Where the noise did not reach

Chapter 18 Kevin Durant is waiting
Knight, who proclaimed himself the GOAT, had an impact far beyond his coronation victory that surpassed Dean Smith to become the coach with the most wins in college basketball history—the question is, who cares?

"The greatest of all time?" The New York Times sports headline opened bluntly. "Coach Knight, perhaps you should learn some elementary math: 10 is greater than 3. Not to mention, you might not even be able to hold onto the throne of 'greatest active player.' You and your protégé Mike Krzyzewski have both won three national championships, but Coach K established the Duke dynasty in 1991 and 1992, while you haven't even touched the championship since 1987. The only thing you can boast about is your 1984 Olympic gold medal, and Coach K is taking over the Dream Team. When he returns with an Olympic gold medal, even that advantage will be wiped out. What will you have left then? Winning record?" The coach has been steadily catching up in the wins rankings. He's younger and has a more stable resume than you. He hasn't thrown chairs, publicly humiliated players, or subtly belittled Wooden in the media. He's simply overturned your once-proud standards one by one with victory after victory. In the end, your so-called 'greatest of all time' is nothing more than a self-deception riding the wave of historical events. It's not a laurel wreath, but an irony—if GOAT means greatness, consistency, and unquestionable dominance, then this title is clearly more suitable for John Wooden, who built a dynasty with ten championship rings, than Bob Knight, who relied on empty words and a bunch of technical fouls.

A frenzy swept through the outside world, mainly consisting of ridicule and mockery of Knight.

At the same time, Xu Ling felt much less pressure.

Although Knight's remarks seem to have been instigated by him, some people who are unaware of the truth are easily swayed by media outlets that take things out of context. They might think, "Hmm, how could someone as low-key as Eli say such things? It must have been Knight who instructed him!"

In any case, things are heading in an extreme direction.

But Knight is too lazy to care about the outside world. As a controversial figure, he doesn't mind adding another controversial event to his resume.

Four days later, Texas Tech played against the Missouri State Tigers at Union Spirit Stadium.

The Tigers are ranked sixth in the Big 12 polls, which is an awkward ranking. They are considered to have no hope of competing for a spot on the Madness, but they are good enough to beat weaker teams. They are a typical disruptive team.

If strong teams don't take it seriously, they could really suffer an unexpected defeat.

This was the last match before the two major tests that followed, and it could be considered an easier one. TTU gave it their all.

Xu Ling was not matched up against the Tigers' star player tonight.

Knight put him at the small forward position and told him to go all out on offense.

Tigers' key player Stephen Hannah is being guarded by Martin Zeno.

So far this season, Xu Ling's outstanding performance on the defensive end has made people forget that Zeno was the unsung hero of TTU who was always responsible for defending the opponent's key player.

Zeno fulfilled his defensive duties tonight, successfully limiting Hannah, while Xu Ling easily broke down the Tigers' perimeter defense with a series of long-range shots.

TTU secured their fourth consecutive championship victory.

Xu Ling scored 22 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, and dished out 4 assists, making him the undisputed MVP of the game.

Jarius Jackson followed closely with 20 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Martin Zeno not only shut down the opponent's key player, but also scored 16 points and grabbed 5 rebounds himself.

ESPN college basketball expert Jay Bilas, who watched the game live, wrote in his column the following day: "Florida looks like the most fearsome team in college basketball, Ohio looks like the most promising team, and if either team faces unexpected circumstances, Kansas is the most likely to win in the end. But if you ask me which team is most likely to pull off a miracle in March Madness, my answer will only be the Texas Tech Red Raiders! They have four offensive players who can average double figures, and two scorers who can rack up 30 points in any college game. Once they get going, nothing is impossible!"

TTU's national ranking has risen from 20th before the season to 10th, second only to the University of Kansas in the Big 12 conference.

Next, they will face the University of Kansas, ranked second in the nation, and the Texas Longhorns, where Kevin Durant plays.

