As time passed, the internal practice matches of Xiangbei High School entered a white-hot stage.
Both the red and yellow teams have outstanding players. Rukawa Kaede's individual singles, combined with the assistance of Nango Koichirō and others, can be said to be invincible on the offensive end.
Kiyota Nobunaga showed his advantage when facing Yasuharu Yasuda's defense. Under the leadership of several first-year players, the red team led by Rukawa Kaede, Kiyota and others quickly established an advantage.
Although the yellow team led by Sakuragi Hanamichi and Katsume Ichiro fought back with all their might, their offensive efficiency was not as high as their opponents.
The height of the two players in the back line, Sora Kurumiya and Yasuharu Yasuda, is too short. Even though their team played a zone defense, they were still easily broken by the red team led by Rukawa Kaede and others.
Rukawa Kaede and Kiyota Nobunaga can easily score from mid-range without having to worry about the Yellow Team's defense.
After all, the only outside player with good height is Ichiro Kamii. As long as they get past Ichiro Kamii, the yellow team's mid-range shot will be no different from being unguarded.
Although Sora Kurumiya wanted to prove his worth on the defensive end, the person he needed to pay attention to, Tetsu Shiosaki, had not touched the basketball many times in the game after playing for more than ten minutes.
No one attacked the half area he was guarding!
There were several times when Kiyota Nobunaga broke through and Kurumiya Sora tried to double-team him, but Kiyota Nobunaga had a very wide field of vision on the court and would never give Kurumiya Sora such an opportunity.
This also caused Kurumi Sora to be completely invisible on the defensive end, and his role was similar to that of Yasuharu Yasuda.
On the offensive end, Sakuragi Hanamichi, Katsumi Ichiro and Oda Ryumasa almost monopolized the team's shooting opportunities. Except for the initial fast break, Kurumiya Sora played for more than ten minutes without any other teammates passing the ball to him.
The red team played a man-to-man defensive tactic. Tetsushi Shiosaki was a rigid guy. After Sora Kurumiya entered the frontcourt, Shiosaki directly targeted Sora Kurumiya. On the outside, if there was no screen, Sora Kurumiya could create space between himself and Shiosaki, but he could not get out of the space at all.
Although Yasuharu Yasuda is not opposed to passing the ball to Sora Kurumi, that is only limited to the situation where Sora Kurumi is in an open position.
The little space created was not enough for Yasuda to risk passing the ball.
Sora Kurumiya tried to use open cuts to create opportunities for himself to attack, and he did run into open space several times during the game, but Yasuda Yasuharu didn't think that Sora Kurumiya, with his height, could do anything in the interior or mid-range, so he didn't pass the ball.
Sora Kurumiya felt a little frustrated during this practice match. He felt that he had many chances, and he also believed that he had the ability to seize such opportunities and score the ball. However, Yasuda Yasuharu did not trust him at all, and his targets for the ball were all Sakuragi Hanamichi, Rukawa Kaede and others.
This made Che Gukong feel annoyed and powerless at the same time.
No matter how good a player is, if his teammates don't pass the ball to him, his performance on the court will be limited. Especially for a player like Kurumi Sora, because he has no rebounding ability, he has very few opportunities to get the basketball.
When the red and yellow teams were practicing, Coach Anxi had already arrived at the stadium. He did not disturb the players' game, but made a cup of tea for himself, sat down on a chair beside the court, and watched the game on the court.
Coach Anxi looked for a while and his attention was attracted by the figure of Kurumi Sora.
It was seen that Kurumi Sora kept running back and forth with his teammates, trying hard to defend against the opponent's breakthrough players on the defensive end.
Seeing Sora Kurumi fighting so hard suddenly reminded Coach Anxi of his past self.
"Budo, come here."
Out of curiosity, Coach Anzai waved to Jinguji Takeshi, and when Takeshi came to his side, he asked about Kurumiya Sora's situation.
"Budao, who is that child?"
Coach Anzai pointed at Sora Kurumiya on the field and asked Jinguji Budo beside him.
"A transfer student from the first year of high school, a classmate of Sakuragi, his name is Kurumiya Sora."
"I came to the gym directly after class. I want to join the Shohoku High School basketball team."
"I have already promised this."
"But this kid is very ambitious. He keeps saying that he wants to be a starter and become a regular."
"I thought we had to play a practice match to test the abilities of the players after their vacation, so I put him up there to see what he was capable of."
“But ... so far, I don’t see much value in that.”
"I have excellent ball handling skills. I think I should be a strong ball handling player. However, my height is too poor. In my opinion, I can't play with the ball."
