At 9 o'clock in the morning, Li Ao came to the San Jose Arena with the team again for preparation training.

By noon, the PAC10 league had announced something that made the Trojans players very happy and very excited.

As is customary, the PAC10 Alliance Headquarters University announces the candidates for each award in the region on the last day of the competition day.

The headquarters university is rotated by the four founding schools of the PAC10 alliance, namely the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Washington, the University of Oregon, and Oregon State University, and this year the headquarters university is the University of Berkeley.

The list of candidates for the individual award was announced, and the Trojans were selected!

The MVP candidates for the MVP were named Mamba White and Granville, who was also named to the list of Most Improved Players, and both were named to the All-NBA team.

However, the one who was selected for the most candidates was Li Ao!

His name is on the list of four candidates for Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and Defensive Team of the Year.

Also on the list of candidates for the best defensive player is Shelby Jordan.

Brushenthal also made the list of candidates for the best sixth man.

Henry Bibby has become the number one favorite for the best coach.

In this regard, Li Ao gave an evaluation - winner takes all.

Everyone in the Trojans team is very excited, as a team that plays as a team, the outside world says that they are a model and dark horse of team basketball, and they feel that the team's victory and honor belong to everyone.

Teammates win awards, and there is honor!

The last time someone on their Trojans team won the Rookie of the Year was in 1965, when former Lakers player Bill Hewitt won the PAC10 Rookie of the Year award in '64-65.

MVP, even more back to the end of the 40s, Celtics legend Bill Sharman won the pac10 league MVP in 49 and 50 years in a row.

Although it is only the shortlist that has been announced, everyone feels that they can get at least three or five trophies.

Compared to the NBA, college basketball pays more attention to results, and generally speaking, the team that ranks first in the division will always win a lot of awards.

Li Ao estimated that his first three were probably no play, but the best defensive lineup can still be looked forward to.

And unlike the NBA, the NCAA can be written on a resume even if it's just a 'shortlist'.

After lunch, Li Ao returned to the hotel for a lunch break, and used the laptop brought by Liam to surf the Internet, and was quite satisfied.

In this wave of award shortlists, his personal fame has increased a lot.

The hot-bodied cheerleader of the Huskies, in order to escape the pursuit of Huskies star Dieng Luton, said that she and her teammates played multiplayer sports with Li Ao, which made people's first impression of him a playboy.

In addition, small cards are often forwarded to Liam......

The Trojans are on fire, it's this team on fire.

At this time, many people found that this thing seems to be really good at playing basketball!

Li Ao was shortlisted for the four awards, which made many people break their defenses.

Li Ao's favorite post - why is all the good things taken up by him?

…

In the afternoon, the area around the San Jose Arena is already lively.

Countless Trojan supporters and Cardinal supporters gathered in the small square in front of the San Jose Arena.

The Cardinals, who are sitting at home, have suffered in this matter.

Although San Jose also has a lot of Cardinal fans, after all, it is in the city next door, and the fan radiation is not so wide.

Countless fanatical Trojans fans rushed over from Los Angeles, obviously playing away from home, and there were more Trojans fans outside the stadium than the Cardinals!

Those who didn't know thought it was a memorial stadium.

At half past six in the evening, after the pre-game preparations were over, Li Ao and his teammates entered the court together.

There's a reason Stanford University chose it as the venue for two popular events, basketball and ice hockey.

With more than 18,000 seats and an NBA-level stadium, it is obviously more profitable to choose this place than to choose those small venues in Palo Alto, which is perennially ranked in the top 20 or even 10 metropolises in the United States, not to mention the number of seats, the ticket prices of teams in both cities are different.

After entering the court, Li Ao understood why the income of Crazy Three was higher than that of the NBA playoffs and even the NFL playoffs.

Playing away, he actually saw groups of fans wearing their Trojans jerseys or T-shirts!

The spending power of college fans is really strong!

He heard that the price of tickets for this game had risen sharply, and if their Trojans fans came to stir it up again, the ticket price would inevitably be inflated even higher.

No wonder the NCAA officials are out to hype this game, and the green ones are all American knives.

When they entered the stadium, the cheers of the fans who came to the stadium were no less than the boos of the home team, who were more than twice as large as them!

