"This... What's going on with this grouping?!"
On the train, Mitsui Shou held a magazine and whispered. His words immediately aroused the curiosity of the surrounding Xiangbei players, and they all gathered around him.
Prior to this, Coach Anxi, who had already learned about the grouping of the national competition, had not told the players about this matter.
It was not until today that Mitsui Hisashi learned the specific details of the grouping of Xiangbei in the national competition while reading a magazine.
Even Mitsui Shou couldn't help but exclaim when he saw his opponent in the second game.
"What's wrong? What's wrong?!"
"What happened to the grouping?"
"Hmm? Touou High School, San-san? Is this opponent very strong? Does it surprise you so much?"
Sakuragi Hanamichi rushed over excitedly, resting his chin on Mitsui's head, and looked at the magazine in Mitsui's hand from behind. After seeing the first opponent of Xiangbei in the group - Touou High School, he asked in confusion.
Sakuragi really doesn't pay much attention to high school basketball, and his focus is currently limited to Kanagawa Prefecture.
"What a foolish thing to say."
"Look at our opponent in the second game."
Mitsui pointed at the magazine. When he saw the name of Sanno Industry, Sakuragi Hanamichi still had no idea and looked confused.
On the contrary, Akagi and Kogure Konobu, who were sitting opposite, were shocked when they heard this, and subconsciously exclaimed in unison:
"What?! Sanno Industries!"
Sakuragi Hanamichi had no idea about Sanno Industry, but Akagi Takenori and Kogure Kogure were very familiar with the name "Sanno Industry".
Before Ryonan High School, Sanno Industrial in Akita Prefecture was undoubtedly the strongest high school in the country, no doubt about it!
The extremely dominant Sanno Industry has dominated the high school basketball world for decades and is the common goal of all players aiming for the national championship.
In last year's Autumn National Sports Tournament, Takenori Akagi also played against players from Akita Prefecture. Although in the Autumn National Sports Tournament, their Kanagawa Prefecture team defeated Akita Prefecture and won the championship.
But in that game, the Akita Prefecture team still showed its impressive strength.
Unlike the Kanagawa Prefecture team, which has a diverse team, most of the players on the Akita Prefecture team were selected from the Sanno Industrial team.
In other words, Kanagawa Prefecture gathered the elites from the entire county and successfully snatched the championship from Akita Prefecture.
During the IH last year, Akagi, Kogure Konobu and others watched the game between Sanno Industrial and Ryonan High School. It can be said that after Ryonan High School, Sanno Industrial is definitely the team with the greatest hope of winning the national championship.
Perhaps in the eyes of most viewers nationwide, Sannoh's popularity and strength are even stronger than Ryonan and Shohoku. Even though Ryonan High School has won the national championship, the deep-rooted ideas in the minds of the audience cannot be completely reversed by just one IH.
Sanwang is definitely a top-notch team in the high school basketball world! It is an opponent that all teams don't want to face too soon.
But now, Shohoku High School is going to face Sannoh in the second game of the national competition. This is not good news for Shohoku.
That’s why Mitsui’s reaction was so big.
"Sanno Industries, it's actually Sanno Industries!"
"Our luck is so bad that we actually ran into Sanwang so early. This is going to be a tough battle!"
After a brief surprise, Akagi Takenori regained his composure, but after looking at the magazine in Mitsui Hisashi's hand, Akagi still couldn't help but sigh about his bad luck.
In a corner of the carriage, Ayako also heard the discussion of the players. Looking at the Xiangbei players who had gathered together, Ayako couldn't help but ask Coach Anzai beside her:
"Coach, is it really okay not to tell the players about the groups before?"
"We will arrive in Hiroshima today. After the opening ceremony this afternoon, we will face Touou tomorrow. If we can successfully defeat Touou, we will face Sanno Industrial back-to-back the day after tomorrow."
"Although Sanno Industrial lost its title as the national champion last year, there is no doubt that for us at Shohoku, Sanno is definitely an opponent that cannot be underestimated."
"Wouldn't it be good to tell the players about the grouping earlier so that they have enough time to prepare themselves mentally?"
The Xiangbei players who learned the grouping situation gathered together and discussed the grouping situation. One could also hear the worries in Akagi and Murasakibara's words, and this emotion spread quickly among the players.
The famous Sanno Industrial put tremendous psychological pressure on the Shohoku players.
Caizi was also a little worried about this, fearing that the grouping issue would affect the mentality of the team members. With the competition approaching, this was not a good thing.
