I really play basketball

Chapter 16 History's No. [-] Power Forward

The California State University Long Beach 49ers team, the 49ers team here, does not refer to 49 people.

Its team name is similar to the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA, referring to the year.

That is, the collective name for the gold prospectors who flooded into California in 1849.

The 49ers are in the Atlantic League on the west coast. In the early 70s, they won the regular season championship of the Atlantic League six times in a row, and once dominated the Atlantic League.

But from the 80s until last season, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) won ten consecutive regular season championships.

Even the Atlantic League Championship, which was only established in the 1975-76 season, was won by UNLV seven times in the past ten years.

What is domination, this is domination.

In the new season, this UNLV team still has the strength to dominate the Atlantic League.

Because they have Isiah Ryder, Dexter Burney, and Averick Gray, three NCAA players with NBA prospects.

Even, Isiah Ryder is still the top five favorites in the NBA draft.

Compared with last season's core lineup, UNLV only lost Elmer Spencer, who graduated to the NBA as a senior.

Among the opponents in the same league, UNLV poses the greatest threat to Long Beach.

In addition, New Mexico State University, which is coached by NCAA coach Neil McCarthy and focuses on all soldiers, should not be underestimated.

Although they don't have star players, their core lineup, everyone's strength is very balanced.

Head coach Neil McCarthy has put this group together, and the combat effectiveness is quite impressive.

Based on Lin Xing's current rough understanding, there are only two opponents worthy of attention in the Great Western Alliance.

……

The NCAA schedule is roughly divided into four stages——

The first stage is the preseason stage:

At this stage, the Long Beach branch will play against the NCAA Division I colleges outside the Great Western Conference, and the total number of games will range from eleven or twelve to fifteen or six.

The pre-season record will be included in the statistics of the selection committee before March Madness, as the basis for selecting the remaining 33 Mad Three places.

The second stage is the regular season stage:

There are 10 teams in the Big West League, including Long Beach, and they play 18 games a season.

The team with the best overall record will win the regular season championship of the Atlantic League.

The third stage is the intra-alliance championship stage:
The Big West regular season top eight enters the tournament, with the first pairing the eighth, the second pairing the seventh, the third pairing the sixth, and the fourth pairing the fifth.

The single-elimination system will determine the championship champion in the final, and the championship champion will directly enter March Madness.

If the remaining teams want to enter the Crazy Three, they have to wait for the selection committee to choose.

The fourth stage is March Madness:
According to the seed ranking given by the selection committee to enter the Crazy Three, it is still a single knockout system.

The team that goes all the way through and kills all the way to the end will win the final NCAA championship.

For now, the goal of the Long Beach branch is only: to hit the crazy three and succeed.

In the past two or three seasons, the previous leadership team of Long Beach, Lucios Harris and Byron Russell, have not been able to lead Long Beach into the crazy three.

In the 89-90 season, Lucios Harris' freshman season, there were three crazy members of the Atlantic League. At that time, "Auntie" Larry Johnson led the UNLV, the New Mexico State University and the University of California, Santa Barbara.

In the 90-91 season, Lucios' sophomore season, Byron Russell's first-year season, the Atlantic League has two crazy members, Larry Johnson's UNLV and the New Mexico State University of all soldiers.

In the 91-92 season, Lucios' junior season, Russell's sophomore season, the Atlantic League had two crazy members, UNLV led by Isaiah Rydell and New Mexico State, which was all soldiers.

Judging from the past two or three seasons, it is still a bit difficult to expect Lucios and Russell to lead this 49ers team into the crazy three.

So, Lin Xing came.

Although Lin Xing was added, Seth Greenberg was full of confidence, but he was still very cautious.

First of all, before the start of the season, he found three colleges and universities, and prepared to play three friendly matches that were not open to the public.

Then there is the preseason, the team can choose their opponents independently, of course, the premise is that you have to negotiate with the opponent.

There's not much to say about the rest of the regular season and intra-conference championships.

Greenberg first identified the opponents for the three friendly matches, one of which was Long Beach City College, which was found on the principle of proximity.

The other is Riverside Community College not far away in Southern California.

For these two friendly matches, Long Beach will play at home.

Finally, in order to let the freshmen experience a long-distance away game in advance, Greenberg found another community college in Utah.

The main purpose of the three friendly matches is to practice tactics, and at the same time give strength to the freshmen and find confidence for the veterans.

After playing these three friendly matches, the next focus is on the preseason.

Greenberg is very clear that although the Atlantic League is weak, with the configuration of the 49ers and the particularity of a single elimination in the championship.

If they don't win the championship, the 49ers can only count on the selection committee to select themselves.

