Chapter 63: Continue to Soar
Abdul-Jabbar's visit is like throwing a stone down a small pool, rippling the water, but eventually calming down. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 But his impact on the Bruins is still changing the team, and Holland was surprised to find that the interior players began to become more aggressive in practice and games, and even Shipp, who had previously relied only on mid-range jumpers and air-cut layups, dared to show off his feet in the three-second zone, not to mention Loew, who already had excellent interior skills. The substitutes who were in place with him during training all said that they were "dizzy", "super helpless" and "destroyed their self-confidence", anyway, no one wanted to play against Loew, and finally had to guess the winner before each training session, and the person who lost was as bitter as ever.
In addition to the substitute inside group, the most depressed mood is Enrique, because he has to play against Ye Feng. Originally, Enrique could use his physical advantage to suppress Ye Feng a little, but now he doesn't understand what Ye Feng is nervous about, except for three-point shooting, his favorite thing to do now is to ask for the ball with his back in the elbow area, and shoot the ball into the basket with a small hook hand after a series of left and right shakes and feints. Once Enrique couldn't stand it anymore, and pulled Ye Feng aside during the training break and begged: "Ye, except for the selection competition, I haven't offended you, right?" Can you train well? ”
Ye Feng felt very strange, and he asked rhetorically, "Aren't we just training hard now?" What is not to be offended? Enrique decided that Ye Feng was pretending to be crazy and stupid, and the smile on his face became even more "flattering": "I mean, is your old man raising his noble hand and stopping playing low-post singles and inside footsteps?" I've always been bullied by you like this, what does the coach think of me? What do my teammates think of me? I don't even have a face to see! Ye Feng knew what Enrique was talking about, he smiled and said, "You can bear with it anymore Bob, but I recommend you to try more low-post singles, your height and weight are above me, and the effect should be better than mine." ”
Enrique smiled awkwardly: "Forget it, I have a few pounds and a few taels I know for myself, what Mr. Karim taught us is really good, but I plan to just improve my foot movement, the technique of hooking is not quite in line with my personal style, and I don't have the confidence to cultivate it into a technique that I am proficient in." Ye Feng also knew that it was difficult not to force others, everyone had their own habits, and there were not many freaks like himself who could learn a little bit of everything, so he said to Enrique: "Okay, how to be comfortable, but I won't keep my hands during the training session, you still have to think more about how to curb me hahaha!" Hearing that Ye Feng didn't plan to "let go" of himself, Enrique remembered the fear of being dominated by this guy, and could only give him a middle finger depressedly.
However, it is also a blessing for players to be abused by someone who is stronger than themselves, as long as it is not during the official game. It's easy to lose your self-confidence, but if you get through it, you'll get stronger, and you won't lose your fighting spirit even when you encounter a star player who is difficult to defend in a game. What's more, they are also able to sharpen their defense against strong opponents, with Pippen being the best example of this. Without Jordan's encouragement, maybe Pippen would only be a good player, but he would not have been able to reach his ultimate height, it can be said that Pippen made Jordan, and Jordan also made Pippen.
After a short period of rehabilitation, the vehicle called the Bruins is back on the road. After the first half of the schedule, the team's chemistry has further increased, especially the five players who started have cultivated an extraordinary chemistry, even if two of them have just joined the team. You must know that it is very time-consuming for newcomers to integrate into the team, but Ye Feng is a superb player in the ball business, although Loew is slightly inferior, but he has always been modest, and there is no excessive demand for the right to shoot, even if it is the team's interior pillar, his status is obviously inferior to Ye Feng and Westbrook, but this also makes him integrate into the entire tactical system faster.
The local media in Los Angeles are also very happy to see UCLA continue its wild momentum, even if the Lakers have increased their strength after poaching Gasol this season, and are likely to win the first championship after the "OK combination" broke up. In fact, for most Americans, they prefer the NCAA to the NBA, which is the real reason why the NBA doesn't schedule any games at all on the day of the NCAA Finals. For fans, the NCAA is a more pure form of basketball than the NBA, and their love and enthusiasm for college basketball is unimaginable to others. Even active NBA players sometimes bet on their alma mater's record in the locker room with their teammates, and of course they are proud of the excellent record of their alma mater's varsity team.