"I don't want to put unnecessary pressure on them."
"Besides, Ayako."
"Don't underestimate our players."
"As long as that guy is mentally stable, the rest of the team will calm down soon."
"The role of the ace is not only reflected on the court!"
Upon hearing this, Coach Anxi turned his head to look at the players, then turned back and said with a smile that he didn't care at all.
"We're about to run into Sanwang for the second time! We have such bad luck!"
"Yeah, yeah, they have a bye in the first round, and we have to face Sannoh directly after playing against Touou. It's back-to-back, so there's no time to rest at all."
"Hey, I heard that Sanno's players this year basically maintain the same configuration as last year. As far as I remember, in IH last year, Sanno's center, guard, and small forward were all freshmen and sophomores."
"That means that this year's Sanwang's strength won't be much different from last year!"
"That's not necessarily true. Maybe Sanwang doesn't have any good substitutes this year? In that case, wouldn't their strength be worse?"
The Xiangbei players were talking about the Sannoh team and its players, and they were all a little afraid of Sannoh's strength. Even Kiyota Nobunaga and Nango, who were usually the most arrogant, were now full of worries.
They are not rookies like Sakuragi Hanamichi. To be honest, if they had the chance, they would also like to go to Sanno Industrial... .
"Okay, no more Shanwang, Shanwang."
"Since the grouping has been determined, it's useless to talk about anything else!"
"I have expectations for Sanno Industries' strength. Their main players are still here this year, and their strength is only stronger than last year. You don't have to have any illusions about this."
"However, for us in Shohoku, it doesn't matter whether Sanwang is strong or weak."
“These are the opponents we need to defeat!”
Mitsui Shou seemed to have noticed that the team members were in a bad mood. Some of the young first and second year players were afraid before the battle even started. He quickly clapped his hands and tried to calm them down.
Mitsui's words had some effect. The simple-minded Sakuragi nodded heavily and shouted directly:
"That's right! It doesn't matter if you meet me early or late!"
"Since our goal is to become the national champion, whether it's the Sanwang or the Sanmin, we should just defeat them together!"
Sakuragi's response made Mitsui Shou very satisfied. Seeing Sakuragi's fearless look, Kiyota and Nango couldn't help but complain about Sakuragi, "What big talk is a rookie like?"
But after Sakuragi Hanamichi said this, the emotions of the Xiangbei players obviously stabilized.
However, at this moment, a discordant voice rang out.
"I'm really annoyed to hear you keep calling me Sanwang Sanwang!"
"Defeat the Mountain King?!"
"You guys, didn't you see that your opponent in the first game was our Touou High School?"
"Are we, Toyoma, some kind of low-ranking team?"
"You're talking about defeating the Sanwang now? It's too early to brag, hey!"
As he was talking, someone hooked the shoulder of Kiyota Nobunaga who was standing nearby from behind. Turning his head, Kiyota saw a young man who was looking at him with the side of his eyes.
"Are they members of the Touou team?" Akagi Takenori heard the words and turned his head to look. At this moment, he suddenly realized that the train seemed to have arrived at Osaka Station.
"Hey! What are you doing? Let me go, Kishimoto!"
"Sorry, sorry, you're not hurt?"
Just at this moment, the coach of Touoma High School hurried over and yelled at Kishimoto Misaki.
"spit-"
"Coach, why are you apologizing? They were the ones who ignored us Touou first. This is an insult!"
Although Kishimoto Misaki let go of Kiyota Nobunaga, she still looked unhappy and complained.
"Feng Yu, we really didn't take you seriously!"
"Sa, what are you going to do?"
At this moment, Jinguji Budo, who had been sitting and dozing off and had not participated in Shohoku's previous discussion, suddenly straightened up, leaned back in his chair, and asked Kishimoto Misaki with a smile.
When Kishimoto Miri moved his gaze over and saw Jinguji Budo, Tong Kong couldn't help but shrink.
"Jinguji Budo from Shohoku High School, one of the legendary Kanagawa Twin Stars!"
"We lost to him last year!"
After carefully examining Jinguji Budo for a while, Kishimoto suddenly chuckled and said stubbornly:
"It's a big name, but it's just a name."
"Look at the book in your hands!"
"Shohoku High School is an A-ranked high school just like our Touou. Why do you look down on us Touou?!"
As they were talking, the coach of Touou saw that the train was about to depart and the team members had not yet taken their seats, so he couldn't help but urge them, "Let's go, Kishimoto, to our own carriage."
