Champion, please stay!

Chapter 46. Breaking with tradition, setting a precedent!
"...Congratulations on winning the game and receiving the basic rewards: 5 hours of three-point training card and 5 hours of ball handling training card."

"...Congratulations on receiving the following personal rewards: 3-hour shooting training card, 1-hour rebounding training card, 2-hour passing training card, and 2-hour interception training card."

Are you worthy?
Objective 1: ...Roberts made 6 of 14 field goals, including 2 of 6 three-pointers and 3 of 3 free throws, for a field goal percentage of 42.8% and a three-point percentage of 33%, which is below the season average. This objective has been achieved.

Objective 2: You made 3 of 5 shots when facing Roberts' defense, a 60% field goal percentage. Completed.

Objective 3: You scored 35 points, Roberts scored 17 points, completed.

Congratulations on receiving the reward: Long-range shooting talent +1.

"Ruthless destruction of flowers:"
You blocked Rose twice. Congratulations on receiving the reward: a 4-hour interception training card.

Objective 1: When you were on the offensive and facing Rose's one-on-one defense, you did not choose to pass the ball. You made 7 of 12 shots, with a shooting percentage of 58.3%. This objective has been achieved.

Objective 2: You led your team to defeat the Tigers. Completed.

Congratulations on receiving the reward: Speed ​​+1, your speed has increased from 91 to 92.

While celebrating with his teammates, Yi Shui glanced at the mission completion status.

It was easy to beat Roberts; even with his stamina waning, he still managed to shoot 3 out of 5.

The other Tigers players were also easy to defend, going 2-for-4.

Rose's defense is quite good so far. After going 4-for-4 at the start, he only went 3-for-8 against Rose's defense later on. This was partly due to the opponent's double-teaming being more aggressive and fierce, but Rose's active close defense definitely played the biggest role.

Thinking of this, he remembered that Turtle also won the conference's Defensive Player of the Year award in his sophomore season, and like Rose, his player model was Payton. Harden also showed defensive ability in certain games later on, but these three guys, who were of similar age, were generally quite bad at defense during their NBA years.

Perhaps this is the influence of the times. In the past, players who showed defensive talent in college would definitely have been given a focus on defensive development in the NBA, in order to cultivate them into all-around superstars.

However, the trend began to change after the NHC (High Post Defense) rule was introduced in 04.

Harden is alright. When he's on serious defense, he plays like a tank, with lots of physical contact but not much pressure. He rarely reaches out with his hands, but instead uses his strength to block the opponent's lower body and affect their jump, making it less likely for him to commit a foul.

The kind of defense Rose used tonight, relying on speed to constantly charge and reach for the ball, would be called a foul eight out of ten times in the NBA if the opponent just raised their hand and yelled "Ah!"

The defensive style that Rose and Turtle used in college has been rendered obsolete by the NBA rules.

After the celebration, Yi Shui gave a post-match interview to ESPN.

When asked about the dignity of top-tier leagues, he replied: "Maintaining the dignity of losing teams? Who cares about that? They have to get back the face they lost themselves. We are not interested in their wins or losses. We just go out there and beat them when the game comes... But I do have a question."

"Can't a team that finishes second in its division become a 'crazy three' seed team?"

...

After the game, Yi Shui's "seed team declaration" became the hottest topic in the basketball world.

Where there is popularity, there is bound to be controversy.

There has never been a precedent of the second-place team in a region being seeded. Many people think this is impossible and believe that it is disrespectful to the teams that win the region championship.

Some argue that the lack of precedent does not mean it is impossible. The NCAA has no rule that the second-place team in a division cannot be a seeded team. The judging criteria have always been the four best-performing teams in the 'All-Around Tournament' to be seeded teams. Furthermore, the division champion deserves respect, but the performance in the qualifying stage should not be respected?

It's already March, and there are less than two weeks left until the start of March Madness. The topic is generating a lot of buzz and debate.

The following afternoon, an NCAA spokesperson responded in an interview: "Any team that qualifies for the All-Around Championship is a seeded candidate. Our judges are professionals. They are not influenced by other factors and will only select teams to advance to the NCAA Championship and rank these teams based on their performance in the All-Around Championship."

This official response has been interpreted by the media as a sign that the Husky team's desire to break with tradition is on the horizon!

Yi Shui, upon seeing the news, felt the same way, realizing that the question hadn't been asked in vain.

As the saying goes, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

These things should be discussed openly!

He was never the kind of person who worked hard silently and hoped for good luck to come his way. When he worked hard, he wanted others to see how hard he was working so that he could get more opportunities.

When they play well, they also hope to be seen by others and crave to become popular.

Now, if he wants to be a seeded team, he just says it outright. He has the confidence to win, not to beg after a loss. As for whether this will displease the NCAA administration... the NCAA isn't a charity, it's purely a business association. Yi Shui guesses those bloodsuckers are probably overjoyed to see a player actively creating trending topics and generating so much traffic.

