Champion, please stay!

Chapter 22. No wonder so many people like to take the black-and-red route.
After the match, Yi Shui gave a media interview, this time on the initiative of Calhoun who asked him to come along.

Yi Shui had been holding back his anger, and Calhoun, with his fiery temper, was no exception.

Yi Shui's performance in front of the reporters once again satisfied Calhoun.

In response to the praise, Yi Shui complimented his teammates: "My performance is inseparable from the coaching staff's tactics and my teammates' passing. I just received the ball in the right position and made the shot."

Faced with the difficult question, Yi Shui retorted forcefully, "Was it just because I was lucky and had a good touch today that I scored so many goals? I remember you said this morning that the Cardinals were an opponent we could never beat. Now you're asking me this, I don't know if you're insulting me or my opponent?"

Faced with criticism about her playing style, Yi Shui remained steadfast: "Of course I will continue to play this way. I firmly believe I can score with every shot I take..."

This answer actually has many problems. For example, it's too impulsive and will definitely be criticized by some media outlets.

But Calhoun didn't care about any of that. In his view, if you weren't so impulsive, would you still be a young person?

After Yi Shui finished arguing with the reporter and returned to the locker room, Ya De held up his Fruit Generation 1, whose screen was so small that Yi Shui didn't even know how to poke it with his fingers, and brought it to his face.

"Brook, look, it's all news about you!"

As Yad spoke, he switched web pages at a slightly slow pace, but Yi Shui was exceptionally patient. Who doesn't like to hear praise?
Connecticut doesn't have teams in the four major leagues, and other professional teams are not very competitive. Campus sports, mainly college sports, dominate the sports scene in Connecticut.

The Huskies, who just ended their 'golden decade,' are the most watched team in Connecticut sports, bar none. That's why Yi Shui has maintained a high level of popularity in the state since the preseason games... Black or red, it's still red.

Facing their strongest opponent since the start of the warm-up matches, and despite being underestimated and even belittled, Yi Shui scored 35 points efficiently, accounting for more than half of the team's total points, leading the team to a stunning upset victory over the Cardinals and successfully turning the attention brought by the "black and red" phenomenon into real popularity.

Seeing the local media's 180-degree turn from denigration to praise, and the forums filled with positive discussions... Yi Shui understood why the entertainment industry was so fond of taking the "black-and-red" route. The most common praise he received was for his "prodigal son returning home."

Yi Shui was naturally pleased to have turned public opinion around through the match, but he also knew that if he didn't play well in the next match, the backlash would come again.

He opened the system and saw several notifications.

比赛日常奖励，3小时近距离投篮训练卡、翻倍的3小时三分训练卡、拿到35分的1小时投篮训练卡、11个篮板球的1小时篮板球训练卡、3次盖帽的1小时拦截球训练卡……

In addition to these, there is also the pre-match mission 'Battle of the Same Level'.

"Task: Competition among peers."

你5项主要数据为：35分11板3助攻1抢断3盖帽，泰伦斯-威廉姆斯5项主要数据为：15分10板6助攻2抢断1盖帽。

目标1：5项主要数据总数值高于泰伦斯-威廉姆斯，已完成；目标2：你5项主要数据至少3项高于泰伦斯-威廉姆斯，已完成。

Objective 3: Lead the team to defeat the Cardinals. Completed.

Congratulations on receiving the reward: Jump +1, your jump has increased from 88 to 89.

Is this reward because Terrence Williams is labeled a "flying man"? Yi Shui felt incredibly happy. Although his jumping ability was already quite good, who wouldn't want to fly even higher?
However, when he thought about the 'competition among peers', he realized that his class of 05 seemed to be the weakest class in the NCAA in recent years.

The main reason is that in 2005, too many of the top 100 high school players in the United States went directly to the NBA. The number of drafted players set a new record, and the number of undrafted players also set a new record. In particular, more than half of the top 20 high school players did not go to college.

He might be able to get the title of 'strongest in the class of 05' when he leaves university?

It doesn't seem to have any real use, but just like how he used to play League of Legends in his 'past life' and maxed out his Teemo proficiency in the Judgment Arena, he was really interested in it.

...

After finishing their post-match work, Yi Shui and his two best friends returned to the Stamford campus. As usual after matches, they ate in the cafeteria, played a couple of rounds of billiards in the gym, played some games in the Yad dormitory, and then went back to their dorm to sleep.

Before going to bed, having completely detached himself from the game, he reviewed the match against the Cardinals.

After making his first three shots, his shooting performance wasn't that great. He made 9 of 22 shots, for a shooting percentage of only 41%. Terrence Williams' more aggressive defense, coupled with the Cardinals' excellent zone defense, had a significant impact on his shooting. Fortunately, he made his key shots.