Hearing this, Kishimoto Misaki waved his hand casually and said with a hint of thorns:
"Jinguji Budo, see you on the field. I will make sure you and your Xiangbei never make it past the first round!"
"You're still thinking of fighting the Mountain King? You're a frog in a well!"
As they were talking, Kishimoto Misaki followed the team coach and other players to their own carriage. Jinguji Budou's sleepiness faded away at this moment, and he narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched Kishimoto Misaki leave.
Then, he lowered his head and looked at the magazine in Mitsui Shou's hand.
Sure enough, the magazine not only posted the team's matchup schedule, but also marked an "A" next to the team's signature. Without a doubt, this was the magazine's rating for the participating teams.
The rating of Xiangbei High School is A, and similarly, the rating of Touou High School is also just A.
Moving his eyes, Wudao roughly looked at the ratings of all the other teams. There were only two teams whose comprehensive evaluation exceeded A level and reached AA level. One was last year's national champion, Ryonan High School, and the other was their second opponent in the Xiangbei game, Sanno Industrial!
As for Shohoku High School's third opponent, it is Meiho Industry in Aichi Prefecture, which is also rated A.
Among the dozens of participating teams, only a dozen of them were rated A. In a series of elimination matches, the opponents that Xiangbei faced were either A-level or AA-level. Not to mention C-level teams, they didn't even meet B-level teams. Their luck can be said to be quite "wow".
However, what Budou cares most about is not the upcoming schedule of Xiangbei, but Xiangbei's A rating.
It's really...
"It's only an A, not AA like Ryonan and Sannoh. Is our Shohoku underestimated? Or does the editor-in-chief of the magazine think that I, the ace of Shohoku, am not as strong as Sannoh's Zebei or Ryonan's Shinomiya?"
Wu Dao was a little unhappy, although he didn't care about these false... .names... ..
But then again, if the old guys in Oak Hill saw what a mess he had become, would they laugh at him
Would those universities that were originally interested in him have other ideas when they saw that Xiangbei, led by him, could not even reach the top here? Wudao had to consider these.
"Hey, Budo, here's your player profile."
"I didn't expect that your personal rating would reach AA level."
Wudao's eyes had just fallen on the magazine for a short while. Mitsui Shou noticed Wudao's gaze and began to turn the pages. Just behind the national competition match schedule, the magazine published some players who were famous nationwide. The thin two pages introduced more than 40 players.
Jinguji Budo is at the beginning of one of the pages, alongside Shinomiya Tano.
Looking around, Jinguji Takeshi is not the only individual player who has received an AA-level evaluation. Not to mention Shinomiya Tano, Ryonan High School's Sendoh Akira and Fujima have also received this evaluation. As for their Shohoku team, in addition to Jinguji Takeshi, Mitsui Hisashi also received an AA-level evaluation.
There are many in Sanno Industrial, including Sawakita Eiji, Kawata Masashi, Fukatsu Kazunari, and Matsumoto Minoru, all of whom are rated AA. Aichi Prefecture, Miyagi Prefecture, and so on.
There are nearly twenty people who have reached the AA level evaluation.
After a quick glance, Wu Dao was not happy about the AA rating he received. He just felt that the rating from this magazine was of little value.
Wu Dao admitted that some of the AA-level players he knew and published in the magazine were indeed capable, but it depended on who they were compared with.
Is Zebei Rongzhi's AA level the same as Nan Lie's AA level
Compared with Zebei's AA level and Jinguji Budo, there is a considerable gap in strength between the two.
"It seems that our results in IH last year and this year's county tournament have made us, Xiangbei, underestimated."
"Xiao San, I have decided that in the game against Touou, Sanno and other teams, we, Shohoku, must show overwhelming strength!"
"You, Akagi, Chiba, and the others are in their last year. We need to get Shohoku a big win to pave a path for your future!"
"I'm not worried about you. The University of Tsukuba has already promised you a place, but I heard that no university has offered you an olive branch in Akagi and Chiba yet."
"I feel that a simple victory is not enough!"
...
The train roared and sped towards Hiroshima.
At noon, the train finally stopped at Hiroshima Station. Under the leadership of Coach Anzai, the Xiangbei players officially checked into the hotel that hosted the team.
In the afternoon, the opening ceremony of the national competition was held at Hiroshima Center Arena.
The strong players from all over the country gathered together to welcome the upcoming national competition!
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