Chapter 95 The defending champion
While Kangda won the West District championship, the champions from several other divisions were also released one after another. Butler University continued his dark horse character last year and became the champion of the Southeast District. Kentucky and Duke remained the same, defeating their opponents and becoming champions of the East District and Southwest District.
In this way, the final four of the championships have been confirmed, namely Conda, Duke, Kentucky and Butler.
As the championship is confirmed, the semi-finals match will be matched with Kentucky, while Kang University will face defending champion Duke.
We will fight Arizona first, then North Carolina, and now we will fight Duke. If the University of Texas accidentally killed Kansas, Kang University's experience this year will be a hellish mode that can't be hell.
But from another perspective, this is also a kind of luck for Kangda.
NCAA champions are available every year, but not many impressive ones are impressed. If Kangda can finally win the championship in this hell mode, it will definitely be remembered by history and become a topic for fans to talk about after dinner.
As the defending champion, Duke University is not only the No. 1 seed in the Southwest, but also the No. 1 seed in the entire NCAA Championship. He has Irving, the MOP of the last championship (the most outstanding player in the final four) Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith, Miles Plumley, Mason Plumley, Ryan Kelly, Seth Curry and other talented NBA players.
It is no exaggeration to say that even Curry on the bench can become the absolute core when he arrives in ordinary schools.
This is a lineup of cheating, but who says it's Duke!
And Duke, there is a man named Mike Shashevsky!
The famous coach K!
The biggest difference between the NCAA and the NBA is the rights of the head coach. Because without the existence of management, the head coach is basically a one-stop player.
Your future and your basketball life are basically decided by the head coach.
A good coach can bring players to a larger stage, provide them with more exposure opportunities, and thus gain a better future and life.
This is a complementary relationship.
The reason why Duke can have so many top players is because they have Coach K, a legendary coach who can be as famous as Dean Smith!
So the top high school students in the United States all squeezed into the door of Duke with their heads in their arms.
When we arrived at the final four stages, the attention of the championship has skyrocketed and the competition venue has been further upgraded.
The semi-finals include two semi-finals and one final, with a total of three games.
The location of these three games has long been decided at the Rirant Stadium in Houston.
As the first professional football stadium in the United States with an open roof, this old stadium is well-known. Its roof is made of high transparent fiberglass material, which makes people feel a fully open feeling even after closing.
Of course, the number of seats in this stadium is also quite considerable, and it can accommodate 72,000 people to watch the game at the same time, which fully meets the requirements of the NCAA semi-finals.
There are more than 70,000 people watching the basketball game at the same time. Such a scene is really unique around the world, which is the charm of the NCAA.
Even in the final, even the NBA will choose to suspend the game to give way to it.
The day before the game, the semi-finals of four teams arrived in Houston one after another.
Tang Tian is particularly familiar with the city of Houston. Chinese giant Yao Ming spent his entire career here. As a coach in his previous life, he also lived in this city.
The match between Kangda and Duke will be the first to start. In order to relax the players, Kahon did not arrange daily training on this day.
"Are you nervous? Fight against Singhler." Walker asked while playing 2K with Tang Tian.
Kyle Singler is a legend in the NCAA. He scored 13.3 points and 5.9 rebounds in his freshman season and became the best rookie in the Atlantic Coast League. Last season, he was elected as a junior. He scored 19 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 blocks in the final against Butler University, helping Duke win the championship.
"Don't be nervous, have you ever been nervous when I saw me?" Tang Tian said with a smile. Just a single Singhler. Putting aside his previous life experience, he can even handle Derek Williams and Barnes in the past few games in the Championship, and will he be afraid of Singhler?
"You don't have to be nervous. Irving just recovered from injury and hasn't been able to beat you." Tang Tian knew Walker very well and knew that he was worried about his game, so he spoke.
"Yeah." Walker didn't explain anything this time, just nodded.
It is a good thing for people to have a spirit, but being too arrogant means being conceited. Walker is obviously not the kind of conceited person.
Irving is the only one among this guard who can make Walker worry, or at least make him recognize in his heart.
How good is Irving's talent?
As a rookie, Irving basically didn't play much due to a toe injury. He averaged 17.5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game, with a two-point shooting percentage of 59%, and a three-point shooting percentage of 45%.
The fact that an injured rookie can score such data is to return from the front line to lead the team to the final quarterfinals and become the top pick is actually very telling.
Kang University did not arrange training, but Duke University arranged it.
Coach K conducted a basic training session in the training hall, which focused on warm-up and shooting, with the purpose of helping the players find their state before the game.
Duke is the hottest championship in this year's championship, and their training has also attracted media visits, including media giants such as ESPN and TNT.
It is worth mentioning that the semi-finals will be broadcast live across the United States. At that time, TNT's ace commentator Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, ESPN's top Mike Brin, and Reggie Miller will be present to comment on the scene.
Irving has been communicating with Coach K. The reporters have no chance to interview him, but they still caught Kyle Singhler.
Singler is much more famous in the NCAA than Irving, and they are not losing money at all in this wave.
"Kyle, the University of Connecticut beat North Carolina this year and is strong. What do you think of this opponent?"
"This is a sad thing." Singhler's answer was somewhat unexpected.
"Watching North Carolina is something every Duke player wants to do. When the division comes out, I was a little excited. You know this is my last year in college. I hope to complete the last thing I want to do as a Duke, but it didn't come in the end." Singhler said with regret.
He said this completely fine. He won the NCAA championship and the MOP. The victory over North Carolina was indeed the only thing he had not accomplished.
The reporter was obviously stunned. This was true, but it seemed that he answered the question irrelevantly!
Chapter completed!