At this time, the opponents and records in the preseason are very important.

The choice of opponents in the preseason is very good. It does not mean that you can choose a bunch of weak teams and have a high winning percentage.

If you choose a bunch of weak teams, even if you win, it doesn't mean anything.

From a slave point of view, opponents must be strong and weak, and weak teams must far outnumber strong teams.

Use weak teams to guarantee the lower limit, and use strong teams to raise the upper limit.

In order to have a perfect preseason schedule, Seth Greenberg and his coaching staff started various efforts.

To build relationships, make friends, and look for a top team that is willing to play against the Long Beach branch...

……

In the first friendly match against Long Beach City College, facing a group of rookies, Lin Xing killed all sides.

He didn't even play the whole game, and he easily scored 34 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists and 2 steals.

Before the game was over, he stood on the edge of the court with his hips crossed, looked at the score that was already too big to split, and shook his head: "That's it?"

Just talking about this game, what is the difference from those rookies he played in high school?
There is still a difference, perhaps because there are many athletes who have grown up in the fourth year of college.

The physical confrontation of Long Beach City College is much stronger than those rookies he encountered in high school.

But this strong physical confrontation will not cause a qualitative change, and the rookie is still the rookie.

Lin Xing didn't feel any pleasure in confronting the rookie, so he couldn't help but want to ask:

Is this so-called friendly match necessary?
Soon, the friendly game went to the second game, and the 49ers beat Riverside Community College.

The intensity of this friendly match is a bit higher——

Riverside Community College is closely related to UCLA and other top NCAA Division I schools. There are a few scumbags in the team who were supposed to be recruited by UCLA but failed to pass the undergraduate course because of their poor grades.

These scumbags can't get into UCLA for the time being, so they can only study at Riverside Community College first, seek to transfer their undergraduate degree, and then enter UCLA after one or two years.

With these scumbags, Riverside Community College is not as vulnerable as Long Beach City College.

emmm... just vulnerable.

In the two low-intensity friendly matches, Lin Xing played dull, he felt:

It's better to stay in the training hall and drag Russell to practice one-on-one!
Conversely, Byron Russell breathed a sigh of relief:

In these two friendly matches, the tyrant's muzzle finally came out.

He finally doesn't have to worry about it every day...

……

It wasn't until the third friendly match that Lin Xing really changed his mind——

In the third game, the 49ers left the base camp of Long Beach, and they flew directly to the Utah Plateau by plane.

Then, I entered a junior college called Utah Valley Community College.

In the community college's practice facility, the 49ers met their opponents for the friendly.

It wasn't until Lin Xing saw a bald, yellow-skinned Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle in the opponent's formation that Lin Xing thought:

Fuck, I forgot that the recognized No. [-] power forward in history is now in this community college!
Ma Jian on the opposite side was also a little confused when he saw Lin Xing.

Why is there a player with black hair and yellow skin on the opposite side?
Japanese?Korean?It can't be Chinese, can it?

I haven't heard of anyone else in China coming out to fight?

And the school opposite, California State University Long Beach, is an NCAA Division I school!
If this guy is really Chinese, wouldn't he have entered the real NCAA earlier than me?
Ma Jian pondered for a while, his curiosity was completely aroused, and he quickly leaned over while warming up.

"Uh, hi, you, Japanese? Or, Korean?"

As for Ma Jian, the reason why he came to play basketball in Utah, which is not a shit, is that all kinds of unlucky things happened together.

First of all, at the Barcelona Olympics this summer, Ma Jian scored a total of 6 points in 22 games, averaging 3.7 points per game.

It is widely rumored that his outstanding performance has attracted the attention of the world.

After the Olympics, UCLA sent him an invitation for a full basketball scholarship.

Ma Jian, who has already obtained a U.S. visa, ignored the warning of the Basketball Association to permanently disqualify him from participating in the national team.

For his basketball dream, he resolutely set foot on a foreign land.

At that time, the reason why the Basketball Association prevented him from going to the United States was: the language barrier, the difficulty of communication, and the unpredictable future.

As a result, in the United States, the future is really unpredictable.

His diploma from a sports school is not recognized in the United States, so the full scholarship to UCLA is forfeited.

Fortunately, the head coach of the University of Utah, Rick Majors, took a fancy to him and helped him get into the current Utah Valley Community College.

I am going to take the path of transferring the book, and seek to realize the NCAA dream in one or two years.

Now, Lin Xing wanted to laugh when he heard Ma Jian's broken English.

He shook his head, and said surprisingly: "Don't show off your English with these two knives."

Ma Jian was stunned, he really is a Chinese...

(Ask for a recommendation ticket, ask for a monthly ticket!)

(End of this chapter)