Encouraged by Jinguji Budo, Kuratani Sora took the basketball to the sideline and prepared to serve.
The ball is still in the hands of their yellow team, and this round of offense is not over yet.
Miyagi Ryota stood on the court, one meter away from Sora Kurutani, his arms shaking in front of the opponent's eyes, trying to interfere with the opponent's serve.
Miyagi is taller than Kuratani Sora. Under his defense, it is really not easy for Kuratani Sora to score the ball.
However, Kuratani Sora obviously knew his shortcomings. He made a misleading pass to Katsumi Ichiro near the three-point line, and then quickly passed the ball toward the inside.
When he released the ball, it happened that Sakuragi Hanamichi came to the outside to respond, and the basketball was directly held by Sakuragi in his hands.
The moment the basketball was released, Kurutani Sora also quickly ran towards the inside. When he passed Sakuragi Hanamichi, Kurutani Sora turned his head and looked towards Sakuragi Hanamichi.
Their eyes crossed.
Sakuragi Hanamichi saw the expectation and determination in Kurutani Sora's eyes. Without hesitation, he casually sent the ball to his side and threw it directly in front of Kurutani Sora.
"Snapped!"
Kurutani Sora didn't stop for a moment, reached out and smacked the ball, directly accelerated, and rushed towards the basket. At this moment, Kurutani Sora hit the basket like a high-speed cheetah!
"Stop him!"
Under the basket, watching Kurutani Sora's sudden advance, a member of the red team reminded him loudly.
The insider guarding the basket glanced at Oda Ryumasa, who was quickly cutting into the inside. After hesitating for a moment, he did not choose to move up to defend. Instead, he continued to stand under the basket, waiting for Sora Kurutani's attack to arrive.
He felt that with Kurutani Sora's height, even if he allowed the opponent to enter the basket, he would not be able to cause effective damage.
"squeak!!!"
And at this moment, Sora Kuratani, who was traveling at high speed and was being pursued by Miyagi Ryota, made an emergency stop, then took a side step and quickly distanced himself from Miyagi Ryota who was pursuing him.
Then, after receiving a slightly surprised look from Miyagi, Kurutani Sora, who had reached the mid-range, jumped slightly and shot the basketball in his hand.
"Uh-huh!!"
Under the astonished gazes of everyone, the basketball flew directly towards the basket, and then fell steadily into the net with a crisp sound.
As the basketball entered the net, Hanamichi Sakuragi looked at Sora Kurutani in astonishment. He couldn't believe that this series of side-step shooting movements came from his hands.
"Going in?!"
"The rhythm of the emergency stop is well controlled, the side steps are also very smooth, and the shooting posture is also very stable."
"Not a rookie."
Although Sakuragi Hanamichi's own skills are only so-so, he has been playing for so long and his vision has been honed.
Seeing Kurutani Sora's attack this time, Sakuragi Hanamichi immediately refreshed his impression of Kurutani Sora.
This short man is the kind of character who can shoot and break through!
"Papa...papa..."
On the side of the court, Jinguji Budo saw Kuratani Sora successfully scoring a goal. He also smiled and clapped his hands and applauded. Then he shouted to Miyagi Ryota in the field:
"Miyagi, this first-year transfer student pooped on your head!"
"You can't be so coward, can you?!"
Kurutani Sora originally thought that Jinguji Budo’s applause was to cheer him up, but he never thought that Jinguji Budo actually spoke directly to stimulate Miyagi Ryota, who was facing him.
Sure enough, after hearing this, Miyagi Ryota's expression froze slightly, and there was no trace of smile on his face.
When Sora Kurutani inadvertently caught Miyagi Ryota's sight, his whole body trembled subconsciously, and a hint of fear unexpectedly arose in his heart.
It wasn't that he was afraid of competing with Miyagi Ryota, but that he saw a strong killing intent in Miyagi's eyes.
It was as if the opponent would rush over and hit him in the next second.
"Everyone cheer up!"
"We absolutely cannot lose to the Yellow Team!"
"If we lose the game, everyone on the team will do ten laps on the playground!!!"
Miyagi Ryota became more competitive and shouted directly to the team members behind him. Hearing Miyagi's words, all the members of the red team also responded. In order not to accept corporal punishment, the members of the red team planned to fight, and the morale of the entire team suddenly increased.
"What?!"
"asshole!"
"We absolutely cannot lose to the Yellow Team!"
"If we lose, the whole team will run 15 laps!!"
