The way of the center

Chapter 23 The Mysterious Gift
It was very cold in Bethesda in February. From the 13th floor of the inpatient department, we could only see a snow-capped world.Everything in winter looks dead and lifeless, including the ward where Morris lives.

Morris has been taken back to his hometown by his parents, the small town of Bethesda, Maryland.There is still one month before the NCAA March Madness Tournament is about to start. Although the regular season is not over yet, the Cyclones are very likely to be selected for the competition. Now the Cyclones are only one game behind the No.1 University of Kansas .But that has nothing to do with Morris anymore, he is now a person who cannot even be independent in the most basic daily life.

"In order to restore the Achilles tendon to its best condition, it takes two months to walk with crutches, six to eight months to walk independently without crutches, and I think it takes ten months to return to the basketball court. More than a month. Of course, all of this can only be done when the recovery is smooth." The doctor in Bethesda answered Morris and Ricard in this way. If Morris wants to play basketball, the best At least have to wait until a year later.

There are hospitals in the United States that can do better than this, but only professional athletes can afford that level of treatment.Although Iowa State University agreed to Rickard's application and was willing to pay the Morris family a certain amount of medical expenses every month, how much would a university be willing to pay for a student player?

The environment outside was lifeless, and Morris' black eyes were like pools of stagnant water.

The training enthusiasm of the Cyclones players is getting lower and lower, and the shadow of injuries hangs over the hearts of every player.This does not mean that they are lazy in training, but the atmosphere in the whole gym is very depressing and heavy.

In such an atmosphere, the team played three more games, with one win and two losses.If the Cyclones can't even keep the No.2 position and let this decline develop, then it is really uncertain whether they can enter the March Madness Championship.Because except for the automatic popularization of the league championship, whether all other teams can enter the March Madness game depends on the performance of the season, and then the committee selects the participating teams based on factors such as performance and the strength of the league. It's not a very strong league, so there may not be too many places to be selected.

Rickard couldn't take it anymore, Morris was injured and he would not suffer more than anyone here, but the downfall of his teammates can't be an excuse for this group of guys to give up on themselves!

"You bastards are a bunch of wimps!" Rickard, who was sitting off the field meditating, yelled without warning during the interval of daily training, and even Divac, who was guiding Anjie and Asakin, was frightened jumped.

All eyes in the stadium were on Ricard.

"If any of you were injured and Morris was still here, he would definitely work ten times as hard as you to win the game instead of a teammate who was out. He didn't even hesitate to accept my difficulty in order to play. I know that he can stay in the end is the result of the joint efforts of all of you, but the one who has the courage to take up this challenge is Morris! If it were someone else that day, he might have given up long ago! You are letting the fans Disappointed, let us down, let down Morris who is still lying on the hospital bed!" Ricard blushed with anger.

"Morris didn't get hurt to see you cowards lead the team to failure! The reason he got hurt is because Morris **** wants to send us all to March Madness! Let We are creating a whirlwind on the national stage! Now you have to use the victory to motivate Morris! Instead of waiting for Morris to use the crutches to motivate you!" It is not the first time that Ricard lost his temper in the gymnasium, but he But never have I been as excited as I am now.

"Everyone, train well! The boss is right, we can't let that kid Morris watch our jokes on the hospital bed!" Mike Taylor is undoubtedly the captain of the locker room now. Apart from the coach, the players are the most convinced it's him.Not only because of Taylor's performance on the court, but also because he has leadership skills that others don't have.

After Ricard scolded for a while, the attitude of the players in training gradually became serious.It can be said that the Cyclone team is well in the hands of Ricard, the head coach. The players didn't know what to do without hearing the coach's scolding for two days.

The coach has complete control over the team while maintaining a rapport with the players, something Ricard has done admirably for as a rookie college coach.

On February 2th, the penultimate game of the Big 15 regular season, the Iowa State University Cyclones played against the Ohio State University Orange Cowboys at home. If this game wins, then they will compete with No.1 Kansas The College Jayhawks were tied and then decided the winner in the final game.Winter temperatures are cold, but the Big [-] game continues to heat up.

An Jie took out a jersey from Morris' locker in the locker room, and immediately tried it on himself.

"Well, it's a little tight, I don't think it will be exposed." An Jie waved his arm to test the tightness.Although An Jie is thinner, after all, the values ​​​​of height and shoulder width are higher than Morris, so Morris's jersey is still a little tight on An Jie.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Mike Taylor wrote something on his white lined vest with a marker.

"Of course, do this in front of the entire stadium and the full camera." An Jie put his jersey on the outside of Morris's jersey again. It fits very well. If you don't look carefully, you can't tell that he is wearing two layers.

At this moment, other players who had gone out to warm up had just returned.

"What are you two doing sneakily in the locker room?" Anthony had never seen these two guys return to the locker room early during the warm-up.

"Nothing, nothing." An Jie waved his hand with a smile.

"Alright guys!"

Hearing this voice, the players immediately sat down in their seats, knowing that Ricard was about to appear in the dressing room.

"How time flies, the penultimate game of the regular season is here everyone. We have one foot in the circle of the NCAA March Madness Tournament, but we may be pushed out at any time, our goal There is still only one, victory!" Ricard said and began to write his name on the whiteboard.

"Costa Kufos! Anjie, another strong opponent, you remember what I said a few days ago!"

"Of course, of course, leave it to me, boss." An Jie was gearing up below, saying that there are quite a few excellent centers playing in the Big 100 League.However, after a season of baptism in the NCAA regular season and months of teaching from Divac, Angie is now full of confidence when facing any opponent.He weighed less than 108 kilograms before entering the league, and now he has risen to [-] kilograms. Although he is still not as heavy as others, his progress has never been interrupted.And the strength of his upper and lower limbs has also been greatly improved during continuous training.Ricard was right about the shy big man who played on the field at the beginning. His hard work and speed of improvement are very surprising.

Of course, this does not mean that Anjie can easily defeat today's opponent Koufos.If Angie is the dark horse that came out this season, then Koufus is a star center who has already become famous in high school.

Like Anjie, Koufus is not American, but from Greece, the birthplace of the Olympic movement, but Koufos came to this basketball country in high school.

This gentle-looking boy has made a big splash in the American high school league, and it is commonplace to score a large double-double.This experience is very similar to Anjie's experience of turning out in the NCAA.So far in the regular season, Koufos has averaged 14.4 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. Although the average data per game is not as good as Anjie's 18.2 points and 10.1 rebounds, this is because In the middle of the regular season, Koufos's state suddenly declined, which lowered his data too much.But no one knows when this tall man will regain his bravery, so no one dares to underestimate him.

At the start of the season, Koufos was considered a top-[-] pick in this year's NBA draft.But for some reason, he suddenly performed poorly in the middle of the regular season, which also caused his team to almost lose hope of entering March Madness.However, in the last few games, both Koufos and Ohio State University have improved, and it was at this juncture that the Cyclones met them.

"The shooting percentage is 65.6%, and the three-point shooting percentage is as high as 42.9%! Koufus is an opponent whose shooting range is larger than yours! Don't let him shoot, I will send Asakin and you Form a lineup of double centers, and when Koufus pulls out, I want you to follow him every step of the way, and the inside line will be safely handed over to Asakin to protect!" Ricard finished speaking and glanced at An Jie, this kid has never I have never let myself down, and I hope he will be the same today.

"I will stick to my opponent like Anthony Ben." An Jie patted the shoulder of Ben who was sitting next to him.

"Listen, maybe you guys will become negative and sad about Morris's misfortune, but have you ever thought about how uncomfortable Morris is in his heart! I really hope you can help him realize this dream of March Madness , Bringing the team to the top 64 in the country, this is the greatest reward you can give him! Tell Morris that his efforts have not been in vain! Play!" Ricard pushed open the door of the locker room. The uproar came in immediately.

An Jie looked at the two-layer jersey he was wearing, and felt that his whole body was full of strength.On the jersey, under Anjie's name is Morris, and they still play side by side on the court.

"Let's go Morris, it's time for us to play." An Jie bowed his head and kissed the two jerseys on his body, and then rushed out of the player tunnel with Taylor and other players who took the lead.

Morris was watching the live broadcast on TV on the hospital bed, and the screen was showing his teammates coming out of the player tunnel. How much he wished that he could be on that team, how much he wished that he could also appear on the court.Now his teammates form a circle on the court, which is a ritual they must do to encourage each other before the game, but now Morris can only lie in the hospital and stay out of it.

He wanted to turn off the TV to escape reality, but couldn't press the off button on the TV remote.This is a team that he regards as family, and the players on the field are all his brothers!How could I abandon them at this critical moment!Morris simply threw the remote control aside and stared at the TV screen in silence.

"Great performance, we will have the opportunity to present this gift to Morris only if we win." Taylor touched Anjie with his elbow before the two sides jumped the ball.

"No one can stop us today." An Jie changed his usual modest tone, and after lightly hammering his chest twice, he walked towards the center circle with two layers of jerseys.

Look mate, you're still with us.

(End of this chapter)