America is unique in the popularity of college basketball, and its popularity can rival the Super Bowl.
As the regular season of the NCAA basketball tournament approaches, the basketball atmosphere at the University of Southern California, a school that is not considered top-notch in basketball, has become extremely popular.
With the announcement of the 18-man roster of the school team, Li Ao's reputation outside the School of Computer Science also began to increase.
But he doesn’t think he should want this fame!
Recently he has had passers-by pointing at him at school.
What is known about his playing ability is that he led his team to two miserable defeats by the Art Team.
As for his personality, the main thing that spread was that he often got into fights.
To sum it up – can a guy like this make the roster? I’m afraid it’s not a place you can buy with money!
Trojans fans are unhappy, and that sentiment is growing as the new season gets closer.
The root cause of dissatisfaction is actually that they failed to attract those talented high school students to join this summer, and their signing performance was not even as good as last summer. Although Sam Clancy did not perform well last season, they at least introduced a top 50 player in the United States. This year only A No. 89.
There has to be a place to vent emotions, and it just so happened that Li Ao was in trouble. Trojans fans put all their dissatisfaction on the fact that he was selected for the roster.
Li Ao was very angry at first. Why didn't anyone mention his good academic performance?
If nothing unexpected happened, he estimated that the fact that he led the team to defeat the art team miserably and often got into fights was spread within the department.
Those who talk about cross talk will be together until death.
Also, he is an overseas student from China, which is another debuff.
But over time, I got used to it.
Just think of the entire USC school as the computer science department plus.
However, the fans of the college team are more passionate and loyal than he imagined. No wonder even though the Trojans are scum within the great Trojans, Vivian and Liam still support the Trojans. Team, this basketball atmosphere is so great.
Li Ao looked away from the matter. What Liam was more concerned about was that more people knew Li Ao. When he and Li Ao went out together, more people saw them, which made him feel more honorable.
But Vivian was very distressed. She wanted to explain to the students and teachers that, regardless of the facts, Li Ao was really a good boy, and he was not as bad as he was rumored to be.
But when the words came to her lips, she didn't know what to say, and for a moment she doubted her own knowledge...
The time came to November 20, Saturday, at 8:30 in the morning. There was still half an hour before the meeting time. Li Ao arrived at the Memorial Stadium in advance, but he was not the first to come. To be precise, after he arrived, only No one arrived - clocking in Shelby Jordan.
Because we have to start preparing for the opening game today. When we start preparing, we have to determine the lineup. The lineup for the opening game represents the 12-man roster.
Some of the 16 people who arrived first came before 8 o'clock, but until Li Ao arrived, no one was training. They were all chatting or discussing the opening game opponent UCLA.
At this point, there is no way to concentrate on training.
Those who are not confident about joining the main team are looking forward to it, and those who are confident about joining the main team also want to know quickly who the teammates will be for the opening game in a few days.
Li Ao is also looking forward to it, but is not so entangled. He feels that he is lucky to be selected into the squad. He was originally prepared to be a sparring partner for a year.
So after he arrived, he started to warm up directly and led the trainer to conduct individual defense training.
He feels that he is now in a stage of rapid improvement. The day before yesterday, Thursday, his mid-range shot has improved to 70.
He heard Xavier Johnson, a professional, say that after a player starts receiving professional shooting training, there will be a stage of rapid improvement after a certain period of training.
But generally speaking, that stage occurs after half a year to a year of practice. Depending on the talent, if it lasts longer, you can basically be sure that you have no shooting talent.
It is rare for him to reach this stage in 3 months in the career of Xavier Johnson, a shooting coach with many years of experience.
After this stage, you will enter a bottleneck period, a big bottleneck between being able to shoot and an excellent pitcher.
That's a big bottleneck that many professional players can't get past until they retire.
Li Ao now wants to take advantage of this stage to work hard to improve his mid-range shooting, hoping that the bottleneck will appear later. Both can shoot, and there is a big difference.
