Li Ao took a turn in the stadium, a very large venue, although not as big as the Memorial Stadium, but larger than the Albuquerque City Energy Scheme Arena, the stadium has a very complete commercial area, video games, billiards and other things, training grounds, small competition venues for rental.

At 10 o'clock, the Trojans held a preparation meeting in the training ground.

Looking at the scouting report, Li Ao felt that the rise of tomorrow's opponent Alligators was somewhat similar to that of their Trojans, both of whom were teams that rose extremely fast.

In the summer of '98, the alligators won Mike Miller, who ranked 13th among high school students in the United States, Teddy Dupe, and Udonis Haslem who ranked 72nd, and immediately rose to the top 16 last season, but unfortunately fell outside the top 8 by 1 point.

In the first 60 years of entering the NCAA Division I League, the alligators had only scored five March Madness combined, and in the summer of '98, the team won three of the top 100 high school students in the United States, and showed their talent, becoming the favored object of talented high school students.

Last summer, the Alligators won the best high school student in the United States, Donnell Harvey, who has averaged 10 points, 7 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game so far this season, and won the best rookie in the Southeast Division.

They also took Brett Nelson, who was No. 7 in the country, and Matt Bonner, who was No. 33.

This has to be said that in the summer of 1996, Ron Kruger, the director in charge of basketball affairs at the University of Florida, and now the head coach of Georgia Tech, boldly selected Billy Donovan, who was only 31 years old at the time, as the head coach, and actively cooperated with Billy Donovan to recruit players.

Proportional Donovan became the most famous young head coach in the NCAA, while Ron Kruger retired from Florida after recruiting three talented high school players in the summer of '98 to be poached by Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

For the other seven teams in the elite quarterfinals, the Trojans coaching staff has done their homework, analyzing the opponent's tactical play, analyzing their own strengths and weaknesses, and adjusting their tactics...... The meeting went very well.

Then there was a day of training, everyone in the team was very devoted, seize the time to train, at the end of the meeting, the camera had been set up in the training ground, and the people from the TV station began to shoot, usually they would go to the camera to play a handsome or something, but this time no, on the one hand, there have been many shots recently, get used to it, and there is really no spare time.

The Alligators have one day less time to prepare, and they don't want to waste that advantage.

At 6 o'clock in the evening, the day's preparation training ended.

Li Ao and Trepagnier love to try out new stores everywhere and hang out in the dining area of the venue.

"I also checked the delicious restaurants in this business district last night, but I couldn't go." Li Ao's tone was very regretful.

Trepaganirpi said with a smile: "Who is this harm?" ”

"You're blaming me!"

"Don't blame you, who do you blame? I also checked the small shops near this business district that tasted good and were cheap, but now I can't go there. ”

"Even if I don't celebrate, there's still little Ranbill!"

"He's not as hateful as you are."

“……”

Li Ao was speechless, wondering whether he was praising him or hurting him.

The two stopped at the door of a burger chain, and Trepagnier said, "Let's eat burgers, other restaurants are not necessarily delicious...... Huh? Leo, that's the Alligator guys? ”

Li Ao looked in the direction that Trepaganier was looking at, it was really!

Mike Miller and Haslem are the two guys.

He heard that the alligators had only arrived this afternoon, so he immediately came to the playing field to wander around, and their Trojans were barred from going out when they arrived at the apartment yesterday, citing safety concerns.

It's good to be mediocre in appearance, and you're not afraid of someone thinking about them when you go out.

The two also noticed Li Ao and Trepagnier, and took the initiative to come up, and Mike Miller greeted: "Hi, Leo, finally see you, I'm Mike Miller, he's Udonis, I think you should also know us, after all, we're going to fight the day after tomorrow, I'm really looking forward to it." ”

Haslem pointed to himself and said, "Udonis Haslem, tsk, you are the super genius who led the team to the Final Four after half a year of practicing basketball, I really can't see it." ”

Li Ao listened to the words of these two people, did he want to divide the relationship between the team on their side with words? The mere fact that he was called by his name shows that the intentions are sinister.

