Chapter 020: Rushing to Sweet Sixteen
"The Western Conference finals are at the San Jose Coliseum?
"It's the third largest city in California, do you want to be so ignorant?"
"Damn, I've never been out of Los Angeles in my life!"
"If I'm not mistaken, across the river is the Golden State Warriors' home stadium - Oracle Center! In '96, Oracle was rebuilt, and the Golden State Warriors came here to play!"
"Why don't you just give us Staples? I just want Kobe Bryant to watch me play!"
"And then spend another night with Kayden Cross, right? man, I just want to say, if there's such a good thing, take me with you!"
……
"quiet!" Seeing that the topic of discussion continued to deviate, Ben Holland finally spoke up to stop his little brown bears, "The game needs to be fought one game at a time." Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info If you can't make it to the Western Conference finals, all of the above is just boring dreams!"
With a whistle, the boring training began again, it doesn't matter what Kobe Bryant or Kroos is! The important thing is that no one wants to lose one game before the finals, and losing one game will mean the end of the season.
……
On March 15, US time, Crazy March finally began.
West Division, Sacramento, No. 2 seed UCLA vs. No. 15 seed Weber State University, it's a battle without suspense. Nguyen Erniu was still efficient, and Afralo's form was quickly restored, but David Patern, the core of Weber State University, lost himself, 80:42, it was a bloody massacre.
However, this is not the headline of the day, but it can't belong to UCLA after all, because it was also on this day that the basketball powerhouse Duke University was eliminated, Virginia State Commonwealth University completed the upset with a stunner, and Eric Mayno became famous with a goal, giving Duke University, the No. 6 seed in the West Division an early holiday.
You must know that in UCLA's prediction, the Duke Blue Devils are the first candidate for the opponent in the Western Conference semifinals, but the opponent did not even squeeze into the top 32.
Crazy March is really crazy enough! Ruan Erniu thought secretly.
The strength of the team, the difference in the talent of the players, and the unpredictable things that can happen in a win-lose game. Just look at the helplessness of the old K coach after the game, it is clear that even if it is a famous team, it will capsize in an unknowable game!
Ben Holland has repeatedly admonished his players: "So, we must not let up in the slightest. Otherwise, Duke's today is our tomorrow!"
Of course, in addition to big names like Duke, there are also some players who are still unknown and say goodbye to the NCAA in the 06-07 season. For example, the 13th-seeded Davidson Wildcats in the Midwest lost to the No. 4 seed Maryland Turtles, and the Wildcats had a baby-faced Stephen Curry who scored 30 points, but failed to score any open points in the final 5 minutes and 51 seconds of the game, and left the game with five fouls in 21 seconds before the end. However, people talk more about his father, who was the best 3-point shooter in the NBA, Dell Curry.
Well, someday in the future, maybe it's a game that deserves to be taken out and remembered.
Eyes shifted back to the West District, which broke out as a big upset.
UCLA said goodbye to Duke in a distant way, and their next opponent was the Indiana State University Mountain People. This is also a team with a strong defense, and their inner core, DJ White, will be the first challenge that Nguyen Er Niu will face in March Madness!
Coach Ben Holland said to the players around him while playing the video of his opponent: "Tell me, what are your own thoughts?"
Naturally, Afflaro and Darren Collison expressed strong self-confidence and said that they would do everything in their power to win down their opponents.
Ruan Erniu thought for a while and said: "I haven't fought against White, who is strong and who is weak, I will only know after comparison!"
Westbrook dissatisfied, "Hey, Kraft, you're too modest. That guy isn't your match at all, just look at the stats!"
Ruan Erniu said with a smile: "If you just look at the statistics, I should outperform everyone in the entire NCAA except for Kevin Durant." But if we run into Florida's frontcourt trident in the future, who can guarantee that we will win?"
As soon as these words came out, even Sibu, who had always been full of self-confidence, could not say much! The team that won the NCAA championship last season has become the biggest favorite to win the championship since the beginning of the season. If Oden and Durant represent the future, then the Florida alligator is the existence that dominates the present.
"However, we don't have to worry, even Duke has been eliminated, maybe they themselves will be eliminated before we meet Florida? So, let's win the Mountain People first! I don't dare to say that I am better than DJ White, but I firmly believe that the overall strength of UCLA must be stronger than Indiana! So, kill them and advance to Sweet 16!"
"Sweet 16!"
"Sweet 16!"
……
Unconsciously, Kraft Nguyen, a native of the Celestial Dynasty, has become one of the leaders of UCLA! Ben Holland looked at the scene in front of him with some emotion, the world of genius is really unimaginable, this little guy introduced by his cousin actually firmly occupied the starting position in his freshman year, and won the recognition of his teammates with his own strength!
U.S. time, March 17, Sacramento.
UCLA vs. Indiana State University, before the start of the game, some news media captured Kings stars Mike Bibby and Brad Miller, and the influence of "March Madness" is fermenting.
In a game that no one could afford to lose, both sides began to play iron from the first half. Both of these teams, both of which have left a glorious history in the NCAA (UCLA 11 championships and Indiana State 5 times), want to recreate the glory of yesterday, and no one wants to fall here!
Once the outside shot can't be opened, it is natural to find a breakthrough opportunity from the inside!
The first to take the lead was DJ White, the leading scorer of the Big Ten League, although he did not get the slightest advantage in the opposition from Ruan Erniu, but he was misplaced in the face of the slower-moving Mata, he showed extraordinary explosiveness at once, and after easily shaking off the opponent, he completed the attack with a violent dunk.
DJ White wouldn't have imagined that this would be one of the few highlights he had in the whole game. In the next game, Nguyen Er Niu fully showed his demeanor as the first two doubles of machines in the NCAA. Mid-range shots, hooks, throws, dunks, Ruan Erniu suppressed DJ White in the head-to-head battle.
Although the defensive intensity of the game was high, although Afflaro lost himself again, although the Mountain Terres' Roderick Wilmont and Lance Steinmuller hit back-to-back 3-pointers. However, thanks to Nguyen's strong play and Darren Collison's key contributions, UCLA still won 64-49 and made it to Sweet 16.
Brad Miller in the stands also gave a brief interview to TV after the game, and he said that UCLA's No. 44 Celestial Empire definitely has what it takes to enter the NBA, and his performance is phenomenal.
The low-key Mike Bibby was not interviewed, and even when he was on that Kings team, he was still very low-key.
What was the Kings like? Well, that's a good question!
Divac, Webb, Peja, and Christie in the highlights will tell you what it means to be truly gorgeous, and then that's not all, some things will always live in the minds of old fans, precipitated over time......