"Jinguji Budo! His fame is greater than his strength!"
Coach Tanaoka chuckled and gave his verdict on Jinguji Budo.
As the ace of Xiangbei High School, Jinguji Budou, who helped Xiangbei defeat Kainan with his outstanding personal ability, is also quite famous in today's high school basketball world. Unlike Jinguji Budou, Shigong Tianye is also very outstanding, but his personal data is far inferior to Jinguji Budou, who averages nearly 40 points per game.
"Why do you say that? Isn't Jinguji excellent in martial arts?"
Yayoi Aida was also very surprised at Coach Tanaoka's evaluation of Takeshi Jinguji. After all, Takeshi Jinguji is the player with the most impressive statistics in Kanagawa Prefecture today, and he should not be looked down upon like that.
"Haha, he is excellent, but as a player, I can already see his ceiling!"
But in the opinion of Coach Tanaoka, Jinguji Budou is not as good as Shigong Tianye of their team. Basketball is a sport of talent after all, and Jinguji Budou's physical fitness is not as good as Shigong Tianye. This can be seen just by looking at his body shape and playing style.
Shigong Tianye, who has an outstanding physique, is good at using his physical condition. After all the competitions at this stage, no one has been able to defeat him in confrontation. On the other hand, Jinguji Budou, although his physical condition is good, cannot be compared with Shigong Tianye. Jinguji Budou's most outstanding features are his skills, shooting skills, and footwork skills.
But skills can be developed, even if you are dumb, your skills will improve with diligent practice. But physical fitness has a limit, not all high school students can have a body like Shigong Tianye.
In the opinion of Coach Tanaoka, physical fitness is the most essential thing for a player.
"In the upcoming match against Shohoku, we, Ryonan, will reach the top of Kanagawa!"
"We in Ryonan not only have players who can deal with Jinguji Budo, but we have more than one!"
As Coach Tiangang spoke, he turned his attention to Sendoh on the court. He had high hopes for his team's two freshman starters. It wouldn't be long before their twin stars from Ryonan would become famous on the national stage!
"Sendoh and Shinomiya Tano, it can be seen that Coach Tanoka is very confident in their two freshmen!"
"But Xiangbei is not weak! Judging from the current games, Xiangbei's offensive firepower has not been fully unleashed. In these few games, Xiangbei's Mitsui Shou has hardly exerted any strength."
"That kid is also a very strong player!"
Yayoi Aida looked at the confident coach Gaotou and thought to herself, then her mind drifted away, thinking about the game between Xiangbei and Ryonan. After a long time, Yayoi Aida shook her head slightly and sighed helplessly. In her opinion, it was difficult to determine the strength of these two teams, and the specific result would also depend on the players' condition during the game.
Afterwards, Aida observed the training of Ryonan High School while chatting with Coach Takeo. The interview material gradually accumulated as the content of the conversation between the two deepened.
...
At noon, the sun is shining brightly.
By the pool outside the basketball hall of Shohoku High School, Jinguji Takeshi was shirtless, burying his head under the faucet, feeling the refreshing feeling brought by the cool running water.
“Huh~”
"Comfortable~"
After a long time, Jinguji Takeshi turned off the faucet, stood up and exclaimed softly, then picked up the sweat towel beside him and wiped his hair. After his hair was half dry, he wet the sweat towel and wiped the sweat off his body.
In summer, taking a cool shower after exercise is a really intoxicating feeling.
"Hey, Budou-kun, why are you here? Didn't you get any rest today?"
At this moment, a voice came into Jinguji Budo's ears.
Jinguji Takeshi turned his head and looked over to see Mugure Konobu who had just walked out of the corner of the road, waving his hand as he walked towards Takeshi. Mugure Konobu was wearing a pure white T-shirt and loose sweatpants, with a bag on his shoulder and a basketball tucked under his arm.
Judging from the appearance of Kogure Mitsunobu, he should be a player from Shohoku who came to play basketball.
"Kumure! Why are you here? Are you here to play basketball?" Jinguji Budo put the sweat towel on his shoulders and guessed at the way Mugure was dressed. He didn't use honorifics to address Mugure. The regular players were already very familiar with each other and addressed each other casually.
"Yeah, I had lunch and thought about coming to the gym to practice."
"After all, as a second-year player of Xiangbei, I always have to watch you and first-year players like Miyagi fight on the sidelines. As a senior, I will also feel guilty for my own incompetence!"
