Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 4/1/2024

GO UCONN!!!!!

The Boys and their Dogs -

Under the UConn blanket!!

GO UCONN!!!!!

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Only a few days left!!

Naismith fan voting has started. You can vote once a day. Paige and Aaliyah are on the ballot.

VOTE HERE

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Doggy's UConn/USC Pregame Report

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Just six Huskies have ever recorded 1,800 points and 1,000 rebounds:

- Maya Moore
- Breanna Stewart
- Napheesa Collier
- Tina Charles
- Rebecca Lobo
- Aaliyah Edwards 👏 pic.twitter.com/Gs5BskH0ji
— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) March 31, 2024

The Huskies are going to the Elite Eight! pic.twitter.com/So22OgKEAo
— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) March 31, 2024

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I read on the message boards how tired Paige was and she was so sad in the post game interview.

Maybe tired but she doesn't look sad here, does she?

They won. I'm sure they all feel pretty rejuvinated.

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The three-point lines are different on each side of the court in Portland for the Elite Eight. The NCAA measured pregame and confirmed one side is a different three-point length than the other. 🤦

NC State and Texas agreed to play through it. 🏀 #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/UnBo13kBUi
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 31, 2024

What a crazy situation. Hard to believe the incompetance of the NCAA, if that who's fault it is. It will be corrected before Monday's games. That doesn't change the possible impact it had on the games that played with the incorrect distances.

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Paige talks USC/JuJu Watkins

Geno looks at Elite Eight Match up

Audio: Ashlynn Shade Pregame Interview

Audio: Geno, Paige and Aaliyah Pregame Interview

Preview of UConn vs USC in Elite Eight

(This guy is a little strange but good info)

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Two of the four teams have earned their spot in the final four.

Overall 1 seed South Carolina was played close by Oregon State for the first half only down 37-33 at the half. It was only a two point game 43-41 with 5 minutes remaining in the third quarter but before you could say "undefeated" the Gamecocks pulled ahead by 12 points going into the fourth quarter. And as usual for South Carolina it was bench players Feagin, Johnson an Fulwiley that did the damage. It's what make South Carolina so good. Oregon State pulled as close as they would get, only down 62-58 with a little under 4 miutes left but free throws by South Carolina put the game away. I have to say this. South Carolina has looked beatable.

One of my favorive players, Ashlyn Watkins, was great in this game with 8 points and 14 rebounds. She added 4 blocks.

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UConn will have a chance to join this exclusive group as 3 Seed NC State beat 1 Seed Texas 76-66. Gotta give bigtime props to NC State. They were down in a tight game early but the Wolfpack pulled away and took a 19-14 lead after one quarter. They extended that to an 18 point lead with 3 minutes left in the 2nd quarter. Texas made a nice little run to close to 43-31 at the half. It got as close as 6 points in the third quarter and it ended up with 9 point lead for NC state after three quarters. Texas never got closer than 8 points for the rest of the game. The Wolfpack rode the outside shooting of Aziaha James, who scored 27 points and went 7-9 on threes. Spectacular game.

You have to give Texas credit for getting this far without Rory Harmon, their superstar point guard, who was injured early in the season.

And credit to NC State, who was unranked and picked 8th in the ACC to start this season. Wow!

NC State will give South Carolina a good game. With some luck.......

Game Highlights

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By PHIL

Notable tournament stats

11 National championships - Sole possession of first place

22 Final Fours - Sole possession of first place

28 Elite Eight - Tied for first place

30 Sweet 16's - Second place

135 tournament wins - Sole possession of first place

Before Sunday, UConn had 27 Elite Eight wins, which was second best overall, so Sunday's win over Duke not only moved them into the Elite Eight, but gave them 28 career Elite Eights, tied with Tennessee for the most ever.

Milestone Watch

• Aaliyah Edwards had 12 points in the Duke game, which brings her to a career total of 1809 points. She passed Stefanie Dolson and Tiffany Hayes to take sole possession of 16th place all time.

• Aaliyah Edwards now has 1006 rebounds with 7 against Duke. She now needs 1 to catch Gabby Williams in 8th place.

• Nika Mühl has 671 assists after her 8 assists in the Duke game. She extends her record as the all-time leader in career assists

• Mühl is now the holder of:

o Single game assists record 15 (against NC State 20 November 2022) surpassing Paige Bueckers

o Single season assists record 284 (2022–23) surpassing Sue Bird’s 231

o Career assists record surpassing Moriah Jefferson

Paige Bueckers now has 809 points this season. This moves her past Napheesa Collier who had 792 in 2018-19, and Breanna Stewart who had 777 in 2013-14. She is now in 2nd place, behind only Maya Moore who had 868 in 2010–11.

• Geno now has 1212 wins.

• UConn now has 135 NCAA wins, more than any other school.

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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 56, Duke 26.

Net positives/minutes played: Paige 16/40, Aaliyah 15/29, Nika 13/40, KK 10/40, Ice 3/13, Ashlynn -2/38.

Ugly but we won. Statistically, Nika, KK and Ice had their best games of the NCAA tournament. USC bench 26 minutes, UConn 13. Paige looked exhausted. No Q at all past two games? Ice did not hurt us. What an effort!

Go Huskies! Pummel the Trojans!!

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Tournament Section