Chapter Seventeen: All-American Focus

  When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, the players of Georgia Tech had a look of relief on their faces. The final score was 120-67. There was no garbage time in this game as Georgia Tech never took out their starters. They always tried to chase back some points but the deficit only got bigger and bigger. Vicksburg maintained an extremely high shooting percentage from start to finish. This was a very abnormal game. Under the cheers of all the fans, the players of Georgia Tech fled the stadium in disarray while the players of Vicksburg enjoyed the applause of their home crowd.

  "Reich, did you see that? The whole stadium is on its feet, applauding. This applause has been going on for over five minutes!" the CBS commentator exclaimed loudly, afraid his voice would be drowned out by the thunderous applause.

  "It's hard not to say that Vicksburg's performance is worth doing so, if I were a fan of Vicksburg, I would do the same. Georgia Tech University defeated UConn, Syracuse University, Florida University and Kansas University in the preseason, and was able to humiliate their opponents in such a shameful way. I think Vicksburg will be one of the most watched teams in NCAA this year," said Rick Barry with mixed emotions.

  "Is it like the Fab Five of Michigan back then?"

  "Michigan Fab Five?" Rick Barry hesitated, then shook his head and continued: "No, they're not the same. They were luckier than Michigan's Fab Five back then. Webber's opponents were O'Neal, Laettner, and Grant Hill. Louisiana and Duke were also very strong at that time. But now, I really don't see who can be Duncan's opponent. He should really consider entering the NBA to accept a bigger challenge."

  "What do you think of this Chinese coach's tactics in this game? I feel like Viksund's tactic is a triangular offense"

  "Your intuition is correct, the players of Viksen Forest are indeed very strong, but you haven't discovered that their team has a big problem."

  "A very big problem? You're saying there's no point guard?"

  "It's true that this team doesn't have a point guard, but the triangle offense can perfectly solve this problem. Carter and Duncan are the players with the most assists in this game, with 19 assists between them. This team doesn't need a point guard, and the Chinese coach has been very successful in transforming this team."

  Under the backdrop of CBS's nationwide live broadcast, VCU's performance shocked the entire United States and the NCAA basketball world. Georgia Tech was not a pushover but rather a strong contender and even a title favorite, having won their exhibition game against Concord by 10 points.

  Even Coach K was shocked when he heard the score, saying: "I think there must be something wrong with this, Georgia Tech and Vicksburg shouldn't have a score difference like this. I admit that Vicksburg has some good players, but if they are as strong as the score shows, I think they should be playing in the NBA instead of the NCAA."

  The game at Vicksburg University propelled Carter, Duncan, and Szczepanik onto the national stage. Carter, a high school basketball phenom, was well-known in high school circles but not particularly famous nationwide. Duncan, last year's NCAA Defensive Player of the Year and First-Team All-American, was highly regarded within professional circles but remained relatively unknown due to his humble nature and low-key personality. As for Szczepanik, he had virtually no national recognition prior to this game. However, in this matchup, Carter scored 26 points with 9 assists and threw down several dunks, dominating the court and drawing the most attention. Szczepanik led all scorers with 30 points, hitting eight three-pointers. Tim Duncan recorded a quadruple-double with 24 points, 21 rebounds, 11 blocks, and 10 assists, becoming the first player in NCAA history to achieve this feat, and doing so with impressive numbers: 20+20+10+10.

  The whole American basketball world and media were boiling, although it was only 1995, the information dissemination was not as developed as later, but under the extensive reports of TV media and print media, Vicksen Lin became the most concerned team in the United States. Even the old news that Duncan refused the Warriors' invitation this year and refused to be the champion was reported.

  The Charlotte Observer headlined "Epic win, Wake Forest reigns supreme in ACC" and analyzed the already concluded game. The newspaper was extremely optimistic that this year's ACC would present a dominant landscape, and the previous hundred-family competition would not appear. The newspaper also made predictions about Wake Forest University's NCAA prospects, predicting that this season, Wake Forest University could at least create a new record in team history, which is to enter the NCAA finals.

  The newspaper ended by quoting Georgia Tech head coach Bobby Cremins: "Vicksburg University shouldn't be on the same court as NCAA teams."

  However, not all media are optimistic about Wake Forest University. For example, the Raleigh News & Observer in North Carolina believes that Wake Forest University played a weird game and it was just an over-performance, they can't play another game like this again.

  On the same day that the Raleigh News and Observer was still on sale, on Tuesday, November 14th in US time, Wake Forest University visited North Carolina State University. This game was temporarily changed to a nationally televised game by CBS due to Wake Forest's involvement. In this game, Wake Forest once again shocked the world with their performance. Compared to Georgia Tech, NC State's strength is much weaker and has been mediocre in recent years. Wake Forest played another brilliant attacking basketball against NC State, which is generally strong, and the final score was 115-60. In the last five minutes of the game, Wake Forest replaced all its main players. It is worth noting that NCAA games have a 35-second attack time per quarter and only 40 minutes per game. Scoring over 100 points is extremely rare, and consecutive scores over 110 are even more rare. This once again put Wake Forest in the spotlight.

  Vickson Forest once again used a big victory to slap the face of Ji Shi Bao, and it wasn't until then that Vickson Forest's strength was truly recognized by the majority.

  This is not an accident, this is a fact. The continuous occurrence of events is an iron-clad fact.

  It's already deep autumn in the United States, and Windsor City also has a hint of coolness. Zhuang Fei's clothes are also getting thicker. In the blink of an eye, it's been almost half a year since he crossed over to this place, from being an unemployed coach in his previous life to becoming one of the most promising young coaches in the NCAA, all within less than half a year.

  After the away game victory over North Carolina State University, Zhuang Fei led the team to a two-game winning streak, and major media outlets in the United States also began to report on Zhuang Fei with quite elegant language.

  Zhuang Fei was walking on the campus of Wicksen University in the early morning, and from time to time some students would greet him, but just over a month ago, these same students were shouting and screaming at him. Life is like this, leaving Zhuang Fei speechless.

  "Principal, you're here too!" Zhuang Fei arrived at the training hall and surprisingly saw the principal who had never appeared in the training hall before.

  "Haha, I just happened to be passing by today, so I came in to take a look. I won't disturb your training, right?" said the principal with a smile. The school team has been doing great lately and this principal is also basking in the glory.

  Passing by your sister, it's strange if I don't disturb her. Zhuang Fei cursed secretly, but on the surface he still said respectfully: "Welcome President to inspect at any time"

  In American college basketball, the president has personnel power over the team, but cannot interfere with internal affairs of the team. Otherwise, it will be punished by the NCAA and even cancel the qualification for competition.

  The principal was delighted at the moment, but he didn't stay with the team for long. He just said a few slogans and left.

  Recently, there has been a lot of media near Wofford University, and now Wofford is the focus of the whole country. Coach Young reminds players to be careful and absolutely not to talk to the media.

  Fortunately, these players are not those with bad habits, which also makes Zhuang Fei feel much more at ease. However, due to the two big wins, the team's atmosphere has also become a lot more relaxed, and even Zhuang Fei himself has loosened up his tense nerves since crossing over.

  For the Vicksburg team with 32 regular season games, two games are just a zero head, and there is still much work to be done. However, these two big wins brought great confidence to Zhuang Fei, he believes that losing to Kangda is an accident, and he also believes that as long as the work is done well, this team can create miracles.