Chapter Eleven First Battle

  When Zhuang Fei and his team set up tactical training on the second day, all the players were extremely shocked. They had not expected that the team's crazy technical training for over a month was to lay the foundation for them. After Zhuang Fei announced the new training content, even Deng Kun, who was usually calm and composed, could no longer maintain his nonchalant expression.

  Although surprised, the players had a general understanding of Zhuang Fei's temperament after a month of grinding with him and knew that resistance and refusal were ineffective. All the players followed Zhuang Fei's requirements without any abnormalities and worked hard in training.

  Duncan and Carter are the two cores of the team's tactics, and they are also the focus of Zhu Fei's care. Their training tasks are still more arduous than others. Wally Szczerbiak is not fast in movement, and he himself does not want to move, always likes to stand still. But under Zhu Fei's requirement, he must move when there is no ball, seeking opportunities for empty positions. Lagabrielle is the same as Wally Szczerbiak, but Lagabrielle is better than Wally Szczerbiak in that he works harder and is willing to run. However, his positioning sense is extremely poor, and the effect of running without the ball is not good, even worse than Wally Szczerbiak who looks lazy.

  After several days of training, Carter has shown some great style in ball handling and passing. He often plays well with Duncan in the team's internal confrontational games, and their cooperation is quite impressive. Duncan also has a broader vision than Carter, as long as Wallis Zabiyak and Lagabe can run to the right position, his ball can always be distributed in time. In the team's training, Duncan's scoring, rebounding, and assists are often the most among all players at times. On the other hand, another starter of the team, Stephon Green, has not been given any specific tactical requirements by Zhuang Fei, but rather to act as a moving fortress to provide cover for his teammates' cuts and runs.

  "Finally able to see some routines, their foundation is not bad and they are growing up quickly." Mark Allen said with a smile to Zhuang Fei standing beside him.

  "Don't rush to praise, the intensity of training can't be compared to a match. Now they look good, but maybe during the game, it's not even usable, and don't you think their coordination speed is too slow?"

  "Too slow?" Mark Allen looked thoughtfully at the players training on the field, nodding silently. Indeed, as Zhuang Fei said, the players' coordination was not a problem, but the speed of their coordination was too slow. In a game, opponents wouldn't give you so much time to think about how to coordinate, nor would they stand still and watch you complete tactical combinations. The correctness of the combination route is important, but the speed at which the route is completed is equally important. Just like in regular games, if you have 2 seconds to make a shot, your hit rate might reach 70% or higher, but would anyone really give you 2 seconds to make a shot in a real game?

  After understanding all this, Mark Allen also lost his optimism earlier and instead looked more worried than Zhu Fei.

  "Don't worry, this is just the beginning. The road is walked step by step, and it's already great to have reached this level now. I believe they will get better and better in the future," Zhuang Fei said with a smile.

  Mark Allen felt a bit relieved after hearing that, but thinking about the new season that was about to start, Mark Allen became tense again. The team needs time, but how much more time will this Chinese player have? Maybe he'll be gone before the team even takes shape.

  The first game of the new season, Vicksburg's opponent is UConn Huskies, an NCAA Elite Eight team last season, while Vicksburg Devil Deacons was an NCAA Sweet Sixteen team last season. Both teams are currently among the top in the NCAA, and this game has attracted a lot of attention.

  The opponent was Kangda, Zhuang Fei attached great importance to it. He wanted to use the Wang Dynasty system to investigate this team before the game, but looking at the 40 points of Wang Dynasty points on the system, he was powerless. Team inquiry, once need 100 points of Wang Dynasty points.

  The venue for this game is Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, which is the home court of Wake Forest University. The Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum is not far from Wake Forest University, just southeast of Wake Forest University. Next to the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum is another arena, BB&T Field.

  What surprised Zhang Fei was that this was just an ordinary friendly match, but the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, which can hold more than 14,000 people, had a attendance rate of over 90%, and as far as the eye could see, it was all crowded with people. This attendance rate made Zhang Fei very surprised, knowing that in his previous life, the Zhejiang team's match against Guangdong never had more than 100 fans. But what's even more surprising is that among these fans, he also saw the president of Wake Forest University and Secretary Ness, who were sitting right in the middle of the crowd.

