It has to be said that Duncan is indeed a top interior player, although he was startled by Thomas's outburst at first, but he quickly regained his composure and refocused on the game.

It seems that it is still beneficial for the players to study psychology, and as a psychology major, Duncan's control of his own psychology on the court is absolutely first-class. Win or lose, there are few other expressions on his face, and basically he will always have a cold poker face, which also means that he is difficult to be influenced by the outside world.

What's more, this guy doesn't have the arrogance of a top star at all, and he won't be exploited by underestimating his opponents. Therefore, in addition to Thomas's surprise at the beginning, he actually didn't take much advantage, and the two sides formed a stalemate at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, and no one could help anyone. Duncan, by contrast, still had a slight advantage, after all, this was his fourth season in the NCAA, and Thomas was just a rookie who had just entered his freshman year.

Still, Thomas's performance on the inside still earned a lot of plus points. Of course, Duncan's game will attract a large number of scouts, but there is only one top pick, which means that the vast majority of scouts watching the game from the sidelines are on teams that don't have a chance, so it becomes logical to look at other players, such as Thomas, who can compete with Duncan on the inside.

After Chang Wei gave him a strength potion, this guy was much better when facing Duncan, at least he wouldn't be squeezed out by the other party when he was stuck in the basket. In fact, Thomas's skills are not bad, otherwise he would not be the favorite for rookies in the lottery area, and he was suppressed by Duncan only because of the difference in strength between the two sides.

When Thomas was resurrected, Villanova's offense was turned on, and the outside shooters could pick up the ball from the inside at any time and hit a three-pointer, even if the basketball smashed out of the frame, Thomas was fighting for rebounds inside.

In fact, compared to inside singles, grabbing rebounds requires more strength from the players themselves, and even bounce is secondary. Inside singles can be used to shake off opponents with footwork, or pull to mid-to-long-range shots, in which case there is no need to rely on strength. When fighting for rebounds, the top rebounders are more concerned about judging the landing point, and then seize the position in advance, if the strength is insufficient, even if the basketball landing point is predicted, the rebound may be snatched away by the opponent.

But unfortunately, Villanova was already too far behind in the first half, and hard chiseling inside was not enough to catch up with the score in the remaining time. What's more, Thomas just regained his scoring ability, and he wasn't enough to limit Duncan's offense, in other words, Duncan also scored in a row under his defense.

Lappers is a headache, after all, Villanova University does not have much advantage in the Great Eastern Conference, and if they can beat their opponents in this game, they have a good chance to take the initiative in the internal knockout round and then enter the national championship as the Great Eastern Conference champion. But if they lose this game, whether Villanova can break into March Madness will depend on the faces of the NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee, which is not good news, and who knows what they think.

With 7:36 left in the game, Villanova was still eight points behind and had been unable to close the deficit for three minutes in a row. Wake Forest isn't the only one with Duncan, their interior duo of Tony Rutland and Jerry Braswell are also averaging more than 20 points per game, not to mention that Thomas can't stop Duncan from scoring.

In this game, Chang Wei really saw the gap between Thomas and the top interior players, whether it was offensive or defensive or even high positioning, he was at a disadvantage across the board, although it was not big, but it was enough for Duncan.

But scouts don't care about that, they just think they've found another potential inside, which is a blessing for teams that have a poor record and have little hope of getting the top pick, but still need an inside. Duncan can't choose, so it's not bad to choose a guy who can barely compete with him, that's what they really think.

Although Villanova narrowed the gap to five points at one point, Wake Forest University did not give them any chance to turn the game around. The final score was 72-78, and Villanova lost by six points, which also meant they also had to deal with the challenge of Boston University, who finished second in the Great East Conference, while Wake Forest University booked the ACC league title.

The only one who made a difference was Thomas, who started the game and then went up, with 18 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two blocks. Of course, that's not as good as Duncan, who chipped in 27 points, 16 rebounds, five assists and five blocks, but Thomas has done his best.

After the game, Duncan once again cemented his position as the top pick in the 1997 draft, but Thomas's prediction pick also increased significantly. Previously, he was only predicted to be selected in the lottery, with the highest prediction pick being seventh, but now he has become a hot inside star behind Duncan, and has a good chance of being selected in the top three.

Of course, that doesn't mean Thomas is sure to finish in the top three, as there hasn't been a draw to determine the order in which each team is selected, and if the top three picks don't need interior players, there's a good chance that Thomas will fall behind. But Duncan is different, as long as he is not a fool, any team will choose him when he gets the top pick, this is a player who can be used as a cornerstone of the team, Thomas, then it will be a lower level, even if he plays a double-double against Duncan.

Even that doesn't matter, at least Thomas's ability has been recognized, despite the loss of his team. But Thomas blamed himself, he thought that the team lost because of his own reasons, and the promotion was nothing to him, and he preferred that the team could win against Wake Forest University and continue to maintain the hope of hitting the first place in the regular season of the Great East Conference.

But now that the team is in danger of not making March Madness, for Thomas, he'd rather opt for a roof down than play in the national championship. It's better to be able to achieve both, but if you can only choose one or the other, as a team player, Thomas would prefer the team to go far on the stage of March Madness.

Chang Wei, the only one who knows the truth, smiled and said nothing, he was mentally prepared for the loss of this game at the beginning of the second half, since he dug a big hole for himself in the first 20 minutes, and there was no way to stop Duncan from scoring in the second 20 minutes, it was natural for the team to lose. However, it also makes him crave reputation even more, knowing that there are more good things in the Miracle Mall.