"Jinguji Budo from Shohoku High School and Shinomiya Tano from Ryonan High School. My colleague who went to Kanagawa for an interview said that these two people's abilities would make them top players even if they were to go to college right now!"
The reporter's words left Goro Domoto a little stunned. He did not expect that Hainan High School, which had dominated the basketball scene in Kanagawa Prefecture for more than a decade, did not even qualify for the national competition this year.
By the way, he knew Coach Gaotou of Hainan. Sanwang Industrial and Hainan had competed with each other in the early years. Although the strength of Hainan players was far inferior to that of Sanwang, the coach of Hainan was not an easy character to deal with, which left a deep impression on him.
"You said... Hainan didn't even make it to the national competition this year?"
"The two teams from Kanagawa Prefecture that qualified have their ace players both in their freshman year? Can they be on par with the top college players?"
"Is this news accurate?"
Goro Domoto asked with a little surprise. He was somewhat skeptical about the truthfulness of what the other party said. After all, the other party had only "heard it from a colleague."
"It is confirmed that Hainan did not make it to the national competition. The two teams that advanced from Kanagawa Prefecture this year are Shohoku High School and Ryonan High School."
"It is certain that both teams' ace players are freshmen, but I don't know whether they have the ability to rival the top college players."
"That's what my colleague said, but I didn't watch the game, so I'm not sure about the details."
"But, Coach Domoto, you know that our reporters at Basketball Weekly are basketball enthusiasts themselves and know a little bit about basketball. My colleague has also interviewed some college basketball teams."
"He would say that. I think it's probably true. The strength of those two aces must be very strong."
"And I heard that the local sports daily in Kanagawa also has a special report. I still have the newspaper."
As the reporter spoke, he flipped open the backpack at his waist, took out a folded newspaper, handed it to Goro Domoto, and then gave a look to the guy carrying a camera behind him.
It can be seen that this reporter came to interview Goro Domoto, and he was obviously well prepared. He even thought of the title of today's interview, which is: "National Overlord Sanno Head Coach Goro Domoto Disdained the 'Kanagawa Twin Stars'"
Although the title is a bit long, the weekly magazine will definitely sell very well in Kanagawa after it is printed, and the topic level will definitely increase immediately.
"Coach Domoto, take a look." The reporter failed to conceal his emotions well, and a faint smile appeared on his face.
Goro Domoto was unaware of the reporter's emotions. He took the newspaper from his hand, unfolded it gently, and saw at a glance the report on the so-called Kanagawa Twin Stars, which occupied 1/4 of the newspaper.
"The king's screen is closed, the stage is closed, and the stage is Kanagawa's ツインズ" A big title came into view.
Goro Domoto did not read the content of the report immediately. Instead, he immediately looked at the photos, the photo of Jinguji Takeshi and Shinomiya Tano shaking hands, the photo of Shinomiya Tano dunking, and the photo of Jinguji Takeshi shooting.
"The muscles of the kid doing the dunk are very smooth, so he should be very strong in real life."
"And this kid, his fadeaway jump shot looks very relaxed and light, his jumping and explosive power should be very strong, and he must have practiced this shooting style a lot."
Goro Domoto immediately made a judgment after looking at the photo, and then began to read the content of the report. However, he was a little disappointed with the content of the report. The whole report basically boasted about how good the two players were, and did not reveal any details.
There were no statistics on height, weight, wingspan, or any other data for each game, which made Coach Domoto frown slightly.
"Coach Domoto, what do you think of these two players?!" The reporter keenly noticed Coach Domoto's emotions, raised his eyebrows and asked.
"Um... ... "
"From the reports alone, I can't tell anything. These two players may be really talented, but it's still too early to say they are the saviors of basketball."
"After all, it's just a county competition."
“Their strength will be tested in person by strong teams from all over the country.”
Goro Domoto said some high-sounding words, and then simply answered a few questions from reporters, and the interview ended.
...
Two days later, Friday.
The summer training of Xiangbei High School has started to get on track. Without the pressure of schoolwork, Xiangbei's training has become full-day, starting from 8:30 in the morning and continuing to 6:30 in the evening. Of course, there is time for rest during this period, and even lunch can be eaten in the cafeteria. Coach Anxi's arrangement is very formal, and the team members will not be arranged to train for 1 hour before and after lunch.
There is even nearly two hours of lunch break after the meal.
In the morning, Mitsui Shou packed his backpack as usual and walked out of the house, heading towards Xiangbei High School. When passing by a bookstall, he bought a basketball weekly from the stall owner.
In this era, basketball weekly magazines are one of the main ways for basketball fans like them to obtain information about professional players. In the current era when the Internet is not well developed, the speed and channels of information circulation are very limited.
In the past, basketball weekly magazines usually reported some information about NBA players, transfers, gossip, and even rookies. At the same time, in order to enrich the content of the magazine, some interviews with well-known teams from domestic universities and high schools were also included.
