On March 15, 2007, the round of 64 of the NCAA National Championship began.

In the Ohio State Basketball Arena, the game is going on on the court, and Lee Chenglong is sitting in the stands.

It's morning, starting with the University of Virginia, the No. 4 seed in the Southern Division, and the No. 13 match between the University of New York at Albany, and the Columbia game in the afternoon.

Columbia and UC Greater Albany are the only two teams in the New York area to compete in the NCAA National Championship, but Albany is not doing so well, with the University of Virginia leading by 16 points at 41-25 before the first half is over, and the New York-area university looks ready to pack up and go home.

"Bruce, aren't you nervous? The afternoon is our game, according to the comprehensive evaluation, our Columbia and Albany are about the same strength, and now Albany is simply beaten to the point that he can't find the direction, and our afternoon game may be more auspicious. ”

Speaking about Lee's roommate Randy Wilson, who came to support Columbia, by the way watched this game at another university in New York.

Li Chenglong said in a relaxed tone: "I'm inspecting the opponent. ”

"What opponent? Isn't our opponent the University of Tennessee? ”

"If we eliminate the University of Tennessee to advance to the next round, we will face the winner of the University of Virginia and Albany, and at the moment it seems that the University of Virginia is more likely."

"Knock out the University of Tennessee? How dare you think ......?"

Li Chenglong interrupted Wilson's words and asked another person next to him: "Mike, do you think we have a chance to eliminate Tennessee?" ”

Mike thought about it seriously and said, "If you eliminate Tennessee, I will definitely pull a big banner to cheer you on in the next round." ”

Mike is a friend of Wilson, and like Wilson, he is a member of the Flyers baseball club, and since the original president is about to graduate and leave, Mike will become the president of the baseball club in the new semester, and he is a standard help fan. However, Columbia University currently only has basketball in the national championship, so he came to watch the basketball game with Randy Wilson, and it is said that the ticket for this game was obtained by Mike, and the NCAA is hard to find in the national championship.

In the end, the University of Virginia defeated UC Grand Albany in New State 84-57 to advance to the next round, as Li Chenglong said, as long as Columbia can advance, the opponent will be the University of Virginia.

※※※

In the afternoon, as the game between Columbia University and the University of Tennessee was about to begin, Jones was in the locker room to give his final encouragement before going on the court: "It's already a huge success for us to be here, we don't need to be pressured, we're successful no matter what the result is, let's put everything aside and play a good game." ”

Everyone stood up and got ready to play, and at this time Li Chenglong also said: "Guys, they are not that strong, and the game will start to see how I beat them." ”

Li Chenglong's words made everyone relax a little, everyone thought that Columbia University was here to go through the motions, and even most people in Columbia University thought so, after all, this is a gap between professional and non-professional.

Except for Li Chenglong, no one in Columbia University will take basketball as their own profession, they play basketball just for entertainment, and the opponent opposite is a group of guys who are ready to take basketball as a professional, we are just amateurs, but the opponent is professional, in this case, it is normal to have a natural lack of morale.

Columbia got a huge cheer when he entered the stadium, and Li Chenglong saw Randy Wilson and Mike sitting in the front row, it seems that Mike got the ticket again, and the other party should be a rich second generation.

The two teams stood on the court, and the Columbia Lions started with point guard Harry Scott, point guard Lee Chenglong, small forward Smith O'Connor, power forward Martin Taylor, and center Fernando Lopez.

The starters of the opposite University of Tennessee volunteer team are point guard Lamar Smith, point guard Danny Bradshaw, small forward Chris Lofton, power forward Jajuan Smith, and center Wayne Chizm, all of whom are a bunch of people who have no impression of Li Chenglong.

At the beginning of the game, the University of Tennessee jumped the ball to win, and the opposing point guard Lamar Smith took the ball across the half court, skillfully hoisted the ball inside and handed it to center Wayne Chizm, who was the University of Tennessee's leading scorer, averaging 13 points and 8 rebounds per game.

Chizm's first attack failed to score under the interference of Lopez, Martin Taylor took the rebound and passed directly to Li Chenglong, Li Chenglong took the ball and threw off the pace and rushed to the opponent's half, but the University of Tennessee's outside defense was very fast, and Li Chenglong had to give up the fast break.

Li Chenglong and other teammates came to the frontcourt, and there was no good opportunity for basketball to conduct several times, so Li Chenglong took the ball and let Martin Taylor come out to block and dismantle, and with the blocking and dismantling to get rid of Lofton who was defending him, Li Chenglong broke through to the basket, and after entering the paint area, he made a three-step layup, and the opposing center Chizm pressed over to prepare a block, but Li Chenglong changed the ball from his right hand to his left hand, and scored a layup with a change hand, and also made the opponent's foul.

"Roar!!

Li Chenglong, who was two plus one, roared loudly, and cheers rang out at the scene.

Li Chenglong used an energy bottle, he can shoot three points directly from the outside, but the effect is not as good as scoring under the basket, scoring under the basket is a huge help to improve the team's morale, which is also the reason why many old-school NBA celebrities accuse floating on the outside of shooting three-point shots too soft.

Lee Chenglong thinks that no matter what three or two points can score, but when it is necessary to improve the morale of the team, it is best to choose to go to the basket.

Swish!

Li Chenglong hit a free throw, and Columbia led 3-0.

