Last year, Arizona lost by one point to the University of Kentucky after beating Villanova to reach the national finals, which is the fundamental reason why all the main players stayed at the university and wanted to make another national title this season.

Chang Wei still remembers the scene when Thomas knelt on the ground and cried bitterly after losing to Arizona in the finals, and he promised them to help Villanova win a championship. While the game against Arizona wasn't a national final, it was the beginning of Villanova's farewell to the past, and the win was crucial for everyone.

Bibby and Terry have become more mature, with the latter still being Arizona's Super Sixth Man, averaging 10.6 points per game and a team-high 4.3 assists. Compared to last year, Arizona's roster has barely changed, at least their main lineup remains intact, in other words, they can still play small-ball tactics beyond their era this time, and last season they used this move to beat Villanova, who was very much on the sidelines.

If they did it only occasionally last season, the small-ball tactics have become a regular tactic in Arizona this season, and according to Chang Wei's private personal statistics, Arizona have used a three-guard and two-forward lineup for at least two-thirds of the games this season, and the effect has been quite good, almost every time they will hit a wave of scoring surges when the opponent is caught off guard, so as to take the game away.

But this time Chang Wei is not too worried, and now Villanova also has the capital to play small ball tactics, as long as Allen is removed and replaced by Selestende. With Brown and Celestead in the backcourt, Maddy as a real point forward, Battier as the No. 4 and Brand at the basket, the small-ball lineup at least doesn't look like it's going to be left behind.

Chang Wei is not worried that Brand will not be able to keep up with the speed of his teammates, and he has been using the system to help Brand improve his speed and agility throughout the season, in order to adapt to the small-ball strategy, and now it looks like it is time to come up with this secret weapon.

His only concern is that the backcourt combination of Brown and Seleshide is still a little worse than Bibi Gatri, no, it should be said that it is much worse, after all, Bibby and Terry were both famous players in the NBA in their previous lives, as for Brown and Selesstad...... Chang Wei could only say embarrassedly that he had really never heard of these two names.

Obviously, this game should be a battle of offense, Villanova's advantage is on the flanks and inside, Arizona's advantage is in the backcourt, if the two sides are in normal alignment, basically no one can defend against whom, so isn't it going to play against each other? But it's a mistake to say anything now, and you won't know who has the better small-ball tactics until the official game.

Orson is obviously confident in his team, he doesn't believe Villanova can play small-ball tactics, in his opinion, such advanced tactics must be trained for a long time, and then brought to the game to constantly test and improve, rather than just a plausible lineup with a slap on the head, which in his eyes is just a poor imitation.

Moreover, last season Arizona defeated Villanova with small-ball tactics, although the opponent's player list was almost all changed, and the main players were replaced by three freshmen, but Orson firmly believes that the opponent still can't prevent Arizona's small-ball tactics, and he can already start thinking about the opponent in the Final Four in advance.

However, he had no idea that Villanova would start the game with a starting lineup that they had never used before, and that would be ...... There is no center! Playing the No. 5 position, and the center of the University of Arizona, Bramlet, jumped the ball, it was the starting power forward Brand who could not be beaten by the opponent before!

Orson couldn't help frowning, as the head coach, the most feared thing is that the opponent will not play according to the rules, because it means that all the arrangements before the game have failed. What's even more painful is that Villanova hasn't used this lineup at all this season, so what does it mean for them to release it now? Looking down on Arizona?

But it didn't take long for Orson to discover the magic of this lineup, and although Villanova has strong firepower this season, and has become very fond of switching offense because of the presence of Maddie and Battier, they are actually more inclined to score through positional battles, otherwise they will not specifically take Maddie out to play the tactics of organizing forwards.

But as soon as the game began, Villanova's five starters began to pick up the pace like madmen, and everyone received the ball as if they were holding a hot yam, and quickly passed the ball the second second. Of course, they will not stand stupidly in place, but will not hesitate to run wild in the Arizona half, and make decisive moves when they have the opportunity.

What if I don't hit it? That's okay, although Brand, who has been playing the No. 4 position, is not tall enough, his sense of smell and judgment of the landing point of the rebound is simply BUG-level, plus a body that can resist hard under the basket, he can completely compete with the opponent under the basket for the rebound in the front court, and after grabbing it, he will pass it out again, so that his teammates can reorganize the offense.

Defensively, Villanova began to conserve energy, and Rappers gave them instructions to defend 2-3 so that each player would not waste too much energy when defending, and the effect was not bad. If an Arizona player were to shoot a three-pointer from the outside, Brown and Celestead could have stepped forward to interfere, and with the strength of Maddy and Battier, it was too simple to plug the holes in the team's defensive system by moving.

Less than four minutes into the game, Villanova had already scored 14 points, with Maddie and Battier each contributing five points, and the other four coming from Brand's second attack and Celestand's mid-range shot, respectively. Aside from Brown's lack of scoring yet, Villanova is in full bloom, and the key is that they don't look tired at all.

Arizona, on the other hand, only scored a pitiful 2 points, which was obtained through free throws after Bibby was fouled on a breakthrough layup, and the team's consistent offense simply couldn't play. It's clear that Villanova is forcing Arizona to play small, and it's really the easiest and most effective way for the latter.

Chang Wei sat on the bench with a smile, Villanova played small ball at the beginning was completely the result of his persuasion of Lappers, he told Lappers that the team must take the lead in order to grasp the initiative of the game, if you want to directly hit the opponent with a stick, playing small ball at the beginning is undoubtedly the best choice.

And now, his flickering has completely become a reality!