Champion, please stay!

Chapter 59, Section 58: The Beginning of Expanding Ambition

Yi Shui's draft prospects have been steadily rising since the beginning of December last year. Before the start of 12 Madness, public opinion generally believed that he would be a member of the Green Room.

As Madness III progressed, his popularity continued to rise. After defeating Mayo, he became a top-five contender, but at this point, his chances were essentially over.

Even though he scored 51 points, he didn't see any talk of his draft stock improving further.

He was very unwilling to accept this situation, but he chose to let it go, after all, he had an undeniable disadvantage—he was already a junior in college.

He definitely hopes to be drafted as high as possible, hoping to make the top three, but he doesn't have high expectations for the number one pick.

In the past seven years, the number one draft pick in six of those years was a high school player, a freshman, or an overseas player. The only exception was Andrew Bogut, the number one draft pick in 2005, but he only finished his sophomore year before entering the draft, and Bogut swept all the major awards except for the championship that year.

The last time a junior or higher-aged player became the number one draft pick was in 2000 with Kenyon Martin, before the high school draft boom began.

While some overseas champions are older, athletes from American universities lack a certain mystique in the eyes of teams, as everything about them has been thoroughly analyzed.

Previously, it was thought that the Knicks might have waived Malik Rose because they wanted to draft him, rather than because they wanted to get the number one pick and draft him. It was just that the Knicks wanted to improve their draft position.

Tanking requires a lot of skill, and in today's league, when it comes to the ability to tank, no one dares to say they are second to none.

On January 1st, the Heat already had a record of 9 wins and 23 losses, which looked bad, but they were only ranked sixth from the bottom. At that time, the worst-performing team, the SuperSonics, only had 5 wins.

However, after the Heat began shopping O'Neal at the beginning of the year, they officially started tanking. Three months later, the Heat have a record of 3 wins and 37 losses, and currently only have 12 wins and 60 losses, while other tanking teams are already on their way to 20 wins.

This is called professionalism!
Moreover, Yi Shui remembered that the final draft pick went to the Bulls, who had won more than 30 games and seemed to have only a 1% chance of winning. The Bulls would definitely choose a local talent.

Another point is that the impact of the "March Madness" on a player's draft position has its limits. I remember that in the original timeline, when Rose was selected by the Bulls, he was described as an "upset." At that time, Rose was only considered to have surpassed Westbrook in draft expectations and entered the top five.

But now, seeing that he was being hailed as the top scholar, Yi Shui's mind started to wander.

Just in case, just in case, our neighbor really does get the top score in the college entrance exam?
Although he looked down on Dolan, he couldn't do anything about it since Dolan insisted on choosing him.

After all, things that are consensual, mutually affectionate, and seemingly made in heaven... are hard to stop...

That night, Yi Shui suffered from insomnia, a rare occurrence, his mind filled with the words "top scholar".

He realized that public opinion can affect a player's mentality. He was less affected before because those things didn't bother him.

He is a man who is good at winning people over; now that there is such a call, he must create better conditions.

What if the Bulls don't get the number one draft pick? Then he'll have a chance! At least the calls for it have already started.

After all, in his memory, the Knicks had never intentionally tanked in recent years, but instead spent money to acquire players every year. He had already had a certain impact on the NBA, and changes were very likely to occur!

Win the game, win the prize! Focus on doing what you can do right now!
...

The next day, Yi Shui slept until after 8 a.m., when she was woken up by a phone call from the teaching assistant.

He vaguely remembered seeing the Indianapolis night view at 4 a.m., and only slept for a little over 4 hours.

But the young man, after a moment of confusion, recovered, woke up Yad in the next bed, and then went to the bathroom to wash up.

While brushing his teeth, he checked the system files... 'Huh? Why didn't it get downgraded?'

He saw that his speed was still 92 and his agility was still 94!

"Your height has grown to 201 cm and your wingspan has grown to 217 cm."

This growth and development has not had an impact on athletic ability to the extent that it warrants a downgrade in rating.

Your maximum weight that won't affect your athletic ability has been raised to 98 kg.

Yi Shui thought of the 'height range'. He remembered that the range from 191 cm to 194 cm didn't have much of an impact, but there was a big fluctuation starting from 195 cm... After thinking for a while, he finished rinsing his mouth and stopped thinking about it because he couldn't analyze it.

Anyway, there will definitely be some impact, but not that much, which is a good thing. Adler has risen to prominence, right? Let's compare heights with him!

On April Fool's Day, Yi Shui was on guard against someone playing a prank on him, but no one did. He had been on guard all day for nothing, but perhaps, this could be considered a prank?

April 2nd arrived, marking the first day of the final four matches of the 3rd Madness tournament.

More awards were announced today, with the Associated Press revealing the All-Star lineup!
Five players were selected for the first team: Yi Shui (Husky), Harlangodi (Warriors), Beasley (Wildcats), Hansbrough (Tar Heels), and Love (Bruins).

Six players were selected for the second team: Derrick Rose (Tigers), Stephen Curry (Wildcats), Roy Hibbert (Amazings), Marcus Chalmers (Pinehawks), Chris Lofton (Volunteers), and Terrence Williams (Cardinals).

When Yi Shui received the award notification at noon, he did not receive a system notification.

That's just the top-ranked team in the US, not enough for the system's standards; it seems they only consider the three major awards. He didn't know where this inexplicable sense of pride came from...

No system reward is fine, but being selected for the All-Star team is definitely a good thing for him! Although the system may look down on him, it is still a very prestigious university honor.

Rose and Curry were likely selected for the All-NBA Team based on their performances in Three Kingdoms III.

Although both he and Rose have reached the point where such honors can no longer improve their draft prospects, having them is certainly better than having none.

However, it seems that these awards have to be received in person. The good news is that the award ceremonies are mostly in New York, and it's closer to Stamford than to the Teachers College.

...

Conseco Arena has once again become the focus of basketball fans across the United States after a seven-year hiatus. The last time so many people paid attention to a game held here was during the 2000 NBA Finals.

However, even in that finals, there weren't necessarily as many fans in the stadium and watching on TV as there are tonight.

In preparation for the three games of the NCAA Final Four, the Pacers went on an away game on the 23rd, playing six games in a row. They would be away for half a month before returning. It took nearly 10 days for Conseco Arena to finally install more than 43000 seats around the game venue, more than double the 19000 seats that the Pacers usually have at home.

This is just the limit of Conseco Arena, not the limit of the number of fans who want to buy tickets.

In terms of pre-game viewership, the NBA Finals, with a few exceptions, mostly couldn't match tonight's Husky vs. Pinehawks game.

At 7:30 p.m., the players from both teams entered the field.

Yi Shui looked at the sea of ​​people around the stadium... He had already come to see the renovated site yesterday and knew that the seats were arranged in a lot of close proximity, making it uncomfortable for people with longer legs to watch the game.

Years later, he watched an amateur football match at the Thirteen Protectors' place. The match seemed to have 500 to 600 million people, but that was outdoors, and the football field was much larger than the basketball court. There was also a running track around the football field... The basketball court in front of him, which was only 'the size of a palm', was surrounded by more than 40,000 people, and it was in a nearly enclosed indoor space. The visual and auditory impact was completely different!
Shocked!

He was already fired up as soon as he entered the arena, eager to go on stage and take down the opposing team!

At that moment, he felt a system notification and quickly opened it.

"You have finally stepped onto the final court of the NCAA National Basketball Championship. Head towards the championship... Mission: Championship Triggered."

'...'

'...'

"No, System Bro, please tell me what the reward is!"

'Wait a minute, it seems the championship prize was already taken out as a loan, and now they're paying off the debt! Damn it!'

Yi Shui feels the same way she does now: she has a huge debt on Alipay and it's time to pay it back. She knows she has to pay the debt, and that not paying it back will have a negative impact on the future, but she still feels a little annoyed.

However, considering the subsequent impact, the double deduction of rewards... this is much more than the loan he took out to get into Madness 3! He was even more motivated.

Just then, a voice greeting came from the side.

"Hi, Brooke."

Yi Shui instinctively looked in the direction of the sound, startling Chalmers who was greeting him!
'What's with that resentful look in his eyes? I have no grudge against him, do I? This is our first meeting!'

Chalmers was puzzled when he saw the other person's expression change from resentful to sunny and cheerful, and he said, "Hi, Super Mario, it's great to meet you, especially on a stage like this."

That face-changing was faster than turning the pages of a book! Wait, the camera's on... Chalmers really wanted to give this guy a round of applause.

However, 'Super Mario' is indeed a nickname that Chalmers really likes. He replied, "I'm also very happy to see you on this stage. I've wanted to compete with you for a long time to see who is the strongest three-man team!"

"You'll see it tonight."

Yi Shui swallowed back the "you?" that almost slipped out, after all, there were cameras on them, and the other person wasn't as cheeky as Mayo.

Chalmers said nothing more, turned and waved, then walked gracefully toward the Pine Eagles' bench.

Yi Shui looked at Chalmers' back and was a little puzzled. Was this guy really that confident?
He could tell that this Super Mario really thought he was the best player in the world...

Yi Shui was puzzled, but his teammates did not question Chalmers' words.

Chalmers was named the Big 12 Freshman of the Year and selected to the All-American First Team in his freshman year; he was named the Big 12 Player of the Year in his sophomore year; and this year, as a junior, he led the Pine Eagles to the Big 12 championship, was named Player of the Year, led the team to the Final Four, and was selected to the All-American Second Team today.

When discussing the 'Greatest Three Players', Chalmers definitely deserves a place.

Yi Shui's confusion wasn't entirely unreasonable; his perspective on Chalmers was based on the player's future NBA draft position and performance...

At 7:58, Yi Shui stepped onto the court with strong fighting spirit. His teammates and coaches felt that the genius Brook was different from usual tonight!
The frenzied atmosphere of over 4 fans at the scene, the desire to become the number one draft pick, and the debt problem... In short, Yi Shui had only one thought at this moment—to crush the opponent!
(End of this chapter)