  "Is that our team's new head coach? How can he be so young?"

  "I don't know, it seems like he took office after Mr. Odum resigned"

  "My god, what was the principal thinking? How could he let such an inexperienced kid lead the team?"

  The Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum was momentarily filled with boos, and the university president sitting among the fans also looked embarrassed.

  "Hey, don't mind it," Mark Allen said with a worried glance at Zhuang Fei beside him.

  Zhuang Fei lightly shook his head, indicating that he was fine, but Zhuang Fei's tightly clenched fists betrayed him. Mark Allen could only sigh in despair.

  The starting lineup for Vicksburg High School was center Duncan, power forward Stefan Green, and the three-guard set of Carter, Wally Szczubialak, and Lagabelle.

  This game must be won, Zhuang Fei secretly vowed, only in this way can he strike back at the voices of doubt.

  The game started, and the home team, Vicksburg Devils, fell behind from the beginning. In the first quarter, after Duncan's successful jump ball, taking advantage of Kondakova's unstable footing, Vicksburg used their well-practiced triangle offense to beautifully assist Carter in scoring a basket. However, after that score, Vicksburg completely fell behind. It was clear that Kondakova's defense was very aggressive, starting from beyond the three-point line, and Vicksburg's offense immediately became disorganized.

  "Is that Ray Allen?" Zhuang Fei asked Mark Allen uncertainly as he watched the 34-year-old player sprinting around on the court.

  "Yes, he is the perimeter core of Gonzaga, with a very accurate three-point shot, sharp breakthroughs and excellent athletic ability, one of the top perimeter players in the NCAA."

  Zhuang Fei furrowed his brow, this game was going to be tough. Soon, Zhuang Fei was again attracted by another player of Kangda, "That No. 11 white big guy is actually a bit taller than Duncan, and his footsteps are not slow at all."

  The man's name was Travis Knight, and he stood 6 feet 10 inches tall.

  Travis Knight? Zhuang Fei seems to have heard of him somewhere, but now there's no time for Zhuang Fei to think about it. This white big man has a very large defensive range and his footsteps are not slow at all. It can be said that from the three-point line, he starts to press and harass, which is quite important. Moreover, this player's defense is also very good, making Kangda's inside line look very solid. Duncan scoring in the low post is not easy.

  The Viks' offense was quickly crushed by the fierce defense of Gonzaga, and the thing that Zhuang Fei worried about happened. The pace was too slow, and the tactical coordination between the Viks was not good enough. As soon as Gonzaga pressed, the Viks couldn't play at the level they had in practice. By the end of the first quarter, the Viks were already trailing by 14 points at home, 20-34. The NCAA game is a total of 40 minutes, divided into two halves, each lasting 20 minutes.

  In the second quarter, during halftime, after Zhuang Fei's adjustments, James Posey was replaced by a better ball handler, and Lagabrielle, who had poor positioning and almost got blown up by Ray Allen, was taken out. The offense of the Vicksen team looked slightly better, but they still couldn't produce brilliant tactical coordination. Soon, the players on the court began to lose patience and relied more on their individual abilities to attack Kangda's defense. Carter took the ball and broke through one-on-one, James Posey took the ball and broke through one-on-one, only Duncan looked for teammates when he got the ball, while Wallace Szczygiel, except for a few passes from Duncan, couldn't receive passes from his teammates, leaving him standing on the court.

  Chaos, extremely chaotic, Vicksen Forest played extremely chaotically on the field, just like a newly formed amateur team, without any tactical awareness. On the other hand, Kangda's inside and outside lines cooperated perfectly, with super shooters, clear divisions of labor, and a strong sense of hierarchy, reminiscent of the Houston Rockets over the past two years, with an unstoppable interior pillar and four sharpshooters on the perimeter.

  The game ended 47-70, the Vicksburg Gators lost by 23 points at home, such a score difference is absolutely not a reflection of the true level of the two teams.

  The only player who made Zhuang Fei satisfied in this game was Duncan, no matter what the situation was, he never messed up, but only he alone was stable and useless, everyone else was messed up.

  Just as the referee blew the whistle to start the game, a crisp electronic sound rang in Zhuang Fei's ears.

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