"And compared to his offensive power, it's really hard to defend with such height."
"For us, Xiangbei, there is no way to use such a player as a starter. The training value is too low."
Takeshi Jinguji stood beside Coach Anzai and introduced the young man named Sora Kurumiya. At the same time, Takeshi Jinguji also talked about his opinion of Sora Kurumiya. Coach Anzai listened and nodded slightly to show his approval.
Takeshi Jinguji has seen too many players. He has also seen many players who do not have a strong height requirement but are able to play in high-end competitions.
But there are too few people like that.
With Miyagi Ryouta's height, it is already very difficult for him to compete in high school basketball. In this year's national competition, he did not have many opportunities to play.
His height is not as good as Miyagi Ryouta, and even his body muscles are far inferior to Miyagi's Kurumiya Sora. His martial arts are really not promising.
Although the opponent's crossover before made Wudao's eyes light up, the opponent's bounce was also terrifyingly strong. Even until now in the game, the opponent was still full of energy and obviously had plenty of physical strength.
But even so, Wudao still didn't think that Kurumi Sora was worth training.
It's cruel to say that in the sport of basketball, height is the entry threshold!
Corresponding to Sora Kurumiya are the talented players from Shohoku High School.
Sakuragi Hanamichi and Rukawa Kaede, who easily ravage the basket, have both athletic ability and height. Although Sakuragi does not have many offensive skills, he has mastered the offensive skills in the past year or so and has become very threatening on the offensive end.
Combined with Sakuragi's terrifying brute strength, he is a complete inside killer in the high school arena.
Although Rukawa's body is not as strong as Sakuragi Hanamichi's, his explosive power is also very strong, his jumping ability is also very terrifying, and he also has good coordination and a variety of offensive means. He is completely unstoppable when he has the ball. The red team's scoring basically depends on him.
In addition to these two people, Koichirō Nango has excellent height and good defensive awareness, and is quite intimidating under the basket.
Although Oda Ryumasa's physical fitness is a little poor, it is very easy for him to dunk with his height of nearly 190cm.
Ichiro Kumi has outstanding personal characteristics, skilled outside skills, accurate shooting, and excellent height. If he were to switch to a weak high school team, Kumi's height would allow him to play center.
As for Yasuharu Yasuda, Satoru Kakuta and others, although they are a little mediocre, they can find their position on the court and support their teammates.
Moreover, Kurumiya Kong could see that the players of Xiangbei were all very physically fit. Unlike Kuzuryu High School where he originally was, these players had all undergone rigorous training.
Second-year student Kakuta Satoru had experienced the eras when Mitsui Hisashi and Takeshi were in charge of Shohoku, so his physical fitness had already been developed.
Even those freshmen who have been able to support the Xiangbei High School basketball team for a semester and stay until now have already become accustomed to the team's devilish training.
It was only when he was in Shohoku that he truly understood what a strong team was.
He is not outstanding in Xiangbei.
The game on the court is still going on. Sakuragi Hanamichi, Rukawa Kaede and others are still active on the court. Kurumi Sora tries hard to follow the footsteps of his teammates. While running back and forth, he can't help but envy his teammates who can "fly" in the air.
The envy in his eyes lasted for a while, and then turned into determination.
Coach Anxi saw everything and suddenly said to Jinguji Budo beside him:
"Mr. Kurumiya Sora, you will grow into an outstanding player in the future."
"Budo, try to let him play as a guard and hold the ball."
Hearing what Coach Anzai said, Jinguji Budo was a little surprised, then nodded, walked to Miyagi Ryouta, and whispered a few words in his ear.
At this time, the Yellow Team was launching an attack on the court. Sakuragi Hanamichi quickly cut into the inside from the bottom corner. Yasuda Yasuharu on the outside wanted to pass the ball to Sakuragi who was cutting into the air, but his intention was too obvious and was directly interfered by Kiyota Nobunaga.
The basketball deviated in direction and flew out of the court.
When the ball was stopped, Miyagi Ryouta quickly blew the whistle.
The players on the field all looked towards Gongcheng, and Wudao also walked to the sidelines at this moment, clapped his hands, and shouted to everyone: "Take a break."
"Adjust the lineup."
Under Wu Dao's instructions, the players returned to the rest area. After playing for more than ten minutes, everyone was more or less tired.
Hearing that the game was suspended, Che Gukong reluctantly walked off the court, stood on the sidelines, clenched his fists, and looked at the field in a daze.
No chance...Here, he has no chance to show himself!
Just as Kurumiya Sora was thinking about this in his mind, Jinguji Budo suddenly came behind Kurumiya Sora and patted him on the shoulder.
Turning around, Kurumiya Sora saw that it was Jinguji Takeshi. He immediately looked serious, straightened his back, and greeted Takeshi with a respectful tone: "Captain Jinguji!"
"Relax."
"When the game resumes, you will be in charge of the ball for the yellow team."
"Yasuda, Yasuda, you go off the court and take a rest. Shimamura, you take Yasuda's place."
While Jinguji Budou was speaking, he replaced Yasuharu Yasuda with a second-year player from Shohoku, Yuhei Shimamura, who was about 180cm tall, a player from the second team, and played as a small forward.
After several third-year students quit the club, this kid became the focus of martial arts observation.
"Yes!" Yasuda and Shimamura answered in unison, and Shimamura also began to do warm-up exercises on the sidelines.
When Sakuragi Hanamichi and others saw this arrangement, they looked at Kurumi Sora in surprise and didn't say much.
Sakuragi even walked up to Kurumiya Sora, patted Kurumiya Sora on the shoulder and encouraged him, "Don't be afraid!"
"Once we're on the court, we just have to find a way to pass the ball to this genius."
"I will turn the disadvantage around!"
After making the arrangements, Wudao did not pay too much attention to Kurumiya Sora, and went to Rukawa Kaede and the others to make some personnel adjustments.
Tetsushi Shiozaki was substituted off the field and replaced by Ryouta Miyagi as the referee, while Budou put Ryouta Miyagi on the field.
To test the strength of a new team member, of course you have to match him with a strong enough opponent!
Although Kiyota can be a rival to Kurumiya Sora, Budo feels that Kiyota Nobunaga's height advantage is too obvious. Miyagi Ryouta happens to be a player of the same type as the opponent, so let Miyagi test the opponent's depth.
After a short break, the practice session continued.
The ball still belongs to Sakuragi and his yellow team. Yuhei Shimamura stood on the sidelines and passed the ball to Sora Kurumiya.
After getting the basketball, Kurumi Sora couldn't contain his joy. His face was full of smiles and he looked very motivated.
When Miyagi Ryouta saw the other person's expression, he curled his lips and smiled:
"You, hello, new classmate!"
"My name is Miyagi Ryouta, I'm the vice-captain of the Shohoku High School basketball team, and also... the starting point guard for Shohoku."
"You said you want to be the first choice, right?"
"If you beat me, you can be the main pick!"
Today, Miyagi Ryouta's height has grown to 170cm. Although not tall, he has an advantage in front of Kurumiya Sora.
Moreover, Miyagi Ryouta has a muscular body, and compared with him, Kurumi Sora looks very thin.
Hearing Miyagi Ryouta's self-introduction, Kurumiya Sora was stunned. He did not expect that this relatively short player in front of him was actually the vice-captain
"Distracted, boy!"
While Kurumiya Sora was stunned, Miyagi Ryouta sensed the opportunity and took decisive action, directly shooting the basketball in the opponent's hand.
However, Kurumiya Sora's reaction speed was also quite good. He stuck his body to Miyagi, turned around quickly and passed him. Then he accelerated directly, quickly passed Miyagi Ryouta and rushed towards the inside.
The smooth passing moves are eye-catching.
"Success!" Che Gukong, who successfully cut into the mid-range, did not dare to go deeper. He murmured in his heart, stopped suddenly and jumped quickly, raising the basketball above his head and preparing to shoot.
However, at this moment, Miyagi Ryouta, who had been thrown away by him a second ago, suddenly appeared beside him, jumped up and blocked the shot of Izuku Sora.
Sora Kurumiya has excellent athletic ability, but Ryouta Miyagi is not inferior to him at all!
“Peng!
”
The basketball hit the floor and flew rapidly out of the court.
Jinguji Budo on the sidelines casually caught the basketball in his hands, looked at Kurumiya Sora who was a little dazed at the moment, and said with a smile:
"First grade, serve the ball!"
"The road of basketball is long. First of all, you need to recognize your own shortcomings before you can make progress."
"Playing with geniuses will help you improve faster. Of course, first you have to be able to hold on!"
"Come and serve!"
Jinguji Budou's words brought Kurumiya Sora back to reality. Looking at Jinguji Budou who was dribbling the ball on the sidelines, Kurumiya Sora nodded heavily.
"Shohoku High School..."
"Captain Jinguji is right!"
"Playing with these outstanding talents, I will definitely become stronger!"
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