Smith said nothing, looking at the wall clock on the wall with a blue face. There were still five minutes before the training time, and there were only four players. The four people who came first also noticed that the coach seemed very unhappy today, and gently packed up the basketball on the ground. After Mario recovered his fingers, he quietly hid the towel wrapped in ice aside.

The atmosphere in the stadium suddenly became depressed and solemn after Smith appeared. He was never a coach known for his sternness, but he was more lethal than ordinary tyrant coaches when he was stern.

Is something wrong? Anthony and others all had such doubts in their hearts.

Time passed by minute by minute, and players appeared one after another. They all noticed that something was wrong with the atmosphere. After they arrived at the stadium, they stood quietly aside.

It was 2:30 on time.

Smith spoke: "Have you arrived?"

Captain Anthony walked out and counted the number of people, and replied: "Report to coach, it's all here."

Smith nodded and said, "It's great, better than I expected. At least no one was late for today's training after yesterday's carnival." He raised the newspaper in his hand and said, "Do you want to know how the XX newspaper (one of the authoritative newspapers set to broadcast NCAA games specifically) reported our game yesterday?"

Everyone's eyes lit up and said together: "I want to!"

Smith spread out the newspaper, front page? No! Smith glanced at the eager and excited player, shook his head and said, "NO!"

Open again, second version? No!

After turning over again, I opened several pages, and finally stopped flipping. Smith raised the newspaper and showed it clearly to everyone: 12th edition.

"Are you ready? I'm going to start reading."

“It’s ready.”

Smith cleared his throat and read: "Missouri Tigers vs Iowa State University Tornado, the game result was 107:90. With the cheers of more than 10,000 fans at home, the Tigers played smoothly and ended with a 21-point advantage in the first half. The second half expanded the lead to more than 30 points, allowing the game to enter garbage time early. In the fourth quarter of garbage time, the Tigers sent a lineup of all substitutes. The Tornados desperately chased the points and the final score was frozen at 107:90, and the Tigers won the first game of the new season." After reading this, Smith stopped.

The players stood upright, looking straight ahead with their heads raised their heads and their eyes raised their heads in front of them - the following should be the description of the game process and the players' comments. (Don't you be held high when accepting commendations and praises?) Several players who performed well in the game were even more excited.

But for a long time, there was no sound of Smith continuing to read.

Finally, Kaman couldn't help asking, "It's over?"

"It's over!"

"It's over?" Everyone was upset, their voices were obviously disbelief.

"It's over!" Smith answered very firmly this time. He raised the newspaper with his left hand, stretched out his index finger and thumb with his right hand to gesture the entire report on it - the distance between his fingers was only two inches.

"Damn!" Mario couldn't help but scream. After scolding, he quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, coach, I'm not scolding you!"

Smith still had a cold face, but nodded slightly to show that he didn't mind.

And the others were furious and cursed at this time. "Damn it, what a shit newspaper. Our game only has this little dry tofu coverage."

"Damn, which bastard wrote the report? Isn't our game exciting?"

...

Everyone was angry and angry. However, some people remained silent in this group of people who were constantly scolding, and even there was no angry like others on their faces - Chen Junhao!

One reason Chen Junhao was able to remain calm is because of the restrained and humble personality of the Chinese. Secondly, he was always lacking in media reports and it was difficult for him to experience the anger of others. "What does the newspaper and media coverage have to do with me?" This is his usual attitude.

Smith looked at the players in a cold manner and shouted angrily, neither adding fuel to the fire nor stopping it. She just said nothing and allowed the players to vent their emotions.

It took a long time, someone finally realized that the coach was standing in front of him and was looking at him coldly. Finally, the noise became less and finally the stadium fell silent again. Everyone's eyes focused on Smith.

Smith slowly glanced over everyone's face and said slowly: "Do you feel angry and unfair? This is understandable. We were the quarterfinals last year, and we are also a strong team with a score of NCAA. We played such a wonderful game yesterday, so we should certainly receive more attention. How could they ignore us so easily? It's too much. Do you think so?"

