Columbia passed the first round of the national championship and made it to the round of 32, which is a victory for Columbia, and a victory for the Ivy League, you must know that the last time a team in the Ivy League broke into the round of 32 was in the 97/98 season, when Princeton University represented the Ivy League in the round of 32 of the national championship.

Lee Chenglong scored 26 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists on 9-of-16 shooting, 3-of-5 three-pointers, and 5-of-5 free throws in this game, and was also the biggest contributor to Columbia's victory.

At the post-match press conference, Lee was undoubtedly in the spotlight. One of the highlights of the NCAA is the dark horse, and Columbia University has obviously become the first dark horse of the NCAA this year, and Li Chenglong is the leader of this dark horse.

In the face of sports reporters across the United States, Li Chenglong spoke eloquently.

"Yes, that's what the NCAA is, it's either Cinderella or go home, and we succeeded this time, and this is the last time we go to achieve our dreams, and it's a moment to be happy and our hard work pays off."

"Draft? Yes, I've decided to play in this year's NBA Draft and I love challenging myself. ”

"What's next? We're going to move on and we're not afraid of any opponent. ”

Soon after the game, Lee received a call from Hammer, and he was very happy with Lee's performance, and the last good performance in the NCAA was worthy of a lot of special publicity.

On March 16th, the NCAA round of 64 matches are all over, as far as the results of each major region are concerned, if the 8th seed and the 9th seed are counted as equal strength games, the 9th seed eliminated the 8th is not a dark horse, then after the end of the 64th, there are only two dark horses in the top 32 in the country, Columbia University in the Southern Division and Virginia Commonwealth University in the Western Division, and Columbia University eliminated the University of Tennessee, the 5th seed with the 12th seed, Virginia Commonwealth University defeated NCAA powerhouse Duke University with the No. 11 seed at No. 6.

In terms of results, the result of Virginia Commonwealth University's defeat of Duke University is even more surprising, after all, Duke University is definitely a giant in NCAA basketball, the most recent time was in 01 Sean Battier led the team to win the national championship, but the results in the past two years are not very good in the seed rankings, no one expected that they were sent home in the first round, or were 'hacked' by the following grams.

Of course, the dark horse of Columbia University has also attracted much attention, after all, Columbia University is an ivy League of academic tyrants, and it is completely unexpected to be able to reach the top 32.

Columbia's round of 32 will be played at the Ohio Arena in Columbus, this time against the University of Virginia, which is a real challenge.

The University of Virginia is the No. 4 seed in the Southern Division, just one pick higher than the University of Tennessee, whom Columbia just beats, but this time the energy bottle time interval has not yet arrived, and Lee will no longer be able to use the energy bottle.

So on the morning before the game, he did go to check the enemy's situation, and watching it on the spot could more intuitively see the opponent's strengths and weaknesses.

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The afternoon was about to be the round of 32 at Columbia, so Jones only arranged some light shooting drills and tactical runs in the morning to avoid injuries at this time.

At the end of the training, Li Chenglong explained his views to the whole team: "I went to watch the first round of the University of Virginia, and we have every chance to kill them." ”

If what Li Chenglong said in the round of 64 was more of a word of encouragement, then now the whole team has more trust in Li Chenglong, because he did lead everyone through the top 64, and a group of amateur players eliminated professional players.

Li Chenglong continued: "The star of the University of Virginia is the team's point guard Shean Singer, a fast and strong guard, but his height is only 1.82 meters, such a height is short in the NCAA point guard, but in fact he is a shooting guard, the outside shooting is not too good, and he is good at impacting the basket, so he plays as a point guard on the team but leads the team as a point guard, and our outside speed is not slow, so we can use the height advantage to defend the opponent, Mainly to prevent his breakthrough. ”

"The opponent's scoring mainly relies on Singh Tri on the outside, and there is no strong scorer on the inside, and their Nigerian player Tagji Soroyer on the inside is a spring man, good at blocks but not high ball quotient, except for dunking, there are basically not many scoring means, so we only need to pay attention to his blocks, we shoot on the outside when he guards the basket......"

On the afternoon of March 17, the round of 32 of the NCAA National Championship began, and the game between Columbia University and the University of Virginia was still played at the arena of the University of Ohio.

More than 100 meters from the entrance to the arena, there is a large banner with a lion holding its head forward, which is based on the famous lion sculpture on the campus of Columbia University, and the Columbia University Lions are named after that sculpture.

