In the early morning of the next day, Li Kaiming had just finished breakfast when he received a message from coach Pastner, asking him to gather at the arena.
It seems that the coach must have received the news and the division list will be announced soon. Li Kaiming put away his mobile phone and rushed to the arena quickly.
As soon as he entered the stadium, he met Elliott Williams who was also at the door. The two chatted and laughed and quickly headed to the conference room. Pastner had already informed them to watch the live broadcast in the conference room.
When the two arrived at the conference room, most of the team had already arrived. They greeted their teammates and then each found a place to sit down.
On the projection screen, the CBS channel has started live broadcast. After the host finished reading the opening remarks, he gradually revealed the list of group matches from weak to strong!
The University of Memphis, which won the C-USA Conference Championship, was assigned to the Midwest Division and was the No. 13 seed in the Midwest Division.
Seeing that they were only rated as the No. 13 seed, the Tigers players were a little angry. No one likes to be looked down upon by others.
But when the name of the No. 10 seed came out, everyone in the conference room fell silent.
Georgia Tech!
As a traditional powerhouse, Georgia Tech had a poor record in the regular season this season, but in the ACC Conference Championship, they made it all the way to the finals, and finally lost to the favorite Duke University by 4 points. .
Such a team that has the strength to compete for the division championship is actually ranked as the No. 10 seed in the Midwest Division...
Although the appearance of Georgia Tech has moved Li Kaiming and others, when UNLV (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) appeared as the No. 8 seed, a huge commotion broke out in the conference room!
"Fuck!"
"What the hell is this? UNLV is ranked 8th?"
"Are you kidding me?"
…
While they were still sighing, the name of Michigan State University appeared in the fifth position, and the entire conference room fell into deathly silence again.
Elliot Williams stared blankly at the screen with his mouth open. Willie Kemp covered his mouth with his fist, his eyes filled with disbelief...
Even Pastner, who had remained calm all this time, couldn't sit still. He clenched his fists and stared at the match list on the screen.
The No. 4 seed in the competition area will be announced next. Everyone in the conference room, including Li Kaiming, focused their attention on the top of the screen. According to the competition system, the No. 4 seed will be the first-round opponent of the No. 13 seed.
Li Kaiming looked around and saw that all his teammates had serious expressions on their faces.
After all, the top three strong teams can only be ranked so low, so it's hard to imagine how terrifying the teams above are!
Amidst the constant breathing in the conference room, the name of the No. 4 seed appeared on the screen...
University of Maryland!
After seeing the name of the University of Maryland, everyone on the Tigers let out a long breath!
Then they all laughed, and it turned out to be Maryland. Coincidentally, after the Tigers, led by Tyreke Evans, reached March Madness last season, their opponent in the second round was the University of Maryland!
In that game, the Tigers defeated the University of Maryland 89-70 and advanced to the top 16. Therefore, for some old people in the team, the University of Maryland is an old rival.
For two consecutive years, the University of Memphis and the University of Maryland have been assigned to the same division.
Especially for Kemp, Salley and Weatherpens, who were also on the Tigers last season, there was no psychological pressure at all against the University of Maryland.
Are you afraid that one of your subordinates will be defeated?
Immediately afterwards, the name of the No. 3 seed was also announced, Georgetown University!
Another traditional hero! Georgetown University is famous for producing powerful centers. The team has produced Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning and Mutombo, whose name is too long to type out. Of course, there is another alumni that cannot be ignored. It’s the No. 1 pick of the 1996 golden generation—“The Answer” Allen Iverson!
This year's Georgetown University is still strong. They have Greg Monroe, who is predicted to be selected in the lottery, following Georgetown's tradition of being rich in centers.
The No. 2 seed was also announced later, and it was Ohio State led by No. 1 pick Evan Turner. This season, Ohio State made a sudden appearance under the leadership of Turner and won the Big Ten Conference regular season championship.
Finally, there is the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Division, and the official NCAA favorite to win the championship.
Although everyone in the Tigers team had been extremely shocked by the strong team in front of them, when the name of the No. 1 seed appeared, everyone still gasped in unison!
hiss! It’s actually the University of Kansas!
There is no need to talk about the strength of the University of Kansas. Anyone who knows a little bit about the NCAA knows the dominance of the University of Kansas in March Madness.
Anyone who takes a look at this list of the Midwestern Division will say it's a meat grinder!
Facing such an opponent, the Tigers players were a little silent for a while.
Pastner broke the silence, "Boys, our opponents are very strong, but we are not easy to mess with! As long as we formulate a good strategy before the game and you perform well, it is not impossible to defeat them. Besides, it is not impossible in one game." Win or lose, anything is possible.”
Although Pastner said he was not afraid, Li Kaiming had already heard the underlying meaning of his words. Even Memphis coach Pastner believed that he had little chance of winning against those strong teams.
Even after Pastner completed his mission to enter March Madness, he began to let himself go and his mentality changed.
Especially seeing that the opponent in the first round is actually the University of Maryland. The Tigers have a great chance of advancing. Being able to pass the first round and enter the top 32 is already an overfulfillment task for Pastner. The remaining It doesn't matter whether you win or lose the game.
At the same time, there has been a lot of discussion about March Madness on the Internet, and the Midwest, a division where strong teams gather, has deservedly become the hottest topic of discussion. The Midwest is also called the group of death by netizens.
This year's schedule has also undergone a slight change. The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and Winthrop University in the Southern Division will have a first-round matchup before the official national championship, which is the playoffs. The winner Earned the No. 16 seed in the South Division.
According to the official NCAA arrangements, these two teams will play in the playoffs at the University of Dayton Stadium on March 16, which is tomorrow.
After the play-offs, March Madness will officially kick off on March 18th!
According to the schedule, Memphis' first game will be held on March 19 at the Veterans Memorial Arena in Spokane, Washington. At this time, there are more than three days left for them.
At the urging of coach Pastner, the Tigers boarded a plane to Washington that afternoon.
