pinnacle of basketball

Chapter 331 Ingenious lore
There will always be three colors flying in the NCAA sky, UCLA's yellow, North Carolina's basket and Michigan's red.

As the three teams with the longest history in the NCAA, the games between them have always been full of fire.

Today North Carolina and Michigan "Song of Ice and Fire", one is as cold as a killer, one is as passionate as a flame, no one can predict the outcome of the game, even the odds given by ESPN are 1:1.

The reason why the University of North Carolina is famous is that Michael Jordan, the god of basketball, was born in this school. That lore has become an eternal classic. His North Carolina Blue No. 23 jersey is still hanging in the sky above the North Carolina Arena.

As the place where God was born, it has naturally become the yearning of many basketball teenagers. It is a glorious thing to be an alumnus with "God". If you can wear the same color uniform as Jordan and play for the same team, you can boast for a lifetime.

Jordan would often return to his alma mater to compete with his juniors. Although he is over 60 years old now, he is still in good health. Not long ago, he was still playing with North Carolina rookies.

The word old and strong is especially appropriate for him.

In North Carolina, players who have not been abused by Jordan are embarrassed to say that they are on the school team.

Because only capable people can enter the North Carolina school team, and only those who enter the school team are eligible to compete with Jordan.

After some guidance from the old hooligans, the North Carolina players shamelessly won the opponent by 80 points in the first two rounds of knockout rounds. Today they met Michigan, a team with a history and honor that did not lose to their own. They also won the previous games smoothly.

Both teams played with the most complete and strongest lineups.

From the quarter-finals, only one game was played a day. This was also for the convenience of the audience to see a more complete game. However, the rhythm of the game was relatively intensive. Seven days a week, a total of seven games were played, leaving little time for the players to adjust and rest.

When the UCLA team arrived at the competition venue, the game between North Carolina and Michigan had already begun. After the first quarter, the two teams scored 25:25, which was about the same as expected. Both teams performed very well on offense and defense.

When the players were seated, the second quarter of the game officially started. North Carolina's offense was extremely smooth, and the speed of advancement was also very fast. It was obvious that they wanted to speed up, but the pace of Michigan's game was not too fast, which was obviously pressing.

North Carolina's previous games were played steadily, focusing on the success rate of offense, while Michigan focused on speed.

"These two teams are still testing." Oscar said slowly.

"Still testing? It's already reached the second quarter, is there still a need for testing?" Felix asked.

"Look carefully at the scores of the two teams. The scores are not high. Compared with the previous 40/50 points in a single quarter, this is simply too different. Even if the opponent's strength is relatively strong, the difference should not be so much. It is obvious that the two teams have not played their strengths."

"Then when will the temptation end?"

"I'm afraid it won't happen in the first half."

It is a bit exaggerated to use half-court time to test each other, but this is also in line with the personalities of the coaches of the two teams. They are both masters of camouflage. Of course, the real cards must be reserved for critical moments.

When strong teams confront each other, the outcome is often instantaneous, because both teams are very explosive in scoring. If any team can't keep up with the rhythm and falls behind, it is likely to be taken away by a wave.

The two teams maintained their current style of play until the end of halftime, the score was 50:50.
Although they missed the first quarter, the performance of the two teams in the second quarter can roughly infer the scene of the first quarter, but Oscar has a hunch that the situation will change in the second half.

After a 15-minute break, the players of the two teams returned to the arena. Sure enough, as Oscar expected, the players of the two teams had undergone tremendous changes in their status. After the second half, the two teams ended their trials and found their own style of play.

North Carolina has become more and more stable, while Michigan has raised the rhythm.

The leading cores of the two teams, Thain and Mayo, even fought against each other. The scores of the two teams kept rising. After the third quarter, the battle was 90:90. In the third quarter, both teams scored an astonishing 40 points.

But this is only the beginning of the two teams' battle for points. In the fourth quarter, the firepower of the two teams became even more rapid. It is hard to imagine that the score of this game can break through 1 points just by looking at the score in the first quarter. However, in the last minute of the battle, both teams scored more than 120 points.

The University of Michigan leads North Carolina 123-121.

In the last minute, the players of the two teams suddenly lost their touch, including Thain and Mayo.

This scene seemed to go back to the past. The basketball god from North Carolina also encountered the same situation that year, and the result of that game is well known. God used his hands to personally end the opponent and help the team win the championship.

Now, will the same scene be staged?
It all depends on Thain's choice. He is North Carolina's number one star, and he should execute the last shot.

Thain's palms were sweating profusely. He had never been so nervous before. This was a decisive goal. If he didn't score, he would go home. If he scored, he might win or go to overtime.

Thain raised his head, looked at the time, and walked second by second. He wanted to end the game in the most desperate way, buzzer, win or lose, there is no third choice.

Miracles often come from desperate situations!
Mayo switched defenses to Thain. As long as he defends the ball, Michigan can enter the conference finals, and he is so familiar with Thain. As an opponent for three years, he has already studied Thain's style of play very thoroughly.

"Let's face it, North Carolina is going home." Mayo attacked the opponent verbally while waving his arms up and down.

Thain frowned slightly, and he glanced at the time again. There were 3 seconds left, and he needed to wait.

"You are going to shoot the buzzer, right?" Mayo has already seen through Thain's mind, "You will still be the same, leaving no way out."

Mayo knew that he had guessed right when he saw Thain's expression, so he pressed the defense forward and squeezed the space for Thain to shoot as much as possible. With Thain's character, he would definitely shoot a three-pointer, so Mayo focused on his three-pointer.

3, 2, 1
"It's over!" Mayo took off at the last second before Thain, so that he could reach the highest point when he shot and blocked his shot.

Thain didn't make a move, but smiled slightly, "We know each other too well."

At the last second, Thain leaned lightly on Mayo's body, and then made a shot. The basketball was interfered and failed to hit, but the referee's whistle sounded at this time.

"Defensive foul! Three free throws!"

Hearing the penalty, the audience and Michigan players were stunned. At this point in the game, the players themselves should decide the outcome of the game, not the referee's whistle. So Michigan applied for video playback, but the referee's penalty was correct. The moment Thain shot, Mayo subconsciously grabbed him. The force was not strong, and it was not even called timely.

Sean stood on the free throw line, hit the first free throw steadily, and then hit the second, tying the score. At the last ball, Sean took a deep breath, but did not exhale it. The third free throw was not hollow. The basketball hit the rim, and the remaining 0.5 seconds were used up before the basketball fell into the basket.

The University of North Carolina defeated the University of Michigan with 124:123. Although Thain failed to reproduce Jordan's last classic lore scene, his ingenious design of the last free throw helped the team win the final victory. If the last free throw is directly empty, it will leave Michigan with 0.5 seconds, which is enough to create a miracle in the NCAA arena.

However, the ruthless Thain did not give Michigan a chance to create a miracle, and used the last penalty to consume all the remaining time.

The University of North Carolina won the first ticket to the finals of the upper half.

Stanford University beat Kansas in an upset to win the final ticket in the second half.

(End of this chapter)