Trepagnier responded: "That's right, Leo is the most talented player I've ever seen, he can practice for a few months, and he is better than the No. 1 high school student in the United States for ten years, don't you think so?" ”

The proposition was returned!

Mike Miller and Haslem didn't know how to answer for a moment.

Donnell Harvey, their No. 1 high school student in the United States, is certainly not bad at talent, the best rookie in the Southeast Division, but compared to Li Ao...... In the minds of the two of them, Li Ao is in the same gear as Mike Miller.

This guy with an honest face has a really poisonous mouth! I don't know where I learned it.

Vaco!

They probably guessed who they learned it from!

The handsome guy who asked the Hollywood star to spend the night after winning the 8-in-4 game was applauding next to him!

The little trick was spotted, and Mike Miller was embarrassed for a moment and put this aside.

He said to Li Ao: "You're so cool that you can make basketball fans in a state treat you as an enemy, God, this is what I dreamed of." ”

Li Ao said like a confidant: "I think so too, but it's a pity that my teammates don't understand me, and blame me for not being able to go out to eat." ”

Trepagnier: (▼ヘ▼#)

Didn't you just get out because of the pain in the egg?

Mike Miller laughed when he heard this: "Haha, let's have dinner together?" It's so nice to know you, I'm in for a treat today. ”

Li Ao immediately responded: "Okay! ”

Mike Miller: ( ̄┏Д┓ ̄°*)

You're welcome, aren't you?

Even if he said this with a real intention of having a treat, he might as well make a show.

Why do you feel a little annoying?

…

rubbed the opponent's star a hamburger, a pasta, and a glass of Coke, and Li Ao's depression of not being able to go out to eat was swept away.

After a brief contact with the two players of the future Big Three era Heat, he has a certain understanding of these two.

Mike Miller has a warm personality, can talk openly, and should be very popular.

Haslem, on the other hand, has few words, a dull personality, and wants to scare people as soon as he speaks.

However, Li Ao learned from Mike Miller that Haslem is the hardest working player he has ever seen, and the scenes of sweating on the court always inspire his teammates and are the soul of their team.

That is, the leader of the action.

Li Ao and Trepaganier left the Park 11 Arena and walked back to their apartment, and by the end of the day, there were far fewer people in the business district.

The venue has not officially started operation, there are no sports competitions, no concerts, and no commercial activities, and most of the shops in the business district have closed.

And most of the people who are still hanging out in the business district are tourists who came here today, and Li Ao also met Trojan supporters holding posters of his buckle to sign autographs.

Sometimes, I can't help but be sour.

Trepaganil shifted his attention and said, "The guys of the Alligators are very different from the opponents in the previous rounds, and they are very ...... Assertive? ”

Li Ao responded: "I also have this feeling, the people of the steam furnace workers give me the feeling that they seem to be carrying something, they don't seem to understand what the joy of the game is, if they don't speak so harshly and provoke, we won't quarrel with them at the airport that day;

Swift of the Tigers, who had such high draft expectations and made it to the elite quarterfinals, gave me the impression that he seemed to be afraid of losing something, and he didn't get along well with his teammates;

The House Badger team is not bad, a good group of people, but they don't seem to have much confidence in themselves;

I didn't pay much attention to the Tigers, they were too weak......

Miller and Haslem give me a completely different feeling, they also have a desire for titles, they work hard, and like you said, they are very confident and very aggressive, and you can imagine that they have a good atmosphere in the team, not like some teams.

Sure enough, the team that can reach the final four is different from other teams, even if the basketball strength is similar, the difference in heart will affect the win or loss in the game. ”

Trepaganier did a reading comprehension question, understood, and asked, "You're not praising them, you're praising us, aren't you?" ”

"Am I so narcissistic?"

"Yes! Very much! ”

"You're right, I'm so handsome, narcissism is as it should be."

