Duke played very solidly throughout the season, and at the end of the season, Duke's final record was fixed at 26-3. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Heading into March, the NCAA begins to enter the knockout stage.

March Madness is America's description of the knockout stages of the NCAA Tournament.

What is madness? In the concept of the NCAA, in the world of basketball, madness means anything is possible.

In the world of basketball,

No matter how good a player is, there will always be nights when he plays out of style, and no matter how role-oriented a player is, there will always be nights of his own stars.

The same goes for teams, no matter how strong they are, there will always be nights when they stumble.

Entering the knockout stage, all duels are played in a single-leg system, and losing one match means the end of the entire season.

In a single-legged format, it's no longer news that a strong team will suffer a Waterloo, and people are happy to see the birth of a dark horse in March Madness.

From the beginning of the knockout stage, Coach K has repeatedly emphasized the drawbacks of this format, and he asked the players not to take it lightly and treat every opponent as the last opponent of the season.

Four of Duke's five starters from last season's championship-winning squad are strong and experienced.

In the first two rounds of the knockout round, Duke won without blood.

First round Duke 84:37 Winthrop

From the score, it can be seen that this is a massacre belonging to Duke without any suspense. Williams exploded with 33 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, Dunleavy hit 4 three-pointers to score a total of 17 points, Boozer scored a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds, Yang Long shot 2-of-4 from three-point range, 3-of-5 from two-point range, and 3-of-3 from the free-throw line, and also scored 15 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists.

During the game, Yang Long doubted how a team like Winthrop came out of qualifying, and they didn't show the quality of a knockout team. It's not a normal game, it's a one-sided slaughter. The only impression left on Yang Long during the game was the cold face of the Winthrop coach and the frustrated expressions of the players.

Second round Duke 84:77 University of Notre Dame

In the second round, Duke finally met a team of equal strength, and the suspense of the game was kept until two minutes before the end, after Yang Long assisted Williams to hit a three-pointer, the difference came to 7 points to make the suspense of this game settle.

Williams continued to contribute 24 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists, Dunleavy once again showed 3-point shooting, put in 5 three-pointers, and scored 19 points, and Yang Long came off the bench to get 14 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists.

In this game, Yang Long, I finally saw the real atmosphere of Crazy March. The duel on the field, the opposing positions of the fans, and the roaring referees on the sidelines, this is like a real game!

On March 21, 2002, Duke was about to welcome the extremely strong Indiana University Mountain Men team.

The Indiana Mountain People have a great franchise history, with five NCAA championships to look up to.

Coach K's face looked very solemn, and this solemnity was the first time in the whole season, which showed that Coach K attached great importance to the Indiana Mountain People.

Privately, of course, Yang Long is also ready for this game.

Notable players on the Indiana Mountain Terrers:

Point guard: Tom Cavadell, 188 cm tall, 83 kg in weight, as a white point guard has a good basketball IQ, delicate basketball skills and above-average physical fitness, in the previous regular season, averaged 11.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game.

Scoring guard: Dane Feifu, 193 cm tall, 92 kg in weight, strong and explosive physical, with top guard defensive skills, mainly plays the role of a single guard in the team, the data is not excellent, but the help to the defense is not reflected in the data. With 8.7 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.7 steals, and 1.2 blocks in the regular season, the blocking ability belongs to the top level of guards in the league. It's also important to note that Darnay has a 47.1% three-point shooting percentage, which makes him one of the top 3-and-D players in the NCAA. (3D-i.e. 3-point and Defense)

Small forward: Jared Odd, 206 cm tall and 108 kg in weight. As a small forward, it's fair to say that Jared isn't good in many ways, with only 8.8 points and 5 rebounds in the regular season. But Jarred has a skill set that outperforms the entire NCAA league, shooting 44.4 percent from three-point range, and with good defense, he's a qualified 3-and-D player.

Power forward: Jeff Newton. He is 208 cm tall and weighs 105 kg. If Jared is not a good small forward, then Jeff can be said to be not a qualified power forward, averaging 8.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game in the regular season, and he is almost inferior to small forward Jared in rebounding. But Jeff has the top running speed of any power forward, and with a 5-to-5 shooting percentage of his mid-range shots, he plays an important role in opening up the offensive space among the Indiana Mountain Guys.

Centre-forward: Galde Jeffries, who is 211 centimeters tall and weighs only 109 kilograms. Although he plays the center position, he does not have the consciousness that he should have as a center player, and he likes to break through in the middle of the pitch on the court, which is an alternative player. Regular season stats: 15.0 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists.

On paper, the Indiana Mountain Terrainers don't seem to have a top NCAA star like Williams. But a closer look reveals that every player on the court at Indiana has excellent shooting ability, and all of them are good 3-and-D players at the 2, 3, and 4 positions (i.e., shooting guard, small forward, and power forward).

