Chapter Forty-Eight: The Number One Seed
Fast forward to the beginning of March, and after two months of competition, the regular season of the Pac10 League has come to an end, and the league's internal record rankings have also been released.
1. Arizona State University (16-2)
Second, the University of Washington (14-4)
Third, UCLA (13-5)
Fourth, University of California, Berkeley (11-7)
Fifth, University of Arizona (9-9)
Sixth, Washington State University (8-10)
7. Oregon State University (7-11)
8. Stanford University (6-12)
Season Over: Oh no, the Devils are really the boss of the Pac10 league now.
However, this result is not surprising, as the team has already shown its quality from the opening match of the invitational tournament.
Whether it is core ability or game experience, they have reached this level, and the key talent they lack has also been alleviated to the greatest extent under Sandek's rotation adjustment.
The regular season is over, and the league playoffs will begin.
Arizonada State University's first-round opponent is Stanford University.
Last season, Stanford was the second-ranked team in the Pac10 league, but after the departure of the López brothers, they did not even recruit a four-star high school student this season.
Against last season's semi-final opponents, they led by double digits at half-time and comfortably advanced to the semi-finals.
Their opponent in the semifinals is the University of Arizona.
The Wildcats failed to complete their revenge after being beaten by the Devils last season, and Bayless "ran" to the NBA at the end of the season, leaving Badinger and Hill in the trident, and their strength was greatly damaged.
In the face of this mortal enemy, the Devils naturally did not relent, and finally bloodied the opponent 86-56, adding another stroke to the history of grievances between the two teams.
It is worth mentioning that this score is exactly the same score that Bayless wanted to win against the Devils in the first place.
It turns out that as long as you run fast, you don't have to go through the trough with the team.
In the final finals, Arizona State University's opponent was the University of Washington, which ranked second in the regular season.
The University of Washington is not a giant, and it was also the third-to-last in the league last season, and it has not been able to recruit any four-star players in the new season.
However, there is one person who has joined them to skyrocket their strength, "the strongest 175 on the surface" Thomas Jr.
Because of his height, Thomas didn't make it to a four-star high school student, but he did have a freshman season at the University of Washington that slapped everyone in the face.
He averaged 15.5 points, 3 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, leading the team in scoring and assists, leading the team to second in the league ahead of UCLA.
He's pretty much omnipotent except short, top-notch bounce ability, lightning-fast breakouts, steady outside projection, and he's tough, has a big heart, and is a natural leader.
Of course, Xu Yong was not surprised by the performance of Thomas Jr.
Because the NBA may have all kinds of parallel goods, but the little man who can enter the NBA and leave footprints, such as "Little Bug" Boggs, such as Thomas Jr., it is impossible for him not to be strong.
The Devils had a tough game in the final, and they didn't have any problems with their offense, but they did not take Thomas Jr.
Because Thomas Jr. was so fast, especially the first step was lightning fast, no one on the Devils' side could keep up.
And although he is short, his organizational skills are not weak at all, and he can always deliver the ball to his teammates in time after encountering the help defense.
It was a bit like last season's tournament game against the University of Memphis.
Unlike that game, though, the Devils were the winners in the end.
It wasn't that they finally found a way to defend Thomas Jr., but they won the offense.
Harden and Xu Yong both scored 20+ points, and DeRozan and Ayers also scored 16 and 14 points, respectively.
The four of them scored 70+ points, and they were also accurately attacked last season, and this season they are directly covered by firepower.
After winning the league championship and lifting that small championship trophy, their expectations, or ambitions, were also raised.
"Xu, now we have a chance to compete for that bigger trophy, right?" Albert asked Xu Yong again with a smile.
The bigger trophy is, of course, the overall champion of the league.
This time Xu Yong nodded.
Compared to the beginning of the season, they do have that possibility now.
Two days after the league finals, the Devils were all sitting in front of the TV once again watching the game.
In the same scene, except for DeRozan, who looked a little nervous, everyone else was already relatively relaxed.
