When they arrived in Detroit, Xu Yong's life suddenly became richer.
First of all, they have been interviewed by the media twice as many times as before, or to be more precise, they have gone from "occasionally noticed" to "center of attention".
The reason for this is, on the one hand, that in the third and final stage, the team itself will gain greater exposure.
On the other hand, there is the new draft prediction list.
The Devils now have three lottery picks, and even if the media doesn't rush to report on them, scouts will pay more attention to them.
Then they were dragged to film a team promotional video for the Final Four.
It is worth mentioning that, unlike the other three teams, they are the only "dark horse" in this year's semi-finals because of their humble background.
Therefore, when shooting promotional videos, they became the objects of "care" for reporters when taking photos.
This feeling of being the center of attention makes them feel uncomfortable, but they also enjoy it very much.
Finally, while preparing for the game in the past few days, a piece of news broke from Michigan State University, making the upcoming semifinals full of controversy.
"No one can beat us in Michigan, and we're going to win our third championship here."
These confident remarks came from the mouth of a first-year freshman on the team when reporters were interviewing Michigan State University for training.
This man's name is Draymond Green.
Green is a four-star high school student in the same class as DeRozan. DeRozan is ranked 5th and he is ranked 95th.
As a rookie, his presence in the regular season was very low. He averaged 11 minutes per game, 3.3 points and 3.3 rebounds, and could only be considered a marginal player on the bench.
But since the tournament started, Green has earned playing time for himself with his tough defense and aggressive fighting.
In the four games of the past two stages, he averaged 21 minutes per game, averaging 9 points and 5.8 rebounds with a 64% shooting rate, becoming the well-deserved sixth man of the team.
Especially in the conference finals against the top-seeded University of Louisville, he was responsible for guarding the opponent's top scorer Earl Clark. Not only did he complete the task well, he also scored 6 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. , played a personal masterpiece in the championship.
It can be said that without him, Michigan State University would not be able to reach the third stage, which also made his self-confidence extremely inflated.
Of course, there is a background for why he said such words. When reporters interviewed him, they asked questions about defense, and the words kept reminding the Devils that the foursome will enter the NBA after the championship game.
So Green's original words were: "I don't care what their name is, Earl Clark, or James Harden, or Xu Yong, or whatever, no one can beat us in Michigan, we will be here Winning the third championship trophy.”
However, the consistent style of the media is to naturally remove some unnecessary words and come up with UC.
And Green is not blindly confident. In addition to having confidence in the team's strength, another more important reason is the "home court advantage."
Detroit is in Michigan, and Michigan State University is also in Michigan. The time, location, and people are the same. This is the same situation that Arizona State University experienced before.
Green's words quickly ignited the enthusiasm of Michigan fans after being reported by the media.
The last time a Michigan team won the championship was back in the 1999-2000 season, and that season also happened to be Michigan State University's championship.
Nine years of reincarnation, winning the cup at home, everything is the best arrangement.
Even Michigan State University's most famous alumnus, NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson, expressed support after hearing Green's remarks and announced that he would come to the scene to support his alma mater.
This scene also makes the NCAA organizers happy. Although the championship has attracted a lot of attention in the semi-finals, just like the money in your pocket, who would have too much?
The stage, lighting and sound are ready. Time: April 4th; Location: Ford Field in Detroit; Leading Role: Michigan State University; Supporting Role: Arizona State University, a great show is on.
The level of attention in the third phase is also unprecedented.
The moment Xu Yong came out of the player tunnel, he was shocked by the battle in front of him.
Ford Field is the home stadium of the NFL team the Lions. It can accommodate 80,000 people to watch the game, and now it is full.
Eighty thousand people, he only saw so many people when he attended the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games last year.
The swarming crowd, tens of thousands of people watching at the same time, and the endless sense of envelopment as far as the eye can see. This is no longer a matter of thin air, it really feels like I am an ant on the pot.
And nearly two-thirds of the people at the scene were Michigan State fans, which was even more exaggerated than when they were at the University of Phoenix Stadium.
Xu Yong quickly adjusted his mentality, and after seeing his teammates who were still in shock, he called everyone together.
"They say no one can beat them in Michigan, but we're not 'little guys.'"
Xu Yong used a relaxed way of speaking at this time, and the team members couldn't help laughing after hearing it.
"Nobody" has two meanings in English, one is "nobody" and the other is "little person".
Xu Yong's words cleverly cracked Green's junior formula and at the same time relieved the nervousness of the team members.
"Guys, crush them at the beginning!"
After seeing his teammates relax, Xu Yong raised his hand and shouted again.
"Come on, Devils!"
The team members also folded their hands and shouted the slogan again.
After shouting, they no longer paid attention to the surrounding environment, but focused on warming up, with high morale on their faces.
They didn't know Green's original intention when he said those words, but what they heard was Green's arrogance.
When a first-year player talks so wildly, they need to beat the hell out of the other guy.
After the opening ceremony, the starters from both sides came on stage one after another.
