The sun was not visible in the sky, and thick fog filled the Xiangbei campus.
In the early morning, Jinguji Takeshi was walking in the cool and quiet campus with a backpack on his back. His footsteps raised wisps of mist.
"I don't know if all of Coach Anxi's special recruitment quotas have been released."
"In today's joint practice, I hope those junior high school students can give our Xiangbei players a good boost."
Jinguji Budo was thinking about something as he walked towards the basketball court of Xiangbei. Today was the day for the joint practice planned by Coach Anzai. Although it was summer vacation, Coach Anzai stipulated that all the players must be present today.
Although it was called a joint training, Jinguji Budo was very clear that the essence of today's training was to give these first- and second-year players of Xiangbei a sense of urgency, and at the same time, to allow future freshmen to adapt to high school competitions in advance. Of course, the latter was the main thing, and the former was just a side job.
“Crash!”
Jinguji Budou arrived at the gym and pushed open the door. There was only one empty seat in the huge gym, and the sound of the door opening echoed in the space.
Wu Dao looked up at the clock on the wall, which showed 5:30.
"We came too early. There's no one here."
Wudao took off his shoes at the door, changed into sneakers and walked into the court. After changing his clothes, he went to the equipment room, got a basketball, returned to the gym, and started his morning exercise.
Before starting the morning exercise, Jinguji Budo did some preparation first. He placed the teacup filled with ginseng tea next to the chair and spread the sweat towel flat on the other side of the chair. After doing all this, he simply ran 4 laps around the basketball court to warm up. After running, he did some stretching and then he could officially start the morning exercise.
"Practicing with junior high school students, it will probably be a practice match."
"Let's practice shooting first, so that we don't lose our skills in front of the middle school students."
Jinguji Budo muttered to himself as he began his shooting practice. His shooting was not a simple standing shot, but a timed mid-range and long-range rapid shot. After shooting the basketball, regardless of whether the basketball went in or not, he would run to the basket as fast as possible to catch the ball. Then he would quickly move the ball to a mid-range and long-range distance, turn around and shoot. The transition speed from dribbling to shooting was very fast, giving people the feeling of a wild shot.
This kind of training method can simulate actual combat scenarios to the greatest extent during individual training, and it also consumes physical energy at a very fast rate.
After nearly ten minutes of rapid-fire practice, Jinguji Budo was already out of breath. If a person with poor physical fitness were to do the same training, it would not even take ten minutes. Two minutes would be enough to finish a pot.
The time came to 5.50.
Outside the stadium, the gray sky finally brightened up, a red glow rising from the horizon. The fog inside the Xiangbei campus thinned a little.
“Crash!”
During a break in Jinguji's martial arts training, the door of the gym was opened and Mitsui Hisashi walked into the gym wearing a coat and holding a basketball in his hand and a pair of basketball shoes around his neck.
When he saw Jinguji Takeshi sitting cross-legged on the floor to rest in the stadium, his expression was stunned.
"Hmm?"
"Budo, why are you here so early?"
Mitsui Shou turned his head to look at the clock on the wall, confirmed that it was indeed less than six o'clock, and then asked Wu Dao.
It's still early for Shohoku to gather, but Jinguji Takeshi has arrived at the gym so early. And judging from his appearance, he should have arrived long before he came, and has practiced for quite a while.
"It doesn't matter whether it's early or not. I usually get up at this time."
"I didn't do a morning run today. I came to the gym as soon as I got up."
"What about you? Why are you here so early?"
Wudao turned around and saw that it was Mitsui Shou, and a smile appeared on his face. Mitsui Shou was the most diligent in training among all the Xiangbei people. In terms of diligence, apart from Jinguji Wudao, only Akagi Takenori could compare with him.
"I usually come to the gym at this time."
"You used to come to training on time, so of course you don't know."
As Mitsui Shou spoke, he walked into the gym, squatted down, changed his sneakers, and walked into the court. He threw his coat to the sidelines and waved to Wudao.
Jinguji Budo's mind was in control, and he casually threw the ball to Mitsui Shou.
Mitsui Shou received the ball more than a meter away from the three-point line. After getting the basketball, he raised his hand and threw it out. The basketball drew an arc in the air above the stadium, and the next second, a crisp sound of the net echoed in the stadium.
The basketball fell to the ground and rolled in front of Wudao. Jinguji Wudao stood up holding the basketball and threw the ball to Mitsui Shou while sighing:
"It looks like you have successfully extended your shooting range to one meter outside the three-point line."