This match truly cemented Yi Shui's status as a 'phenomenal player,' and the post-match buzz, besides the 'crying and suckling' incident, also generated a great deal of discussion surrounding the match itself.

The Tigers' winning streak has been ended, but their popularity certainly won't disappear. They are still the hottest team right now, and people's expectations for them remain very high. Their performance in defeating the Amazing Team and the Longhorn Bulls, two top league champions, will not be forgotten just because they lost to the Huskies.

Just as Yi Shui, who "returned to his roots," received more attention than he deserved, the Tigers, as the "representative team" of a "comeback," also received far more attention than their matches should have.

Furthermore, the Tigers are also one of the main topics of discussion among the media and fans regarding 'seeded teams', as their probability of becoming a seeded team is already higher than that of the Amazing Team and the Longhorns.

However, the huge attention brought by the Tigers' previous performance undoubtedly benefited the Husky team and Yishui in this game.

After a three-day break, on March 6th, the Tigers returned to Memphis to face the Southeastern Conference champions, Tennessee State Volunteers, at FedExCare, the Grizzlies' home arena.

Over the past three days, media and experts have repeatedly analyzed the reasons for the Tigers' loss to the Huskies, concluding that the Tigers were crushed at the start by the Yishui River, their momentum was gone, and they lost their drive.

This conclusion has been widely accepted. Whether it was fans watching the game live or those watching on TV, it was clear that Rose, who lost the opening game against Yi Shui, performed much less impressively in the later stages compared to his usual games.

The Volunteer Team coaching staff shared this view and decided to capitalize on it. In the opening stages of the game against the Tigers, Volunteer Team head coach Bruce Pearl deployed his strongest backcourt duo, senior stars Chris Lofton and Jajuan Smith, both selected to the Southeast Division First Team, to go toe-to-toe with Rose and Roberts…

Then it was completely destroyed.

罗斯开局7分3助攻、罗伯茨三分球4投3中，两人携手率队在开局9分钟时间里打了志愿者队一波23比15！

The game fell into the Tigers' preferred rhythm, with them dominating the Volunteers throughout and ultimately winning by a whopping 16 points (93-77), marking their third victory over the top league champions!
However, the biggest winner of the Tigers' victory was not them, but rather—Yi Shui!
The significance of the first few rounds in which he single-handedly dominated the Tigers' duo of Luo was immense!

...

哈士奇队这边，在5号以89比72击败了贡萨加斗牛犬队、在9号以82比73击败了佐治亚理工学院夹克队，资格赛13战全胜。

This result, after securing second place in the division, is the goal that the Husky team must achieve in order to strive for a higher ranking.

As for the highly anticipated match against the Tigers, it was purely accidental. Even if Yi Shui saw the Tigers defeat the Amazing Team, he couldn't have predicted that the Tigers would become that formidable later on.

As for the seeded teams, Yi Shui did what he thought was right and stopped paying attention to it, focusing on doing his best.

The result is important, but if you care too much about it, and the expert judges don't give you the right answer, your mindset will inevitably be affected.

His teammates talked about this every day after the game against the Tigers, and they cared a lot about it... There was nothing he could do; he couldn't control what others thought, so he could only try to keep a calm attitude towards it.

On the 11th, Yi Shui returned to Stamford with the team.

The team is willing to spend money; they played three away games in New York and stayed in a hotel on Manhattan Island for a full 10 days! It just goes to show that they have plenty of funds.

But during those 10 days, he and most of his teammates didn't really have much fun. A bunch of poor people are still poor even in a big city. He was still the same as when he was in school, either spending his time at the Madison Square Garden training ground or at the hotel gym.

The start and end times of the matches for each team participating in the qualifiers are not all the same. The 11th is the last day of the qualifiers.

After all the matches ended that evening, Yi Shui, who had finished training and returned to his dormitory, checked the record of the stray cat he was concerned about... 32 consecutive wins!

However, the opponents the elementary school students faced were not as strong as those the roses faced. In 13 matches, there were only 3 teams from the top half of the league, and they did not attract as much attention as the roses.

Another day passed, and it was noon on March 13th when the NCAA announced the list of players advancing from Terminus Madness.

At the University of Concordia Sports Arena, the Husky team's coaching staff and players arrived early at the head coach's office after finishing their morning training session, gathering around the desk.

Clark kept refreshing the NCAA website homepage under pressure from his teammates... At 12:05, the headline finally updated!
After clicking the link, the first team that appears is the first seed in the Eastern Conference, the North Carolina Asphalt Heel Team.

Next page, Western Conference, first seed team, UCLA Bruins.

Next page, Southern Division, first seed team, University of Kansas Pine Eagles.

The Husky players were already feeling disheartened, but they still kept their eyes glued to the computer screen as they clicked on the next page.

Central Division, first place, seeded team, University of Connecticut Huskies!
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(End of this chapter)