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Even my daughter Elizabeth (mother to Logan and Barrett) is looking for my Blog!!!
GO UCONN!!!!!
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It was so great to see some game action!!! The season is here and I'm so looking forward to see how is plays out.
Slow 1st and 3rd quarters, 15-11 and 20-19. And great 2nd and 4th quarters, 27-6 and 27-13.
That's 35-30 in the odd quarters and 54-19 in the even quarters. I have no idea what that means, but I thought that was interesting.
This was a typical exhibition game. Lots of rusty players, bad passes and bad shots. But also lots of good passes and good shots. It served it's purpose. They got to play against someone other than their teamates and practice players. No one got hurt. And Geno got to see how his players performed.
There is plenty to work on. Geno will see that they do just that.
So, how did the players look?
Bueckers - Well, she looked in mid-season form. 27 points on 12-14 shooting. She was 3-4 on threes. She tied for the team lead with 9 rebounds and had a steal and a block. Paige added 2 assists. Talk about silling up the stat sheet!! She just looks so good. Strong and smart as usual.
Shade - Ashlynn looked terrific. Great shooting as usual scoring 15 points, going 6-11 from the field and 3-6 on threes. And she looks even stronger than last year. You can tell she really hit the weight room. And she was all over the court on defense with 4 steals.
Chen - In her first action as a Huskie , Kaitlyn looked like she has been there for a few seasons. She was also 6-11 from the field and 2-3 on threes in scoring 14 points. She led the team in minutes with 35. Unusual in a game like this. But Geno showed how much he trusts her. She added 7 rebounds and led the team in assists with 5. Even when KK is back I see her staying in the starting lineup.
Strong - This girl has Talent, with a capital T. She added 11 points on 5-13 shooting. She was only 1-6 on threes. I will say that several of those just rattled around the rim. They will fall. What I liked most was her defense. She had 8 rebounds and 2 steals. And she played D on the perimeter and also in the paint effecively.
Samuels - It looks to me that Samuels has some new found confidence. She scored 12 points on 4-8 shooting, going 2-5 on threes and was 2-2 from the foul line. She drove to the basket with strong dribbles and just seemed to get it more than she did last season. If she plays like this it will be difficult to keep her on the bench and not in the regular rotation.
Ziebell - She does like to shoot...lol. She was 3-11 from the field and 2-10 on threes. Yep, 10 of her 11 shots were three points. Her drive to the basket for her only 2 pointer was excellent and I'd love to see her do more of that.
Brady - Boy did she struggle with her shot, going 0-5 from the field and 0-1 on threes. But she added 5 rebounds and was second on the team with 4 assists. I'll focus on the passing and hope the shooting is better next time.
El Alfy - Well, she certainly looked like a player that hasn't seen a competative court on over a year. Kinda looked lost out there for much of it and as many predicted was in fould trouble early and often. It limited her to 11 minutes, but in that short timeframe she had 9 rebounds to tie Bueckers for the team lead.
So we wait for Thursday when is counts. I'm not sure Boston University is any better than Fort Hays. I'll put together a game preview and I'll know more as I put it together.
I'm very hopeful that the 8 player rotation will turn into a 10 player rotation with KK Arnold and Morgan Cheli coming back for minutes.
Just a start! GO HUSKIES!!!!
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(minus the first 5 minutes of the game)
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No. 1 South Carolina vs Michigan
No. 3 USC vs No. 20 Ole Miss
No. 5 UCLA vs No. 17 Louisville
No. 6 Notre Dame vs Mercyhurst
No. 8 Iowa State vs Chicago State
No. 10 Oklahoma vs Southern
No. 11 Duke vs Radford
No. 13 Kansas State vs Green Bay
No. 15 North Carolina vs Charleston Southern
No. 18 Maryland vs UMBC
No. 19 Florida State vs North Florida
No. 22 Kentucky vs South Caroline Upstate
No. 23 Nebraska vs Omaha
No. 24 Alabama vs New Orleans
No. 25 Indiana vs Brown
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Straight from the Dog
Geno's pregame interview was as always a pleasure to watch. Funny, reflective, informational.
He reflected some on the fact that this is his 39th season. He metioned that Doug Bruno is the only BE coach that is still coaching. Some schools changed head coaches 2-3 times since he started. But he said he is excited about this season, so happy to have options in the lineup.
Speaking of lineups, he also game an injury update.
Azzi Fudd is practicing great. She looks amazing. He is just waiting for her to come to him say she is ready to go. He is ready to see her play. My best guess is she will only miss one or two games. However, after watching her teammates play, I wouldn't be surprised to see her get a few minutes Thursday night.
KK Arnold tweaked an ankle. Obviously enough of a tweak to keep her out of the exhibition game. She should be ok for Thursday night. Geno did say it was minor.
Morgan Cheli is very close. She might be ready for Thusday night. When practicing, she is playing really well and like Sarah Strong, can play both inside and outside.
