The cheerleading team came in and put on a performance. Although they were still very plain and couldn't compare with the Huskies team, their clothes were very charming today, including Christmas style shorts + vests, and deer ears.
His teammates were almost laughing out loud, but Li Ao stuck to his heart and watched the performance with pure appreciation, so innocently.
When the cheerleading team's performance time was over, a school director, Henry Bibby, a cameraman, and several political and business people came to the home team's bench and called the players to come up.
In such a popular game, there are always people who want to take advantage of the heat and show off their faces.
Standing in the C position this time is Arnold Schwarzenegger, a tough guy in the film industry.
Schwarzenegger, who is in his 50s, has rarely participated in film and television shootings since 1994. He has also played guest roles or supporting roles. He has not played a leading role in five years because he joined the Republican Party and is currently competing for a seat in the California state assembly. , a very high-profile one, even Li Ao, who doesn't care about those things, has heard about it.
Schwarzenegger enthusiastically shook hands, hugged and took photos with each team member and said words of encouragement.
One of his slogans when running for parliament was to reduce expenditure and promote sports.
To put it simply, it is to reduce redundant and redundant government expenditures and provide money to high school and college sports clubs. This has won the hearts of students in California, which has a popular sports atmosphere.
For example, at the University of Southern California, the new student body president's campaign slogan was to help each school team fight for more budgets from the school and make the Trojans greater.
In places with popular sports atmospheres such as California and Texas, using this as a slogan has always worked.
However, USC currently has a total of 89 NCAA Division I championships, ranking third in the entire NCAA. If it wants to be greater, it can only challenge Stanford University, which has won 95 Division I championships, and 101. UCLA, Division I champion.
UCLA, Stanford University, and the University of Southern California are some schools that are better than them in individual events, but in terms of overall sports strength, they are in the same league as the other three, and the others are arbitrary.
That's why the Trojans are called the 'Shame of Troy' because they have never won a national championship.
Finally, the Terminator's political show time was over, and he left with the captured videos and photos satisfied. The Trojans players finally got rid of this troublesome matter.
Normally, when they meet Schwarzenegger, there will definitely be a lot of people rushing up to him asking for autographs and photos.
But tonight, they are the protagonists. Schwarzenegger, a guy who is about to become a politician, comes to the camera, and seeing Schwarzenegger just makes me feel annoyed.
Players from the two teams came on the court and exchanged pleasantries. Mike Bibby, the former boss of the Wildcats, is the son of the Trojans head coach. Although the relationship between the two fathers and sons is bad, the relationship between the two teams has been good in the past two years.
After all, there was no conflict of interest between the two teams before, at least until the end of this game, there was no grudge.
But not everyone in the two teams is so friendly...
Li Ao came to the court to shoot and get a feel for the game, and fully prepared for the upcoming game.
He took a few shots and all of them went in. Just when he was happy that he seemed to be shooting well today, he suddenly felt like a light on his back.
Turn around and look...
What to do?
This guy doesn't think he's too handsome and wants to draw a gun in front of more than 20,000 people, right?
Li Ao stared back decisively, and his eyes met Arenas's. The opponent raised his neck proudly and grabbed the jersey number on his chest, then turned his head and stopped looking at him.
"No, it shouldn't be. You're not allowed to wear the same jersey number?"
Li Ao was extremely speechless.
Then he remembered another story about Arenas.
At the end of Arenas' freshman season in high school, due to his extremely improper playing attitude, the head coach of his school said that his probability of entering college was 0 and that he did not have the ability to play college basketball. He said that he could do nothing except pull-up jump shots.
In fact, it was his high school head coach who deliberately stimulated him. He was really stimulated and changed to the No. 0 jersey. In the next three years, he practiced pull-up jumpers like crazy. Since he said he could only pull up jumpers, then he would Focusing on the development of this technology, breakthroughs and other breakthroughs are also developed around the emergency stop jump shot.
After he corrected his training attitude, he made rapid progress. The team he led also won the Southern California Secondary League championship for three consecutive years. He also entered the top 100 in the United States at the age of 17.
Wait, Li Ao remembered. The universities Arenas most wanted to attend were the two universities in Los Angeles. The Trojans didn't even give Arenas a tryout opportunity.