There is also a phrase under the lion on the banner: Go forward, lion!

At this time, the arena was already overcrowded, and this game between Columbia University and the University of Virginia was one of the most popular games in the NCAA round of 32, more popular than many popular teams, and the dark horse is the focus of the NCAA every year.

The last Columbia-University match was only broadcast on some local TV stations in New York and Tennessee, but the Columbia-University vs. University of Virginia match was immediately broadcast live on TNT (Turner Sports) in the United States.

In fact, in addition to Columbia University, the games of Virginia Commonwealth University, another dark horse team, were also broadcast live across the United States.

The Democratic candidate***, who has just announced his candidacy for the U.S. presidential election, has also expressed support for Columbia, believing that Columbia University can eliminate its opponent and move on.

He graduated from Columbia University with a bachelor's degree and is also an alumnus of Columbia, and later went to Harvard to study law, also in the Ivy League. I also pay special attention to NCAA basketball, every year in March Madness, *** has to write 64 teams on the blackboard at home to analyze, give his own opinion of the advancing team, predict the final championship team, etc., and now he is of course to support his alma mater, Columbia.

The game was about to start, the starters of both teams were standing on the field, and Li Chenglong saw Randy Wilson and the rich second-generation Mike in the front row, and the banner outside the field was pulled by them.

Columbia's side is still the original starting lineup, point guard Harry Scott, point guard Lee Chenglong, small forward Smith O'Connor, power forward Martin Taylor, and center Fernando Lopez.

On the University of Virginia side, point guard Shean Singerry, point guard J.R. Reynolds, small forward Marty Danny, power forward Jason Gain, and center Taji Soroyer.

University of Virginia's spring man Soroyer won with a jump ball, and Singer Tri dribbled across half court.

Despite Lee Chenglong's reminder, Scott, the main defender of Singer's Tree, was still shaken by the opponent and accelerated into the interior line, hitting a layup before Martin Taylor made up for it.

Singer's speed is really fast, Li Chenglong still has a little impression of him, he remembers that when the Rockets and Kings traded Artest, they traded Singer Tree in the middle, but he was quickly cut by the Rockets, and then he had no impression, he may have been eliminated by the NBA after playing on the edge of a team for two years, but at least it proves that he entered the NBA.

Although Singer is fast, his height is always a big problem, and his height of 1.8 meters will have endless hot pot waiting for him in the NBA.

Columbia's offense, Scott took the ball over the half court and handed it to Lee Chenglong immediately. The University of Virginia is not only short in point guard, but also in point guard JR Reloz is less than 1.9 meters tall, and Li Chenglong is a head taller than him.

Swish!

Three-point hit.

"Well done, Bruce!"

"Kill them!"

There were huge cheers on the sidelines, and the Lions actually felt a certain degree of home atmosphere in this game.

The University of Virginia attacked, and this time Scott followed Singer to prevent his breakaway, Singer barely missed the shot under the interference, and Lopez won the rebound.

Columbia's offense follows the rehearsed routine, Li Chenglong takes the ball and cuts in, O'Connor cuts out from the other side, making a cross cover, Li Chenglong immediately got the opportunity to face the inside, he immediately dribbled into the paint area and prepared to make a layup, Soroyer, who has been guarding the inside line, immediately jumped up, but Li Chenglong's basketball did not shoot but held the ball and took the initiative to lean on him.

Backbite!

The referee blew the whistle, and Li Chenglong made a successful foul.

Li Chenglong knows that for a spring man like Soroyer who is very confident in his bounce and always thinks about blocking, forcing a shot is likely to be covered by him, and making a foul is the best choice, anyway, Li Chenglong is very confident in his free throws.

Swish! Swish! Two free throws were hit.

Columbia's defense of Singer is not bad, O'Connor often goes over to make up for the defense, and the University of Virginia did not find a way to deal with Li Chenglong at first, and played more than 6 minutes before Marty Danny, a small forward who is about the same height as Li Chenglong, began to change his defense, at this time Columbia University had an 11-6 lead of 5 points.

After the change of defense, Li Chenglong also began to cooperate with his teammates to attack, Martin Taylor was in good shape today, hitting several mid-range shots in a row, and at the end of the first half, Columbia led the opponent by 6 points at 37-31.

(To be continued)