On March 24, 1996, the NCAA tournament ushered in the regional finals.
In the Eastern Region, the University of Massachusetts, with Marcus Camby, finally met Georgetown University in the regional finals. Allen Iverson lived up to expectations and could be regarded as completing his stage goal.
In the Midwest region, the result that fans loved to see finally appeared. Wake Forest University defeated Louisville with difficulty and successfully reached the regional finals.
In the finals, they will meet the powerful University of Kentucky, where Tim Duncan and Antoine Walker have attracted a lot of media attention.
It's just that the University of Kentucky's dominance this year is too strong. In the semifinals, they defeated Utah State 101:70. The 31-point difference once again demonstrated their absolute strength.
In the Southeast Region, Connecticut and Cincinnati reached the regional finals. The same as the above two regions, the two sides were also a duel between the No. 1 seed and the No. 2 seed.
A lot of fans from the University of Connecticut came again. The previous teams had never reached the semi-finals, and everyone wanted to witness history together.
In the Western Region, No. 2 seed Kansas State and No. 4 seed Syracuse met in the finals. This was the only group that had a counterattack.
Top seed Purdue University was eliminated by No. 8 seed George Zoe in the quarterfinals of the region. Fans are looking forward to whether Syracuse can continue to defeat them.
CBS will continue to broadcast the four games of 8-4, and the NCAA is paying more and more attention to the final moment.
Although the NBA has placed more emphasis on talent in drafts in recent years, most of the head coaches of each team come from colleges. Some college players with poor physical conditions and strong tactical execution also have a chance to be selected.
Everyone in Connecticut only had more than one day of rest. At 14:04 on the 24th, the regional finals were ushered in at Rupp Arena.
Danny Fordson is Cincinnati's star inside man. Although he is only 2.01 meters tall, he has performed very well in the previous series with his soft shooting touch.
After the game started, Connecticut, which has a huge height advantage, frequently gave the ball to the big man Knight inside.
Playing high, there was nothing the 2.06-meter Damon Flint could do.
Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Bob Huggins stood on the sidelines looking helpless.
I thought that the opponent would give the ball to the star player Ray Allen, but after the game started, Ray Allen spent most of the time as a pitcher...
Head coach Calhoun seemed very proud. Ray Allen didn't care about his own data. In order to make history and reach the semi-finals, the data was no longer important at this time!
After the big man Knight succeeded in another high-flying shot under the basket, the score became 6:16.
The University of Connecticut fans shouted excitedly, this game was easier than they imagined!
Sitting on the bench, Li You once again experienced the huge role of big men in this era.
The 2.13 meter Travis Knight did not perform well in the first few rounds, but as long as the opponent does not have a star insider, he can easily defeat the opponent with his height advantage!
What made Li You even more speechless was that the Cincinnati players had obviously falsely reported their height!
One of Keith Legree and Danai Elberton, who came on the bench, was 1.85 meters, and the other was 1.88 meters. But at this time, Li You felt that the other party reported at least 5 centimeters more...
His height is 1.91 meters with bare feet, without any moisture. When wearing shoes, he is 1.93 meters tall. Li You, who was sitting on the bench, couldn't help but touch his hair and muttered in his heart:
"With an afro, I can become 196!"
After taking a double-digit lead, head coach Calhoun also began to rotate.
Their tactic in this game is to give the ball inside, and all the defenders have to do is defend.
Waved to Li You and before taking the field, head coach Calhoun simply said:
"Give the other team's smaller guys a run for their money and don't let them get easy shots."
Dorrent Marshall is about the same height as Li You, but this handsome white guy is good at organizing and controlling the rhythm, and he is not aggressive enough on both offense and defense.
Li You nodded to indicate that he understood that he liked this era where defense could be used, which made up for his lack of explosive power.
In the competition for the top four, both sides chose to fight against their main players, and the rotation was further shortened.
With 7 minutes and 22 seconds left in the first half, Connecticut made adjustments and Li You came on the bench again.
Soon, Cincinnati's two small backcourts felt the sudden increase in defensive pressure.
After the star player in the interior, Danny Fortson, continued to hit the iron, the team had no choice but to shift the offense to the outside.
The little Keith Legree, who had just made a breakthrough in the last round, was very uncomfortable being defended by Li You before halftime.
Especially because of the sudden change of direction in front of his body, he almost lost the ball, forcing the little defender to cross the center line with his butt sticking out...
This embarrassing appearance made the University of Connecticut fans scream with joy. Coming to the right wing, Keith Legree hurriedly protected the ball. When he saw his teammates running to the top of the arc with the help of the screen, he immediately sent a cross pass. .
Being forced to play the ball with his left hand, the ball speed was very slow. Li You, who had been defending closely, jumped forward. The moment the ball came out of his hands, he immediately completed the steal.
Keith Legree was almost brought to the floor by Li You. The little defender showed his hands to the linesman in anger, and then yelled:
"This is definitely a foul!"
Li You, who didn't hear the whistle, rushed forward after completing the steal. He went 1-on-0 from the front and quickly jumped into the air when he came to the paint area.
Quickly spinning the ball in front of him, Li You grabbed the ball with his right hand, stretched his body in the air, and then swung his arm to dunk!
"oh!!"
The powerful windmill dunk made the audience cheer loudly.
After landing, Li You opened his hands and made a gliding gesture. He quickly retreated with a smile. Facing the small defender with mediocre talent, he was going to hit hard on the defensive end!
The scouts at the scene soon discovered another characteristic of Li You, which is his keen judgment on the ball path.
Just considering the strength of the opponent's back line, this trait has been forgotten by some scouts.
The back line had difficulty getting the ball out, causing the Cincinnati Bearcats' offense to become increasingly stagnant.
Darnell Burton was forced to take over at the last moment and missed a shot from beyond the three-point line against Ray Allen's defense.
The rebound was easily collected by big man Knight and passed to Li You. Connecticut's offense suddenly accelerated.
Holding the ball with his left hand, Li You continued to accelerate to the left wing outside the three-point line while carrying the defense of the small man Keith Leger.
He stopped immediately when he was close to the three-point line. Li You quickly dribbled behind his back to his right hand, lowered his center of gravity, and pretended to break through.
Keith Leger subconsciously slid to the left quickly. The next second, Li You quickly changed direction with his hips. After switching to his left hand, he immediately lowered his shoulders and accelerated.
The small guard was nimble in his steps and wanted to block Li You again, but after physical contact, he was pushed past by the force and watched Li You go straight to the basket.
The moment he approached the paint area, he noticed that his opponent was coming to defend him. Li You, who was holding the ball in his left hand while walking, threw the ball to the upper right side of the basket.
The ball passed Dardenne Elberton's fingertips, and Ray Allen, who followed up quickly, jumped high, grabbed the ball with both hands in the air, and slammed the basket!
"Great aerial connection! Connecticut's backcourt showed their dominance!"
In the commentary box, Jim Nantz loudly praised this fast break. Compared with the rigid attack on the inside, the beautiful alley-oop also completely ignited the Rupp Arena.
At 8:20, the score difference reached 12 points!
Hearing the huge cheers erupting from the scene, head coach Calhoun also smiled with relief, they were about to make history!
