1. Debbie and I have a house/dog sitting gig in Eugene and had planned on heading out on Tuesday (01-04), but today we decided to delay our departure a day because of weather. We hope the mess in the Columbia Gorge will improve and that leaving Wednesday (01-05) will work out better. Fortunately, if we are further delayed, backup plans are in place and the dog will be cared for. I am looking forward to seeing friends in Eugene (and possibly beyond) and will start working on making plans once we arrive.
2. Today, I got a few things done to prepare to leave. I filled both cars with gas, tidied up the garage by going first to the dump and then to the bin up the street and recycling cardboard, plastic bottles, and cans. I dropped by Silver Valley Tire to get the Camry's new snow tires retorqued. I scrubbed out Copper and Luna's litter pans and put fresh litter in them. I went to the dentist. I made a quick trip to Yoke's. All in all, things are in pretty good shape for us to leave on Wednesday.
3. Debbie made a pot of comforting and warming beef vegetable soup with noodles, a perfect accompaniment to today's basketball action in the Big 10. Tonight's two games were especially fun because of the astonishing play of two players, Wisconsin's Johnny Davis and Iowa's Keegan Murray.
Tonight, Johnny Davis scored 37 points and snagged 14 rebounds in Wisconsin's 74-69 upset of Purdue. Davis' performance was stunning. He's a great shooter from everywhere -- he buries threes, mid-range jumpers, drives to the iron, and can hit fade away shots from close to the hoop. His demeanor is calm and confident and he moves and shoots with grace, with an almost other worldly ease.
And he's not alone. Keegan Murray does much the same for Iowa. In the Hawkeyes' 80-75 win over Maryland, the unflappable, even tempered, graceful 6' 8" Murray scored 35 points, making an astonishing 5-6 from beyond the three-point arc and added to his deep shooting prowess and variety of shots from midrange and in the paint.
Some players, when they have big scoring nights, seem to explode for their points. Somehow, Davis and Murray made scoring 37 and 35 points seem quiet. They scored within their teams' offensive schemes. Both made a bigh percentage of their shots attempted. Often high scorers are also what we used to call ball hogs. I didn't think either Davis or Murray possessed the ball a lot. They didn't dribble for seconds on end searching for shots. They were efficient, calm, and accurate.
They made these two games a great pleasure to watch.
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