In addition to being unfavorable due to his single technique, Arenas also had many negative incidents off the court.
It's normal for people who really want to go to college in Los Angeles to hate the Trojans now.
Li Ao was regretful and a little lucky at the same time. It was a pity that he missed such a powerful teammate, but he was even more grateful... He didn't have to worry about a man with a gun appearing in the locker room...
…
At 7 o'clock in the evening, amid the wild cheers of the fans at the scene, the Trojans' home game against the Wildcats started.
Wildcats starting lineup: Gardner, Arenas, Richard Jefferson, Michael Wright, Lauren Woods.
Trojans starting lineup: Granville, Trey Pagnier, Shelby Jordan, White Mamba, Charles.
Woods beat Charles to win the jump ball, giving the Wildcats a first down.
Li Ao sat on the bench, waiting for the call.
Kevin Henderson sat next to Li Ao and asked, "Are you observing how Shelby defends?"
Li Ao responded: "Yes."
"That's fine, but your first priority is your opponent."
"oh?"
"Yes, what we need you to do on the field, sometimes you may need to learn how Shelby defends and be his substitute, but your defense is more comprehensive than him, and we need you to do more things as a defense Or, you must first understand the opponent's situation. For example, Arenas, you can see which area he shoots well. In different games, the same person's shooting feeling will definitely be different. You can use this as a reference when defending. "
Li Ao nodded involuntarily: "That makes sense."
Kevin Henderson continued: "Of course it is also important for you to observe your teammates' defense, but to analyze how your teammates defend, you can watch the videos to learn. During the Christmas vacation, I will compile the videos of the first 8 games of the season and give them to you. , you should pay attention to what kind of defense your teammates use during the game, which is effective, and what kind of defense is not effective. If you can imitate the successful defense of your teammates, you need to consider more about your defensive advantages and how to do better. , how to avoid your own disadvantages..."
Li Ao nodded repeatedly, his neck almost sore.
In fact, these are very simple truths that you will find after hearing them, but before, he had explored them on his own, and it was difficult for him to think about them from an outsider's perspective like Kevin Henderson.
He's grateful for Kevin Henderson's guidance, but...
"Kevin, why didn't you teach me earlier? That way I could have practiced in several games, and now I might be able to make these observations and analyzes very skillfully."
This sounds unreasonable, and it’s because you learned something late.
But from Kevin Henderson's perspective, it was indeed his fault.
These are what should be taught.
However, he showed his true nature as a man and put the blame back: "How do I know that you are progressing so fast? I can help you develop a passing training plan and adjust the offensive and defensive system for you without taking any time?"
Li Ao: (≖-≖)
After a moment of silence, he gave a thumbs up: "That makes sense!"
Seeing that Kevin Henderson had nothing else to coach, Li Ao put this aside and focused on the game.
The team's progress was shown at the beginning of this game.
The Wildcats' starting lineup is slightly better than the Bruins. It is true that there is no forward shooter like Kapono who is most suitable for the NCAA, but the Wildcats' lineup has no obvious shortcomings and is very strong at every position.
Gardner's sudden points + long shots, Arenas' singles, Richard Jefferson's cutting, Michael Wright's comprehensive inside offensive skills, Woods' absolute height advantage of 216 centimeters...
But they Trojans didn’t trail off to the start!
Charles' tough defense prevented Woods from easily taking advantage of the inside. Shelby Jordan did a good job defending Michael Wright.
Although Woods and Michael Wright were too strong to contain the Trojans' zone defense, Gardner and Arenas had excellent singles opportunities, and Richard Jefferson also seized the opportunity. Cutting inside to complete the scoring,
But Trey Paganier also used skillful one-on-one singles to repeatedly score on Arenas. Granville and White Mamba's sudden points + running catch and shoot combination also beat Gardner and Richard Jefferson doesn't want it.
Everyone on the Trojans played very confidently, with sharp breakthroughs, decisive passes, and steady shots... forcing the oncoming Wildcats!
At 5 minutes and 22 seconds, White Mamba first used Shelby Jordan to block Richard Jefferson, and then used a beautiful turnaround to get rid of Michael Wright and reach the left side of the free throw line. Trey Paganier's pass from the distance made the mid-range shot.
