The NCAA National Championship has another name: March Madness, and you can imagine how passionate Americans are about the top of college basketball. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info67 games in 20 days, whether heaven or hell, a player has only 4 times in his life at most, and all the joys and sorrows are presented in this intensive March. "March Madness" has attracted more money and influence than anyone in the knockout part of American sporting events, except for the Super Bowl of football. As Valparaiso University head coach Bryce Drew said, "When you go to college, probably the most important thing you want to achieve before you graduate is to play in the NCAA." It's the biggest stage in college basketball and one of the biggest national events in the United States. ”

For die-hard fans of every team, it's normal to drive hundreds of kilometers in March Madness, and they just need to be on hand to cheer on their favorite players, even if the first round of matches between these very different teams really didn't make a big difference, such as the one between UCLA and Mississippi Valley State University. But the game still attracted a large number of fans, more than 80% of whom were UCLA fans. UCLA's unbridled offense throughout the regular season has also attracted a large fan base outside of Los Angeles, and in terms of popularity, perhaps none of the other three divisions can match them.

Compared to the relaxed mentality of the UCLA players, the players in the Mississippi Valley are very nervous and extremely nervous. However, it will not be easy for them to make it to the NCAA round of 64 through a playout round, otherwise they will not be selected by the selection committee as one of the last two seeded teams in the Western Conference. But well, after all, they are all young people, and they still have dreams, what if they beat their opponents in an upset? Is it possible to advance to the second round? Generally speaking, only those top teams will have an early overview of the entire division's schedule, while some other smaller teams are relatively more focused, winning a game and earning a game, at least to prove that they are not the role of accompanying the prince to study, the next round? Whatever, let's fight this round first!

Holland is well aware of the mentality of these small teams, but he doesn't deliberately target them tactically. It's not arrogance, it's confidence in his team, and in his opinion, UCLA is going to make it to the final four to compete for the NCAA championship, and if it capsizes in the first round of the playoffs, then the team might as well be disbanded. But having said that, he still tirelessly told everyone to take their opponents seriously during training, and the so-called lion fighting rabbit also needs to go all out, but he will not design special tactics, and the players can play at a normal level on weekdays to eliminate the opponent.

The players didn't have any special thoughts, and they still lost two games technically in the regular season, one at the University of Iowa and one at the University of Memphis. These two teams are two very different styles, the former is a team spirit and the latter is individual heroism, and it is these two defeats that make the players know that they are not yet capable of crushing everything. Teams and individuals have always been the most contrasting tactical styles on the court, and UCLA players have no excuse to say that their loss was just an accident, and it is clear that they have a certain degree of problems when they lose, both individually and teamwork. After the regular season, they have become more mature, and the most obvious thing is that they don't take any opponent lightly.

After the last training session before the game, Westbrook sat next to Ye Feng with a big towel and said lazily: "Ye, do you want to go out for a walk at night?" After the tournament officially starts, we probably won't have so much to spare. Ye Feng smiled and said, "It's better to rest early at night, Russell, lest you can't get up tomorrow." It's night, but if you sleep too long, I can't guarantee you'll be in good shape when you play. Westbrook's enthusiasm vanished in an instant, and he said helplessly: "Okay, okay, you're such a 'good baby', do you want me to buy you a pacifier?" He laughed out loud at his joke.

Ye Feng threw him a roll of his eyes and ignored this self-entertaining second goods. He turned to Loew and said, "Kevin, what do you say?" If you want to go out and about, you can team up with Russell. Loew smiled honestly and said, "I'll forget it, how to say that tomorrow is also the first battle of our crazy March, I don't want to lose face." Although the instructor forbade us to practice more in the evening, I still planned to play games in my room and go to sleep. He said to Westbrook apologetically, "Sorry Russell, maybe you'll have to be alone tonight." ”

Westbrook looked at the two of them in surprise and muttered, "Could it be that this is your freshman tradition?" Or is it just a tradition in your dorm? This is my second year at UCLA, but it's the first time I've seen you guys like this in the team, Ye, are you the monks you Chinese say? My admiration for you is like a surging river......" Ye Feng patted him on the shoulder, smiled and said, "Don't drag words, what monk?" I just have my own attitude towards basketball. If you're going to go out, remember to ask Coach Holland for a leave of absence in advance, lest we'll have to look for you on the street in the middle of the night. ”

Westbrook raised his middle finger disdainfully and snorted, "You don't go out one by one, what is it if I go out alone?" I'd better come to you at night to play games, or it will be a little too boring. Ye Feng and Loew looked at each other and smiled: Another assimilated teenager!

