1. After preparing dressing and black bean soup on Monday, I woke up this morning to a messy kitchen. The more I put dishes away, wiped down surfaces, and washed dishes that don't fit in the dishwasher, the more I decided to do more cleaning. I cleaned the stove top, steam cleaned the oven, and cleaned the sink, giving myself a sparkling environment in which to do more cooking for Thanksgiving.
2. Carol sent out a call for volunteers to Christy and me to do some pet duties while she and Paul travel to Meridian for Thanksgiving. I immediately volunteered (not even giving Christy a chance!) and around 5:30 I went to Carol's to get my marching orders -- when to feed Sadie, when to let her out, when to feed the cats, how to give Toby his insulin, and other details. When I arrived, Carol was in the middle of making red curry squash soup and Zoe was making naan bread. Carol invited me to stick around for dinner and the soup was perfect: spicy, smooth, a little sweet, and, most of all, warming on this chilly day.
3. The Zags' game with Arizona came on around 7:30 and I skipped over to Christy and Everett's to watch it. The first half teetered on disaster for the Gonzaga. Key players were in foul trouble. Arizona's defense befuddled the Zags. The Zags plagued themselves with turnovers. The streaky Zach Norvell, Jr. was on a cold streak, clunking shot after shot. The second half opened unpromisingly. Arizona extended its lead to thirteen points as the Zags missed their first four shots. But, the Zags got energized by blocking some Wildcat shots, forcing some turnovers, finding their shooting touch, and by Arizona's Chase Jeter committing his fourth foul, protesting (profanely?), and being assessed a technical foul, his fifth foul of the game, disqualifying him. Everything sharpened for the Zags. Their passes inside connected. Norvell, Jr. got hot. With their depth, they wore down Arizona and, by game's end, the Zags had turned a thirteen point deficit into a seventeen point victory, 91-74.
Now, on Wednesday, the Zags play the top-rated squad in the whole USA, the Duke Blue Devils. In their past two games, the Zags have played one half of stellar basketball and been lousy the other half. Against Illinois and Arizona, they got away with being what John Blanchette called the Good Zags and the Bad Zags. If they are going to knock off Duke, needless to say, the Zags need to play as the Good Zags for the game's entire 40 minutes. Duke loves to score in the open court off of turnovers and missed and blocked shots. Duke loves to get their young flashy players running and soaring. They thrive on the energy and excitement of spectacular tomahawk and windmill slam dunks. The Zags will need to protect the basketball and, dare I say it?, improve their free throw shooting. I did not like that they only made 66.7% of their free throws against Arizona and 65.7% against Illinois. I'd like to see them bump that percentage into the 80s.
If they are the Good Zags all game long, Gonzaga will have a good shot at defeating the elite, athletic, and much younger Dukies.
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