Chapter Ninety-Five: The Defending Champion
While UConn won the West Division, the other divisional champions were also released, with Butler University continuing its dark horse nature last year and becoming the champion of the Southeast Division, while Kentucky and Duke also lived up to expectations, defeating their opponents to become the champions of the Eastern and Southwest Divisions.
With that, the final four finalists of the tournament have been decided, which are UConn, Duke, Kentucky, and Butler.
With the winner still in the semifinals, Butler University will take on Kentucky, while UConn will take on defending champion Duke University.
First against Arizona, then North Carolina, and now Duke, if it weren't for the University of Texas accidentally killing Kansas, this year's experience at UConn would really be hell's no longer hellish mode.
But from another point of view, this is also a kind of luck for Kangda.
There are NCAA championships every year, but there are not many that are impressive, and if UConn can finally win the championship in this hellish mode, it will definitely be remembered by history and become a topic of conversation among fans after dinner.
Duke University, as the defending champion, is not only the No. 1 seed in the Southwest this year, but also the No. 1 seed in the entire NCAA Championship, with Irving, last tournament MOP (Final Four Most Outstanding Player) Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith, Myles Plumlee, Mason Plumlee, Ryan Kelly, Seth Curry and many other NBA talents.
It is no exaggeration to say that even Curry, who has a bench seat, can become the absolute core when he reaches an ordinary school.
It's a lineup that plays tricks, but who's called it Duke!
And Duke, there is a guy named Mike Ashzewski!
The famous Coach K!
The biggest difference between the NCAA and the NBA is the rights of the head coach, because without the existence of management, the head coach is basically single-handed.
Your future, your basketball life, is basically all up to the head coach.
And a good coach can take players to a bigger stage, provide them with more exposure opportunities, and then get a better future and life.
It's a mutually reinforcing relationship.
And the reason why Duke can sit on so many top players is because they have Coach K, a legendary coach who can be on a par with Dean Smith!
Therefore, the top few high school students in the United States are all squeezing into the gate of Duke with their heads between their heads.
Coming to the final four stage, the attention of the tournament has skyrocketed, and the competition venue is further upgraded.
The semi-finals consist of two semi-finals and one final, for a total of three matches.
The venue for these three games has already been decided, at Reland Stadium in Houston.
As the first professional football stadium in the United States to have an openable roof, the old stadium is famous for its roof made of highly transparent fiberglass material, which makes it feel like it's fully open even when closed.
Of course, the stadium also has a sizable seating capacity, which can accommodate 72,000 people at the same time, which is fully in line with the requirements of the NCAA Final Four.
With more than 70,000 people watching a basketball game at the same time, it's truly unique in the world, and that's the charm of the NCAA.
Even in the finals, even the NBA will choose to suspend it to make way for it.
The day before the game, the top four teams arrived in Houston one after another.
Tang Tian is particularly familiar with the city of Houston, where the Chinese giant Yao Ming has spent his entire career and lived as a coach in his previous life.
The game between UConn and Duke will start first, and Cajon does not schedule daily training on this day in order to relax the players.
"Are you nervous? Counterpoint Singler. In the hotel, Walker asked while playing 2K with Tang Tian.
Kyle Singler is a legend in the NCAA, scoring 13.3 points and 5.9 rebounds in his freshman season, becoming the best rookie in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and was selected as a junior last season as a MOP, scoring 19 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 blocks in the finals against Butler University to help Duke finally win the championship.
"Don't be nervous, have you ever seen me nervous?" Tang Tian said with a smile, it's just a Singler, aside from his previous life experience, in the past few games of the championship, he can even handle Derek Williams and Barnes, will he be afraid of a Singler?
"You don't have to be nervous, Owen just returned from injury not long ago, he can't beat you." Tang Tian knew Walker very well and knew that he was worried about his game, and then spoke.
"Hmm." Walker didn't explain anything this time, just nodded.
It's good for people to have a heart, but if they are too high, they are conceited, and Walker is obviously not the kind of person who is conceited.
If you want to say that the only one in this class of defenders can worry Walker, or at least make him approve of it in his heart, it is only Irving.
How good is Owen's talent?
As a rookie, Irving basically didn't play much because of a toe injury, averaging 17.5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game in 11 games, shooting 59% from two-point range and 45% from three-point range.
Whether an injured rookie can cut this kind of data, or whether he will come back and lead the team to the final four and become the top pick, these are actually very telling.
UConn didn't arrange training, Duke did.
Coach K conducted a basic training session in the training hall, focusing on warm-up and shooting, with the aim of helping the players find their form before the game.
Duke, as the hottest winner of this year's tournament, has also attracted a kind of media visit from their training, including media giants such as ESPN and TNT.
It is worth mentioning that the semi-finals will be broadcast live in the United States, and TNT's ace commentators Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith, and ESPN's top names Mike Brin and Reggie Miller will be present to comment.
Irving has been talking to Coach K, and the reporters didn't get a chance to interview him, but they did catch Kyle Singele.
Singler is much more famous in the NCAA than Irving, and they have not lost anything at all.
"Kyle, UConn beat North Carolina this year and is strong, what do you think of this opponent?"
"It's a sad thing." Singler's answer was somewhat unexpected.
"Playing against North Carolina is something every Duke player wants to do, and when the division came out, I was a little excited, and you know this is my last year of college, and I wanted to do the last thing I wanted to do as a Duke, but it didn't come to the end." Singler said with regret.
He said that he was completely fine, he won the NCAA championship, he won the MOP, and the victory over North Carolina was indeed the only thing he didn't finish.
The reporter was obviously stunned for a moment, this is true, but it seems that the answer is not what he asked!
"What do you think of UConn, your semi-final opponents?" He could only ask again.