Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

"coach."

"coach."

a group of players shouted.

Several coaches nodded in response, Assistant Coach Wesley greeted the players, and soon the players came to stand in front of Coach Holland.

The original text comes from Yuta&Read Novel~&

Coach Holland's eyes swept over the players' faces and said seriously: "The seeding results of the tournament have come out."

Everyone's eyes lit up.

Now four days have passed since the end of the Pac-12 League finals, and the competitions in each league have also ended one after another. The championship team has long been announced, but the list of "invited teams" has not yet been released.

Now the "invited to participate" list and seed sequence are finally out.

"Coach, where are we ranked?"

"Coach, what seed are we?"

The players asked quickly.

Coach Holland glanced down at the list of South District seed teams in his hand and said, "We are the No. 4 seed in the South District."

He then read off the 17 teams in the South Division that entered the tournament one by one.

No. 1 seed University of Florida.

No. 2 seed Kansas.

No. 3 seed Syracuse University.

No. 4 seed UCLA.

No. 5 seed Virginia Commonwealth University.

No. 6 seed Ohio State.

No. 7 seed University of New Mexico.

No. 8 seed Colorado.

No. 9 seed University of Pittsburgh.

No. 10 seed Arizona.

No. 11 seed Dayton.

No. 12 seed Stephen F. Austin State.

No. 13 seed University of Tulsa.

No. 14 seed Western Michigan University.

No. 15 seed Eastern Kentucky University.

No. 16 seed University of Albania.

No. 17 seed Oregon.

The Pac-12 League was lucky this time, and a total of three teams qualified for the tournament.

Among them, UCLA is the champion and directly advances, while the University of Arizona and the University of Oregon received "invitation quotas."

"As the No. 4 seed, our opponent in the first round of the tournament is the University of Tulsa, the No. 13 seed."

"This team seems to be 'invited to participate', right? It shouldn't be very strong."

The original text comes from Yuta&Read Novel~&

For a moment, the players began to whisper.

According to the tournament rules, there will be a cross-elimination of seeds No. 1-16. UCLA is the No. 4 seed and will face the No. 13 seed.

Of course, there is the "play-off" before this, which is the No. 16 seed vs. the No. 17 seed in each district, but it has little to do with UCLA.

"Be quiet." Coach Holland raised his hand and waited for everyone to calm down before saying: "The championship is coming soon. This is a good opportunity for us. The opponents in the first round are not very strong. . If nothing goes wrong in the second round, we should face Virginia Commonwealth University, and we have great hopes of winning with our strength."

"So, we have to go all out and never get eliminated as early as last season this time."

“This time, our goal is to reach the Southern District finals, win the Southern District championship, and then compete for the championship.”

He didn't dare to speak too loudly, after all, it was too difficult to win the championship.

Every year there are always some favorites to win, but in the end they are eliminated.

For example, last year's top seed in the Southern Region, the University of Kansas, had many quasi-NBA players, including the top pick in the draft, CJ McLemore. However, in the end, it failed to even advance to the quarterfinals, winning 16:8 in the 85-to-87 game. Lost to the University of Michigan and suffered an upset.

This is not unusual at all. In last season's tournament, the No. 15 seed even defeated the No. 2 seed to advance, which shattered everyone's eyes.

And this is the charm of the NCAA tournament and why it is called "March Madness."

Everything is full of unknowns and everything is possible.

"Coach, don't worry, we will definitely work hard."

"Win the Southern District Championship and compete for the championship. Brothers, come on!"

"come on!"

A group of players were high-spirited and roared excitedly.

Only Zhuang Yu is the calmest, because from the beginning, his goal was not the Pac-12 League Championship, nor the Southern District Championship, but the Championship Championship!

In the history of the NCAA, many teams have won the NCAA championship, and the UCLA Bruins have won the championship more than once.

However, no Chinese player has ever won the championship in the NCAA tournament - so this is his goal, his dream!

"I hope that one day I can win the NCAA championship trophy on a stage that attracts national attention and prove that there is nothing we can't do."

Zhuang Yu muttered to himself and clenched his fists.

Seeing the high morale of the players, Coach Holland nodded happily and said with a smile: "Okay. Let's disband and start group confrontation training later."

Everyone dispersed and prepared for group confrontation training.

After the group confrontation training was completed, Coach Holland summoned the players to the video analysis room and began to watch the University of Tulsa game video.

While watching, the coaching staff also analyzed the lineup of the University of Salta, the technical characteristics of the players, the team's tactics, etc....

In the next few days, UCLA began to conduct targeted tactical training, targeting the University of Salta’s playing style and characteristics.

......

In a blink of an eye, mid-March has passed.

The NCAA tournament begins.

First, there were the "play-offs" in the four divisions of the East, West, South, and Central and West divisions. In the South division, it was the No. 16 seed University of Albania vs. the No. 17 seed University of Oregon. In the end, the University of Oregon narrowly defeated the opponent 77:74, taking the opponent's place and becoming the winner. The No. 16 seeded team in the Southern District.

Just like UCLA last season, although they won the play-offs, the University of Oregon will face the University of Florida, the top seed in the Southern District, in the next round.

With the strength of the University of Oregon, there is little hope of winning.

In the history of the NCAA, there are many low-seeded teams that upset the top teams, and there are even cases where the No. 15 seed defeated the No. 2 seed. However, so far, there has never been a No. 16 seed defeating the No. 1 seed. .

On March 3, the first round of the championship began.

......

Dayton, Ohio.

The first round of the Southern Conference Championship will be held here. The UCLA Bruins have arrived in Dayton one day early. After simple repairs, they ushered in the first opponent of the tournament - the 13th seed University of Tulsa.

The game will take place at the University of Delaware Stadium, where the Bruins played against Kansas last season.

The game hasn't even started yet, but the stadium is already full of people. There is almost no vacancy anywhere, and the huge stadium is packed with people.

Fans of both teams had already arrived. They wore the jerseys of their favorite players and formed different camps, which looked very spectacular.

Amidst the noise, the on-site DJ announced that players from both sides were about to enter the stadium.

For a moment, all kinds of cheers and boos broke out...

As the live DJ broadcast, Zhuang Yu walked out of the players' tunnel and came to this place again, with memories of last season flooding back.

He raised his hand, waved to the fans in the audience, then made a fist, put it on his chest, and said silently to himself - this time, we must not lose!