Mugure Gongyan smiled gently, looked up and down at Wudao, and then said with emotion: "That's great! Basketball, it's really good to see people playing it when they are talented."
"For someone like me, I'm afraid no matter how hard I try, it won't help."
Mu Munenobu walked in front of Wu Dao, raised his head slightly and looked at Wu Dao, feeling sad.
"Why do you say that? Muguro knows how to play basketball, isn't it because you like it?" Wudao didn't understand why Muguro Gongyan suddenly sighed and stretched out his hand and waved it in front of him.
"It's just talk, don't take it to heart."
"Have you had lunch?" Mugure asked. He could tell that Jinguji Budo had been training for some time, and he could tell from the amount of sweat he was sweating. Even though Budo had washed his hair and wiped his body, the heat in his body was not so easy to discharge, and fine sweat oozed out from the pores of his skin.
"No, I just finished training and was about to go."
"Go to the stadium. The door is open. I'll have a meal and come to the stadium later."
Wudao said casually, looking at Mumu with a look of inquiry. Mumu suddenly had such a feeling, was he stimulated by something
"Well, I'll go practice first." Mugure nodded and walked straight to the gym. Wudao looked at Mugure's back, touched his chin, and thought about something.
"Shohoku successfully broke through and entered the national competition, but his name was not on the list of Shohoku's achievements. He felt a little disappointed and discouraged..."
Wudao also had some guesses about the reason why Mugure Konobu was depressed. He and Akagi Takenori were from the same junior high school, and the two had fought side by side since then. Moreover, Akagi Takenori's goal had been very clear since he was a child, that is, "to dominate the country", and this goal actually influenced Mugure Konobu subtly.
I don't know when it started, "dominating the country" has become his dream and goal. In the past, the words "dominating the country" were just lip service, at best just empty talk.
But since the two of them entered Shohoku and became teammates with Mitsui Hisashi, this goal has become a little closer.
Although Kogure Konobu didn't have any outstanding performance in the team, he never missed any of Shohoku's training sessions. He even often practiced extra classes in the evening.
Everything he did was just to make the unattainable dream of "dominating the country" closer to himself.
However, even though he had worked so hard, he did not have a place in the first echelon of players at Xiangbei High School. When he was in the first grade, Kogure Konobu often comforted himself that it was normal for him not to be a starter because Mitsui Hisashi, who was in the same grade, was the ace of a strong school, Takeishi, and Akagi Takenori had excellent physical talents.
At one point, Murasakibara thought that as long as he worked hard, he would be able to become the starting player of Shohoku by the time he was in his sophomore year.
However, when he was in his second year, Xiangbei High School welcomed two terrifying new students, one was Jinguji Budou who came from the same school as Mitsui Hisashi, and the other was Miyagi Ryouta.
Both of them were just freshmen, but after entering Xiangbei, they immediately became starting players.
This made Mugure Konobu begin to doubt himself and whether his efforts over the years were meaningful. This thought was not strong before, but as Jinguji Budo helped Shohoku defeat Kainan with his outstanding performance and successfully qualified, Mugure's doubts about himself became stronger and stronger.
Seeing Jinguji Budo today, Murasakibara obviously didn't hide his thoughts well and accidentally revealed some insider ideas.
In the basketball hall.
Kogure Mitsunobu placed his backpack on a bench beside the court, dribbled the ball in one hand, and slowly walked into the court.
"Is hard work really meaningful? No matter what I do, I can never compare to those talented players."
"I'm afraid there won't be much difference between Xiangbei with me or without me."
There was only Kogure Konobu in the empty gym, and the sound of the basketball hitting the floor echoed in the gym.
People who are thoughtful are often sentimental, and Kogure Mitsunobu is obviously such a person.
"Duang~" Mumu aimlessly threw the basketball in his hand towards the basket. The basketball hit the edge of the basket directly and flew out of the basket.
He is now standing near the free throw line, but in this position, Murasakibara's shooting route deviates greatly and his accuracy is completely unacceptable.
After jogging a few steps to catch the basketball, Mu Mu Gongyan adjusted his mentality, returned to the previous position, and shot again. This time, he used too much force, and the basketball hit the base of the frame, bounced directly upwards, and when it fell back, it still hit the edge of the frame and landed on the floor.
Kogure Mitsunobu maintained his shooting posture, a little dazed. Suddenly, he remembered Mitsui Hisashi's shooting posture, and suddenly he remembered Jinguji Takeshi's fadeaway jump shot on the court, and a feeling of loss surged in his heart.
"I... am really useless!" Mu Mu sighed lightly, walked to the basket, bent down and picked up the basketball.
"Hahaha, that's true. There was no one defending the wide open space, but he missed two shots in a row. This is not a matter of touch anymore."
At this moment, a voice came from the rest area nearby. Mugure Konobu turned his head and saw Jinguji Takeshi sitting on a bench with his legs stretched out, his body leaning back, his elbows resting on the bench, looking half lying down.
"Budo? Didn't you go out to eat? Why are you back so soon?"
When Kogure Mitsunobu saw Jinguji Takeshi, he was a little surprised. He was also afraid that Takeshi would see his disappointment, so he rubbed the basketball with both hands, looking a little nervous and timid.
Although Murasakibara is relatively mature in mind, he is just a 16-year-old boy after all. He also wants to save face. In front of his "juniors", Murasakibara still wants to maintain his "dignity", which is not much in itself.
"Come back for the money. I don't have any money in my training pants."
Wudao said with a smile, noticing a little emotion from Murasakibara.
"That's why you think so. It seems that I really don't have the talent for playing basketball!" After listening to Wu Dao's explanation, Mugure Gongyan turned around and looked at the basket, feeling a little disappointed.
"I don't know whether you have talent or not, but what I do know is that your training must not be enough."
The smile on Wudao's face faded and he refuted Muguro's "talent theory".
"Why is that? I almost never missed the team's training, and I persisted in the rigorous training, but why is my basketball level still so bad?!"
Muguro, who always spoke in a gentle and pleasant voice, suddenly became a little hysterical. These words could almost be said to be shouted. There were only two people in the gym, Wudao and Muguro Gongyan. Muguro's current emotional control was obviously much weaker. It can be seen that Muguro has been suppressing his emotions for a long time.
"There's nothing wrong with your shooting motion. I can see that you put some thought into it."
"But the control of strength is just average. In my opinion, it's because I haven't practiced enough."
"Since I was in junior high school, I knew that shooting would be my biggest weapon. Since then, I would shoot 300 to 500 balls every day for shooting training."
"This is just spot shooting, it doesn't include some other things."
"There are 365 days in a year. In the three years since junior high school, I have shot no less than 400,000 shots, just like the ones you just did."
"Kumure, with your current training volume, it's far from the time to compete with your talent."
After hearing what Jinguji Budo said, Kogure Konobu's heart shrank suddenly. Just hearing the number of 400,000 balls, he felt extremely terrified. Didn't Kogure Konobu practice shooting? No, he did, but 100 balls a day was already a lot, and he didn't shoot 100 balls every day, just occasionally. Most of the time, shooting a few dozen balls in training was already a lot.
After all, Murasakibara still has other training to do, and his physical strength cannot support him to do too much training.
Hearing about the intensity of Wudao's training, Mugure Gongyan was a little confused. He had been working with Wudao for several months, and of course he knew that Wudao was training hard, but basketball training was difficult to quantify. Seeing Wudao practicing and knowing how many shots Wudao took every day were two different feelings.
"Kumure, if Shohoku is just an ordinary team, the amount of training Shohoku has currently put in is enough for you to be a starter in the top eight of the county tournament."
"But the opponents we will face next are all masters from all over the country. If you don't practice more, you will fall behind."
"There is still a place for you in the current Xiangbei. The future Xiangbei will only be stronger than it is now, and the requirements for players will be higher!"
"If you want to play a role on the court, start working hard now, it's not too late!"
"First, set a small goal for yourself. Apart from general training, shoot 500 balls a day."
"Don't think it's a lot. Apart from me and Mitsui Shou, I know Hainan also has a player like this who is making such efforts."
Wudao knew how Mugure Konobu felt at the moment.
There is actually a reason why he has such emotions. How did he say that? That is the contradiction between Mu Mu's growing ambition and his insufficient and unbalanced development of personal skills. In the past, martial arts also had such emotions.
"Is it useful? Is hard work really useful?" Murasakibara murmured. In his heart, he actually knew that Wu Dao was right. Now, he just needed a word of affirmation.
“Of course it works!”
“This… ..is just basketball for the average person.”
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