At 9 o'clock, the coaching staff arrived at the main training ground on time. After calling the names, they did not say a lot of chicken soup like when the 18-man roster was announced. Henry Bibby said directly: "On the 24th, our opponent is the Bruins. The starter is Brandon, Jeff, Shelby, Brian, Costas…”
The teammates looked at the five people standing together. When the names were called, Brandon Glanville, Jeff Trepagnier, Shelby Jordan, Brian Scalabrine, and Kostas -Charles The five of them came together in tacit understanding, just to enjoy this moment.
Overwhelming sense of superiority!
Then there is the substitute list, Nate Hale, Malaji Thurston, Li Ao, David Brusenthal, Sam Clancy, Rashad Jones, Frankie Evanisco.
This time, his teammates, including the five starters, all looked at Li Ao. Even Shelby Jordan looked surprised.
Tre Paganier came up and gave Li Ao a small punch on the chest: "Haha, I didn't expect you to be selected. If you can play, I will pass the ball to you!"
Several people with good relationships came up to congratulate or tease Li Ao.
Li Ao was pleasantly surprised but relatively calm. He knew that he would not be a member of the core rotation, and being selected for the 12-man roster did not mean he would have a chance to play.
This can be heard from Tre Paganier’s congratulatory words.
Not only does he feel this way, but so does everyone else.
Regarding Li Ao being selected for the main roster, those who were not selected felt more disappointed than jealous of him.
He has never missed training in the past three months, and he trains with full enthusiasm every time. This is seen by his teammates.
Even the two top 100 high school students Sam Clancy and Nate Hale, who were unhappy with him, didn't think there was anything wrong with his selection. He earned it through hard work and talent, but they still couldn't stand it. He is.
Yes, the word talent also appeared in the mouths of his teammates after Li Aozhong reached the stage of rapid progress.
Xavier Johnson said that Li Ao's mid-range improvement rate is rare. In fact, he has deliberately lowered his evaluation. He likes to say words of encouragement, but sometimes he will not praise it so harshly to prevent the players from being distracted.
For teammates who have less experience, there is no one around them who can achieve a good level of mid-range shooting after three months of zero-level training.
Bai Mamba recalled that back then, his progress was not as fast as that of Li Ao. It could be described as terrifying.
After replying with a few words of "I am a genius", Li Ao received a system prompt!
"The host has been selected into the Trojans' main lineup and will represent the Trojans in the game against the Bruins. You can check the strength evaluation report of teammates and opponents in this game.
Note: If the host is able to play in the game, he or she can view the player strength evaluation report for the game. The strength evaluation report is only judged based on the player's past comprehensive performance. In actual matches, it may be different from the strength evaluation report due to matchups, playing restraints, etc. There is a big gap. "
The system screen switches back to the main interface, and the 'Team' option that could not be viewed before is now on.
After giving the command in his mind, he opened the team interface, which displayed the Trojans' player list for the 1999-2000 season and the player list of the UCLA Bruins, the team they were about to play against.
He first looked at the opponent's lineup.
The first one, the strongest one, is a freshman.
Jason Kapono with an overall rating of 91!
He immediately took a look at his side. The strongest white man, Barbraine-Scalabrine, had a comprehensive rating of 92!
After a wave of analysis, he figured it out - in the NCAA, which does not defend three seconds and has rich experience in zone defense, the role of top tall pitchers is greater than the role of surpassing top centers.
These two are basically destined to play in the NBA. If they are white pitchers with running ability, many teams will want to try if they are not picked high, and the top evaluations of universities are normal.
When these two graduate as seniors, it is possible that their strength will be close to the top of the NCAA level.
He really wants to know how high the comprehensive evaluation of Adam Morrison, who will dominate the NCAA in the next few years, will be beyond the top? That guy averaged 28+ in his last year of college.
However, although the White Mamba can't beat Kapono, the gap between others is huge.
In addition to White Mamba, they also have a first-class player - Granville, with a comprehensive evaluation of 87.
Behind them are Trey Paganier with an overall rating of 81 and Brusenthal with an overall rating of 83.
After that, there will be no players with a comprehensive evaluation of 80.
And on the other side...
Jerome Moiso, Earl Watson, Dan Gazulic, Matt Barnes... there are 7 people who were in the top 100 in the United States in high school alone!