A new week has begun.

Kevin Durant beat Xu Ling to be named the Big 12 League Player of the Week.

Why? Durant appears to be more dominant on the court. The Longhorns also started the season with a perfect 4-0 record, and Durant scored over 30 points in three of those four games. So far this season, he leads the scoring charts with an average of 27 points and 8 rebounds per game.

Compared to Oden, who seems like a sick tiger who may never fully recover, Durant is the most anticipated newcomer.

This has made the upcoming showdown between Durant and Xu Ling even more anticipated.

As a result, the Texas Tech and Kansas games on Wednesday didn't receive as much attention; college sports were more focused on the weekend's Xu-Du game.

Moreover, given Kansas's astonishing roster depth, it is widely believed that Xu Ling will put up impressive numbers in the game, and Kansas will win without any doubt.

This expectation displeased everyone at TTU, but that's exactly what happened on Wednesday.

The University of Kansas has at least five players considered to have the potential to play in the NBA. This is the first time this season that Texas Tech has faced an opponent whose players, except for Xu Ling, are all more talented than themselves.

That night, Xu Ling performed exceptionally well against Kansas's star wing Brandon Rush, displaying his skill in both shooting and ball-handling offense. However, his defense failed to achieve the same remarkable feats as before.

Rush is a bit like Cartier Martin, whom I met before. He's not good at dribbling, but he's incredibly accurate with his shot, and he's also an excellent defender. Plus, he's more talented.

When Martin gets a chance to shoot after calling for a screen, he will be severely hampered by Xu Ling.

But Rush can ignore this interference and maintain a certain level of accuracy.

Although Xu Ling outperformed Rush that night, it was the first time he failed to shut down or dominate his opponent on the court. Meanwhile, his teammates were also at a disadvantage in their matchups. By the second half, TTU was down by 10 points, and Kansas won by 15 points at the end of the game.

Xu Ling scored 24 points, 10 rebounds, and 1 assist with a 50% field goal percentage.

"Without Eli, the Red Raiders would probably have lost by 25 points," said ESPN commentator Dick Vitale.

Such evaluations are meaningless to Xu Ling; if they want to win the national championship, they cannot comfort themselves with such reasons.

Because the University of Kansas isn't even the strongest university in the country. There were many media present; they wanted to know Xu Ling's thoughts on the game and also to generate buzz for the weekend's matches.

But Xu Ling remained indifferent; he had only one thought in mind: to return to his dormitory and watch the game recordings repeatedly.

Knight was calm. If they were to simulate their game against Kansas using a computer, they would win at most one out of ten games.

So tonight's result is normal.

However, any competition will have uncertainties; no one is 100% guaranteed to win.

Therefore, he still needs to put the players under pressure in the locker room.

“You guys aren’t playing basketball today, you’re just practicing for Kansas, being background figures. One look from Mario Chalmers and you were all like you’d been electrocuted. Jarius, are you trying to take a picture with him? Eli—don’t give me that ‘at least I tried’ look. You think you’re the team’s hero by letting your teammates hide behind you like cowards? Kansas is definitely a stronger team, but I don’t see any desire in you to fight them!” Knight yelled as he entered the locker room. “If you can’t put on the right attitude to challenge stronger opponents, we have absolutely no chance of winning the Big 12 Conference Championship!”

This is not the end. Before the third year of madness, each conference must determine a conference champion. Therefore, as long as TTU is determined to win the championship, they still have a chance to get revenge on the University of Kansas.

After Knight finished his pep talk, Xu Ling went to the assistant coach to get the game recording. Back in his dorm, he began to review the game from that night.

He noticed something: although Brandon Rush was the core player, he was essentially a supporting player due to limitations in his ball-handling ability.

The true core of Kansas is Mario Chalmers, who dominated TTU's point guard on both ends of the court tonight and connected the rest of the team.

