God's hand behind the scenes

Chapter 33
Long Island University is not a strong team in the traditional sense, but at least this season they are the most powerful team in the entire NCAA, averaging a league-high 91.5 points per game, and they are also the league's scoring leader this season. Charles Jones averaged 30.1 points.In addition, there are three players on the team who averaged double figures per game, including Mike Campbell (18.7 points), Rich Parker (16.1 points) and Dave Marshall (11.1 points).

This is indeed a four-man team with fierce firepower, but in Chang Wei's view, it also exposed a weakness of the Long Island University Blackbirds-the team's top four players in scoring per game are all guards or forwards. In other words, insiders are their weakness.Long Island University's starting center Johnny Drew averaged only 1.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, and he has nothing but height.

Of course, Rappers also saw it, which made it easy for her to formulate the tactics of the game, that is, to give Thomas the ball to make him overwhelm the inside, and at the same time, others must pay more efforts on the defensive end, so that Lock down Long Island University's offensive four, so that the team won without breaking a sweat.

Facts have proved that this just hit the weakness of Long Island University. No one in them can compete with Thomas in the paint.In the first half alone, Thomas scored 18 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists, and also sent 2 steals and 3 blocks. This is almost the data he could only play in the entire game before.

However, Villanova University's lead is not big, they only lead by 51 points 48 to 3.Long Island University was able to compete with Villanova in the half game without losing the wind, largely because of the existence of Jones.It is indeed easy for weak teams to produce point-scoring madmen. Jones scored 22 points in the first half, almost half of the team's total points.

Lee did a review in the locker room at halftime because he was defending Jones throughout the first half. "As much as I hate to admit it, I have to say that Jones is a tough guy. It's a shame to let him score 22 points in the first half, but I won't let him be arrogant again in the second half, I promise everyone !"

Rappers patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Chris, this is a matter for our whole team. In the second half, I hope to double-team this guy. That's right, I'm talking about you, Ervin, to limit Jones. Chris alone is not enough, you have to help him to limit this guy who averages 30 points per game."

Erwin put his index finger and middle finger together, and stroked his forehead: "Okay coach, I will help this rookie." He looked at Li, smiled and said, "Happy cooperation, rookie! Let's kick that guy together ass!"

Li curled his lips and gave him a high five. Being called a rookie is not always a pleasant thing.But the coach is right, he alone may not be able to prevent Jones, and if Irwin is added, he will be more sure.

Rappers' arrangement had a remarkable effect, but it also benefited from the frenzied running of Lee and Irwin, who spared no effort.Because double-teaming means missing people, we must rely on running to make up for it. After all, the other players at Long Island University on the perimeter are not vegetarians, and missing any one of them may be a fatal blow to the team.

At the same time, Thomas continued to score wildly in the interior, and the point difference between the two sides gradually widened under the ebb and flow.Jones, the leading scorer in the league, was in deep trouble. Lee entangled him tightly and even gave up the offense completely. Irwin found another way to limit him, which was to block the passing route given to him by Marshall.

This is not difficult for Erwin, because Marshall has an obvious disadvantage, that is his height-he is only 1.78 meters, while Erwin is 1.96 meters tall, which is almost a head taller. There are many more, so that Irwin wants to prevent him from passing the ball to Jones is a piece of cake, not even a steal.

Jones' shooting percentage is gradually declining, but as the leading scorer of Long Island University, he must carry the heavy burden of the team's offense, which directly leads to an increase in his shots and a large number of rebounds, all of which are cheaper for Thomas.

It has been a long time since Thomas has played so well. You must know that after his fame, every opponent regards him as a target that needs to be guarded against, so he often has to deal with opponents in the interior instead of doing whatever he wants in the interior like now , including scoring, rebounding, and trying to stop every layup.

In this game, Jones continued to maintain his honor as the league's scoring leader. He still scored 34 points under strict defense, but Thomas did much better than him, with a large double-double of 32 points and 20 rebounds. With 5 assists, 5 blocks and 3 steals, they completely dominated both ends of the offense and defense, and Villanova also won 101 to 91.

Although Villanova defeated the opponent without any risk, Chang Wei had to admit that it is reasonable for the NCAA to make the fans feel crazy. This is the stage where upsets are most likely to break out.In the Eastern Division where Villanova is located, three teams have completed the next game, and even the No. 2 seed University of South Carolina was eliminated. This undoubtedly sounded the alarm for every top-ranked team. Maybe The next time you are eliminated by your opponent is yourself.

There are also three teams in the southeast division that have completed their counterattacks, namely Chattanooga University, which eliminated the No. 3 seed University of Georgia, Charleston College, which eliminated the No. Widens University.There is only one unlucky egg in the Midwest Division, and that is the No. 5 seed University of Mississippi, which was eliminated by the No. 7 seed Temple University.As for the Western Division, all the top-ranked teams will pass.

From another point of view, the NCAA has developed from 1892 to the present. Over 100 years have indeed given them a wealth of experience in the formulation of national championship matchups. Although they cannot guarantee whether there will be upsets, at least they have not lost too much The top high seeds, South Carolina and Georgia, were just accidents.

But it seems that they can guarantee the excitement of the final four. In other words, as long as the top seed in each division is not eliminated, it is very likely to enter the final four.Villanova's opponent in the second round was the University of California, which was one lower than them. In the first round, they narrowly beat Princeton University 55 to 52, which was not an easy opponent to deal with.

And in the list of the University of California, Chang Wei also saw a somewhat familiar name, Ed Gray, the top scorer of the University of California, averaging 24.8 points per game, this is also the guy that Villanova must focus on.

(End of this chapter)