“…… Let's go back quickly, and the TV station will come to shoot what we have to do before we go to bed at 8 o'clock. "Trepaganir changed the subject, this guy, King Kong is not bad, only practicing face!

"Filming what we do before bed? Do they think I'm going to take the girl back at night? ”

"Uh...... It's a real possibility. ”

"They're boring enough, do you think I'm going to bring girls to play?"

"Isn't it? Didn't you take the girl to play away two days ago? ”

"No, it happened to meet on the day of the game, and we hit it off."

"Vaco ......"

Trepaganier wants to hit someone again!

…

On the second day, Li Ao continued to prepare for training with the team.

I came to the stadium at 8:30 this morning and started training at 9 o'clock.

The amount of training is not as large as yesterday, but the training content is more complex, and it belongs to the advanced version of training, such as tactical coordination in specific situations, that is, key ball tactics.

There are not many NCAA key ball tactical application scenarios, there are too few pauses, and there are very few opportunities to kill, and generally in the last 1 minute, the winner and loser are almost decided.

35 seconds of offensive time, if you implement foul tactics, you can only make free throws if you reach 7 fouls, and if there is only 1 minute left in the game, the difference reaches 7 points, and there is basically no chase.

But the opponent is the final four, and Henri Bibby feels that he still has to practice.

I talked about this during yesterday's training break, and he didn't think it was necessary at first, the time was tight, and there were really key balls to play, so it would be up to him when the time came.

But he heard Li Ao say that sometimes there was a timeout after half time, and he couldn't save it for the second half, which was a waste, so he decided to add two sets of key ball tactical training.

At 11 p.m., the two-hour training session in the morning ended.

The practice was very easy, and the physical exertion was not great, Li Ao decided to practice for half an hour, practicing mid-throw and hook hands, anyway, there was not much time and amount of training in the afternoon.

Yesterday, CIC has been promoted to 84, after training hard, the actual combat has brought a huge improvement, and I will practice more when I have time.

The hook skill has also come to 69, which is only a fine line away from a good level.

A little bit of egg pain is the basic skill of hooking, only 67.

Li Ao threw himself into the extra practice, but before the two 15-minute extra drills were finished, Henry Bibby came with someone to interrupt him.

"Leo, pause training, there's work to do."

Li Ao looked at the person beside Henry Bibi, looking at his appearance, he should be a flower planter, and he is a little familiar......

He was looking, and the other party seemed to be very excited, and took the initiative to say: "Leo, hello, I'm Su Qun, a reporter from China Sports Daily, I want to interview you, and I've delayed your training." ”

Su Qun!

Li Ao remembered, an unlucky bastard.

In the future, when the UAE played in the Mavericks, his teammates didn't trust him, and he didn't pass the vacancy to him after he came on the court, Su Qun complained about Carlisle in the live broadcast, since he didn't communicate well with the players, and the vacant space was not given to the ball, the UAE didn't play a four-to-five, so simply don't send the UAE to the court, it's not good for each other.

As a result, this remark was taken out of context by the domestic media, and only intercepted 'UAE played 4 to 5, don't replace UAE', which caused cyber violence, and even the boss of the Hongyuan team cursed Su Qun on Weibo.

Li Ao replied with a Chinese: "Of course you can, but I can speak Mandarin, just call me Li Ao......"

Li Ao stretched out his hand to shake hands, but just stretched out and found that there was sweat in his hands, so he wiped his shirt on his jersey...... (_)

There was more sweat on the jersey and it was wetter.

Su Qun saw Li Ao's embarrassment, held Li Ao's hand with both hands and said, "Let's sit down and talk, you must be tired from training for so long." ”

With this action, Li Ao's favorability towards this reporter has improved a lot.

