Chapter 65: The Battle for the Champion
In any game, there will be many people who want to see the weak defeat the strong, and the drama of the following crimes will be staged, which can meet the deep psychological needs of most people. But the reality is often cruel, dark horses are rare after all, and it is the norm for the strong to win.
Ohio's final counteroffensive failed before it even began!
Throughout the game, Turner was unable to break through USC's constant double attack, and no matter where he held the ball, there would be a nearby Southern California player to help defend him.
An eighth-seeded team in the division, a college star who can't compete for the top seven drafts, Ohio State doesn't get the attention of other teams, and they rarely enjoy targeted treatment, and the defensive intensity like USC today, which they only enjoyed when they had Auden the Great and Conley two years ago, didn't get enough training in the regular season and in the regional tournament, and now they are dwarfed by the No. 1 seed in the United States.
Wu Huang did not play again in the end, Gibson and DeRozan took over the team's offensive tasks after he left the court, especially DeRozan's breakthrough made Ohio State University also difficult to prevent, and it was naturally impossible to chase points.
After the game, many media felt that the current Turner should not be compared with Wu Huang, he is not qualified enough, and his real opponent in this game is actually DeRozan.
With a final score of 79:53, the University of Southern California defeated Ohio State by 26 points and easily entered the "Sweet Sixteen".
Los Angeles Times reported after the game: Everyone knows the toughness of USC, Hugo is like the vanguard of this team, 25 points, 8 rebounds, 13 assists and 3 steals, DeRozan scored 16 points and 6 rebounds, Gibson 15 points and 12 rebounds contributed a double-double again, and the big three of USC helped the team beat Ohio State University and advance to the round of 16, which is their second time in 10 years.
Gibson was thrilled at the post-match press conference, saying: "The competition is very motivating, Hugo is very much taken care of during the game, Ohio State even sends three people to cover him from time to time, but he overcame these challenges, he is our magic weapon to beat the enemy, and I am very happy to have a teammate like Hugo in my final year of college." ”
Turner only got 16 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists today, and his personal data is not bad, but his efficiency is really not high, and he seems to be struggling on the court. Speaking of this, Turner sighed, "But USC is a strong team, we can't destroy them, we had a perfect game plan, but we can't achieve what we want." ”
USC became the first team to reach the Sweet Sixteen after defeating Ohio State.
After the game, Wu Huang left a photo of himself covered with countless candies and a Chinese word for "sweet", and soon tens of thousands of people liked the picture.
On March 24, after 16 fierce battles, 32 teams were quickly eliminated to 16, which the people used to call the "Sweet Sixteen".
Indeed, it must be quite sweet to be able to continue to stand tall and play in the field of March Madness, watching the backs of the 42 eliminated teams silently disappear, not to mention the fans who have planted greater hopes in their hearts.
This time last year, no one would have complained that when all four No. 1 seeds reached the Final Four, the final was the most dramatic final, and one of the most memorable shots since 1983.
At this time of the year, fans began to complain, I don't know if they felt that the game was too uneventful, because after three rounds of elimination, there was not a single dark horse.
When it comes to dark horses, the basic definition is - defeating the strong with the weak, which has always been a topic of conversation among many college basketball fans, and many times, the attention of an underdog team is even more interesting than the strong dialogue between two high-level teams.
However, in the 52 games so far, there has been no classic battle in which the weak defeated the strong and made people feel like the one in the past.
So, in the 32-16 game, when Ohio State was kicked back to her hometown by the University of Southern California, many people complained that Cinderella still wore very dirty clothes this year. But if you think about it, a normal bracket is actually not bad, and after last year's historic first seeds in all four divisions reached the semi-finals at the same time, this year is the first time in history that all the No. 1, 2, 3rd and 4th seeds remain in the round of 16.
It is worth mentioning that a total of 4 teams from the Pacific Conference have reached the round of 16 this year, and many people want to see how many teams from the Pacific League will be in the final four?
Teams that made it to the Sweet 16 this year:
Midwest Division: University of Southern California, University of Louisville, University of Michigan, University of Oklahoma.
Western Division: University of Connecticut, University of Memphis, University of Missouri, University of Washington.
Eastern Division: University of Pittsburgh, Duke, Villanova University, UCLA University.
Southern Division: University of North Carolina, University of Kansas, Syracuse University, University of Arizona.
Teams from the four major divisions won't meet until the final four, so in the Sweet Sixteen, USC will face the University of Oklahoma.
Wu Huang finally has a chance to face his opponent for the top spot, sophomore beast-level interior lineman Blake Griffin.
According to the official information of the NCAA, Griffin is 6-foot-10 tall, weighs 250 pounds, has a very strong body, and is a big inside killer in college basketball, and the NBA template is a combination of Boozer and Stoudemire.
It can be said that Griffin alone brought the University of Oklahoma to the position of the "Sweet Sixteen".
Griffin is averaging 22.7 points, 14.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.2 blocks and 1.1 steals per game this season while shooting an astonishing 65 percent from the field but only 59 percent from the free-throw line.
At this time, from the perspective of public opinion, many people are not optimistic that Griffin can grow into a top superstar in the NBA, but judging from this year's candidacy, Griffin will be more likely to wear the champion hat than Wu Huang.
The media and fans are more optimistic about Wu Huang, they believe that Griffin's height is obviously cheating, he should only be about 205cm, and his arm span is not prominent, and there is a high chance that he will not be able to adapt to the NBA by playing only by bounce and power.
The media will have such a view related to last year's beast forward Michael Beasley did not play in the NBA, in recent years, this kind of NCAA players who play by physical talent have not mixed well after coming to the NBA, so the media and fans have gradually become conservative about this type of player, and no longer think that a player will become a superstar because he is amazingly physical.
After so many years of development, modern basketball has passed the stage of only looking at physical fitness, including the NBA team in the selection of rookies, in addition to the importance of physical talent, but also began to increase the examination of basketball IQ and technology and other indicators, the so-called "body is born, technology can be cultivated" This kind of words, very unprofessional, "technology" is by no means something that can be cultivated.
Before the start of the Sweet 16, ESPN made a comprehensive dissection of the University of Southern California, which attracted national attention.
How exactly did the Trojans qualify?
Speaking of which, they didn't get the national attention early in the season and their preseason performances were so-so, but when the regular season began, the Trojans began to quietly produce victories.
Many of the Trojans' early victories came by narrow margins, with ups and downs and hard-fought victories.
But from the mid-season onwards, the Trojans found a way to win, and they were always able to put on crazy performances at the right time in the second half of the regular season and in the regional tournaments.
This is thanks to their defense, with a starting lineup of Hugo, Gibson, and DeRozan, three of the NBA's most physical, capable of playing defenses that surpass the intensity of the NCAA for some part of the game, and almost all teams will fall into a scoring drought when dealing with such intensity of defense.
Hugo can then use his top-tier scoring ability to finish opponents in that time, which is why USC is becoming more and more dominant.
At the end of the day, Hugo's performance is getting better and better, his explosive ability in crunch time is increasing day by day, and it is difficult for NCAA college players to stop him from scoring in crunch time, so USC has won their 37th straight game, and the best college team in the country and the best college player in the country continue to make history.