Xu Ling didn't want to blame his teammates for the loss. But he had to think about how to avoid a repeat of tonight's dominant performance when they faced Kansas again.
Should we assign him to defend Mario Chalmers? — It's not that we can't, but that it's not advisable.

He definitely outmaneuvered Brandon Rush tonight, but that was because he personally guarded him. What if another teammate had been guarding him? Would Rush have been attacking from all sides like he was?
Let Zeno try? Maybe there'll be a chance. But what if Zeno can't hold off Chalmers either?

Xu Ling mentally rehearsed the worst-case scenario, then realized that defense alone couldn't hold off these players. They didn't have enough defensive resources, and if they were caught off guard, their offense wouldn't be able to keep up either. In this circle, the problem returned to its starting point.

He stared at the video, trying to extract the answer from round after round.

In the middle of the night, roommate Roderick Craig was woken up by the urge to pee. He got up groggily and saw Xu Ling still sitting in front of the computer staring at the video. He couldn't help but rub his eyes and say, "Eli, aren't you going to sleep yet?"

He yawned. "So what if you lost a game? The sun will still rise tomorrow morning, won't it? Don't expect to figure everything out in one night, and don't think you can handle everything by yourself. Besides, the thing you should be doing right now is sleeping."

He paused, then, like a wizard in a fantasy movie, added in a tone that seemed to foresee destiny, "Kevin Durant is waiting for you up ahead."

Xu Ling stared at the screen, remained silent for a few seconds, but finally pressed the exit button forcefully, and the videotape popped out. He had to admit that Craig was right—at least the part about sleeping made sense.

Craig smiled with satisfaction when he saw that this ancestor had finally let go of the recording: "That's right, a future NBA lottery pick."

“I’m not a lottery pick yet,” Xu Ling said calmly, “at least not now.”

"What's the difference?" Craig said with a grin. "It's just a step away."

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ESPN DraftExpress 2007 NBA Simulated Draft Rankings

Author: Chad Ford

发布日期：2006年12月9日上午9:40东部时间
Team ranking, player's grade, school/country position
1. Greg Oden, Boston Celtics freshman center at Ohio State University

2. Kevin Durant, Memphis Grizzlies freshman small forward at the University of Texas

3. Joakim Noah, Milwaukee Bucks Junior, University of Florida Power Forward/Center
4. Seattle SuperSonics' Al Horford, junior power forward for the University of Florida

5. Mike Conley, Philadelphia 76ers' freshman point guard at Ohio State University

6. Brandon Wright, Minnesota Timberwolves, freshman power forward at the University of North Carolina
7. Atlanta Hawks' Jeff Green, junior small forward at Georgetown University
8. Sacramento Kings international player, China Guangdong Hongyuan power forward

9. Charlotte Bobcats' Corey Brewer, Junior Shooting Guard/Small Forward at the University of Florida

14. Eli Xu, Chicago Bulls freshman, Texas Tech University shooting guard/small forward

Expert Commentary
Jay Bilas (ESPN): "Eli Xu is ranked fourteenth, and what really surprises me is that he hasn't even made the lottery yet. He might be the most 'professional' player in this draft class—his playing style is composed, not at all like a rookie. Maybe his ceiling isn't as high as Durant's, but his floor is already higher than most lottery picks."

Chad Ford (ESPN Insider): "The defensive pressure he showed in that game against Asi Law made me move my draft projection up two levels without hesitation. A rookie who can effectively limit the nation's top point guards? If he can maintain this level of performance in March Madness, I believe Eli will definitely have a chance to lock in a lottery spot."

(1) The standard for a dynasty in the modern NCAA (2) is two consecutive championships.

(2) If you ask what the modern NCAA is, I think 1985 is a dividing line. That year, the Third Madness expanded to 64 teams, officially forming the modern Third Madness pattern.

　Please read on, add to your favorites, and vote! Thank you all for your support.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)