Travis Walton, Lurin Lucas, Delvin Roy, Remar Morgan, Goran Suton, this is the starting lineup of the Michigan State University Spartans.
Glasser, Harden, DeRozan, Xu Yong, Ayers, this is the starting lineup of the Arizona State University Devils.
Sandek replaced Cooksix in the starting lineup tonight with Glasser. The height of the lineup has been reduced, but the speed and movement control ability have been improved.
This is also true against the MSU Spartans.
The Spartans' tactics are very simple, which is to defend and counterattack, even press the whole court, and then rely on an excellent rotating lineup to suppress the pressure.
In the past, Michigan State University was able to defeat the University of Louisville only by relying on defense, which limited the score of the University of Louisville, which is known for its offense, to 52 points.
So the key to the game is to see if the Devils can penetrate the Spartans' defense.
Once they fail to do so and are dragged into a war of attrition by the opponent, they will be the next University of Louisville.
Therefore, "defeat the opponent at the beginning" is also Sandek's strategic thinking.
The game started immediately, with a jump ball from Als and Sutton in the center circle.
In the cheers of 80,000 people, Sutton won the opportunity for the Spartans to take the lead in attacking.
Then the Spartans immediately showed off their poor positional warfare offensive capabilities.
Teams with both offense and defense are not common in the NBA, let alone in the NCAA.
Students have little physical ability, so attack and defense can generally only focus on one aspect. Since the Spartans are good at defense, they are naturally not very good at attack.
Although they actually had a lot of pick-and-roll cooperation, because they had no offensive strong points, the Devils could switch defenses infinitely, which prevented them from getting easy shots. In the end, the ball was in Lucas's hands and he forced a breakthrough. The layup was directly hit by Xu Yong on the backboard.
Xu Yong took advantage of the opportunity to get the rebound, turned around and threw it to Glasser on the outside.
The Devils took the lead in a defensive counterattack. Glasser advanced to the two-on-one three-point line in the frontcourt and threw the ball directly into the sky.
"Bang!"
DeRozan followed up and soared into the air, starting with an alley-oop dunk!
The scene instantly erupted into deafening cheers from Arizona fans.
Although the number of fans was at a disadvantage, the Devils' shocking opening was enough to ignite their enthusiasm.
The difference between 20,000 crickets and 20,000 people is nothing!
The Devils scored, and the Spartans could only play position.
But this time they scored. Although they still didn't have a good chance, their white center Goran Suton fired from the outside and hit Ayers with a three-pointer.
Sutton is the only player on the Spartans to be drafted by the NBA in history, with the 50th overall pick in the second round.
The three-pointer gave the Spartans a chance, a chance to show off their defensive energy.
Glasser advanced to the frontcourt and was immediately flanked by the Spartans. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and quickly passed the ball to Harden.
But Harden didn't get an open shot either, because the Spartans were quick to get back on defense after a double attack.
This defensive approach is also a key factor in their ability to reach the Final Four.
However, they soon discovered something was wrong.
Because the moment Harden touches the ball, the Devils' biggest advantage is revealed. All five of their starting lineup can handle the ball!
Including center Ayers, he also has the ability to support.
Especially when the ball comes to Harden's hands, any double-teaming and recovery tricks won't work.
Because if you dare to clip it, the speed at which he releases the ball will make it too late for you to recover it.
"Uh-huh!"
Xu Yong received Harden's pass from the outside, hit a three-pointer in ecstasy, and immediately returned an answerball.
The Devils didn't even run a pick-and-roll!
Then, the game showed a one-sided trend with the Spartans' repeated defensive failures and poor positional warfare offense.
When the most powerful venom of a venomous snake loses its lethality, it is like meeting a flat-headed brother, and its only life is to become a spicy one.
The game was only 5 minutes old, 17 to 7, and the Devils had already extended their lead to double digits.
Pregame: No one can beat MSU in Michigan.
During the game: What a chicken and a dog, you are vulnerable!
It is actually not surprising that the game will reach this situation.
Because in the previous invitational stage, MSU played an invitational match with the University of North Carolina. The result of that game was that MSU lost by a full 35 points and was defeated by the University of North Carolina.
The rhythm of that game was very similar to this one. Because of the defensive strategy of flanking and recycling, when there are multiple offensive strong points on the field, you will not know who to focus on, and you will not dare to let anyone go. As a result, he was constantly mobilized by his opponents like a headless fly, exhausted.
What? Why can Michigan State University still reach the Final Four?
Because they are lucky.
The luck here does not mean that all their conference opponents are weak, but that they have never encountered opponents like North Carolina or Arizona State who have multiple strong points in the starting lineup before.
Or you can also understand that Arizona State University is one of Michigan State University's nemesis.
Of course, since no one has ever encountered this before in a tournament, the real effect will only be known after the game is played.
And it turns out that Sandek's adjustments were very masterful, and he grasped the essence of the opening.
The game lasted 7 minutes, and the score on the field was 7-21.
This is going to be defeated at halftime!
At this time, Michigan State University made substitution adjustments, with Darrell Summers, Chris Allen and Draymond Green coming off the bench.