After all, everything is nervous, it is the first time, and after getting acquainted with it, it is familiar with the road.
And more importantly, they have an absolute confidence in their own quality this season, even if they are placed in the same zone as North Carolina, it is completely worthwhile.
Xu Yong didn't know where to find the melon seeds and peanuts mineral water, and a group of people waited and knocked.
This year's zoning was a bit faster than in previous years, and soon the zoning of the Eastern, Central and Western, and Southern districts were all coming to an end, leaving the last Western District.
Because it was the last area, there were advertisements in the middle.
"By the way, why isn't there a North District?" DeRozan couldn't help but ask curiously.
As a "virgin" who has never played a tournament yet, he is inevitably curious about this division.
In fact, Xu Yong was also curious about this at the beginning, but later he figured it out.
"Have you ever heard of pumpkins?" Xu Yong asked.
DeRozan was stunned for a moment, then shook his head, as if there really was no pumpkin!
Xu Yong smiled, in fact, why is there no North District, this is not a serious statement.
If you have to dig deeper, it is probably the population.
If you include Canada, the largest state in the northern United States, in the NCAA, then the North Territory will be there.
"This year, the teams in our league are all seeded relatively low." Harden discovered Huadian.
Xu Yong knocked a melon seed and recalled, as if this was indeed the case, and the second-ranked Washington State was only the fourth seed in the Southern Region.
Although there are still 6 teams in the Pac10 League this year, it is clear that the NCAA organizing committee is not too optimistic about the strength of the Pac10 League this year.
"It won't be lower than last year." Xu Yong said in a firm tone.
His words made the team members nod their heads one after another, and then they also knocked up the melon seeds with peace of mind.
Although I don't know the reason, most of Xu Yong's words have been proven to be correct, and this time I can't be wrong.
[What Xu Yong said is right], this has become their habitual thinking.
Of course, Xu Yong didn't come out of his mouth, because after observing this division for two years in a row, he can roughly come to a conclusion: these NCAA organizing committee people really don't eat dry food.
Last season, UCLA's record was not necessarily as high as the other three contenders, but the content and quality of the game was visible, so they ended up being the No. 1 seed in the division, and they deserved to be seeded in the final four.
In fact, the crazy three are indeed prone to upsets, but that's the standard [survivor bias], more often than not, the tournament is still a process of big fish eating small fish, and the final four last season are all the top seeds in their respective divisions.
The content of Arizonada State University's games this season is similar to last season's UCLA.
Because UConn is not in the division, they may not be the No. 1 seed, but they will most likely be No. 2.
Shortly after Xu Yong finished speaking, the division of the last district, the western district, also began.
The eyes of the team members became more and more excited as the seed bars were filled one after another.
No. 4 seed, University of Memphis.
No. 3 seed, University of Missouri.
When it was time for the No. 2 seed, Xu Yong's eyes were also on TV.
No. 2 seed, University of Connecticut Huskies!
The No. 1 seed has not yet been released, but the answer has been revealed, as the only team left that has not yet been ranked is them.
"We are No. 1!" Albert couldn't help but shout excitedly.
Cheers rang out in the dressing room, they were the top seeds!
Xu Yong couldn't help but nod again and again.
This result was even better than he expected.
And it's not in the same district as North Carolina or Duke, which is already a very good result.
Because the biggest weakness of the Devils is still rotation, but Kangda's rotation is actually average.
The championship may be a bit far away, but the chances of reaching the semi-finals are already very good.
And this No. 1 seed can be regarded as giving them a good time.
After the end of the division, the program also announced the locations of the three stages.
The first phase is also different within the subdivision, but the location of the second phase is fixed.
When seeing the location of the second stage, the cheers once again rang out in the locker room.
University of Phoenix Stadium, home of the NFL Cardinals.
Just look at the name, it's in Phoenix!
Now it's good, not only the time, but also the location, the people and the people are in place.
It's not appropriate not to make it to the semifinals now!