Three Beautiful Things 01/03/20: Lunch at the Outlaw, Badgers Triumph, Seton Hall Reflections

1. Debbie and I piled into the Sube and hurtled east on I-90 to Mullan, where we met up with Christy and Everett, Carol and Paul, and Teresa and John Baillie at the Outlaw Bar and Grill.  Christy organized this lunch, primarily as a way of thanking Teresa and John for giving her and Everett a generous load of firewood after removing some trees on their property. I enjoy a little day drinking in aged North Idaho bars like the Outlaw, the Prichard Tavern, and the Calder Store Restaurant and Bar. We seated ourselves at a long, sturdy table in the back of the room, near windows, where we all shone in the natural light. Here, look at these two pictures and you can get a sense of the rustic environment and the soft sunlight illuminating us (Carol took the group picture; Christy snapped the one of me):

Lunch at the Outlaw Bar and Grill 

My Rainier Beer Came in a Zags Glass

2. Back home, I settled in for an entertaining late afternoon college basketball double header. First, I watched the underdog Wisconsin Badgers hustle, play sturdy defense, make some clutch shots late, get spirited play out of their reserves, and upset the fifth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus. Granted, the Buckeyes were playing without their sturdy forward, Kyle Young (who'd just had his appendix removed), but Ohio State's rugged center, Kaleb Wesson, had a solid game, but when he had to sit with foul trouble, Wisconsin exploited his absence. In the final minutes, though, Wesson was very much in the game and he and his teammates could not come up with the kind of hustle plays, rebounds, and shots made under pressure from the free throw line and the field that Wisconsin's Brevin Pritzl, Tyler Wahl, and Nate Reuvers executed. In the end, the Badgers eked out a 61-57 win.

3. I'm fascinated by the Seton Hall Pirates basketball team. Back in November, I mused in a blog post that I hoped that as the season moved along, their star player, Myles Powell, would develop more trust in his teammates and not shoulder so much of the scoring load himself. Well, Myles Powell missed a couple or three games, first with an ankle injury and then with a concussion. In his absence (and in the absence of forward Sandro Mamukelashvii, fractured forearm), several Seton Hall players emerged as solid performers, independent of Myles Powell. As he watched (and cheered on his teammates) from the bench, Powell saw that Quincy McKnight is a complete player, both a playmaker and a scorer; Myles Cale emerged as a reliable scorer; Anthony Nelson also played well. Most impressive, to me, was the way Seton Hall's squad developed defensively.

In tonight's game against Georgetown, it became clear early on that Myles Powell had learned positive things about his teammates while injured. Myles Cale scored 15 points in the first half, exploiting the fact that Powell was attracting so much of Georgetown's defensive focus. Quincy McKnight was Seton Hall's primary ballhandler and he and Powell both worked a series of impressive pick and roll plays in the key with Romaro Gill who, game by game, is developing more power and finesse inside on offense and continues to be a prolific shot blocker on defense.

Myles Powell was in foul trouble. He sat out long stretches of this game and his teammates played brilliantly in his absence. Then, late in the game, when Georgetown had cut Seton Hall's once sizable lead to 11 points, Myles Powell suddenly came to life, scoring eight straight points, including two treys from a couple of time zones away, and Seton Hall glided to a 78-62 win.

With Myles Powell injured last month, Seton Hall could have folded. They didn't. They actually made hay in his absence. Lesser appreciated players not only gained valuable experience, they thrived, and I argue, earned Myles Powell's trust.

I'm eager to see if, as Seton Hall faces Xavier, Marquette, and Butler in the next ten days or so, the Pirates will continue to defend tenaciously and share the sugar, getting points from players across their roster and not depend so much on Myles Powell.