However, in his regular offense, his worst shooting wasn't mid-range or long-range. He rarely took mid-range shots, except from the free-throw line. His outside shooting was concentrated on long two-pointers from the 45-degree angles on both wings, and his three-point shots were primarily from the 45-degree angles on both wings, though he also took some from the top of the key. He almost never went to the corners, demonstrating excellent shot selection from the outside. His 41.6% three-point shooting percentage was also outstanding, maximizing his 81% left-side 45-degree angle three-pointers and 84% right-side 45-degree angle three-pointers. He's also increasingly utilizing his "Iron Wall" skill.

His shooting percentage has dropped, mainly due to his attacks on the rim! This is a stark contrast to his performance in the previous warm-up games.

He had always thought he was pretty good at attacking the basket, with a close-range rating of 86, the highest among the three areas, but today he felt his attacking skills were not good enough.

The shots he made in the paint today were almost all by overpowering the opposing center who wasn't strong enough. When the opponent's zone defense was in place and he couldn't pass the ball out, most of his close-range shots missed.

Looking back now, Terrence Williams' increasingly tight perimeter defense was probably because he saw this weakness in him.

Yi Shui feels that he also needs to work on his inside offensive skills; there's just too much he needs to practice!

Fortunately, he's still on campus, so he has plenty of time to train! There are only two games a week, on the weekend, so he can just change his morning practice to layups!

...

Sunday marked the Huskies' fifth home preseason game, which was also their last preseason game before the start of the season, against the University of Notre Dame's Irish Warriors.

The Warriors are also one of the strong teams in the Big East League's Madness 3 competition, but they are not as strong as the Cardinals. They are a strong team in the 'lower half' of the bracket and are predicted to finish seventh. They have a chance to compete for a spot in Madness 3, but they may also be eliminated in the competition. Their prospects in the first round of Madness 3 are not high.

But once the game started, the Huskies' game was no easier than the one they played against the Cardinals the day before!
The Warriors' offensive coordination is inferior to the Cardinals', and their defense is far worse, but they have a player named Luke Harangodie!

This is a 203cm tall white forward with the physique of a power forward. He can drive to the basket from beyond the three-point line, shoot from long range, and post up. His skills and shooting are exceptionally good.

Last season, as a freshman, he averaged 21.3 points per game with a field goal percentage of 50+36+81. He won the Big East Conference Freshman of the Year award and was selected to the All-American Second Team. He single-handedly carried the Warriors, a team with relatively weak overall strength, into the third season of the NBA Finals.

The template is... Larry Bird.

Although the Warriors lost interest in this type of player after Adam Morrison cut down the tree, making Harlan Goddick's NBA prospects bleak, he was a super dad in the NCAA, giving the Warriors an extremely high ceiling.

Fortunately, the Warriors' defense was also quite strong. Yi Shui and Dyson took turns playing, and the two, both in good form, held their own against Harangodi.

In the final moments, what determines victory or defeat is not technique, but physical fitness!

Yi Shui and Yad dunked over opposing center Luke Zeller in succession, both scoring 2+1 plays and making the free throws. In the crucial moment, they went on a 6-2 run, and the Husky team ultimately defeated the Warriors 92-87.

Yi Shui was fortunate to have encountered the weakest eldest brother in the 'Zeller family'; if it had been one of the other two, it would have been difficult to overpower him at the last moment... But wait!

Only the second son, Teddy Zeller, is a bit tougher. The third son, Cody Zeller, although he is the most talented and famous in the 'Zeller family' and is rated as the strongest candidate for the number one center in the nation in the 10th grade, is only 15 years old and just entered the 10th grade. He is definitely easier to bully than Luke Zeller.

Yi Shui had some impression of these three brothers. In the future, all three of them entered the NBA, and the topic of 'true brotherhood basketball' became popular for a while.

With 10 of 19 field goals made, including 2 of 5 three-pointers, and 3 of 4 free throws, Yi Shui scored 25 points, a performance that allowed him to maintain the momentum he had generated the day before.

However, he wasn't interested in the post-game news this time, and after returning to Stamford, he did two extra sets of layups.

Facing Harangaudi once again, he was provoked, but this time he felt it more deeply.

He felt that in terms of physical attributes, Harangodi was inferior to Yad in every way. He couldn't run fast, jump high, or be as strong as Yad. However, with his solid fundamentals and skills, he became one of the strongest players in the school basketball world.

Even if this 'Little Bird' doesn't become a professional player in the future, he is still worthy of respect.

He was inspired by this opponent!
Although they won both games, the pressure on him for the upcoming new season is even greater. These are just warm-up games after a six-month break. Once the new season starts, opponents will know more about them and be better prepared.

He needed to seize the time to become stronger! At this moment, he was once again grateful that he had exploited that bug; the healing effect of 'Day 7 Training' allowed him to train freely on every rest day!

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(End of this chapter)