Champion, please stay!

Chapter 20. The Beginning of the Counterattack
A new week has begun, which happens to be the first day of a new month, October 1st.

After getting up, Yi Shui faced the direction of the sunrise, closed his eyes, and prayed for three minutes, wishing his motherland prosperity and strength.

With a powerful nation behind us, we can stand taller when we go out into the world.

While washing up, he received a long-distance phone call from his parents. His father said only a few words, while his mother said a few more, but the call lasted less than two minutes in total before they hung up.

Hearing the "beep beep beep" sound from the receiver, Yi Shui hadn't reacted yet. He had been quite resistant to contacting his parents in this life, mainly because he was afraid... to be precise, he was 'shy about strangers'.

But during our conversation just now, those words just came out naturally... which is fine.

Thinking about how his mother had just said she had deposited $2000 into his business card, he felt quite conflicted. In his memory, his parents' combined salaries and allowances for two months might not even be enough to cover his expenses... As the saying goes, "While parents are alive, one should not travel far," yet he not only went to America but also needed money from his family.

Fortunately, he can now be considered to have a knack for things!

'I'll take good care of them when I earn more money later; at least I can afford clothes now!'

Yi Shui opened the system and checked his file. As expected, his height had increased by 1 centimeter to 1.95 meters, and his wingspan had increased by 2 centimeters, reaching a wingspan of 210 centimeters! Fortunately, his agility was not affected this time.

He's come to terms with it now. So what if he gets taller? Durant and Giannis are that tall, and they still play outside ball-handling offense. He just needs to hone his skills and strive to win any tasks related to his physical attributes. In the future, Giannis will only be able to use him as a role model! He'll be the poor man's version of Giannis!

However, I'll have to buy clothes a size bigger for winter. I won't need Robinson's sizes for now, but I can refer to Yad's sizes.

...

While having breakfast, Yad used his new smartphone, which he had gotten when he went to Davidson, to browse the news. Yi Shui had fiddled with it a bit before, but he wasn't interested in the current smartphone. It had a 2G network, and it took a while to read text news or even just a picture. The signal was bad, and there was no WiFi these days.

However, with the release of Apple's first-generation phone, Google also announced the release of a new mobile operating system. Symbian was about to be swept into the dustbin of history, and the new era of smartphones had begun. The mobile internet era would arrive in just a few years.

Even if Yi Shui didn't understand stocks, he knew this was a good time to buy these two companies. Unfortunately, he didn't have any money at the moment, and these kinds of stocks had to be held for a long time... But in the future, there would be Lao Huang, Su Ma, and Musk to buy, so there was no need to be upset about it.

Yad saw local news related to the Yi River and said, "Brook, you shouldn't have said that yesterday. Look how badly those reporters attacked you!"

Yi Shui replied, "It's alright. I wasn't saying that to those reporters. Let them write whatever they want."

Yad asked curiously, "If it's not for the reporters, then who is it for?"

Robinson interjected, "Was it meant for Jim?"

Yi Shui nodded: "Yes."

Robinson: "I see. No wonder you're a player with a GPA of 3. I've learned something."

Yad, who failed all his major courses and relied solely on basic and elective courses to raise his average score, didn't understand and asked, "What are you talking about?"

Yi Shui is genuinely worried about his friend's intelligence. In the future, he will go clubbing during the pandemic, resulting in a severe lung infection. Even after recovering, his lung function will be severely damaged, preventing him from engaging in strenuous exercise. With such a good physique, he will have to retire due to illness in his early 30s...

He explained, "Even if the media praises me like Jordan, Jim won't give me an extra minute of playing time. No matter how much they criticize me, Jim won't reduce my shot attempts, right?"

Yad replied without hesitation, "Jim is not someone who can be swayed by the media."

Yi Shui continued, "But if I admit in front of the media that it was wrong of me to throw too many shots and humbly accept the reporters' opinions, wouldn't that be slapping Jim in the face and saying that it was wrong of him to give me the right to shoot?"

Yad: "It seems so..."

Yi Shui: "Although he might not necessarily reduce my shot attempts, I firmly stated that I believed that playing that way was the right thing to do, which might make him more determined to give me that many shot attempts."