Sakuragi Hanamichi obviously felt that his opponent's momentum increased under Miyagi Ryota's call.
When it comes to setting limits for corporal punishment, Sakuragi Hanamichi's damn desire to win is still at work. Even if it's corporal punishment, he doesn't want to be surpassed by the opponent, so he also shouted loudly.
He even claimed that the number of laps he ran was five more than his opponent.
However, unlike what Sakuragi expected, the voices of his team members were much quieter.
The practice match continued, although after Sora Kurutani took control of the ball, the yellow team's offensive methods became diverse. In addition to the inside attacks of Sakuragi Hanamichi and Oda Ryumasa, Kurutani Sora also frequently launched attacks from the outside.
At first, Miyagi Ryota was not familiar with this first-year opponent, thinking that the opponent was just a first-year player who was good at breakthroughs and mid-range shooting.
However, as the game progressed, Kuratani Sora showed his terrifying three-point shooting ability!
Yes, this first grader, who is only a little over 150cm tall, is best at shooting, and his three-pointers are extremely accurate!
He vaguely has the ability that Mitsui Hisashi had when he first entered high school!
The opponent's offensive ability really had a good effect. Miyagi Ryota was not aware of it for a moment, and his opponent really scored several three-pointers in succession.
However, after Miyagi Ryota got to know Kurutani Sora, Kurutani Sora's outside shooting was ineffective.
His height is not as good as Miyagi's, and his jumping ability is only slightly better than Miyagi Ryota's, which is not enough to make up for his disadvantage in height and wingspan.
After Miyagi took precautions, Kuratani Sora's attack was ineffective.
What troubles Kuratani Sora the most is that Miyagi Ryota likes to engage in physical confrontation when defending him. Sora Kurutani simply couldn't understand why the main point guard of Shohoku High School, who was also a short player, liked physical confrontation? !
During a normal game, isn't it true that a player of Miyagi Ryota's height who physically confronts his opponents is not trying to touch an egg with a rock?
The defensive method Sora Kuratani is good at is completely different from Miyagi Ryota. He likes to use his height and quick skills to create a certain distance from his opponents to create steal opportunities for himself!
However, Kurutani Sora could never realize that the opponents he had encountered before and the opponents Miyagi Ryota often encountered were on a completely different level.
In the high school arena, if a short guard wants to defend the opponent well, he can't do it without trying his best!
As for relying on steals to defend? Don't be ridiculous, no matter how good a player is, how many steals can he steal in a game? Do we have to rely on "visual" defense when there are no steals? !
Stealing opportunities not only rely on players to "grab" them, but also require players to know how to actively create them!
Sora Kurutani, who plays in a weak team like Kuzuryu High School and has relatively little experience in the main competition, obviously has no way of understanding Miyagi Ryota.
And in his first game in Xiangbei, he was quite uncomfortable playing.
Miyagi Ryota's restrictions on him were too great.
Sora Kurutani was completely suppressed by Ryota Miyagi on the offensive end, but there were no major problems with the team's operation. It would be extremely difficult for Sora Kurutani to attack Miyagi Ryota alone, but if he just passes the ball and helps the team sort out the offense, he can still do it.
With Sora Kuratani's assistance, Sakuragi Hanamichi felt comfortable playing, let alone others.
Kurutani Sora's observation skills are very good. Although he has only played few balls with Sakuragi Hanamichi, he has already mastered the key to "using" Sakuragi.
Therefore, the offensive efficiency of the Yellow Team is generally pretty good.
Sakuragi Hanamichi scored frequently, but made occasional mistakes.
The yellow team played well, but the red team's performance can be described as excellent.
Miyagi Ryota is a veteran player and knows the characteristics of his teammates well. He has no problem linking up the red team's offense. Even Miyagi Ryota himself frequently uses his body to single out Sora Kurutani, repeatedly getting inside to cause damage.
The yellow team's defense line was completely destroyed by Miyagi Ryota's team.
Under the repeated bombardment of several players, the yellow team's defense line was completely lost.
The sun sets.
"Ho ho."
On the playground of Xianghoku High School, Kuratani gasped and tried hard to follow the team members in front of him.
His yellow team lost.
Moreover, what Sakuragi Hanamichi said with fierce fighting spirit was taken seriously by the captain Jinguji Budo.
After the game, a team of them, after resting for an hour, were pulled to the playground and given a penalty run. Fortunately, Captain Jinguji was quite humane and didn't ask them to run laps as soon as the game was over, otherwise Kurutani Sora really thought he would faint.
