Zags Turn It Around In Turkey Day Triumph

It was the tale of two Zags--the mediocre, rusty, brick-heaving Zags of the first 30-minutes, and the hustling, scrappy, confident Zags that put the Oklahoma State Cowbows to bed in the last 10 minutes of Thursday's match up. Out of the gates, the Bulldogs looked like I felt after 3 trips through the food line--bloated, tired and indecisive (do I go for a 4th?...I wonder if there are any more of those mini-muffins?...do I have any food on my face?).

In completely un-Zaglike fashion, the Bulldogs shot an abysmal 50% from the line. I can't think of game that they turned in a worse performance at the charity stripe. I wasn't really ever too concerned at any point throughout the game because I figured they would shake off the rust and take over. You could tell they were under control, but no one was really stepping up or trying to dominate offensively. They made some poor choices shot selection-wise, and they were pretty unlucky in terms of their shots falling, but that comes with having not played in 9 days. In the end, the Zags were able get over their constipated play and put the lock down on the Cowboys four guard attack, and I went ahead for the fourth plateful and crushed another 3 pumkin mini-muffins.

I'm still really impressed with Goodson, though he did make a couple rookie mistakes--he ran out the shot clock and couldn't get the ball in bounds on another occasion--but I guess that is to be expected. He also had a sweet pass to Ira in traffic for what amounted to the all-time biggest rim check in history. I don't know how he got up after that. I would still be laying on the court with a fractured pelvis. He did, however, go on to totally redeem himself by almost single-handedly sparking the Zags to victory.

It wasn't a very encouraging showing tonight, particularly in light of Maryland's domination of Michigan State. I'll be interested to see which of the two Zags shows up tomorrow. I'm hoping they set the tone early and that everyone plays like Ira trying to make up for getting rim checked. If the Zags can get their act together early, and play up to their capabilities, they should be able to run with the Terps, or any program for that matter.

Go Zags.