Henry Bibby said on the side: "I heard from the school that after we reached the round of 16, Sue wanted to interview you, but I was afraid that it would affect your preparation, we didn't agree, he would call Steve every day these days, I saw that he was so sincere, he promised him, you have a good chat, but you can't delay the afternoon training." ”

Su Qun immediately said: "Thank you so much, I will definitely not delay Leo for too long!" ”

Li Ao and Su Qun came to the bench by the window of the training ground and sat down, he looked left and right, and then looked at the door of the training ground......

Su Qun asked, "What are you looking at?" ”

"What about the camera? Isn't it for an interview? ”

"That...... I...... I'm a text journalist. ”

Li Ao: (ˇˇ)

He just wanted to complain, but when he saw the other party's cramped appearance, he forcibly held back.

"Then you didn't say it earlier, I pretended to be so serious in vain, and I was very tired from sitting upright."

As he spoke, Li Ao hunched his back, propped himself on the bench with one hand, and lifted Erlang's legs.

Su Qun is in his 30s, and what he does is not office work, but interviews outside all the year round, how can he not see that Li Ao is trying to avoid embarrassing him?

has been in the industry for more than ten years, and he is still a text reporter who runs the field, and he does the work of a beautiful knife with a soft girl coin.

His good impression of Li Ao rose.

Legend has it that Li Ao is a rich second generation, short-tempered, despised, lustful and violent...... In just a few minutes of contact, he knew that most of those rumors were at least fake, at least exaggerated.

He thought of the worst-case scenario.

He had also interviewed some domestic businessmen who sponsored the Eagle Sauce family's sports team before, but the other party opened and closed his mouth to say that it was Misoraka's remarks.

This is not bad, some people who have really achieved something in the Eagle Sauce family directly humiliated him in a weird way.

Li Ao here, not only can't see the inexplicable superiority of those Muyang dogs at all, but also cares about his feelings.

Since his expectations were very low at the beginning, now his favorability has increased much higher than normal!

After Su Qun sighed for a while, he began to officially enter the working state.

When we first met, he asked very regular questions.

Li Ao's answer was also very official, and he didn't open up any questions he didn't like occasionally.

It is not easy to study and work abroad, in a country, as long as the other party is not annoying, and it does not involve interests, if you chat, he treats the other party as his own.

In front of outsiders, you can be horizontal casually, and you can be horizontal inside, what kind of truth is that?

Not only in this aspect, but also on the team side.

In the beginning, when he was not fully integrated into the team, he also had a strong sense of self-defense.

But after integrating, his temper is only on the outside of the team, and if he is on the team, it is very interesting to bully Sam Clancy, and he really can't give up.

…

The interview went smoothly, Su Qun left in a hurry after the interview, he had not yet reached the level of an assistant, he had to go back to write the manuscript by himself, and bluntly said that he didn't know if he could be in the newspaper.

After Li Ao heard that it was a text reporter, he didn't have much expectations for this, and he didn't care very much, and he didn't return to China to play CBA, the domestic sports world in this year is not easy to mix, domestic athletes in this period, even if they are national teams, even if they have won the Olympic championship, most of them have an injury after retirement, but they can't get it out, and they have a miserable life.

After taking a shower and changing into a clean training uniform, he went to lunch, and at 1 p.m. he continued to practice mid-range shooting and hook hands, and trained with the team at half past two......

The two days of preparation time flew by in a flash, and on March 31, the final four days of the NCAA Basketball Tournament arrived.

In the morning, the Trojans players rode in a van to the arena.

It's not just them, it's all four teams in today's game.

Polis's police stations were all brought in to maintain order, and the NCAA even hired civilian security companies to barely control the scene.

The fans were crazy today!

The enthusiasm of the fans was ridiculously high, and the number of fans crowded around the stadium alone set a new record for the NCAA Crazy Three Final Finals!

Even if the host city or state has a local team that makes it to the finals, it's hard to exaggerate that, and many years the championship game is not as hot as it is now.

Because, in addition to the supporters of the four participating teams, fans of the strongest local college basketball team, the Steam Oven Workers, also came to join in the fun!

(End of chapter)