Yad: "Oh, I see! But you've started getting targeted by your opponents lately. If you keep playing like this, you might get targeted even more. You've even made the news. A lot of your opponents probably saw it. Nobody can stand someone having unlimited firing rights. Like Jerome, I find him even more annoying when I see him."

Actually, Yi Shui's shot wasn't called unlimited shooting rights. Last week's two opponents didn't have much teamwork, unlike the Davidson Wildcats who required him to hold the ball and shoot endlessly. Most of his shots were indeed tactical plays.

Dyson truly had unlimited shooting rights, playing 17 and 21 minutes in the two games respectively, taking 10 and 12 shots. Yi Shui played alongside him, both focusing on offensive plays, fast breaks, and catching the pitcher at a 45-degree angle. Yi Shui responded, "I also think he's become more arrogant and annoying, but in terms of playing style, unlimited shooting is indeed more suitable for him. Giving him tactics would be pointless."

Being targeted is actually a good thing. In my freshman year, Rudy and Rashad (Anderson) were the strongest defensive options against opponents on the perimeter. Last season it was you and Jerome, and now it's my turn. I need to get used to this during the preseason. Being heavily guarded also allows me to see more of my weaknesses so I can work on them specifically..."

...

As time went by, Yi Shuiping focused on attending classes and training. During the two weekend games, he ignored the outside noise and gave his all in his tactical role, aiming to score more points, grab more rebounds, and collect more training cards...

He didn't feel much difference in a day or two, but over a week, he could feel his progress in every competition.

The development of the rhythm stream has also made some progress... After experiencing the difficulty of developing the technology purely by watching videos, Yi Shui felt that Lao Ke really had something special.

His final choice of role models was not Larry Bird, whom Clark and Yad had both strongly recommended, because that guy's playing style couldn't be learned by watching videos. Instead, he chose Nash, Roy, Kobe... and Duncan, who is currently in his third peak.

There's no systematic approach to this yet, and training is haphazard, just something he does whenever he thinks of something. During matches, he rarely uses his skills except for the occasional flash of inspiration. Fortunately, he's not in a hurry. Even the best offensive techniques need solid fundamentals to be effective; otherwise, they're just flashy idiots.

As for the team, Yi Shui has been determined to shoot on offense, and the coaching staff has also insisted on this tactical arrangement. The whole team is in the same direction, and the teamwork, passing and receiving and the tacit understanding of the screen on offense can be seen to improve in every game.

Regarding his teammates' opinions on his numerous shots... Yi Shui rarely expressed his gratitude to Dyson. This teammate's extremely poor shooting performance last season made his teammates exceptionally tolerant of his large number of shots. Of course, the most important thing is that he only takes the shots and doesn't take up too much ball possession.

The biggest improvement for the team is the joint defense system built around Thabeet.

Okafor's statement that Thabeet is better than him at the same level is not just a simple encouragement to his junior. In the NCAA, where there is no defensive three-second rule, Thabeet's height, as well as his above-average mobility and jumping ability for a center, makes him, in terms of defense alone, indeed more formidable than Okafor was in his sophomore year.

When Yi Shui was on the local news, he was always criticized for taking too many shots and being unrepentant... In fact, in some games he had the opportunity to achieve a better shooting percentage, but the game conditions were better, and Calhoun assigned him a more complex role in the tactics, and often arranged for him to shoot in less accurate shooting areas, so that he could practice in the game...

Thabeet has been praised to the skies. Even before the new season has officially started, the neighboring New York has already begun to say that Thabeet is a contender for the Big East Defensive Player of the Year.

However, in terms of offense, Thabeet is far inferior to Okafor. Before his serious injury, Okafor was known as "Wallace Plus" because of his top-notch running and jumping ability. He could rely on his explosiveness to score in the low post and also had a certain mid-range shooting ability. Thabeet's ability to score on offense depends on whether his teammates pass him the ball well.

On Friday, October 19th, the Huskies played their ninth preseason friendly at home.

The opponents in the first four weeks, apart from the Davidson Wildcats being an exception, were all 'practice level'.

In the final week, teams often invite opponents who have shown similar or slightly stronger performance in the previous warm-up matches to test their own strength, identify their weaknesses, and prepare for the final two weeks of training before the start of the season.

Calhoun took a different approach, inviting the Louisville Cardinals!
This is a long-established powerhouse in the Big East League. In the past 30 years, they have reached the Madness 3rd season 24 times, advanced to the final four 5 times, and reached the final twice, winning the championship both times.

The last time they reached the final four was in 1. After a brief decline in the 05-06 season, they rose again last season, finishing second in the Big East Conference and reaching the second round of the 05 Madness series.

In early September, the Associated Press released its rankings for the Big East Conference teams, placing the Cardinals fourth and commenting that they were a sure thing for the Madness III and had the potential to reach the Sweet Sixteen.

The Huskies are ranked 10th... Based on the overall performance of the Big East Conference teams in the Third Madness last season, only the second to eighth-ranked teams in the Big East Conference are eligible to compete for a spot in the Third Madness this season. In other words, the Associated Press predicts that the Huskies will not make it into the Third Madness!
But Calhoun's masochistic move is not surprising at all. Twenty years ago, when the Huskies made it to the Third Madness for the first time in more than a decade, they dared to shout that they would surpass the Exclamation Team. What's so surprising about inviting the Cardinals to play a warm-up game?

The opponents are different now. The number of media outlets in Storrs today is much greater than in the Huskies' previous three home preseason games, and they are generating more buzz in the state than before, even surpassing their first preseason game after several months.

Yi Shui has once again become the center of attention in the local basketball scene. Even though he averaged 29 points in the previous 8 games, with only one game where he scored less than 20 points and even a 40+ point game, he is still underestimated. This is because his average field goal percentage over the 8 games was 42+32+79, and that was in warm-up games against relatively weak opponents. Now that he is facing a truly strong team, even the school forum is predicting whether he can break his record for missed shots in the game against the Wolves.

However, part of the reason why Yi Shui is not highly regarded is that he really disappointed the local media, fans, and even his classmates last season. Some people even speculated that his "prodigal son's return" was just for show, and that he wanted to become the darling of the team again by returning to the team...

At 3 p.m., the Huskies' preseason game against the Cardinals began at Harry Gamper Arena.

The Huskies had already been far behind in terms of strength last season, and their summer signings were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, the Cardinals retained their core players from last season and brought in Gary Johnson, a team-oriented small forward who was the 29th overall pick in the 2007 national high school draft. Coupled with the influence of public opinion, the atmosphere at Harry Gamper Arena, despite having all 17,000 seats, wasn't particularly high.

Even if fans are very supportive, they can't muster any emotion in a game they feel they've already lost.

But once the match started, in the very first round, the fans couldn't help but cheer!
Yi Shui seized the opening on the perimeter when the opponent's zone defense was exposed, circled around from the middle of the three-second zone to the left 45-degree angle, received a pass from Yad, and hit a three-pointer!
At 2 minutes and 26 seconds, the Cardinals' "Little Odom" Earl Clark missed a close-range floater, and shooting guard Terrence Williams, nicknamed "Air Jordan," was about to grab the offensive rebound... Yi Shui got there first, circled around to the opponent, grabbed the rebound, and immediately launched a fast break. He rushed to the front of the basket, stopped abruptly, and pulled the ball sideways. The furious Terrence Williams was faked out of bounds. Yi Shui stepped out with his left foot, jumped up with both feet, and slammed the ball into the basket with both hands!
In the next possession, Yi Shui received the ball on the perimeter and used a tempo difference to get past Terrence Williams. He was very fast on the drive, and with Robinson and Yad's off-ball screens on the wing drawing the attention of the opponent's zone defense, he drove straight into the paint and jumped, scoring a layup over the 211cm tall but only 106kg center David Pajitra... drawing a foul in the process!
Amidst the screams and cheers of the fans in the stadium, the Cardinals called a timeout!

Less than three minutes into the game, Yi Shui scored seven points, leading the Husky team to an 11-5 start and forcing the Cardinals to call a timeout!
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(End of this chapter)