Pulling his attention back, Li Ao looked at the opponent's player evaluation report.

Of the seven players who have averaged more than seven points per game, five have more than two assists per game, seven have averaged more than one assist per game, but only two have averaged more than three assists per game.

The Cardinals currently have a 13-4 record, and although they have lost to the Wildcats, Sun Demons, and Bruins, they have all won these 3 teams once and are tied.

Stable and powerful!

Li Ao took a deep breath, it was another tough battle!

The good thing is that he has this group of teammates......

Looking at his teammates who were excited because of the thousands of their own fans at the scene, he also felt full of confidence and walked on the court to shoot hot shots.

At 7 p.m., the Trojans' away game against the Cardinals begins!

The Trojans starting lineup is still the same, and the Cardinals starting lineup is also solid, David Morris, Jack Bson, Mendes, Mark Madsen, Jalen Collins.

After the game began, the Cardinals, as always, launched a wave of iron-clad defensive play, trying to destroy the Trojans' form from the start.

Remember the lesson when you get beaten, and the cardinals are mainly targeting the white mamba tonight.

Montgomery didn't make this decision based on his team's strong overall team defensive ability, which means that he has confidence in his own team.

Their style of play is destined to ensure that their players' individual performances are not too good, and there are few players who are extremely capable individually, and it is extremely important for them to have confidence in their own team style of play from top to bottom.

The Cardinals defend the White Mamba and adjust the defense to a 3-2 joint defense, which can also be said to be a 1-2-2 joint defense, with one person on the top arc, one person on each side of the free throw line, and two people in the low post area to cut into the wings and make up the bottom corner.

Relying on a 3-2 joint defense, the Cardinals did a very good job of defending the White Mamba in the opening stage.

However, the Trojans are not a single team, they are also a team attacking team.

Granville seized the opportunity to draw away the defenders on the free throw line with the White Mamba flank off-ball screen, and swooped down the middle.

The same is a strong joint defense team, the Cardinals are completely different from the Dukes, the Dukes have a large number of small players and are good at defending mid-range shots, while the Cardinals' starting lineup even has 193 cm point guards, and the 3-2 joint defense is equivalent to sending the middle to Granville.

Granville started the game with 6 points and 2 assists, and the Trojans played the Cardinals 10-5!

Granville's two assists were both for Trepagnelle, one for Trepagnier to follow up on a catch-and-throw down the middle and one for him to hit a mid-range shot from the free-throw line.

However, with such a disadvantaged start, the Cardinals did not mess around, showing the strong psychological quality of the top team playing team.

They insisted on blocking the perimeter, replacing Jalen Collins with Jason Collins, guarding the basket and not leaving the three-second zone.

Relying on Mark Madsen's excellent movement ability, Mark Madsen is left alone to take on the complement and assist defense of the two sides of the downline.

Although the flank support performance has been affected as a result, the protection of the middle has been greatly improved.

There were trades and losses to that choice, but the gains outweighed the losses, and the Cardinals adjusted their lineup to create a wonderful balance on the defensive end, continuing to maintain a strangulation defense against the White Mamba while also giving the Trojans a two-shot limit at the back.

While it gave Shelby Jordan and Charles the opportunity to cut in on the wing, it was generally successful in limiting the Trojans' offensive efficiency.

The defensive efficiency has improved, and another role of the 3-2 joint defense has begun to show - the increase in defensive counterattacks!

3-2 joint defense, 3 outside lines are standing on the outside, which is extremely beneficial for counterattacks!

Montgomery's excellent on-the-spot command, the Cardinals bite the situation.

If the cardinals continue to play like this, the Cardinals will inevitably succeed in making the white mamba feel cold, and then they can gradually adjust the 3-2 joint defense to a 2-3 joint defense to protect the basket.

Henry Bibby saw that the situation was not good, and replaced Li Ao and Brushenthal in advance, plus Granville, Trepagnier, and White Mamba, the strongest offensive lineup was offered!

He wanted to use Li Ao's mid-range shot and Brushenthal's interior attack to liberate the White Mamba.

However, there is always a gap between the ideal and the reality, after Li Ao came on the court, he tried to open up the situation with the hot first shot of the 'perfect warm-up', but he shot iron in the baseline of Mark Madsen's supplementary defense, and then there was a hook iron with a long two-point and a three-second zone on the left side of the turn and back to the rebound.

The Cardinals seized the opportunity to play a wave of 4-0 to outtake the Trojans 19-18!

Fortunately, the Trojans are not vegetarians, the Cardinals have absolute confidence in their strength, the Trojans have won so many games in a row, and the players also have strong confidence in themselves and their teammates.

When the Trojans attacked again, the Cardinals began to release Li Ao, who had hit 3 irons in a row, to encircle Granville and Trepagnier's twin guns.

Li Ao caught the ball for the fourth time in a row...... Still didn't go in, the strength was a little bit worse, and the shot from the left side of the free throw line hit the basket on the right side of the neck.

But!

Brushenthal makes a layup!

20-19, the Trojans immediately overtook the score!

The Cardinals attacked and fell into positional warfare, and the White Mamba, who had never had much chance to perform on the offensive end, made a contribution this time, and Mendes' cut-in throw was fanned down by the White Mamba.

David Moseley, Jack Buson, and Mark Madsen quickly retreated in three ways, and Granville did not rush to counterattack after receiving the ball, and the retreat routine of the 3-2 joint defense on the opposite side could not be played.

fell into a positional battle again, and the opportunity still came from Li Ao.

The main focus of the Trojans is a trust, and Trepagnier, who was caught in the joint defense, did not hesitate to pass the ball to Li Ao.

Li Ao made his fifth consecutive shot......

This time, it's in!

The last time he shot, his angle was already very accurate, but the force was a little bigger.

22-19, the Trojans lead by 3 points!

The cardinal team played really firmly, and when they were preparing for the war, they determined that Li Ao was the point they wanted to put on it.

Granville's strong break-through shots, Trey Pagnier's all-round offensive skills and horizontal play, and White Mamba's projection ability is second only to Eddie House and Brushenthal in the PAC10 league, and his strong offensive ability on the inside has made a name for itself this season.

Only Li Ao is the weakest.

They must insist on such a defense, if Li Ao is really allowed to play a strategy to attack, and Bai Mamba throws away, they have no to fight.

The previous losses to the Trojans, Bruins, Sundevils, and Wildcats were all due to the opposition's top pitchers, with Capono allowing them to eat their first loss, followed by the White Mamba, Eddie House, Arenas, and Gardner.

The opponent insisted on such a defense, and the teammates also chose to continue to believe in their talented little handsome guys.

In the rest of the first half, Li Ao scored 3 goals in 5 shots!

2 of 4 shots, 1 of 1 rebound layup, plus the Cardinals fouled 7 times, he was pushed by the opponent when he grabbed the offensive rebound, and decisively chose to pounce on the street to 1+1, hit both free throws, and scored 8 points in the next 8 minutes!

Persistence, there is also a limit, Li Ao scored in the open space in a row, the Cardinals originally intended to sink down the defense, forced to return to the high position, in the last minutes of the first half, Sam Clancy replaced Trepaganier on the field, and continued to cut inside to attack.

In the face of Sam Clancy, Jason Collins was also difficult to top, and in the last minute of the first half, Montgomery chose to replace Jalen Collins with a stronger attack.

While shooting on the offensive end, Li Ao also did a good job defensively.

After he came on the court, he did a good job of defending Jack Buson, and the wave of being overtaken by the score was mainly due to the opponent's counterattack played well, and Li Ao's defense in positional warfare has been on the line, while greatly restricting Jack Buson, he has also done a good job of wing contraction and change of defense, and after many games, he has grown from a functional defensive player who is a single defense and marking defense to a wing defensive warrior trusted by his teammates.

With a poor defense, the Cardinals can only start from the offensive end, and Jack Buson has a bad chance, so he can only let Mendes and Jalen Collins, who is back on the court, chisel under the basket and bite the situation.

With 11 seconds left in the first half, the Trojans led by four points at 42-38, and the Cardinals attacked to try to narrow the gap to two or even one point, so that they would not have too obvious a disadvantage at the start of the second half, and they could bounce back and start again, both by the score and psychologically.

That's when Sam Clancy made a meritorious service!

(End of chapter)