When I went to the stadium the next day, everyone on the Bruins was in good spirits, and it was no longer a matter of getting off to a good start, after all, this was not a league, and a black start meant that all the year's hard work was in vain. During the pre-match warm-up, everyone was quite serious, and the opponents in the other half were shocked: You are all so strong, can you leave us a way to live? If Ye Feng was asked to answer, his answer would be: "No." "No matter how strong you are and how weak your opponents are, you won't have any other emotions on the pitch, you just want a win.

In the locker room, Holland smiled and watched as everyone carefully put on their equipment, and did not intend to give too much tactical guidance to the players, and even the blackboard at the door of the locker room only had one word written on it: victory. When the game was about to start, he said lightly: "For this game, I don't want to say too much, and I don't ask you to win the opponent by many points, after all, there is no deep hatred between our two schools, I only need a victory, and the basis of victory is you." This is only the first round of the tournament, and I hope you don't let me down, and don't let all the fans at UCLA down. ”

Everyone looked at each other and smiled, and even Westbrook, who usually talked the most, didn't say anything grandiose. As the coach has always instilled in them, the team's goal is to win the championship at the end, and the first round is enough as long as they play normally, and the strength of the opponent is not even worth the players to fight until they are exhausted, which is the fundamental reason why they can maintain a good mentality. They just need to warm up, get on the field, beat their opponents, and that's enough.

As it turned out, UCLA wasn't something Mississippi Valley State could stop and even the team's troika wasn't at full strength, and it was a good time for Holland to send in his bench players to get a feel for the tournament. The result was the most disparity of 32 games in the first round: UCLA won by 41 points, 70-29. In addition to its own strong offense, UCLA once again showed everyone its defense, although it was an NCAA game, but it was quite amazing to let the opponent score 29 points in a single game. The second-largest margin of difference took place in the Eastern Conference, where the No. 1 seed also played No. 16, and North Carolina won 113-74 over Mount Saint Mary's College by 39 points. However, UCLA players don't think they're inferior to North Carolina, as they have a lot more bench players than North Carolina, and it's not uncommon for teams to score more than 100 points if they do their best to get their main players to play at least 30 minutes.

Soon UCLA's second-round opponent was born. Texas Farm & Workers narrowly defeated Brigham Young University 67-62 in the first round to advance to the second round and become UCLA's next opponent. It can be seen that Holland is indeed very old, and at the beginning of the tournament he focused on DeAndre Jordan of Texas Farm and Workers, and finally his hunch became a reality. In the second round, the pressure on the UCLA team should be the most, this is the first time he has faced a defensive center who is taller and heavier than him, and whether he can gain an advantage on the inside will be a key factor in whether UCLA can make it through the second round.

In addition to UCLA, the top 64 schools in the Pacific 10 Alliance include the University of Arizona, Stanford University, Washington State University, the University of Oregon and the University of Southern California. Of the five schools, only the University of Washington State and Stanford University advanced to the second round (Winthrop University 71:40 at Washington State University, and Stanford University 77:53 Cornell University), and the remaining three schools were eliminated directly (University of Arizona 65:75 West Virginia University, University of Oregon 69:76 University of Mississippi, University of Southern California 67:80 University of Kansas), with the University of Arizona, as the No. 6 seed in the Midwest Division, still losing to the team ranked below them. That's where the NCAA tournament comes in.

But UCLA doesn't have time to think about teams from the same league, and they're more concerned about their next opponent, Texas Farm & Workers, the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference.