Chapter 75: One Step Away

Many times, Chang Wei's existence is a BUG, and he also makes Villanova a BUG. With the memories of his previous life, Chang Wei sometimes doesn't need to ask the system to help him easily, and he can easily help the team beat the opponent.

However, he also has to admit that it has a lot to do with head coach Rappers, who is an excellent coach who is willing to listen to others and is good at thinking, so Chang Wei can convince him in terms of player use and game tactics. For example, in this game against Arizona, if the coach is stubborn, it is Villanova who is behind now.

Brand's presence made Orson feel like he was in his throat, but he didn't have much to do about it. Either continue to play small-ball tactics, lose rebounds like crazy, and then lose the game; Either Replace Bramlet, but then you can't play a small-ball tactic, and you will probably die faster in the face of Villanova's stormy attack.

After careful analysis, Orson was shocked into a cold sweat, could it be that this game would be lost no matter what? So what do you and your players do for a season? He sighed with difficulty, and instead of continuing to walk around the sidelines, he sat back in his place with a blank face, and he had no intention of changing people, even if he was going to die, he had to leave with dignity.

Lappers doesn't care so much, he just thinks Chang Wei's idea of putting Selesstad in the starting line-up and letting Brand play center before the game is very pertinent, and now Villanova has built a huge lead. For a while, he was very excited to pace on the sidelines, and from time to time he shouted a few words to the players on the field.

This looks a little funny, the leading side is shouting on the sidelines, and the lagging side is sitting firmly on the Diaoyutai platform, how strange it is, I don't know and think that it is Villanova who is behind!

At halftime, Villanova had already taken a 17-point lead at 58-41, the first time this season that Arizona had trailed by more than 15 points at halftime. On the way to the locker room, Villanova's players laughed and let off their joy, while the Arizona players seemed to be shrouded in clouds, everyone was expressionless, and some freshman rookies even had the urge to cry.

In the face of the players who were crazy with joy, Rappers was still very cautious to ask them to put their hearts away for the time being, now it is only the end of half, and there are still 20 minutes in the second half, if they are careless, they are likely to be overturned by the opponent. Under his "intimidation", the players finally quieted down and began to listen carefully to his tactics, while seizing the time to recover their strength.

Chang Wei just stood aside and smiled, only he knew where the team's strengths were, and only he had 100% confidence in the victory of this game. However, it is also good for Rappers to train this group of guys hard, Chang Wei does not want to see a second half full of ups and downs and climaxes, which only shows that the team is not strong enough.

Rappers knows that the players in the team have been trained by Chang Wei to become physical maniacs, and there is no problem in supporting the second half for 20 minutes. So he decided to continue the small-ball tactics in the first half, and it would be great if he could beat Arizona to death with a stick, and he didn't want to lead by 17 points and still win narrowly.

In the second half, both sides invariably sent the same lineup as in the second half of the first half, Lappers was hoping to chase and fight hard, and Orson was completely trying to die better, and he was still faintly unconvinced. But no matter how unconvinced, the score can also say a lot.

However, unlike the first half, Brand played an advantage under the basket at the beginning, and he scored 5 points and 3 assists within 2 minutes, helping the team play a wave of 14-5 mini-climax, and stretched the difference to more than 25 points in one fell swoop. This is also what Lappers deliberately told at halftime, he felt that it was too wasteful to simply use Brand as a blue-collar interior player specializing in rebounding, and since Arizona was empty, it was better to let Brand do something on the offensive end.

Obviously, Brand did not disappoint him, a small hook hand with a back single, and a breakthrough with the ball to make it 2+1. When Arizona began to pack him, he played to his advantage in passing, and successively distributed the ball to his teammates to cut to the basket and make easy layups, which is also a common routine when the team plays playmaking center tactics.

Brand's huge advantage on the inside became the straw that broke the camel's back, and the Arizona players no longer had the same fighting spirit as before, and even the ambition to reach the final was gone. They just run mechanically on the court, defending, shooting, like walking corpses without thoughts and lives.

But Villanova has no intention of stopping, and last season's grudge must be washed in blood to pay off. As the game continued, the difference between the two sides grew, and by the time Orson pulled out all his main forces, Arizona had fallen behind by as much as 34 points, which could already be called a bloody slaughter.

Perhaps feeling that it was enough to give an account of last season's game, Rappers also removed his main players. However, Arizona could not close the gap until the end of the game, and the final score was 102-70, and Villanova won by 32 points, becoming the Western Conference champion by a landslide, and reaching the final four of the national championship again.

After Villanova won the Western Conference, the remaining three divisions were also announced. The Eastern Conference champion is an old acquaintance, North Carolina, who is also Villanova's opponent in the Final Four; The winner of the Southern Division was the No. 2 seed University of Kentucky, who eliminated Duke, led by the old K, in the division finals; The Central and Western Conference winners were even more unexpected, with No. 3 seed Stanford University, who was expected to reach the semi-finals with top seed University of Kansas, but they lost in the second round to No. 8 seed University of Rhode Island, who was also Stanford's opponent in the division finals.

North Carolina and Villanova can be said to be old acquaintances, last season's grievances put aside for the time being, this season the two sides are not without sparks, when Carter followed Smith's instructions to disturb Maddy's mind made Lappers very unhappy, if he made a timely move, Villanova would be crushed by North Carolina in that game.

And now it is the final four, and no one dares to use those off-the-board moves openly, the only thing that can determine the outcome of the game is the true strength of both sides, and it doesn't seem too late to calculate the general ledger now.