The score came to 17-11, and the Trojans' lead came to 6 points!
Henry Bibby, who had been nervous standing on the sidelines, put his hands in his pockets at this time, and his expression became calm and calm, as if he had everything under his control.
He is the one who wants to win the most. The players will leave one day, and he will work here for many years, and he wants to coach him for 20 years like the old K coach Mike Krzyzewski and make enough money. retire.
The record is very important to him. He has already won 7 games in a row. This winning streak has surpassed his influence when he led the Trojans to three games. Naturally, he wants to continue the winning streak and expand this influence. force.
But this pocket, you really can’t insert it randomly.
By coincidence, Arenas happened to see this scene. The opponent's posture made Arenas extremely angry.
In addition, Henry Bibby refused to give Arenas a chance to try out and kicked him out of Los Angeles. The anger was doubled!
Then, Arenas first hit a long two-pointer with an emergency stop to face Shelby Jordan's defense.
Immediately afterwards, he stole Granville and counterattacked with a flying chop to score two points.
When the Trojans attacked, this time Charles' hook shot was perfect. Arenas flew inside to grab the defensive rebound. After advancing to the frontcourt, he performed a beautiful cross-step change of direction, which was so dazzling. Trepagnier defended in the opposite direction. Arenas showed amazing emergency braking ability this time. He stopped directly outside the three-point line, then suddenly pulled up and shot a three-pointer...
Shelby Jordan did a great job of covering up this ball. The defensive coverage area has expanded beyond the free throw line. As long as Arenas takes two steps to stop, he has made up for it.
But Arenas' exaggerated emergency stopping ability allowed Shelby Jordan to watch helplessly as the opponent shot three-pointers as if they were open...
Hit!
Arenas scored 7 points in a row, and the Wildcats led the Trojans by 1 point, 18-17.
Henry Bibby was dumbfounded. What kind of magical play is this?
He quickly took his hand out of his pocket and called a timeout!
The alpaca was racing back and forth in Henry Bibby's mind. Just a minute ago, he was still thinking, 'Let's see how long you can hold on until we call timeout.' But he didn't expect that the clown turned out to be himself!
Fortunately, he is an old man, and he only panics for a moment. After calling timeout, he regained his serious and calm appearance and thought quickly.
First of all, he affirmed himself and gave himself confidence that there was nothing wrong with his opening game.
But their weakness is that they don't have players like Arenas who can explode when they disagree to raise the team's ceiling.
Therefore, stable scoring cannot be lost.
So suppressing the outbreak of Arenas is the adjustment that should be made now.
The question now arises, who should be sent to guard Arenas?
Defense is their weakness. The defense has improved a lot recently, but it is mainly due to the improvement of team defense. After playing hard, others can give Shelby Jordan more help. The improvement is in this aspect.
Single defense is more of a test of personal ability. After playing tough, there will be a certain degree of improvement, but if you want to achieve a qualitative change, in a few months, some people may be able to do it, at least not yet.
Then only that kid is left...
Before his GPU could process the image, his eyes saw the kid coming directly in front of him.
Li Ao moved his joints and said, "It's time for me to save the world again."
Henry Bibby wants to fly up and kick him, but if he can't kick him, he still wants to say something.
But he is a cultural person. He just signed up for a refresher course at the University of Southern California after renewing his long-term contract. It is impossible to hit others.
And...lol, you can play whenever you want?
Henry Bibby waved his hand: "Leo, go up and guard Arenas. If you can't guard against Arenas, don't rest during the holidays. Special training every day!"
It's because he wants this kid to play, so this kid can play!
Trey Pagannier, who suddenly broke out and was beaten by his opponent, was very unwilling at the moment, but he found that he was very lucky. Fortunately, someone replaced him to face Arenas at this time.
I found that I had such a mentality, especially when I saw Li Ao who was not afraid at all, but was very excited.
'Is there such a big gap between me and him? '
He admires Li Ao's efforts, but he is also a competitive person. He knows that he is not as talented as Li Ao, but he doesn't want to admit defeat!
Li Ao didn't know that his 'leadership ability' to stimulate the efforts of his teammates came into play again at this moment.
On his side, he heard Henry Bibby replacing him, and the mission prompt came!
