This Forward is Not Serious

The new season will start soon, and the opponent of the University of Texas opener is Texas Tech University.

Texas Tech University, referred to as Texas Tech, is another NCAA team in Texas.

That's right, the first game is the Texas Derby.

Texas Tech's "ancestor" is poorer than the University of Texas, and the most accomplished player in the NBA is Tony Batty, nicknamed "Batman".

The nickname is quite loud, and it was also the No. 5 pick with Duncan in 1997.

However, he has not been able to play the strength that matches the pick. This season, partnering with "Warcraft" Howard inside is already the brightest moment of his career.

My ancestors were very poor, and now... I am also very poor.

The current Texas Tech is basically a team composed of a group of three-star or even two-star players or players who are not on the list.

And most of the players are already juniors or seniors with mediocre talents.

Experience is their only advantage.

Playing against such an opponent in the opening game is definitely a good start for the University of Texas.

In Game 1, Barnes sent out a starting lineup of Randy Williams, AJ Abrams, Damai James, Durant and Wendell.

Durant served as the team's starting power forward in Game 1 of the NCAA.

It was the first time that Lin Ying and Durant felt what is called the NCAA basketball atmosphere when they entered the arena in the away game of the University of Texas.

In the arena with more than 10,000 people, flags are waving, crowds are crowded, whistles are blowing, and bustling.

Compared with high school, this atmosphere is several grades stronger.

Even compared with the NBA, it is not too much.

The game hadn't started yet, but the atmosphere was already full of adrenaline.

When it started, the audience was beating drums and shouting slogans, not to mention playing basketball, the eardrums were shocked and hurt.

So it is not surprising that the level of American basketball is so high.

Like a towering tree, its base is too thick.

The game started quickly, with Wendell jumping the ball for Texas, and Durant catching the ball in the low post and turning over for a jumper.

The technical movement is very smooth, but the ball is a bit outrageous after the shot, and in the end it only touched the board, which is almost a non-stick...

Some University of Texas fans who came to watch the game were stunned. Is this the third high school student in the United States they have given high hopes for?

This ball is also a microcosm of Durant's game.

After the whole game, his offensive state was mediocre, and he did not do well on the defensive end in top man and rebound protection.

Although the confrontation has been greatly improved under Wright's training, he still seems obviously not suitable for the role of power forward.

And the overall defense of the University of Texas tonight is not good. They let Texas Tech score 70+ points on their heads.

Don't think that 70+ is less, many rules of the NCAA are different from those of the NBA.

The biggest difference is the game time and method, a game is only 40 minutes, and then divided into two halves, 20 minutes each.

And the team's single attack time is not 24 seconds, but 35 seconds.

The inevitable result of this rule is a slow pace of the game and low scores.

So 70 points is definitely a high score for a team that is not very good at offense.

In the end, the University of Texas lost to Kansas Tech 66-73 in the opener and suffered a black start.

Although Texas Tech did not perform particularly well, 4 of the team scored in double figures and played perfect team basketball.

For the University of Texas, although Durant scored a team-high 18 points and 8 rebounds, he made only 6 of 17 shots.

And except for him and Abrams, who scored 11 points, no one else scored in double figures.

Lin Ying played Durant's substitute this time, only played 6 minutes, got 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block, but did not score.

Encountering a bad start, although Barnes cooked a "chicken soup" for the players after the game, the feeling of loss is inevitable.

Especially for Durant, his performance in the first game can be described as terrible.

This is too far from his previous idea of ​​wanting to be the number one player in basketball.

When Barnes left, he ran to the training hall for extra practice.

Lin Ying also followed.

Exhausted from practice, the two sat on the sidelines panting.

"Am I not suitable to be a team leader?"

After Durant recovered his breath, he turned to Lin Ying and asked.

The gap between reality and expectations was too great, and his morale also fell to the bottom.

"I trust you."

Lin Ying didn't speak much, but it came from the heart.

Whether as a friend or a time traveler, he would say so.

Durant stared blankly at Lin Ying for a while, then nodded.

Lin Ying believed in him so much, why didn't he believe in herself?

After a three-day break, the University of Texas returned home to face the second opponent of the season, the University of Missouri Tigers.

The strength of the University of Missouri is close to that of Texas Tech. Except for DeMarre Carroll, the talents of everyone else in the team are relatively average.