I don't know if it was intentional by Holland, but most of UCLA's games against teams in other divisions are concentrated in the first half of the schedule, which makes them rarely face the pain of travel in the second half of the season. After all, the schools of the Pacific 10 School Alliance are also located in several states near the West Coast, and sometimes they don't even need a plane, and the school can send a bus directly to send the whole team to the designated away stadium. After having material security and spiritual encouragement, the Bruins showed a stronger offensive ability than in the first half of the season, especially Westbrook, Ye Feng and Bamot, the three outside players, every game seems to be impossible to run at all, if it weren't for Holland's rotation as planned, they would even be willing to play the whole game every game, which also made the three of their substitutes complain every game: no way, less playing time, it's not a good thing that the main force is too perverted, and the substitute doesn't even have a chance to brush up on the data, How do you make it to the NBA?
After all, head coach Holland has a lot of experience, and he knows that if these kids continue to do this, they will one day suffer injuries, so he deliberately increased the relaxation program after training, not only arranging for the team doctor Marshall to take a more scientific way to relieve the fatigue of the players, but also often take advantage of the opportunity to lead the whole team out on outings or climbing mountains when the schedule is not tight. Although he did not study psychology, Holland's years of coaching experience have taught him that the string in the player's head should not be tightened all the time in every long season, and it is necessary to arrange appropriate opportunities to relax, otherwise there is a danger of breaking the string.
The well-staffed UCLA hasn't faced a huge challenge at all, and even teams that have caused some trouble for them before, such as Bayless, Battinger and Jordan Hill's University of Arizona, are trembling under their iron hooves. Other schools, such as Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, which had long since suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of UCLA, were even more powerless to stop their offensive, unable to even make a decent resistance, and raised their hands cleanly in surrender. It can be said that UCLA has completely become the hegemon of the Big Twelve League, and the record is also unbeatable, and there is no team that can pose a threat to them.
Ye Feng and Loew, who are participating in the NCAA for the first time, are naturally very happy, and they can participate in the tournament when they first arrive, and may even have a chance to challenge for the championship, which is definitely good news for them. Of course, the other veteran players also high-fived each other, you must know that in the 2006-07 season they have reached the semi-finals, and the main team has only lost one Afflaro compared to last season, with Ye Feng and Loew and other freshmen joining, the overall strength of the team has not decreased but risen, which also gives them strong self-confidence, and the momentum of training is more sufficient.
But the stern and cautious Holland didn't set his sights on a brutal tournament, although UCLA was sure to finish the regular season with the best record in the Pacific 10 Collegiate League. Because according to the rules of the NCAA, when the regular season ends, generally speaking, most leagues will take the top eight teams of the league to play the single-elimination league championship battle, and the champion determined by the league championship battle can basically automatically advance to the NCAA tournament, and the Pacific 10 Collegiate League is a league that wants to play the championship game.
With the exception of the automatic promotion of the champions of each league, the remaining spots in the NCAA tournament are determined by the committee, known as an expanded invitation. The eligibility for invitations is basically determined by the record and the strength of the alliance. After the list of the top 64 is determined, all the shortlisted teams are divided into four divisions: East, West, South and Central and West, with the top four teams recognized as the first seeds in each district, and the other schools ranked by the committee as seeds 2-16 according to their strength. After that, the matchup is determined by the head-to-end method, similar to the arrangement of the NBA playoffs, such as 1st vs. 16th, 2nd vs. 15th, and so on.
With UCLA's dominance in the league, winning the league championship seems to be a matter of course, but Holland still doesn't dare to be careless, because it is also a single-game elimination system like a tournament, and the most attractive thing about this kind of game and the most hated by players is that there is only one chance, and any adjustments must be made within 40 minutes, otherwise it will be you who will go home. Holland has confidence in his players, but that doesn't mean he's arrogant that the team can qualify directly for the tournament stage. Although there are still recommended places, this is not what he and everyone in this team wants.
Want to enter a tournament? Then you have to break in directly as a king! Leave the recommended spots to others!