Although not all of these seven high school geniuses in the top 100 in the United States have been successful in college, there are only two of them in the top 100 high school students in the United States. One has not been successful, and the other is still a rookie, and their strength is far less than that of Kapono. Outstanding.
Even if Baron Davis participated in the draft early and the Bruins fell from the top team, the lineup still left Li Ao stunned.
Not to mention anything else, there were quite a few names that impressed him.
Fortunately, there are still several players on their side who have a comprehensive evaluation of over 70. They are at the fringe level of the Mad Three, and even though the Bruins have lost Baron Davis, they are not without a fight.
He heard Vivian say something about the Bruins. This may be the most successful basketball team in the history of the NCAA. They are very proud of their player selection, which is mainly reflected in two points.
The first is never promising to give scholarships to high school students who are not in the top 100 in the United States, and the second is not allowing freshmen to start.
Baron Davis, who was well-known throughout the country in high school, had been playing as a substitute during his freshman season. Even though his team role, personal performance, and playing time later in the season exceeded those of starter Toby Bailey, he still played a few games. Year substitute.
In the early years, this was not a problem. The UCLA Bruins were a resounding golden brand.
But in recent years, the age of NBA draft picks has been getting lower year by year. More and more people are making big money after their freshman and sophomore years. Many talented high school students have begun to no longer prefer UCLA, such as this year's No. 1 high school student in the United States, Donnell -Harvey rejected UCLA's invitation and joined the University of Florida, which guaranteed him a core forward position.
This past summer, the Bruins encountered the biggest waterloo in team history in terms of competing for talented high school students, and only got Jason Kapono, the No. 10 player in the country.
The top 100 high school students in the United States do not have enough points to score for Division I teams. High school students outside the top 100, because UCLA does not promise to give full scholarships, need to compete for performance scholarships and cannot guarantee playing time. This has led to UCLA this summer. There is only one full-price basketball given in advance, and it is for Jason Kapono.
Those who were outside the top 100 and had a certain reputation were all snatched away by major universities, and none of them went to UCLA to try their luck.
Although relying on the top 100 high school students in the United States recruited in the past two summers, there is also Kapono, a shooting forward who is more suitable for the NCAA to replace Baron Davis. He has sufficient high-level combat ability, but is a role player with 70+ level strength. , the Bruins team is pitiful and broken, with one-third of the players having a comprehensive evaluation below 70.
Looking at it like this, Li Ao suddenly felt that he could fight too!
…
After announcing the lineup, the coaching staff began to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the game against the Bruins and talk about how to play.
Like Li Ao's analysis, the coaching staff also believes that their advantage lies in the second team.
But what surprised him was that in the starting stage, the key player in the eyes of the coaching staff was not White Mamba or Granville, but Shelby Jordan.
At the tactical level, the coaching staff is well prepared. The Bruins are an opponent who plays against them at least twice a year. The opponent's coaching lineup is stable and the players have changed, but the tactical system is stable. Media experts repeatedly analyze the Bruins' style of play every year, and they are not optimistic about them. It is said that preparing for this opponent is the easiest.
Then targeted tactical training began. At this time, some people were extremely active and wanted to steal the show. The coaching staff was trying to stop this behavior.
After being stopped, some were thin-skinned and stopped doing unnecessary things, while some were thick-skinned, such as Sam Clancy and Nate Hale, and refused to listen, but the coaching staff did not order them not to do so. ,just a reminder.
The coaches felt that Sam Clancy was difficult to discipline, but someone who wanted to get ahead always left a deeper impression on them.
Li Ao just does what he can do. His role in the tactical system is very simple, and the things he does in training are also very simple.
When he has nothing else to do, he goes to the side to practice the basic skills required for shooting or single defense.
This stable mentality is also very appreciated by the coaches.
Henry Bibby was very regretful at this time.
Li Ao has talent, hard work, and psychological quality, but as Li Ao's systematic evaluation said, in Henry Bibby's eyes, Li Ao is not yet a qualified member of the NCAA Division I school team, and his abilities are too single.
But Henry Bibby regrets that Li Ao can't make a contribution right away... No, he can't start squeezing this kid right away.
Four days passed quickly, and November 24th arrived.
Today is Wednesday, and tomorrow is the Thanksgiving holiday, from Thursday to Sunday, a 4-day holiday.
Before the start of Thanksgiving, two to three hundred teams in the NCAA Division I will kick off the new season today.
Li Ao didn't have to go to class today, the school gave him a holiday, but he still went to class in the morning.
The coaching staff's arrangement is to gather at two o'clock in the afternoon to prepare for the evening game and allow the players to have a good sleep. Henry Bibby, who is not an academic, understands players.
The new season is about to begin, and the enthusiasm of the fans will reach its first climax. Some men and women in the school who use sleeping with members of the school team as a way to show off are particularly excited at this time. A group of hot-blooded boys on the basketball team may have just met in the past few days. After leaving the Memorial Stadium, I was hooked up by men and women...well, men and women.
There are actually the most people who want to hook up with Li Ao, and some of them choose based on their appearance.
But after seeing too many of the aunties who are the hospital assistants next door, these really coquettish bitches, he really doesn't like them.
However, there is someone who looks particularly mature and looks like he is thirty or forty years old. He will accept the small card sent to him and give it to Liam in exchange for being called "good brother".
After lunch, Li Ao reported to the Memorial Stadium on time and accompanied the team in the final preparations before the game.
In the past four days, except for Sunday, which did not have team training due to Sunday, I have been training in my spare time for the other three days. I have made all the preparations I can. Today’s preparations are very simple. I emphasized the execution of tactics and spent time on them. handed over to the team members.
Li Ao discussed tactics with his teammates. He was mainly responsible for listening. Kevin Henderson told him that as a defensive pitcher, he needed to know more about how his teammates are used to playing and what they are used to doing when encountering different opponents. What an adjustment.
The specifics were not taught in too much detail, so he followed his own way - first of all, he listened.
The basketball system in the United States is too mature. For intramural competitions, each department will hire a coach. The price is not expensive. American coaches are not valuable. Even though their computer department hired coaches for three melons and two dates, they paid for it in vain. .
Junior high schools in the United States have professional coaches, and his teammates are familiar with how to prepare before games.
But in China, let alone junior high schools, it would be good to have a physical education teacher with professional basketball knowledge in high schools. Even in most universities, there are no truly professional basketball coaches.
In this regard, Li Ao is actively learning, starting from listening.
It was pretty much what he thought. When discussing tactics, the teammates who spoke were basically the core of the tactics or the team's strongest players like White Mamba. Others basically didn't interrupt. What surprised him was Sam Crane. Xi's love for attracting attention didn't interrupt.
Sam Clancy used to like to interrupt, but basically he did it forcefully. He wanted everyone to listen to him. No one listened to him, and even after being laughed at, he stopped interrupting at this time. His heart is also made of flesh. , it still hurts when you are ridiculed but cannot refute and dare not fight.
It's not that he made no progress last season, it's just that the points of improvement are difficult for people to notice, such as this aspect.
On the contrary, Shelby Jordan chatted very enthusiastically with the core of the tactics and the main scorers. Teammates who usually did not like to see or were too afraid to talk to him were discussing with him at this time, mainly analyzing the Bruins. team's defense.
Even Li Ao can feel that Shelby Jordan is better than other teammates in this aspect.
After thinking about it for a while, Li Ao understood the reason - Shelby Jordan is really talented in defense!
Shelby Jordan's understanding of defense is far better than that of his teammates, which is why he is so valued by the coaching staff.
It's a pity that this guy's physical condition is too mediocre except for his height. He didn't go to college until he was 20 years old. When he was 22 years old, his body was fully developed and he had enough physical condition to cope with the NCAA level competition. He didn't go any further. possible.
After hearing Shelby Jordan help White Mamba analyze how to deal with Matt Barnes, Li Ao thought of Kapono's scouting report and followed Shelby Jordan's thinking on how to deal with Kapono...
He doesn't want to admit it, but it seems that learning from Shelby Jordan is what suits him best right now.
When he realized that his train of thought had followed the path of a psychopath, he couldn't stop.