Back at home, the performance of the University of Texas has improved compared to the first game.

Although Durant still showed his hips on the defensive end, he ushered in a strong rebound on the offensive end.

He scored 25 points and 11 rebounds in the game, shooting 11 of 18 from the field.

Carol, who was facing him, tried his best, but in the end he couldn't escape being crushed by talent.

Under his leadership, the University of Texas also defeated the University of Missouri 71 to 67 and won its first victory of the season.

It is worth mentioning that Lin Ying got more chances in this game, and his playing time doubled compared to the first game.

He played 12 minutes and handed over comprehensive data of 5 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block.

And compared to the data itself, he is more eye-catching or the few defensive rounds on the court.

One time was a round somewhat similar to the team's new and old freshman match. He successfully defended against the opponent's fast break and protected the defensive rebound with one defense and two defenses.

Also, when facing Carroll, he used his body to withstand Carroll's strong attack one-on-one, and then gave the latter a big cap.

At that time, the University of Texas was still 5 points behind. His big hat boosted the morale of the team, and then the University of Texas took the lead in the transition period of the bench!

After the game, there was a roar of excited wolves in the locker room of the University of Texas.

Although the strength of the University of Missouri is not too strong, it feels good to win.

There is even a comparison in the first game, which shows their progress in this game.

Things are moving in a good direction.

After the game, Durant and Lin Ying went to the training hall for extra practice.

If you lose and run to practice, you can understand why you have to go if you win?

I am excited after winning, and I am more energetic in training!

All in all, for the two of them, the training hall is like a girlfriend, and they feel uncomfortable after seeing each other for a day.

Compared with after the last game, Durant's emotions are different.

After training, he who was also panting heavily on the sidelines was already fantasizing about the next game.

"We'll win the next game!"

After he regained his strength, his way of speaking was completely different from that after the last game.

Lin Ying nodded.

The opponent of the University of Texas in the next game is the University of Kansas!

Compared with the previous two teams, Kansas is obviously stronger by one or two grades.

Randy Williams had already introduced it clearly at the beginning, that is definitely the strongest team in big12.

But Williams also said that Brandon Rush is still recovering from his injury, which is the best news for them.

Without Rush, Durant would have much more room to play.

And as long as Durant plays well, the University of Texas has a chance!

The NCAA schedule is not as dense as the NBA, basically 1-2 games a week.

After nearly a week of preparations, the University of Texas players boarded a plane to Lawrence.

On the plane, the team members were very excited.

The overall strength of the big12 league is mediocre, and winning the league championship is the safest way to enter the "Crazy Three".

To win the championship, Kansas is the opponent they must overcome.

So the players in this game are all riveting.

This also includes Durant and Lin Ying.

Their summer of hard training and sweat is for this kind of moment.

After getting off the plane, the players all went to the hotel to rest and prepare for the evening game. Durant and Lin Ying sneaked to the Allen Arena for the evening game ahead of schedule.

The two originally went to adapt to the venue in advance, but they were rejected.

Because the team was not led by the head coach, security refused to let them into the arena.

The two of them couldn't do anything about it, so they could only sit at the door and wait for Barnes and the team bus to arrive.

While they were waiting, dozens of students arrived at the entrance of the arena.

That included some girls in sexy dresses.

Compared with those in China, the clothes of students in the United States are much cooler.

In November, you can still see shredded pork.

Durant's eyes lit up, and his eyes remained motionless.

At this moment, Lin Ying noticed a bus coming towards the arena, so he stood up and looked over there.

It wasn't the University of Texas bus that came, it was the Kansas bus.

The group of students quickly shouted with excitement.

After the bus stopped, the players from the University of Kansas got off the bus one after another.

Stocky Sheron Collins, burly Julian Wright, Sasha Cowan bending over when getting out of the car...

Every time a person came down, some information related to them began to emerge in Lin Ying's mind.

At this moment, there was a burst of screaming suddenly, it was from the group of girls.

Chalmers is down!

He is 1.88 meters tall, with slender legs, strong arms, and a handsome face among black people.

As the head star of Kansas City, he has a great chance of playing in the NBA, and it can be said that his money is bright.

This is no longer a priority in choosing a spouse in college, but a "girl harvester" type.

Lin Ying turned her head to ask Durant to get up, to see if he could follow the Kansas people in.

As a result, when he turned around, he saw Durant's envious eyes.

As for Durant, in terms of talent, he is several times better than Chalmers, but it's just his looks...

He patted Durant on the shoulder.

When you become famous in the NBA, you are as handsome as Jordan!

Lin Ying's idea was right. When the Kansas players went in, those students also went in together, and they also mixed in.

Unable to ask, they circled inside to find the visiting team's locker room.

By the time they changed their equipment to warm up, Kansas had been warming up for a while.

And the embarrassing thing is that Kansas occupied the entire court during the warm-up, and the two of them could only stare blankly after they entered.

"Let's...don't do such stupid things next time!"

Durant was a little depressed by successive bumps in the wall.

They might as well stay in the hotel and rest like everyone else.

Lin Ying didn't speak, his eyes were all on the Kansas players who were training on the court.

He is now like a data entry device, recording the training content of the players on the Kansas field into his mind.

The more he watched, the more difficult it was for him to play at night.

Kansas is not only outstanding in talent, but also very high in tactical quality.

It's not without reason that the University of Texas lost to Kansas with the Trident last year.

"excuse me?"

As they watched, someone came and questioned them.

Here comes the assistant coach from Kansas.

When Lin Ying and the others entered the stadium, Kansas had already noticed them.

It was just because Lin Ying and the others were wearing training uniforms, they didn't know who they were at first.

After a simple exchange, knowing that they were from the University of Texas, the assistant coach didn't say much.

After he went back, Kansas switched from full court to half court training, and the content of the training also changed from tactical training to basic training.

Obviously, they were wary of Lin Ying and the others.

A very normal logic, who would want to expose their tactics to their opponents before the game?

Even if the opponent's strength is not strong, no one will increase the chance for the opponent to be upset.

Lin Ying and Durant didn't care too much. On the contrary, Kansas gave up half of the court, and they were finally able to adapt to the venue.

The two are basically practicing shooting.

When Durant shot, Lin Ying was picking up and feeding the ball, and when Lin Ying shot, Durant was doing the same thing.

Interestingly enough, however, they got the attention of the former Kansas coach when they shot.

I don't blame them, because they are indeed more accurate in shooting.

In particular, when they shoot three-pointers, they follow the NBA three-point line.

Here I have to mention the venue used for NCAA games. His three-point line is drawn with two lines.

One is used by the NCAA itself, with a distance of 6.32 meters, which is shorter than FIBA's three-point line.

Another farther is the three-point line of FIBA ​​distance, which is 6.75 meters away and is used for reference.

Then Lin Ying and Durant trained nearly 1 meter away from the NCAA line!

After all, this is the NCAA league, and most players still train according to the NCAA three-point line when training.

Seeing two people shooting from the distance of the NBA three-point line and shooting quite accurately, normal people will be curious.

After practicing for more than half an hour, Kansas City withdrew first.

Lin Ying and Durant practiced for another half an hour, and then sat on the sidelines to rest.

"Do you think we have been exposed in advance?"

After taking a sip of water, Durant said that the water flowed smoothly when he came out of the visiting team's locker room.

Most colleges and universities in the NCAA have big lineup changes every year. In addition, unlike the NBA, which does not have as much media attention, the teams do not know each other that well.

Especially some newcomers can often play the role of some surprise soldiers.

Durant is the core of the team, and this newcomer is the same, and will be focused on research.

But Lin Ying is different. Although his playing time is increasing, he is still only a rotation player, and his opponents may not pay attention to him.

But just now, Kansas must have known that he would make a three-pointer.

"That's not necessarily a bad thing."

Lin Ying thought for a while and said.

He couldn't just be a Raider all the time.

Especially if he becomes the starter one day in the future, he will be targeted even in the NCAA.

And his purpose of practicing fixed-point three-pointers is not really to make many three-pointers.

Even in the small ball era in the future, we haven't seen a few games won by big men shooting three-pointers.

The shooting ability inside has a greater role in opening up space on the offensive end.

Although he has not studied basketball tactics systematically, as a traveler, he is still clear about the development of basketball.

Players are becoming more and more versatile, big players have three-pointers, and they pay more and more attention to court space.

So even if Kansas knew that he would make a three-pointer, and the opposing center made targeted defenses, that might not be a bad thing.