Friday, January 19, 2024

Doggy's Doghouse 1/20/2024

 






 



                                                                                                                       
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GO UCONN!!!!!

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** Designates Upset

Games Friday January 19th, 2024

No. 3 Colorado 68 No. 5 UCLA 76 ** 
No. 6 USC 58 No. 20 Utah 78 **
No. 8 Stanford vs Oregon

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Straight from the Dog




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"Tennessee just needs to keep winning. I have said it many times and it’s now proven that this team has not come close to reaching its ceiling. Tonight, Kaiya Wynn and Tamari Key showed that they are high caliber SEC players."

At first my initial feeling on this comment is wow, one game and they are high caliber SEC players? They must have had some great stats. Well.....

Kailya Wynn - 22 minutes, 13 points, 6-10 FG, 1-2 FT, 5 rebounds, 1 assists, 3 steals.
Tamari Key - 28 minutes, 8 points, 3-3 FG, 2-4 FT, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 3 blocks.

Then I remembered how other than South Carolina and maybe Vanderbilt and LSU, the SEC is full of mediocre and bad teams. So the bar for being a "high caliber SEC player" is pretty low. 

This particular fan must get whiplash jumping from hyperbole to hyperbole.   

If you need any more proof, Tennessee, a team that is struggling to create an NCAA tournament resume, is 4-1 in the SEC. An SEC where (god bless Shea for the her terrific season) Vanderbilt is also 4-1, and after the top 4 team there are 10 teams that are 2-2 or worse in the league. 
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Ok, now I have to make up to Shea. Coach Ralph is building a really good resume that will bode well when it's time to replace Geno 10 years down the road. Ok, maybe 5. 

She was 16-19 in her first season, 12-19 in her second and with her third year at the helm she is a sparkling 17-2 and 4-1 in the SEC. I won't be a hypocrite and say how good the SEC is to make Coach Ralph look better. But 17-2 is 17-2.

I've know Shea for a long time. No, we are not good friends. The one time we talked she was working as a waitress at Willington Pizza. I ordered pizza. But she was fun and engaging. But I really enjoyed her certainly from afar. There was something about her that made her impossible to not gravitate towards. Her tenacity and leadship on the court. Her ability to deal with the injuries. 

Ok, enough about the man crush...lol. I'm just so happy for her and her current success at Vanderbilt. Watching her build this program player by player and turning them into a mirror image of herself. Not talent wise but how they play. So hard, so intense. 

I can only imagine several years from now, what Coach Ralph will bring to UConn as their new head coach. 
     
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Now it's time for a disclaimer. For the 1 or 2 Tennessee fans that might read my blog, NO,  this is not a Holly or Kelly hire. Former players that never showed they could be successful at their Alma Mater. While I suppose it's possible she could fail, Shea is builing that resume at Vanderbilt.     
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What a shame that the PAC12 is desolving like it is. But at least it's going out with a bang. They have the No. 3, 5, 6, 8, 20 and 26th ranked teams. 

Check out my Top 25 Games section. Some great games Friday night.     

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By PHIL

Paige and Caitlin

(I’m a math guy. I understand proofs. This isn’t a proof, it’s a couple of anecdotes. Anecdotes aren’t definitive proofs, but they are useful ways to illustrate points. I also learned after writing this, that DD and I are on the same page, so to speak. I'm hoping that's a good thing :) I missed his summary of Paige and Caitlin results for the Seton Hall game and the season.)

Caitlin Clark seems to be on a trajectory for player of the year, along with the associated media coverage. Let there be no mistake, I’m not disagreeing with the coverage. However, I would like to look at the last two games in which Paige and Caitlin appeared.

UConn versus Seton Hall, Iowa versus Wisconsin

• In the game against Seton Hall, Paige played 33 minutes and scored 32 points.
• In the game against Wisconsin, Caitlin played 33 minutes and scored 32 points.

I guess we’ll have to look a little deeper.

Someone might wonder if Paige needed to play that much in a game that UConn won by 24 points. Let’s look at the score at the end of the third quarter of the UConn game — 61 – 51. Not remotely over. A few minutes into the fourth quarter it was pretty much over and Paige sat for the final minutes. If you look at the minutes distribution, Paige played fewer than Edwards, KK or Nika.

Let’s look at the score at the end of the third quarter of the Iowa game: 76 – 54. Pretty much over, and despite 13 players with minutes, Iowa decided that Caitlin should play more than any of the other players.

The point production is identical, but Paige shot 71% from the field, while Caitlin shot 44% from the field.

UConn versus St. Johns, Iowa versus Indiana

• In the game against St. John’s, Paige played 25 minutes and scored 22 points.
• In the game against Indiana, Caitlin played 34 minutes and scored 30 points

Obviously, Caitlin scored more, but there’s more to comparing performances than simply looking at the raw point count.

UConn game against St. John’s wasn’t as close, with UConn winning 92 – 49 a 43 point margin. That’s the main reason Paige played fewer minutes than any of the starters and only a single minute more than Ice Brady.

The Iowa-Indiana game was closer, 84 – 57, but at the end of the third quarter Iowa was up 65-48, so pretty much over but despite playing 11 players, Iowa decided that Clark needed to play more than anybody else. (Note this isn’t a criticism of Clark, who plays as many minutes as her coach wants her to).

However, I want to examine how to compare the performances in terms of points (I can see that Clark’s assists outshone Bueckers).

• Paige scored her 22 points on 8 for 9 shooting.
• Caitlin scored her 30 points on 10 for 21 shooting.

What’s the best way of comparing these two performances? I suggest subtracting, which is essentially saying how would you think about a player who started out eight for nine and ended up 10 for 21. The marginal performance is to for 12. Obviously, you can’t assume that Caitlin started eight for nine and ended up 10 for 21, but looking at the marginal performance persuades me that I’d much rather have eight for nine in 25 minutes. YMMV.

Milestone watch

• Aaliyah Edwards reached 1498 career points with her 17 points in the Seton Hall game. She needs 4 points to tie Ashja Jones, but ony 2 foor the 1500 point milestone.

• Nika Mühl had 543 assists after her 10 assists in the Steon Hall game. That moved to past Laura Lishness into sole possession of 13th place. She needs 2 more to tie Kelly Faris.

• Geno Auriemma now has 1195 wins and needs five more to reach the 1200 plateau.
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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 93, Seton Hall 36.

Net positives/minutes played: We have Paige and they don’t 32/33, Oh Canada 17/37, Croatian Sensation 14/37, Special KK 13/35, Q baller 8/10, Ice is nice 4/16, Portugal 1/2, Made in the Shade 0/28, Big Enigma-1/2.

That was a pain in the neck! Can’t wait to see Paige win a national championship this year, next year and/or the year after. 

Go UConn, Rampaige over the blue demons!

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Several links are pay sites. Sorry!


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