Ayanna Patterson is still an unknown. Geno shrugged his shoulders a few times when asked when she might be back. Not a good sign. She did not have the arm in a sling, but it was hanging from the side and she didn't look comfortable.
He didn't mention Aubrey Griffin. She is expected back in January. No change to that I would think.
He didn't mention Caroline Ducharme either. She was not dressed, she was in sweats. I have no idea what to make of that. It's hard to believe she will play at all this season. I hope I'm wrong.
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So why Fort Hays State?
Let's start with minor connections which don't explain why way of playing them.
My good friend Ginny goes to final fours with me every year and is a Fort Hays grad. I'm pretty sure they didn't schedule Fort Hays because she graduated from there.
When I went on my basketball/history Road tour a few years ago, one of the stops was at Kansas State. While standing in line, I saw a couple people wearing for a sweatshirt so I stopped to talk to them. What did I talk about? I talked about the game between Fort Hays State and UConn in 2017. But that obviously wasn't why we were playing Fort Hays State.
You may have heard of Peter Werth. He has a residence center named after him, as well as the "Werth family UConn basketball champion center" He is a Fort Hays grad and while I'm making a supposition, I suspect it's a good one. I assume he's the reason we played them in 2017 and in 2021 and again this year.
Let's start with minor connections which don't explain why way of playing them.
My good friend Ginny goes to final fours with me every year and is a Fort Hays grad. I'm pretty sure they didn't schedule Fort Hays because she graduated from there.
When I went on my basketball/history Road tour a few years ago, one of the stops was at Kansas State. While standing in line, I saw a couple people wearing for a sweatshirt so I stopped to talk to them. What did I talk about? I talked about the game between Fort Hays State and UConn in 2017. But that obviously wasn't why we were playing Fort Hays State.
You may have heard of Peter Werth. He has a residence center named after him, as well as the "Werth family UConn basketball champion center" He is a Fort Hays grad and while I'm making a supposition, I suspect it's a good one. I assume he's the reason we played them in 2017 and in 2021 and again this year.
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Written before the game - UConn opens as 41 point favorites against Fort Hays State
Why it could be more:
When you contemplate Fort Hays State in 2021 they were 38 point favorites and won by 64. What I think Massey does a very good job of estimating strengths, I'm guessing it's tricky to evaluate Division I versus Division II. I haven't looked at enough data points to know whether the algorithm does a decent job of comparing different division teams but it seems quite plausible that it might not do well. In addition this got to be an intimidation factor one a division two team walks into Gampel, sees all the NC banners and national players of the year and other indicators that this is a very very good team. It's certainly a larger audience than they are used to and it's understandable there may be some stage fright.
Why it could be less:
While it's easy to argue why there might be stage fright, I watched both prior games with Fort Hays State, and if there was stage fright they hid it well. There was no confusion about which was the better team, but the Fort Hays team appeared to ignore the school board and just played hard as well as they could. Another reason why the margin could be smaller is that I anticipate Geno getting a lot of time to the bench. I think the starters will get most minutes, but I bet they'll be more bench minutes in this game than in almost all regular-season games.
Why it could be more:
When you contemplate Fort Hays State in 2021 they were 38 point favorites and won by 64. What I think Massey does a very good job of estimating strengths, I'm guessing it's tricky to evaluate Division I versus Division II. I haven't looked at enough data points to know whether the algorithm does a decent job of comparing different division teams but it seems quite plausible that it might not do well. In addition this got to be an intimidation factor one a division two team walks into Gampel, sees all the NC banners and national players of the year and other indicators that this is a very very good team. It's certainly a larger audience than they are used to and it's understandable there may be some stage fright.
Why it could be less:
While it's easy to argue why there might be stage fright, I watched both prior games with Fort Hays State, and if there was stage fright they hid it well. There was no confusion about which was the better team, but the Fort Hays team appeared to ignore the school board and just played hard as well as they could. Another reason why the margin could be smaller is that I anticipate Geno getting a lot of time to the bench. I think the starters will get most minutes, but I bet they'll be more bench minutes in this game than in almost all regular-season games.
Doggydaddy added - Well, it ended up 40, only one point less than the betting line. They are almost as good as me!!!
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Net positives (assists plus rebounds plus points plus blocks plus steals) - (every missed shot plus turnovers plus fouls).
Paige 38, Kaitlyn 16, Ashlynn 14, Sarah 14, Qadence 13, Jana 7, Allie 4, Ice 0.
Great crowd especially students. Privilege to watch Paige, almost every shot just touches the bottom of the net going through. Sarah is tough and very quick. Qadence should be a contributor! Jana fouled too much but rebounded and showed one nice move. Sarah has a soft touch. Allie missed a lot but was solid. Only really disappointing performance, reminiscent of earlier games of last year, was Ice.
Azzi’s mother recovering from knee replacement two weeks ago, as usual Azzi’s father leading the UConn cheers. Wishing her a good recovery.
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By David in Naples
I did get a commitment that David will contribute again this season. Looking forward to his wonderful takes on the Huskies!!
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