Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 2/2/2024

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GO UCONN!!!!!

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Here is my UConn/St. John's II Pregame Report

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I forgot to add in the videos from the Villanova game. Enjoy!!

Game Hightlights

Game Highlights 2

Game Highlights 3

Paige Highlights

Nika Muhl Postgame Sideline Interview

Geno Postgame Sideline Interview

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Need a bucket? Need a rebound?

Find Aaliyah Edwards, she’ll help you out pic.twitter.com/3YHxNbk3tu
— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) February 2, 2024

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** Designates Upset

Games Thursday February 1st, 2024

No. 1 South Carolina 76 Auburn 54

No. 5 North Carolina State 63 North Carolina 59

No. 8 Ohio State 87 Wisconsin 49

No. 12 Texas 67 No. 13 Baylor 55

No, 14 Notre Dame 85 Georgia Tech 48

No. 16 Louisville 81 No. 21 Syracuse 69

No. 17 Virginia Tech 76 Virginia 63

No. 19 Gonzaga 80 San Diego 52

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Here is one person's list of 20 MVP-type players in High School Girls Basketball. I don't believe this is an official list, just one man's opinions. Still interesting. UConn recruit Allie Ziebell is on the list.

"Ziebell recently eclipsed 2,500 career points in high school and is averaging 28.2 this season. UConn coach Geno Auriemma is going to love her tenacious defense and high work rate."

Allie Ziebel nominated for Miss Basketball in Wisconsin. One of her opponents assistant coaches had this to say about her..

Great players on the list nominated. Allie Ziebell needs to be the choice. People don’t realize how good she is until they have to gameplan for her. We don’t even blink an eye that she scores 29 a game. Other players nominated deserve the recognition but she deserves the award.
— Trace (@Tr_Anderson22) January 31, 2024

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Straight from the Dog

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Wow, how quickly the bloom is off of this rose. It's a thorny situation!

Watching the video, attitude wise, she is a perfect fit for a Mukley run team. Arrogant and cocky. But the stats don't support that. This is her worse year shooting, on three pointers it's better than last year but not as good as her first two season. In fact, her freshman season was better overall. The only stats up from that year is her assists, but only because she actually is playing more point guard.

Her numbers in SEC play is a big downturn from the overall season. She is shooting 35.4% from the field, 35.4 on threes, 29 assists (3.6 apg), 23 turnovers (2.9 tpg) and averaging 10.2 PPG.

Did she make a mistake going to LSU? Nah. It's a perfect fit for her personality. And skill wise? She is just not the superstar that some people thought she would be.

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With WNBA free agency kicking off today, here's a look at the UConn players in the league: pic.twitter.com/BCgNevE3BH
— Daniel Connolly (@DanielVConnolly) February 1, 2024

That's now twelve former UConn players currently under contract and five free agents. Wow, a total of 17 UConn players will probably play in the WNBA this coming season. The numbers are astounding.

"UConn has had 45 WNBA college draft selections since the league's inception in 1997, the most for a collegiate program. Nineteen former Huskies have won a total of 33 WNBA championships. Four Huskies have been named WNBA MVPs (Diana Taurasi, Tina Charles, Maya Moore, Breanna Stewart"

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By PHIL

Alternative ranking

Some time ago, I proposed an alternative way to rank teams. Here is another one. Your task to figure out how these teams are ranked.

This time should be easier because I’m going to provide some hints.

• As before, this is a derivative ranking and requires access to some ranking system. The first list uses Massey
• While the prior example was motivated by the criteria used by the selection committee, that’s even more true of this one
• the metric doesn’t quite work for South Carolina but I don’t think anyone will quibble with my arbitrary placement

Frankly, my initial guess was that UConn would be a little higher on this list but 5th is pretty darn good. It’s not quite as high as their NET (3), or their Massey ranking (4), but it’s well above their AP ranking. I see this as good news as the selection committee doesn’t officially consider AP ranking but they will consider this metric.

1. South Carolina
2. Kansas State
3. Indiana
4. Iowa
5. UConn
6. Colorado
7. Stanford
8. Oregon State
9. Gonzaga
10. UCLA
11. Notre Dame
12. Texas
13. Virginia Tech
14. NC State
15. Ohio State
16. Louisville
17. Baylor
18. Utah
19. USC
20. LSU
21. Texas A&M
22. Washington State
23. TCU
24. Marquette
25. Auburn

For anyone I’m interested in looking at Massey rankings. I also did the same exercise with AP rankings.

1. South Carolina
2. Kansas State
3. Indiana
4. Iowa
5. UConn
6. Oregon State
7. Colorado
8. Stanford
9. Notre Dame
10. Gonzaga
11. UCLA
12. Texas
13. Virginia Tech
14. USC
15. NC State
16. Ohio State
17. Louisville
18. Baylor
19. Utah
20. LSU
21. Texas A&M
22. Washington State
23. TCU
24. Marquette
25. Auburn

If you haven’t memorized the selection criteria, shame on you (just kidding), here they are:

Criteria used by the Division I Women’s Basketball Committee to evaluate a team includes (alphabetically):

• Bad losses
• Common opponents
• Competitive in losses
• Conference record
• Early performance versus late performance
• Head-to-head
• NET ranking
• Non-conference record
• Observable component
• Overall record
• Regional rankings
• Significant wins
• Strength of schedule

Milestone watch

• Aaliyah Edwards reached 1571 career points with her 22 points in the Villanova game. She passed Wendy Davis to take sole possession of 24th place, and needs 11 points to tie Gabby Williams.

• Aaliyah Edwards now has 863 rebounds with 7 against Villanova. She is in sole possession of 14th place, and needs 34 more to catch Olivia Nelson-Ododa

• Nika Mühl had 569 assists after her 10 assists in the Villanova game. She passed Bria Hartley to take 7th place and needs 16 more to tie Sue Bird.

• Geno Auriemma now has 1198 wins and needs three 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.

Charles Dickens tale of two cities: it was the best of times it was the worst of times.

Spider tale of two halves: it was the worst of halves it was the best of halves.

Second half defense swarmed and helped like in the streak of blowouts. Nika great, KK played well, Ice looked better. Shouldn’t Q play a bit more?

UConn 98 Villanova 42. Olsen 4.

Nika 23/39, Aaliyah 22/34, Paige 20/39, KK 12/29, Ice 5/14, Ashlynn 5/36, Amari 2/1, Qadence 2/7, Ines 1/1. All positive.

Late had to watch men’s game. UConn: must see tv!

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UCONN LINKS

Several links are pay sites. Sorry!

Katie Lou signs with the Fever

Muhl's personal motivation against Villanova

Geno admires Jay Wrights approch to retirement