The offense in the first round caused the team's most important player to receive a foul, which made the head coach of the University of Tennessee on the sidelines frown, knowing that the NCAA only needs to make five fouls to be sent off.

The University of Tennessee attacked, and this time Chizm finally scored a cricket kick after shaking off Lopez with his foot, but in the end, it was Lee Chenglong again, and he relied on cover to get a little gap on the outside and did not hesitate to shoot three-pointers.

Swish!

The score became 6-2, and the scene was cheering again.

When it came to the national championships, only some of the fans at the scene were supporters of the two teams, and most of the others were neutral fans, who would cheer whenever they saw the goal, and the favorite thing for neutral fans was to see the weak team upset, and now Columbia's performance has made them see the shadow of the dark horse.

Next, the two sides went back and forth, the University of Tennessee coach on the sidelines frowned more and more, he was thinking about whether to call a timeout, Columbia's offensive success rate led by Li Chenglong was very high, but the University of Tennessee offense had a mediocre success rate, and the score was pulled away a little bit.

15 minutes and 45 seconds in the first half, that is, when the first half was 4 minutes and 15 seconds, Li Chenglong held the ball again, and at a 45-degree angle, he relied on O'Connor's cover and then slipped to break through the bottom line.

It was a clear blocking foul and the referee blew the whistle without hesitation.

This is the third foul of the half of the University of Tennessee, and the NCAA will only make a free throw if it reaches 7 fouls in the half, so there will be no free throws for this foul, but Tennessee has to call a timeout, because this is the second foul of their center Chizm, who has been fouled twice in less than 5 minutes in the first half, and Chizm has to be rested.

At the timeout, there was jubilation on the Columbia bench, because everyone could see that the University of Tennessee's starting center and leading scorer was in foul trouble, and Columbia was currently leading 11-5.

This situation gave the whole Columbia team confidence, they saw the possibility of winning, and their form improved.

After the timeout, Tennessee's Chizm really didn't play, and the opponent began to let more outside players hit the basket to score, and Li Chenglong also appropriately transferred the ball to the inside, allowing Martin Taylor to attack the opponent's weakened inside.

In the rest of the first half, Li Chenglong made two more mid-range jumpers, one foul and then two free throws, and at the end of the first half there were 3 minutes left, Li Chenglong was replaced off the court to rest, at this time Li Chenglong's data was 4 of 7 shots, 1 of 3 three-point shots, 3 free throws 3 of 3, and scored 12 points.

At the end of the first half, Columbia also led the University of Tennessee 37-30.

At halftime, Jones didn't make too many tactical changes, and the current tactics of Columbia University are to take Li Chenglong as the core, and other players help cover and block the demolition, and Li Chenglong is not in good shape, so let Martin Taylor play more.

At the beginning of the second half, the main players of both teams rested first.

After playing more than 3 minutes in the second half, the University of Tennessee's bench failed to score recently, and first couldn't help but let the main team play, and Columbia also changed the main force here.

This time the University of Tennessee began to gain momentum, they were already stronger than Columbia, and now they are holding their breath to equalize, Chizm showed his inside strength, and beat Lopez in a few minutes.

At 13 minutes and 22 seconds into the second half, Chizm hit Lopez inside again, Martin Taylor was fouled in the past, and Chizm got two free throws.

After Chizm hit a free throw, the score was 46-44, and the score was only two points away, and Columbia head coach Joe Jones called a timeout.

In the coach's seat, Jones was talking endlessly about how to stabilize the situation, but Li Chenglong breathed a sigh of relief, his playing time has reached 20 minutes, and he can use the energy bottle again in this game, so the next thing to do is to pull the score away again.

At the end of the pause, Li Chenglong finally drank a saliva and went on the field again, and in an instant, a wave of heat spread throughout his body, and his body was full of energy.

Chizm's second free throw, he slapped the ball a few times, and as an inside player who shot less than 70 percent from the field, he deservedly missed the second free throw.

"Mine!"

Martin Taylor yelled, Lopez helped to get in position, Taylor won the rebound, Lee Chenglong started quickly on the outside, and Taylor's pass also arrived.

Free throw position, the opponent is naturally prepared for Columbia's fast break, Li Chenglong still quickly advanced to the frontcourt, but slowed down a step outside the three-point line, and shot directly.

Swish!

A three-pointer to stop the bleeding temporarily stopped the momentum of the University of Tennessee's chasing points.

Li Chenglong's unreasonable three-point chase made the stadium boil again, and Columbia once again dominated under the leadership of Li Chenglong.

The University of Tennessee scored a layup on the offense by Lamar Smith from the outside, and Lee Sung-ryong immediately returned the favor with a pull-up jump shot.

By the end of the five-minute effect of the energy bottle, Columbia had turned the score to 60-50, the score gap had been stretched to 10 points, and there were only 8 minutes left in the game, and the most important thing was that O'Connor had just hit the basket and caused Chizm's foul, which was his fourth foul, and he would be sent off the court if he fouled again, all of which was very beneficial to Columbia.

Next, Chizm, who was tied up, couldn't use his full ability, but the morale of Columbia was high, and everyone rubbed Chizm with basketballs like dynamite bags, and Chizm finally got a fifth foul on Martin Taylor with more than 2 minutes left in the game.

At the end of the game, the score was fixed at 71-63.

The arena at the University of Ohio was filled with jubilation, and the audience witnessed a game of the first dark horse of this year's National Championships.

(To be continued)