Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 12/23/2023

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Even my daughter (mother to Logan and Barrett)

is looking for my Blog!!!

GO UCONN!!!!!

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Ashlynn Shade is the BIG EAST Freshman of the Week! She led the Huskies in scoring in two wins this week 🔥

21.0 PPG
3.5 APG
68% FG
50% 3PT pic.twitter.com/pzwEs7PLhV
— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) December 22, 2023

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KK Arnold didn't win this week.

Doesn't mean I shouldn't highlight her!!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Courtside WBB (@courtsidewbb)

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UConn women's basketball's Geno Auriemma is impressed with his freshmen ahead of holiday break:

“You can feel the energy is different with this team. You can see that they're, you know, the freshmen are a lot less hesitant and less tentative.” https://t.co/QVKipngpq4
— Maggie Vanoni (@maggie_vanoni) December 21, 2023

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** Designates Upset

Thursday, 12/21

Scores and Links

13 Ohio State 84 Belmont 55

16 Indiana Bowling 84 Green 35

20 Gonzaga 67 New Mexico 56

25 TCU 87 Mount St. Mary's 34

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Not a flattering video

but the last few minutes show how she has improved.

Geno sees something for sure

Gandy interview

Allie Ziebell Story/Interview

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Straight from the Dog

I posted the 25' recruit Gandy video. The reaction from some UConn fans was really disappointing. So negative. That's just not my nature.

"When was the last time a project turned into a real contributor?"

"Do we relly need more projects ? I keep getting the impression that Geno's main focus is to " grow the sport ", around the world. All good and dandy, but from my perspective as a basket ball fan of UConn, is that it is not his primary job. The fact that a program that has 11 NC's has to " take on " projects is baffling to me. No other storied program has this problem."

Seriously, what is wrong with these "fans". Gandy is only a junior and has been only playing for three years. She runs the court, and doesn't have any bad habits that have to be fixed. She is a lump of clay that is being molded into a basketball player. As many have said, you can't teach height.

When the 6'5" Gandy is here, 6'4" Brady will be a junior, 6'5" El Alfy will be a sophomore. Not a bad group of post players. And Geno ain't done yet.

Stop complaining.

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Geno is truely excited about the freshmen. They are gaining more and more confidence and play with such energy. For sure a switch went off for Shade. I knew she had a great motor and I always loved her pull up jumper. But her three point shooting has been a big surprise. And finally, KK is getting the hang of the speed of the college game and figured out when to drive and when to pull up. And if the last game was an indication that Q is getting it together, wow. Look out WCBB. UConn will be tough to beat.

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What is the make up of a 6-5 team? Yes, I'm talking about Tennessee again.

Well, they don't shoot well. The Lady Vols are shooting 42% from the field, 30.4% on threes, and they have 165 assists and 182 turnovers. A recipe for disaster!

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It's been a while since I awarded one of these but there were two great candidates for today's UGGY award.

Indiana beat Bowling Green 84-35 and TCU beat Mount St. Mary's 87-34 in two really UGGY games.

Let's compare the competitors.

Bowling Green scored 35 points, shot 14-60 from the field for 23.3%, was 0-11 on threes, was 7-11 from the FT line for 63.6%. They had 3 assists and 17 turnovers. They were only outrebounded 38-34.

Mount St. Mary's scored 34 points, shot 14-62 from the field for 22.6%, was 6-31 on threes for 19.4%, didn't take a free throw. They had 10 assists and 9 turnovers. However they were outrebounded 49-26.

It's a close matchup but there really is a clear winner. 0-11 on threes and a 3/17 assists/turnover ratio was the difference.

Congrats to Bowling Green on winning the prestigious UGGY award!!

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By PHIL

Milestone watch

• Aaliyah Edwards had 1374 career points after the Butler game. She scored 26 in the Toronto Metropolitan game to reach an even 1400, She passed Sue Bird, Carla Berube, Jamelle Elliot, and Leigh Curl, moving into 34th place. She needs just two points to tie Tamika Williams, nine points to tie Chris Gedney, and 13 to tie Peggy Walsh.

• Nika Mühl had 484 assists after the Butler game. She had 8 assists in the Toronto Metropolitan game to reach 492 assists. She is now in 14th place. She needs 39 to catch Laura Lishness in 13th place, who has 531 career assists.

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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 158, Toronto -15.

Net positives/minutes: Aaliyah 27/24, KK 27/30, Qadence 25/20, Ashlynn 21/26, Paige 20/21, Aubrey 10/13, Ines 9/18, Amari 7/15, Nika 7/19, Ice -1/14.

Many accolades, clearly one player with so far worrisome lack of progress. Hopefully whatever the issue is will melt away!

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UCONN LINKS

Several links are pay sites. Sorry!

Shade named Big East Freshman of the Week for the second time

Shade nabs another Big East FOW honor

Where is Paige Bueckers on the ESPN Top 25 player list?

A hero homecoming for Aaliyah Edwards

Edwards touching reaction to her Homecoming game

UConn heads into Holiday break on a high note