"Look at your shooting, it seems so easy!"
While Jinguji Takeshi was speaking, Mitsui Hisashi had already received the basketball, then took a step back from his original position, about two meters away from the three-point line, and then made another jump shot.
This time, the parabola of the basketball became higher and the ball path was still straight. Mitsui maintained his shooting posture with a confident smile on his face.
“Swish!”
With a crisp sound, the basketball went into the net.
This time, even Jinguji Budo couldn't help but look at Mitsui Shou a few more times. The three-point line was almost one meter farther than the NBA's three-point line. Xiangbei's three-point line, or the three-point line in normal games, is 6.25 meters away from the basket, while the NBA's is 7.25 meters, one meter farther than the normal three-point line.
In today's high school basketball, there are not many shooters who can shoot close to the three-point line, let alone those who can shoot from two meters away from the three-point line like Mitsui Hisashi.
Such shooting ability is enough to make the opponent be fully alert to deal with it, but it may not have much effect.
"My shooting range is not limited to what you said."
Mitsui Shou said this in a somewhat cocky tone, with a hint of pride on his face.
Seeing this, Wu Dao smiled, walked to the basket, picked up the basketball, and slowly walked towards the center circle with the ball.
"Logo shot!"
"It's good if you can score one out of five goals."
Mitsui Shou noticed Budou's intention and said with a smile. As for the long-range shot from the center circle, he had also played it during the breaks in training, and with his proficiency, he could make two or three shots out of 10. Jinguji Budou also often played such shots during the breaks in training, and his level was about the same as his, so Mitsui Shou's statement that he made one shot out of five was indeed in line with Budou's ability.
Wu Dao said nothing, as he crossed half court with the ball and came to the other side of the field. He then dribbled the ball for a while, and shot directly from one step forward along the center line.
Mitsui Shou saw this scene and shrank his eyes. He looked at Jinguji Budo in astonishment, and then looked up at the basketball in the air. The basketball shot by Budo was very fast. In the blink of an eye, it crossed the three-point line and flew towards the basket.
However, the path of the ball thrown by Wudao was a little off and the power was a little too great. The basketball hit the backboard, bounced on the edge of the basket, and then fell to the outside.
Although Budou's shot didn't go in, Mitsui Shou's mouth was wide open. He looked at Jinguji Budou in disbelief and exclaimed, "How is this possible! How can you shoot a logo shot like this?"
What surprised Mitsui Shou was not Jinguji Budou's logo shot, but his shooting posture. Even when shooting the logo shot from the center circle, Jinguji Budou's shooting posture was still a standard two-stage shot, but... ..
“How is it possible that you can shoot the ball so far with your shooting style?!
”
"How did you do that?"
Mitsui Shou turned his head to look at Jinguji Budo in the center circle and asked anxiously.
Shooting can be simply divided into hand shape and force method. The former controls the direction, and the latter controls the force. The biggest factor restricting the shooting range is actually the force. The normal force method is not enough to support the logo shot. When Mitsui Shou plays mid-field shooting, he usually uses a push shot, but this hand shape can neither control the direction nor the force well.
Therefore, for Mitsui Hisashi, shooting from the center circle is just a matter of luck and fun.
But now, Takeshi Jinguji successfully used a two-stage shot to get the ball to the backboard, which was something Mitsui Hisashi had never dared to imagine.
Shooting is actually a very strenuous thing. You need to mobilize the muscles of your whole body and work together. The shooting range that Mitsui Shou can control is actually about 7 meters from the basket. If it is farther, the control of strength will be greatly reduced.
but... ..
"Tell me quickly, how did you do it? Even if you are stronger than me, you can never do this. What's the trick?"
Mitsui was eager to learn the secrets of Budo's shooting, which would help him further improve his shooting range.
"What's the trick? The trick is practice!"
"Practice shooting, practice strength, you don't think there is really a 'secret'."
"This is a process that takes time. Just like your shooting."
Wu Dao said with a smile, and seeing Mitsui Shou's dull look, he continued: "Xiao San, you are already a sophomore in high school. I see the fine hairs around your mouth, and your physical development should have entered the middle stage."
"It's almost time to start training your strength. The intensity doesn't need to be too high. Just increase it little by little as you grow and develop."
“In high school, skills and fundamentals are important, but the body is the capital of basketball.”
Wudao trotted back to the basket, picked up the basketball that had rolled to the side, and practiced hook shots right under the basket. His words shocked Mitsui Shoutong. Mitsui Shou, who was originally complacent about his improved shooting range, now found a different way to become stronger.