Defensive counter-attacks, huge shooting range, that's what makes the Indiana Mountain people a foothold.

Because it is a single-round elimination system, it is unfair to choose a stadium in Duke or Indiana, so the venue will be selected in a third-party arena. The venue for the game was Rupp Arena, the arena of the Kentucky Wildcats. (Named in honor of Kentucky's Meritorious Coach Rupp)

Players from both sides came to the stadium early to familiarize themselves with the venue, but not earlier than the supporters of the team, some of whom even arrived at the University of Kentucky a day early.

"Hey, Yang!" After the warm-up of the players and the preparation for the game, Williams found Yang Long.

"Hey, Jay. What's the matter? "After a season together, Yang Long and Williams have developed a good friendship. Williams also fulfilled his initial promise, he said that he would cover Yang Long, and he took good care of Yang Long in the team on weekdays, and they also had contacts in private.

"There's something for you." Williams put his hand on Yang Long's shoulder, with a big smile on his face.

"Say it, we're all buddies!"

"You know this is my last year at Duke, right?" Williams glanced in one direction of the audience, "I mean, I'm going to be in the NBA draft this year." See those guys over there? Williams pointed in the direction he had just looked.

"Who are they?"

"If you want to be in the draft, you know, they're scouts in the NBA."

"They're here to inspect you, congratulations!" Being scouted, and more than one, shows that Williams' entry into the NBA is basically a sure thing, and his draft prospects are very good - although this is something that Yang Long has known for a long time, but maybe it will change because of Yang Long's appearance?

"It's not just me, but Mike (Dunleavy), Carlos (Boozer), and even a couple of guys from Indiana. It's a big game for us, so I want you to pass us a little bit more, please. "Williams is rarely serious, after all, entering the NBA has been his dream since he was a child, from the day he played, he fantasized that he had to perform seriously in the face of scouts.

"That's for sure, you forget what position I play, I'm a point guard and we're a team!" Although Williams asked Yang Long to pass him more balls, Yang Long did not dislike him because of this, but appreciated him. Scouts aren't going to focus on Yang Long, a seemingly mediocre stat substitute at this time, and Williams knows that Yang Long won't be in the draft this year, so this game is not particularly important to Yang Long. And Williams hasn't forgotten about teammates Dunleavy and Boozer at this time, which shows that he is not a selfish person.

"Good buddy!"

"Guys, according to the tactics I laid out for you, defend, score, I know you will be able to do it!" The game was about to start, and Coach K did not continue to put pressure on the team, he knew that at this time, the players needed more encouragement and confidence.

After Coach K mobilized, Williams brought everyone together again and cheered his teammates up before every game, which was his responsibility: "Brothers, this year is the last year for several of us at Duke, and I don't want to leave regrets!" Our goal is to win the championship again! 1, 2, 3, them! ”

Yang Long returned to the bench, but his excitement no longer allowed him to sit down, he saw the fan group that Chen Hao had gathered for me on the sidelines, and thought that he must not disappoint them later. Yang Long glanced at the scouts that Williams had spoken of, but unfortunately they did not include himself. But what about next year? Will they come to see my game? Yang Long secretly looked forward to it.

"Beep!" The whistle blows, and the game begins!

The five members of the mountain team on the court are the team's five most threatening: point guard Tom, point guard Dane, small front Odd, big forward Newton, and center Jeffries.

Unexpectedly, Jeffries of the Mountain Men won the jump ball.

Tom pushes forward with the ball, and Dujon follows.

The five people on the mountain field don't seem to fit the concept of one big and five small, but this does not affect them to put up a big and five small position. With the exception of Jeffries, the remaining four all have three-point range, and even Jeffries' main area of activity is outside the box.

With the help of the space opened up by the shooting range, Tom's time to play was up, he didn't even ask for any blocking, he broke through directly, Dujon flanked it, and Tom hit the penalty area!

Boozer quickly fought to help the defense, so Jeffries was empty!

Even though Jeffries was still 2 meters away from the basket or even from the penalty area, Tom handed the ball to him, and Jeffries was not polite at all and jumped straight into the shot!

Boozer did his best to defend the block, but don't forget that Jeffries is 211 cm tall!

Boom! Goal in, two points!

Off the field, Yang Long observed and analyzed the situation on the field. Although on paper, Duke is in the absolute upper score, but Indiana can reach the third round of the knockout round definitely has its own capital.

Relying on a large range in the offense, the Mountain Men frequently pulled open the line to let the defenders kill inside.

The 2, 3, and 4 positions of the Zhongshan team are extremely strong in defending each other, and there is no pressure on the rotation defense.

For a while, it was difficult to distinguish on the field.

With 13 minutes and 25 seconds left in the game, the score was 25:24, and Duke only led by one point.

Coach K beckoned to me and called Yang Long to the sidelines, and Yang Long knew that it was time for him to play!