Chapter 7: Regional Semifinals (Part I)
By the time it comes to the regional semifinals, the attention of the NCAA tournament has soared again.
In the Midwest, the University of Kentucky crushed all the way, winning Jose by 42 points in the first round and Virginia Tech by 24 points in the second round.
Such a huge point difference has made many media and commentators who follow the NCAA look down on their jaws.
What's even more outrageous is that the University of Kentucky scored 110 points in the first round and 84 points in the second round!
This kind of score is about to catch up with the NBA game, and such a violent offense has made many media reporters chant along with it:
"The Kentucky Wildcats show brutal dominance!"
Also on the spotlight in the Midwest is Wake Forest, where almost all NBA teams have thrown money in Tim Duncan's face.
Every game, the scouts of each team almost shout "Come to your arms"...
However, compared to the University of Kentucky, Wake Forest's first two rounds were not easy, and in the second round, they narrowly defeated the Texas Longhorns 62-65.
Fans who like individual heroism are looking forward to the finals in the Midwest.
Antoine Walker of the University of Kentucky vs. Tim Duncan of Wake Forest, the semifinals haven't even begun, and the media has already begun to build momentum for the two.
One of the two is a small forward, the other is a big forward, even if the positions are different, no one cares about these details, star players, it's over!
In the Southeast Division semifinals, the first-seeded University of Connecticut vs. the fifth-seeded University of Mississippi was also in the spotlight.
The Mississippi State Bulldogs are the dark horses of this year, with a poor regular season record, but after entering the championship, they are eye-catching.
Center Eric Dampier is getting better and better in the draft, standing at 2.11m tall and weighing 120kg, showing excellent rebounding and blocking ability in the tournament.
This is an era of big men, and although Li You jokes about the future "No. 1 center in the West", in the NCAA, this man's strength is indeed not to be underestimated.
Coach Calhoun says there's no pressure, but since the team arrived in Lexington, Kentucky, they've had to watch a lot of footage every day.
Ray Allen doesn't talk much, and he has started to practice in the last few days.
As a talented player, he had hoped he would get an invitation to the University of Kentucky in high school, but he was ignored and eventually recruited to Connecticut by head coach Calhoun.
The most perfect script is that he took revenge on Kentucky in the finals, broke the opponent, and won the championship.
There was no internet, no quick news, and Lee only learned that the New Mexico Lobos team had been eliminated by Georgetown until he arrived in Lexington.
At the beginning, he almost accepted the invitation and chose the university closest to his home, Li You was a little lucky, hugging his thighs and shuddering, no wonder brother basketball would be popular in the future...
After the tactical training session on the afternoon of the 21st, the players will be free to move around and return to the hotel before 10 p.m.
However, the beautiful knife on Li You's body did not allow him to go out in style, so he chose to stay in the training hall for additional training.
At present, he is still adapting to [Allen Iverson's excellent ball sense], this is the first time that Li You has felt the top talent, and the movements that he couldn't complete in the past are now easy to grasp.
Ray Allen watched Li You dribble with both hands without any influence, and he also showed envious eyes for a while.
Talent is sometimes just the ability to do whatever you want, and Ray Allen has been strengthening his ability to control the game, but the results are not ideal.
"With your physical condition, you don't need fancy dribbling at all, you don't even need too much shaking, it's enough to break through and not drop the ball!"
Li You, who received the ball, immediately gave advice, but Ray Allen shook his head and took out the rhetoric of coach Calhoun:
"It's not just about scoring, I need to do more, like Michael Jordan!"
Li You reluctantly threw the ball to the other party, these days, everyone likes to imitate Jordan.
...
By the time of the regional semi-finals, some TV stations also began broadcasting the matches.
At 21:40 on the evening of the 22nd, the Mississippi State Bulldogs and the Connecticut Huskies officially went to war.
It was the third game of the day, and CBS TV announcer Jim Nantz went crazy with the top seed UConn after the opening game.
The veteran sports journalist will praise even when he sees Ray Allen striking iron:
"What a beautiful shooting pose!"
The game went on for 8 minutes and 01 seconds, and Coach Calhoun frowned, couldn't move on the inside, and suddenly lost accuracy on the outside.
In this round, Mississippi State gave the ball to Eric Dampier who was in the low post on the left side, who took the ball with his right hand and then hit it hard.
Forced to the basket, hanging Travis Knight defense strong basket!
The ball stumbled into the basket under the interference, but Eric Dampier jumped a second time, grabbed the rebound, put the basket again, and slammed the ball in.
With such a strong score, a burst of cheers immediately erupted in the Rupp Arena.
The arena is also home to the University of Kentucky, and Ray Allen has an ugly face, perhaps too eager to show himself here, and has only scored four points so far.
At 18:9, seeing that the score difference was about to reach double digits, Coach Calhoun reluctantly asked for a timeout.
Eric Dampier was so proud of his stoppage that he laughed and raised his head and threw his fist passionately in the direction of the Mississippi State fans in the arena, and the audience cheered again.
Commentator Billy Parker was a little disappointed, and Ray Allen was not as good as Darryl Wilson on the opposite side at this time.
The Mississippi State miniature black guard hit four three-pointers after the opening and played his own characteristic:
"Maybe Mississippi State will continue to play the role of a dark horse tonight, and at the moment, they are the better team."
The team's star players were out of alignment, which was the worst-case scenario, and instead of replacing Ray Allen, head coach Calhoun replaced the mediocre Doron Marshall.
The inside line can't move, the two big men have to be there, and on the front line, Kirk King can't be replaced, and he has to ensure the height of the field.
The only one who could make adjustments was the No. 1 position, and when Lee Woo in a white jersey appeared on the court after the timeout, the UConn fans cheered loudly.
Coach Richard Williams frowned on the sidelines, and through a large number of game videos, they also noticed that the style of play was different.
On his first offense, Darryl Wilson didn't take the lead like the smaller men of other teams, but kept a small step away.
This space also allows Lee You to dribble calmly, dribbling the ball across half court with his left hand, approaching the left flank, and suddenly quickly circling the ball behind his back.
After switching to the right hand, he immediately lowered his center of gravity and pretended to accelerate, noticing that the opponent followed the slide, Li You immediately changed direction in front of him, and then accelerated the breakthrough with the ball in his left hand.
Darryl Wilson is only 1.85 meters and relatively short, but his feet are very flexible, adjusting his center of gravity and sliding quickly, sticking to Li You's side.
Coming to the three-point line, the acceleration of the ball in his left hand broke through to Li You's sudden emergency stop, and while vigorously blowing up the ball on the spot, he took the initiative to lean towards the opponent.
After the collision, Li You took advantage of the situation to complete the retreat, returned to the three-point line, slightly shook out a shot space and immediately closed the ball, ignoring the pounce Daryl Wilson, the left wing quickly jumped and shot!
"Huh!" Three-point shot hollow net!
"God! Shoot too fast! This is Clay Lee, a sophomore at the University of Connecticut! ”
"By the time he got to the tournament, Lee had become the leading scorer on the UConn bench!"
Commentator Jim Nantz first exclaimed, and then briefly introduced Li You.
The cheers of the UConn fans on the scene made Coach Richard Williams on the sidelines look a little ugly, and looked at Li You, who was smiling and retreating, and cursed in his heart:
"What the hell is the way to play!"