He hesitated for a moment, but immediately everyone replied loudly: "Yes!"

"You really have nothing wrong with thinking like this. We are a strong team. We played a beautiful game and we should be paying attention. Not only you, I think so too: The editor-in-chief of XX newspaper is really in his head, and he despises us so much. Yes, of course we can scold this, and we should scold this. We can vent our dissatisfaction and grievances to the fullest. But after venting, let's take a look at the targets of the front page and the second page. "

"The first page headline, Duke won! The talented shooter scored thirteen three-pointers to Arkansas: JJ Ridick scored 45 points from 17 heads and 14 points, hit thirteen three-pointers in a single game, Duke beat the University of Arkansas 99:87 (University of Arkansas: 1994 NCAA champion).

"Looking at the second edition of the report, North Carolina won, defeating Alezona 96:88 (1997 champion); Kentucky also won, defeating Michigan, Dexas won Wick Forest, Connecticut won... These teams won! These games have also received a focus."

"We won too, we won pretty, why didn't we get so much attention?"

"Want to know why?"

"Because we are not a giant! The NCAA quarterfinals, Missouri State Tigers, can't stand alongside these giants. Even if we have the best forwards in the United States and the best players in the World Youth Championship, we have not yet been tested. The Iowa State Tornado is not an opponent that can prove our strength. At least that's what the media thinks."

"After thinking about this, can you calm down after you look at this newspaper?"

Silence, no one answered. But the expressions on their faces showed that Smith's explanation they agreed with: The Tornado is indeed not an opponent who proves their strength.

But Smith, who had just convinced the player, looked dark and said, "You guys are so happy, but I'm still very unhappy now. Can anyone help me to help me understand?"

Of course, no one dares to come forward and talk. At this time, don’t you touch the tiger’s butt and seek death?

Smith coldly glanced at the players for a week and said, "Who can tell me what we are going to do this season."

The naughty head Mario took a step forward and shouted: "Report, our goal this season is the NCAA championship!"

"Very good, someone still remembers it!" Smith suddenly raised his voice, "Who can tell me that defeating a team like the Iowa State University Tornado is worthy of your ability to be so proud? Is it so easy to satisfy a team that is determined to win?"

No one answered, everyone lowered their heads. Even if someone wanted to defend themselves, no one dared to stand up, because everyone could clearly see that Smith was really annoyed now.

"This year we are very strong, strong enough to challenge any NCAA team to compete for the championship, but that's all. Being strong may not necessarily win. I have told you more than once that you can't tolerate any mistakes on the road to the championship. The Michigan Five Tigers conquered the entire United States, but failed to win an NCAA championship. Who do you think Missouri this year is comparable to the Michigan Five Tigers that year?"

Still no one said anything.

After shouting loudly, Smith seemed to vent a lot of anger, and the volume was slightly lowered: "We all know that we are very strong! But the idiot journalists in the media don't know. If you want to prove yourself, we must keep winning and win until March next year. We are a strong team, but if we can't defeat giant teams like North Carolina, Duke, and Connecticut in a head-on match, we will never be recognized. Teams like North Carolina, Duke, Kentucky, Kantas, and Connecticut have almost monopolized all the championships in the past twenty years. They are traditional giant forces in the NCAA. Our role is to subvert the rebels of the giants. The role of a rebel is not that simple to play. Are you all ready to fight teams like North Carolina and Duke? Do you have absolute confidence to win?"

After some of the players in the crowd raised their heads and exchanged gazes with each other, no one said anything. Anthony and Kaman and other senior players have personally experienced the strength of these strong teams. Although the team's strength has increased significantly, if they have absolute confidence to win, they dare not speak so wildly. As for the freshman in the first grade, although the newborn calf is not afraid of tigers, when the senior brothers and seniors dare not respond, they don't know that the sky is high and the earth is thick and they dare not pat their chests and say: You can definitely win!

