t resemble that at all.
In fact, if you look up Louisville playing at South Carolina, Massey would predict a 14 point victory for South Carolina. One must be careful about drawing too much of a conclusion from a single game, but if UConn had been ranked number one and played Louisville at home, the expected result would’ve been a closer game. The takeaway should be that UConn is far better than one or two spots ahead of Louisville.
Let’s look at the teams ahead of UConn, perhaps they all won big.
Indiana’s ahead of UConn and didn’t even play.
Virginia Tech is two spots ahead of UConn and beat Rutgers by 25 points. In other words, almost the identical margin as UConn over Louisville, but Rutgers is ranked 136. Surely beating a top 25 team is worth more than beating the number 136 team by virtually the same margin. UConn should have been moved ahead of both of those teams.
Notre Dame is three spots ahead, but I think they are under ranked so I will not argue we should be ahead of Notre Dame.
Ohio State is four spots ahead of UConn.
Let’s count how many wins they have over ranked teams.
That was easy, zero.
Ohio State fans will be quick to point out that they beat both Tennessee and Penn State when they were ranked, but look at how both of those teams have fared. Neither one deserved the ranking.
Let’s count how many wins they have over at-large teams in the bracketology.
That was easy, zero.
Yes, both of the ranked teams beaten by Ohio State have fallen so far they aren’t even projected to make the tournament.
In contrast, UConn has beaten three projected at large teams:
• Maryland
• North Carolina
• Louisville
How on earth can you justify ranking UConn lower than a team that has yet to be a team projected to be an at-large tournament team?
Milestone watch
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 106 Butler 52
Net positives/minutes: Aubrey 23/26, Ashlynn 22/38, Paige 20/28, Aaliyah 19/30, Nika 7/28, Qadence 6/8, Ice 4/11, KK 2/25, Ines 0/3, Amari -1/3.
Butler played well. Ice improving. The sky is falling: only one block for Paige Blockers? Love how Ashlynn squares up.
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