Today's Lucas Oil Stadium is full, but unlike the previous times, more than 80% of the audience at the scene today are either wearing dark blue Butler University short sleeves, or holding signs cheering for Butler University.

Before the start of the game, around the half of the Memphis warm-up, fans had already begun to boo the Memphis players, especially Li Kaiming.

If his ball goes in, the crowd under the basket will shout, "Shoot, you won't be able to shoot when the game starts!" Then came the uniform boos!

If he doesn't score, then the fans will shout, "I can't score now, and I won't be able to score when I'm playing!" Then he went up the mountain and shouted tsunami-like boos.

Li Kaiming was amused by these lovely fans, so his way of dealing with it was that once the ball couldn't be thrown, he would immediately rush into the penalty area, pick up the basketball that didn't go in, and then make a shocking dunk!

Listening to the wailing of the hoops and hoops on the court, the fans on this side were noticeably less motivated.

This guy is violent!

Many fans began to mumble in their hearts, this Chinese kid is so fierce, can his own players withstand it?

As the game started immediately, Pastner called all the Memphis players over and said to the players in a circle, "Remember what I said, don't be brute, follow our pre-game strategy, and if all the tactics don't work, then give the ball to Lee and Elliott!" ”

Everyone nodded solemnly.

Seeing the players walk onto the pitch, Pastner watched their backs, his palms slowly clenched.

You always say I'm going to be beaten by Stevens, so let's see......

It's never just Li Kaiming or Memphis players who want to prove themselves, Pastner also needs a hearty victory.

At the referee's suggestion, players from both sides gathered in the center circle, and the rest stood evenly outside the circle, with Li Kaiming and Butler's center Andrew Smith standing in the circle, ready to jump the ball.

The referee glanced at the positions of the players on both sides, then signaled to the technical table, ready to start the timer, then walked to the very middle of the field, held the ball with one hand to the top of his head, and then a whistle sounded, throwing the ball vertically into the sky!

The NCAA March Madness Semifinals are officially underway!

Li Kaiming and Andrew Smith took off almost at the same time, but Li Kaiming's explosive power once again gave him the upper hand, and the ball flew to the highest point and was gently flicked by him, and the ball was in the hands of Memphis!

The Butler players immediately returned to their backcourt and began to set up defense.

Stevens on the sidelines nodded slightly, this guy was fast, as seen in the game video.

Kemp dribbled the ball up front amid boos from the crowd and began to direct his teammates to run.

Butler University adopted a regular 2-3 defensive formation today, and this defensive formation is the most restrained by the breakthrough players, but it will be broken down by the interior players who have the range.

It seems that Stevens has also studied Li Kaiming in depth, although Li Kaiming has a high average of points per game after starting, but the distribution of points is basically inside the penalty area, and there are only a few attempts outside the penalty area per game.

As for the three-point kill, Stevens, who believes in mathematics, still classifies it as luck.

So, the tone of today's defense was set so simply.

However, Butler's 2-3 defense is different from that of other teams, and in addition to being restrained by ranged interior defenses, players with strong passing ability can also deal a devastating blow to the joint defense.

Therefore, to compensate for this shortcoming, it is necessary to have two extremely fast-moving strikers on the flanks to act as "free men" in the joint defensive formation, that is, where there is a need for reinforcement, these two men will be close to the corresponding area.

Coincidentally, Butler University has exactly such a configuration.

Gordon Haywood and Matt Howard's forward configuration is considered luxurious in the entire NCAA!

In addition, these two guys are not fuel-efficient lamps on the offensive end, so the previous team died under the rotation of these two people, and they were repelled by their one-by-one offense.

So, if you want to crack Butler's defensive strategy, the key is to break up the two-man rotation of Hayward and Howard.

Li Kaiming discovered this when he received the ball in the first round.

He received the ball in the waist position as usual, and when he looked up, it seemed that there was only Andrew Smith in front of him, but Hayward and Howard at the top of the arc and in the bottom corner of the same side were eyeing him, and once he broke through with the ball, what was waiting for him was a pocket formation!

Naturally, he didn't stupidly drill into it, but returned the ball to Kemp and let him organize the attack again.

The attack time is as much as 35 seconds, and there is no rush.

Of course, Pastner's four or five days of closed-door research were not without effect, and he worked out a response before the game.

Kemp handed the ball to Williams, then ran to the bottom corner on the right side, opened his hand and was ready to receive the ball, while the rest of the people except Li Kaiming, the other two also opened outside the three-point line on the other side, Williams held the ball, and Li Kaiming went up to block it.

If Butler still adopts a joint defense, then Memphis has three options to deal with.

If the joint defense chooses to surround Li Kaiming, then Williams will kill inside or shoot directly, if you choose to defend Williams, then there will be three people who will be attracted to the line by Li Kaiming and the two, and there will be only two people in defense of the remaining three points, and there will inevitably be an empty space!

Twice as much poison as one cup!

Although Memphis's bench is crotch-pulling, the starter is definitely at the level of a strong team, and any one of them has the ability to punish the opponent on the outside!

Stevens is worthy of being a Hall of Fame-level coach, and the team's defense has been tuned to the point of perfection, the moment Li Kaiming and Williams' blocking and dismantling are formed, the joint defense formation becomes a man-to-man defense, and Smith, who defends Li Kaiming, sinks instantly, allowing scoring guard Grant Linedecker to chase down Williams.

Such a change is a work of art!

But Pastner isn't a vegetarian either, and since you've become a man-to-man, I'll take advantage of one-on-one, and Williams passes the ball directly to Li Kaiming on the edge of the box.

At this time, Li Kaiming got the ball again and faced Smith's defense, but this time, the latter did not have the rotation of his teammates to make up for the defense, and he needed to face the impact of Li Kaiming alone!

Li Kaiming did not hesitate, he took three steps after receiving the ball, his speed advantage can only be brought into play when he rushes up, if he plays a positional battle slowly, it is a self-defeating martial arts.

Andrew Smith is a typical white center, and the advantages of this kind of player are that he is skilled, has good awareness, has enough strength in the lower limbs, and is suitable for top defense and rim protection.

But the shortcomings are also obvious, the physical talent, especially the running and jumping ability, is far inferior to the black center of the same height, so it is strong on the defensive end to protect the frame, but the lateral movement is slower.

Li Kaiming's speed is one of the best among NBA centers, not to mention Smith, a white center, although he consciously put a step, Li Kaiming still rushed up, and then lightly picked up the basket on the right side of the basket.

Score! 2:0 start!

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