As the IH National Tournament approaches, basketball magazines often report on high school basketball teams and interview high school players. As Mitsui walked along the sidewalk toward Xiangbei High School, he casually opened the plastic cover of the book.
He flipped through a few pages at random, and on one page, a big headline and the subheadings that followed immediately caught his attention.
"Goro Domoto, head coach of national champion Sanno Industrial, comments on 'Kanagawa Twin Stars'"
"'Double Star' County Competition Level!"
A headline and a subheading immediately caught Mitsui's attention. Unsurprisingly, this report was written by the reporter who interviewed Domoto Goro at the time.
The other party "artistically processed" Goro Domoto's words and included them in his own report. Goro Domoto's original words were not changed at all, but the reporter added a lot of his own "interpretations".
The four-page report, one entire page is filled with words and language that establish opposition, and the next three pages introduce three players from Sanno Industrial: Kazunari Fukatsu, Masashi Kawata, and Eiji Sawakita.
Unlike the local articles in Kanagawa reporting on Jinguji Takeshi and Shinomiya Tano at the time, Basketball Weekly clearly listed the statistics of these three players when introducing them.
Kazunari Fukatsu, sophomore, point guard, height 177cm, weight 70kg, averaged 16 points, 3 rebounds, 9 assists and 6 steals in the county competition.
Masashi Kawata, sophomore, center, height 190cm, weight 91kg, averaged 33 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 blocks in the county competition.
Zebei Rongji, first year, small forward, height 186cm, weight 73kg, averaged 36 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist and 3 steals in the county competition.
"This guard from Sannoh averages 6 steals per game. Is it because the opponent is too weak? Or is this guy too strong?"
"Oh~ This center's stats are really amazing! He's only 190cm tall, but weighs a lot more than Akagi."
"He can score, rebound, and block a lot of shots. He's a very well-rounded guy. He's a very tough opponent!"
"As for this small forward... he's a thin dog. If he faces a martial arts master, he will definitely be slaughtered."
Mitsui looked at the data of the players of Sanno Industrial curiously and gave his own evaluation. Mitsui paid great attention to Kazunari Fukatsu and Masashi Kawata. The data characteristics of these two people are very distinct, and they are also quite gorgeous when viewed comprehensively. At least, Miyagi Ryouta and Akagi Takenori, who are in the same position of Xiangbei, are definitely not inferior to the other two in terms of data performance.
As for Sawakita Eiji, although the report said that he was evaluated by Goro Domoto as a young man who could become "Neon's No. 1 High School Student", in Mitsui Hisashi's opinion, Sawakita Eiji was the least threatening one among all the opponents.
The small forward position for Xiangbei is Takeshi Jinguji. Although Takeshi has always said that he belongs to the point guard position, in fact, Takeshi plays the small forward position in Xiangbei, and at most he has some swingman style.
Takeshi Jinguji, who plays in the same position, has reached a height of 196cm this year and a weight of 83kg. Although his average points per game are evenly matched with that of Eiji Sawakita, Takeshi did not get much playing time in the county competitions, and he only played the entire game when playing against strong teams.
There is a 10cm height difference and an almost 20kg weight difference between the two. Even without the two men fighting, Mitsui Hisashi could already predict Sawakita Eiji's fate.
After all, Jinguji Budo had a hard time fighting against Shinomiya Tano.
Shinomiya Tano is 191cm tall and weighs a terrifying 93kg. Just looking at his physical data, he is far beyond the dimension of a small forward. He is less than 20 kilograms heavier than Jinguji Takeshi, but he has already made Takeshi suffer in the confrontation.
When fighting against Shinomiya Tano, Wudang at least has some height advantage, but if Zebei Rongzhi fights against any one of the two stars, he will not have an advantage in any aspect, and he will probably be defeated by then.
Therefore, Mitsui Shou simply disdained the so-called "Neon's No. 1 high school student" praised by coach Zebei Rongji.
Mitsui Shou flipped through the magazine in his hand while walking towards Xiangbei High School. Not long after, he arrived at the Xiangbei campus. Putting the magazine into his backpack, Mitsui Shou walked towards the gym.
"Bang!
!”
Just as he reached the entrance of the gym, Mitsui Hisashi heard a loud noise coming from the gym. He pushed the door open and looked inside. He happened to see Jinguji Takeshi holding the basket with one arm, with his whole body hanging on the basket and swaying slightly.
In front of him, a red-haired boy was sitting on the floor stupidly, looking up at Jinguji Budo above.
There were no people in the gym yet, except for Jinguji Budou and the red-haired boy. Mitsui Shou knew the other person, a junior from Wako Junior High School named Sakuragi Hanamichi.
Judging from the two of them, they should be training... ..right... .
"Sakuragi, you need to move faster. With your physical fitness, it won't be so easy to be dunked on."
"In the final analysis, it was because you were slow to move forward and didn't stop the shot immediately."
"Along the court, lie down and slide sideways, jog at the baselines on both sides, and speed up and slide at the long sideline. Let's start."
On the court, Jinguji Budou loosened his hand, fell back to the ground, held Sakuragi's hand, pulled him up from the ground, and then said indifferently.
"Yeah!" Sakuragi Hanamichi, who was penalized for sliding, unexpectedly did not say any extra words. He took a step directly, starting from the baseline, and slid sideways forward.
Mitsui Shou walked past Sakuragi and came to Takeshi's side. He pointed at Sakuragi Hanamichi curiously and asked, "What's going on?!"
"Training, what else could it be?"
"I don't know what inspired this kid to come to my house and say he wanted to have special basketball training, so I just brought him here."
"Let him do some basic training then, it won't delay things."
Wudao looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi and said with a smile. Wudao actually still didn't know why Sakuragi Hanamichi suddenly became so motivated. Although he had done some basketball training with Sakuragi before, and although Sakuragi Hanamichi had completed enough training every time, Wudao could see that Sakuragi's enthusiasm was actually average.
His motivation for playing basketball was not his love for the sport, but his desire to become a so-called "athlete" and win Haruko's favor. His purpose of playing basketball was not pure, and all he thought about was Haruko. His progress was actually very average.
But Sakuragi Hanamichi is different today. Wudou can see that Sakuragi Hanamichi is very enthusiastic today, which is completely different from before.
At first, Wudao didn't realize that letting Sakuragi Hanamichi spar with him and let him defend him would add a little pressure to his training. But as the practice progressed, Wudao actually saw the desire in his opponent's eyes.
That desire is the desire for victory.
When Budo realized this, he changed Sakuragi Hanamichi's role as a sparring partner and turned it into a real one-on-one fight. Although Sakuragi Hanamichi was very weak when he took the ball to attack, it could be seen that he was very excited and happy when he played.
Seeing that Sakuragi Hanamichi was so eager to become stronger, Wudao no longer was polite to Sakuragi. He set 3 goals as a limit and made him complete some basic training every time Sakuragi lost.
Sliding steps, alternating dribbling with left and right hands, defensive positioning, defensive posture and so on. Although the things taught in martial arts are very diverse and very simple, Sakuragi completes them very seriously every time. Although there is no way to make him fly far, Sakuragi Hanamichi's posture on the court is becoming more and more like a player.
"Basic training... This kid, I remember his talent..." Mitsui Shou knew Sakuragi Hanamichi, he had heard Wudao mention him before.
"Yeah, the talent is pretty good."
"Now I am in the third grade of junior high school. I am already 185cm tall and weigh 79kg. I haven't grown yet. But dunking is easy for me now."
"His jumping potential is also terrifying. If he trains well in the next six months, he will be ready for battle when he enters our Xiangbei team next year."
"He will be the future of our Xiangbei."
Wudao looked at Sakuragi who was training, with a smile on his face. He liked Sakuragi Hanamichi very much, liked this guy's personality, and liked this guy's innocence. He hoped that his existence could accelerate Sakuragi's growth and make Sakuragi's growth less bumpy.
"A junior high school student who is 185cm tall and weighs 79kg can dunk easily."
"Just looking at his physical fitness, this kid is almost as good as 'Neon's No. 1 High School Student'."
Mitsui Shou curled his lips and said meaningfully.
"Neon's top high school student?"
"What?"
Wu Dao looked puzzled and turned his head to ask. Mitsui Shou mysteriously opened the zipper of his backpack, took out a basketball magazine from it and put it in Wu Dao's hand, and whispered, "Here, take a look."
Mitsui Hisashi looked like a country woman who talked bad about others behind their backs. Even though there was no one else in the gym, he kept his voice down and pretended that someone might hear him.
"It's mysterious, but it's not some pornographic book."
"What do you want me to see?"
Wudao took the magazine and flipped through it casually. He didn't see any strange pictures, and then looked at Mitsui Shou speechlessly.
"Look, here..." Mitsui took the magazine and flipped through it, until he found the interview with Goro Domoto, and then handed it back to Wudao.
"That first-year student at Sannoh was called 'Neon's No. 1 High School Student' by their coach."
"If you ask me, how could that thin dog possibly deserve such a title? If we, Xiangbei, meet them, we will definitely teach them a lesson."
Mitsui Shou suddenly said angrily, this guy seems to be obsessed with the title of the top high school student. Wudao flipped through the magazine, ignoring the words that deliberately created conflict, and turned his attention to the data of Kawata Masashi and others.
His expression turned serious.
"It's not easy to deal with him... Ohkawada has already started playing center in his second year of high school. Akagi can't handle him..."
"If we meet the Mountain King... it will be very dangerous!"
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