"My body... You're right, my body is indeed not strong enough."
"Even those middle school kids can dunk, but I can't do it. This is not okay!"
Takeshi's words reminded Mitsui Shou of the scene a week ago when he, Coach Anzai and Takeshi went to recruit players. Looking at those junior high school students' slam dunks, it would be a lie for Mitsui Shou to say that he was not envious. No young player could resist the charm of slam dunks, and he, Mitsui Shou, was no exception.
Mitsui Hisashi is a man with strong mobility. It is still early now, and he originally wanted to come to the gym to practice shooting and breaking footwork, but after hearing what Jinguji Budou said, he decisively changed the direction of his training.
Wudao was also afraid that Mitsui would hurt himself if he trained too hard all of a sudden, so he also trained strength with Mitsui. While acting as Mitsui's trainer, he also gave Mitsui a simple plan of strength training methods.
The strength training equipment of Xiangbei High School is quite simple, but although the equipment is simple, it is enough for Mitsui Hisashi at this stage.
Time passed by minute by minute during their training. Strength training was very physically demanding and could be considered strenuous. Wudao and Mitsui Shou took a break for more than an hour before stopping and starting to practice other items.
When the time approached 7:15, the players of Xiangbei High School began to arrive at the stadium one after another.
Apart from Takenori and Mitsui Hisashi, the first person to arrive at the gym was Takenori Akagi. Together with Takenori Akagi was Mitsunobu Murakami. These two were like conjoined twins, basically training and playing together.
And it wasn't just the two of them. Akagi Haruko also learned from Akagi that the specially recruited students from Xiangbei came back to practice together today. She also followed Akagi Takenori to the stadium to watch the fun.
The players who arrived at the stadium first began to warm up spontaneously and joined the training. The deserted stadium began to become lively.
"Specially recruited students, I don't know who they are."
"They will be specially recruited, so they must be very capable."
"In this way, we may not even have a chance to play!"
First-year students Satoru Kakuta and Tetsushi Shiosaki were practicing shooting while chatting, looking very worried. The first impact of the existence of special recruits was on these first-year students of Shohoku, who had no chance to play in the first place. If the special recruits who joined were all very strong, these "seniors" would have even less chance to play.
"Don't say that. As long as we train hard, we will definitely have a chance to play. As long as we are strong enough, that's all."
"We are seniors, how can we lose to junior high school students like this?"
Yasuharu Yasuda's mentality was much better than Kakuda and Shiozaki. Hearing these words not far away, he comforted them.
Just as the two were talking, Coach Anxi's fat figure appeared at the door of the gym and walked into the gym with a pile of information in his hand.
The players who noticed Coach Anxi's arrival greeted the coach loudly. Coach Anxi looked at the players who were training, nodded with a smile, then went to sit on a seat on the sidelines, with no intention of gathering the team.
Although Coach Anxi didn't say anything, the players present all knew what was going on today, and as the time approached 8 o'clock, the atmosphere in the arena became depressing. The first and second graders of Xiangbei were under a lot of pressure, and this pressure actually came from those junior high school students who hadn't even shown up yet!
"Ho!
”
"The gym at Xiangbei High School is really big!"
"Ohhhh! The seniors are training, but they don't look strong at all!"
"Ohhh! Jinguji Budou! Jinguji Budou from the Kanagawa Twins, I actually saw the real person!"
An incongruous voice was heard in the stadium. Hearing this, the Xiangbei players turned their heads and looked towards the entrance of the stadium. They happened to see a tall boy about 187cm tall standing outside the door.
The boy had long hair with yellow and black bangs on both sides of his forehead. He was wearing a junior high school uniform and had a backpack slung across his waist. He was looking curiously at the situation on the court.
His voice also attracted Jinguji Budo's attention. He turned his head and looked towards the entrance of the stadium, and saw the boy at the entrance clearly. When he saw that face, Jinguji Budo's dead memory attacked him again.
"It turns out that Coach Anxi gave the last special recruitment spot to this guy."
"The Dyeing Monkey... All of a sudden, Xiangbei is really getting a bit lively."
Jinguji Takeshi covered his head and smiled bitterly, thinking to himself.
He knew the young man who appeared outside the stadium. His ability was not bad. The reason for his bitter smile was...
“ohhhhhhh!
!
!”
"Shohoku actually has such a beautiful student!
”
“Is this… this… this… heaven?!”
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .