Time flies, and for Jinguji Budo, student life goes by very quickly.
Spring in Kanagawa Prefecture is quite short. In just over a month, spring is completely over.
After that defeat, Takeishi Junior High School seemed to have learned from the pain and the training intensity of the entire team has been greatly improved. Freshman Rukawa Kaede became another freshman starting selection after Mitsui Hisashi and Jinguji Budou.
Although Ichiro Katsume, a player from the same class as him, failed to become a starter, he also successfully entered the regular rotation of Takeishi Junior High School.
Before we knew it, the summer trials were quietly approaching.
"Hurry, hurry, run faster."
"Ryukawa, run to the baseline. Are you standing outside the three-point line trying to shoot a three-pointer? Is that the position where you shoot?!"
On the court, Anzai Zhengyi loudly directed the players to move. Anzai Zhengyi spent a lot of energy to train the new player Rukawa Kaede. Although the first-year Rukawa Kaede has good basketball skills, he still has considerable flaws in moving, which also made Anzai Zhengyi very angry.
"Be more active in your movement, don't dilly-dally!"
"Leave the mid-range positions free for Mitsui and Rukawa. Why are there so many people standing under the basket during offense?"
"Is this how you wait for the ball?"
"Cover, go up and cover!"
Anzai Zhengyi positioned Rukawa as the second scorer. With Rukawa's height, he has considerable lethality in the middle and low positions on the court in junior high school. Therefore, Anzai Zhengyi hopes that Rukawa will receive the ball in the mid-range and under the basket, rather than letting Rukawa receive the ball outside the three-point line for long-distance breakthrough attacks.
This kind of ball-holding offensive task was performed by Mitsui Hisashi in Takeishi Junior High School. Now, Rukawa Kaede cannot replace Mitsui Hisashi's position in the team.
For Rukawa Kaede, all he needs to do is do well the task at hand.
At this stage, the tactical core of Takeishi Junior High School is Mitsui Hisashi and Rukawa Kaede. All other players' movements are centered around these two people. Originally, Anzai Zhengyi was not planning to develop a dual-core system, but after the practice match with Yokota Junior High School, Anzai Zhengyi knew that developing a dual-core system was a must.
If they continue to use the single-core strategy, Takeishi Junior High School will not have any chance against Yokota.
The basketball team's training was in full swing, but Budo was after school, without any restrictions from club activities. The coach of the judo club didn't care whether Budo participated in training or not. All he required of Budo was to participate in the county competitions on time.
As for the position of president, it is just a figurehead for martial arts, and most things are still done by the coach himself.
Jinguji Budo did not even participate in the selection of players for the Judo Club County Competition.
It was not until the list of participating members was handed to Jinguji Takeshi that he realized that the county competition was just around the corner.
…
It was July and the sun was shining brightly.
The stadium in Kanagawa Prefecture was bustling with people. After a lengthy opening ceremony, the new year's summer season finally kicked off.
The entire schedule of the trials is different from the back-to-back schedule of the national competition. The entire schedule is very spread out. There is often a gap of about a week between the first game and the next game.
It was not until the third round of the qualifiers, the 16-to-8 match, that the players from Takeishi Junior High School appeared in the audience seats of the stadium.
Takeishi Junior High School was one of the top eight teams last year. They did not participate in the first few rounds of the knockout rounds, but Takeishi will never miss any of Yokota Junior High School's games. This year, there is only one team that can cause trouble for Takeishi.
On the court, the two teams playing against each other are Yokota Junior High School and Kitamura Junior High School.
As for what kind of middle school is Kitamura Middle School? It is the school that Takenori Akagi attended when he was in junior high school.
"Hey, it seems like there aren't many spectators at this year's game." In the stands, Jinguji Takeshi, wearing a judo uniform, sat in the audience with Takeishi and the others, watching the game on the field.
Their judo match ended very quickly. Takeishi's judo club was already a national powerhouse, and they won all five matches today with ease. After Jinguji Takeshi led the team to win the match, he left the team early and came to the basketball court.
"Kitamura Junior High School is a small-time team, and Yokota, although it is also a historical powerhouse, but in the prefecture, the team with the highest hopes has always been our Takeishi Junior High School."
"The audience in the prefecture has no idea of Yokota's strength this year, so it's normal that there are few spectators."
Mitsui Hisashi sat next to Coach Anzai and spoke in a deep voice. His eyes were always on Shinomiya Tano from Yokota Junior High School. He didn't pay any attention to the group of scum from Kitamura Junior High School.
"A small fry... It seems to be true, but not entirely."
"That Kitamura center is quite dominant."
Jinguji Budo looked at the gorilla with a buzz cut standing under the basket in the court and said with a smile. At this moment, Mitsui Shou might find it hard to imagine that the Kitamura player, whom he regarded as a small fish, would affect his life in the future.
"Dominance? What do you mean by dominance in front of Shigong Tianye?"
Mitsui Shou curled his lips and said with a little disdain. Nowadays, Mitsui Shou can be said to be smooth sailing. In the county, there are not many players he likes, and Akagi Takenori is obviously not one of them.
As if to prove what Mitsui said, a huge change had already occurred on the court. It was the offensive round of Yokota Junior High School, and the player holding the ball and attacking was the one that everyone was paying attention to, Shinomiya Tano.
Shigong Tianye received the ball inside the three-point line and rushed to the inside with the ball. Although Akagi roared and wanted to intercept Shigong Tianye, and even took the initiative to seek physical confrontation, but with his strength, he could not affect Shigong Tianye's layup. After confronting Akagi head-on, Shigong Tianye threw the ball directly into the basket.
The whole action seemed quite casual, and Akagi's defense had no effect on him at all.
After 7 minutes of the game between the two teams, the score reached 24:7. Yokota's offensive was simply not something Kitamura Junior High School could withstand.
Akagi Takenori, the future pillar of Shohoku High School, is no different from a rookie who has just learned basketball in front of Shinomiya Tano.
Akagi, who was easily scored by Shinomiya Tano, looked at Shinomiya Tano who was leaving for defense with a face full of unwillingness and was speechless for a long time.
"This center from Beicun, if trained well, can become an outstanding national player."
"It's clear that Beicun Middle School doesn't have the ability to train this center."
Anzai Masayoshi in the audience looked at Akagi on the court, shook his head and sighed.
Akagi, who was in the third grade of junior high school, was 190cm tall and had a well-proportioned body. His movement speed was not slow among the centers, and his strength and jumping ability were pretty good. Akagi had scored a slam dunk before.
In Anzai Zhengyi's opinion, Akagi has the potential to become a strong man, but he has not been well trained.
“Our biggest enemy in the county competition has been identified.”
"Focus on Yokota Junior High School's tactical play. There won't be any surprises in this game."
Anxi Zhengyi warned the team members and gave instructions.
Wudao watched the game with everyone else. When his eyes swept over Akagi Takenori, he couldn't help but look back at Mitsui Hisashi, and then the corners of his mouth curled up.
"Xiao San, I will find a way to prevent you from getting hurt. I also want you to take me to the national competition to win the championship."