...

In the NCAA, the status of traditional basketball schools is just like that of Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan in Serie A. The top three Serie A are almost monopolized the top three in Serie A every year, while these basketball giants in NCAA control the annual playoffs.

It is easy for a famous basketball school to enter the semi-finals. And if an unknown school enters the semi-finals, it will definitely be a hot news in major sports media in the United States. The entire university sports industry will run around and shout about dark horses. Entering the annual playoffs (the semi-finals) is already the biggest goal of most schools.

Better hardware facilities, the best faculty, and with these brilliant records in the past, these famous basketball schools can attract the best basketball geniuses. In the annual competition for freshmen, 99% of basketball geniuses who have emerged in high school have attracted these giants. Even if the rest are picked up by other schools, it will be difficult for the team to achieve good results without the support of strong teammates. One of the reasons why Missouri has been able to rise in the past two years is that Smith was lucky to pick up Anthony who leaked out of the giants' fingers. In addition, Smith himself has outstanding ability to train players, and has trained first-class players like Mike Carman and Anthony to cooperate, which has finally greatly improved the team's performance. But it is only in the quarterfinals.

This year they finally got an opportunity to take off. The arrival of Chen Junhao, the best player of the World Youth Championship, undoubtedly further complete their lineup and further improve their strength. They can finally fight for the championship this year.

Missouri is truly a rebel who challenged the giants to win the championship from the giants. However, there are only a handful of people who have succeeded in the rebellion since ancient times. In the NCAA, there are teams similar to the Missouri Tigers this year. Their strength has been suddenly improved, and they have been striving to compete for the championship. However, in the past twenty years of NCAA history, it has only been successful once.

So, Missouri has seen hope of success this year, but the road ahead is still very bumpy. Any small mistake before victory may lead to a final result. So they have to be cautious and must be cautious.

And if the team starts to be proud before the season begins, how can head coach Smith not be annoyed?

Smith said that the team "will be arrogant after winning a game" was not aimless. After yesterday's victory, Chen Junhao celebrated his first game in the United States with Cheng Haonan and others, and most of the other people on the team ran to the tavern and dance hall to party. Unfortunately, a group of drunken players met Smith when they came back. Today when he came to the gym, he saw first-year Mario showing off his dunk to the onlookers. The team's captain and deputy captain were the team's captain.

The entire team was immersed in the excitement of defeating their opponents in a big score!

It is understandable to celebrate after winning the game, but if the opponent is an opponent like the Tornado team, it would be very problematic, and it is imperative to pour cold water and sound the alarm bell.

Although Smith's speech was not named, the sternness of his words was very rare in his coaching career. All the players who were used to Smith's gentle smile on their faces felt a chill rising from their backs. After fear, everyone also reflected on their actions.

After the training, the training must continue.

"Jason, lead everyone to warm up." Smith left this sentence and left coldly, with no smile on his face when he left.

Anthony looked up at Chen Junhao on the left and right, and after Kaman's face, he let out a long sigh: "It's so scary, the coach is really angry."

Kaman touched the back of his neck full of sweat and sighed: "It's even more terrible for a good old man to get angry."

Chen Junhao said in confusion: "It may not be so scary. The coach just spoke a little more sternly."

Everyone on both sides looked over, and they all looked at the monster-like expressions.

"What a monster!" Mario muttered quietly.

Kaman said: "When the coach glared at you, you didn't feel anything?"

"Feeling?" Chen Junhao thought about it for a moment and shook his head.

Mike Carman said: "Damn, what a dull guy."

"Stop talking nonsense, hurry up and warm up." Anthony finally looked like a captain at this time.

...

Smith's speech cleared the blind optimistic signs that quietly grew inside the team and cleared the rocks for the team's progress. Then, their second game of the season was about to begin.

PS: The 14th book of "Ace Master" has been published and can be updated every day in the future.
Chapter completed!