But even so, Kuratani Sora still felt that Shohoku's training was too "rich". And it’s also very intense.
They are running laps on the playground. The players in the basketball hall in Xiangbei are not idle either. They are just running laps without a ball. The players inside are just running laps with a ball.
"Shohoku High School."
“It’s really different!!”
"I will definitely establish a foothold in Shohoku!!"
Thinking of this in his mind, Kuratani Sora felt that the soreness in his muscles was much lessened. He quickened his pace and quickly passed the red-haired boy in front of him.
"oh?!"
"You're so energetic! Sora Kuratani!"
"Oh oh oh!!! I can't lose to you either!"
Sakuragi Hanamichi, who was overtaken by Kurutani Sora, suddenly "burned", and he shouted strangely and quickened his pace, leaving Kurutani Sora behind in an instant. Kurutani Sora wanted to speed up to catch up with Sakuragi Hanamichi, but he was short In just a few breaths, Sakuragi Hanamichi had already thrown him away several meters.
Looking at the back of Sakuragi Hanamichi who was slowly going away, Kurutani Sora was speechless for a long time.
If he remembers correctly.
Sakuragi Hanamichi just finished the game and went to shooting training without much rest. Then he ran a lap with them. This was the tenth lap.
"Is that guy a monster?!"
Che Gukong sighed secretly, and felt personally what the gap was!
Transfer student Sora Kuratani officially became a member of the Shohoku High School basketball club.
Due to his excellent performance in the practice match, Kuratani Sora successfully jumped over the third team and directly entered the second team to train with the players of the second team.
This semester, for high school students, the most important and most watched event is the Autumn National Sports.
This is a large-scale competition in which counties compete.
Although it is the most important competition for high school students, in fact, Aki no Kuni Sports has nothing to do with many high school students.
The most important role of this semester is to allow each team to adjust its team and lay a solid foundation.
The third-year high school players will basically leave the team in the summer, and there are no other large-scale events this semester. For the vast majority of players, this is the best opportunity to exercise their strength.
But for some outstanding players, this semester is also a semester of competition for honors!
"Coach Anxi, the arrangements for Qiu Zhiguo Sports are here."
"As a famous coach who led Shohoku High School to win the national championship, you will be the head coach of this year's Autumn National Sports Kanagawa Prefecture team!"
"This is the team building planning report, please take a look."
Early this morning, a middle-aged man in a suit and tie greeted the staff office where Coach Anxi was located. After being led to a seat by Coach Anxi, the middle-aged man took out a piece of information from the document bag he carried with him and handed it to Coach Anxi.
"Hoo ho ho ho."
"OK."
Coach Anxi took the file, opened it, pulled out a stack of A4 paper, and then carefully reviewed the contents.
At the same time, the middle-aged man also looked at Coach Anxi and said:
"This year, we in Kanagawa Prefecture have made adjustments to the way we recruit members for the representative team."
"What the above means is that we want to conduct a large-scale screening and eliminate the previous method of assigning players to participate in training by each high school."
"The purpose is to prevent some coaches from practicing favoritism and detaining truly capable and talented players privately, denying them the opportunity to participate in the competition."
"This year, our county plans to use a full participation and elimination method to select players for the varsity team."
"All high school students of appropriate age can participate in the selection!"
"Although the workload is much greater than in previous years, for high school students, this method is more transparent and reasonable."
When Coach Anxi heard this arrangement, he raised his head in surprise.
"The whole county?"
Looking at the middle-aged man in confusion, Coach Anxi couldn't help but ask.
"Yes! The whole county!"
"The leader intends to pilot it in our Kanagawa Prefecture first, aiming to recruit all talents!"
The middle-aged man nodded and said with a smile.
"That's really a big project."
"How long does the selection take? The players are still students. For them, academics are the most important thing."
"I'm afraid it would be bad if you delay your studies for the Autumn National Sports Trials."
"What are you planning to do with this method of selecting materials?"
Coach Anxi shook the information in his hand, raised his head, and asked doubtfully.
"Professionalization of campus basketball!"
"Next, we will implement this!"
"Don't worry about players affecting their studies. Those who are not good enough will be eliminated within a week without affecting their studies."
"Those with good skills and able to pass the preliminary selection will also receive the attention of universities."
"The top ones may directly join the national team in the future! Receive professional training!"
"Coach Anxi, we want to be the strongest in Asia!!"
(End of chapter)
