St. Louis, Missouri.
This city on the banks of the Missouri River has a beautiful environment and a gentle pace of life, but a large number of out-of-towners flooded in overnight.
Almost all the hotels and guesthouses in the urban area were fully booked, and the previously quiet and empty streets became lively.
There is no other reason, this is the venue for this year's NCAA Crazy March [-]-to-[-] and [-]-to-[-] competitions.
After the second round of March Madness, fans flocked here following in the footsteps of the Sweet Sixteen teams.
As one of the top sixteen teams, the Bulldogs live in a hotel near the competition arena.
"Ding..."
In the early morning, the warm sunshine shone on Zhang Yu's face. He was awakened by the ringing of his mobile phone. He opened his sleepy eyes, but was flashed by the dazzling sunlight, and then narrowed again.
He sat up from the bed, saw that the curtains were all drawn, and the other single bed was empty, he couldn't help complaining:
"Brad, don't you see that I'm still sleeping..."
He fumbled with his left hand on the bedside table, picked up his phone, and saw it was from Michael Shrewsbury.
"Hey, Micah, what's the matter?" He looked at the time, it was 7:30 in the morning.
After the victory over Kentucky State, the Bulldogs waited a day for the second round games in all divisions before flying to St. Louis yesterday.
Zhang Yu also took this opportunity to get a good night's sleep and did not get up early to exercise as usual.
"Ronan, there is a Chinese media that wants to interview you, called...Basketball Pioneer News, do you want to accept it?" Mikael Shrewsbury laughed, sounding extremely happy.
It is reasonable to say that the coordinator of the operation department should inform Zhang Yu of this kind of trivial matter, but the Bulldogs have just entered the top [-], and Mikael Shrewsbury is elated, and he puts the highest importance on Zhang Yu. Do it yourself.
The contract between the team and Zhang Yu was only signed for one year, and he has to prepare for the next contract renewal.
"Basketball Pioneer News?" Zhang Yu woke up instantly.
This name is too familiar to him. When he was in middle school in his previous life, China's Internet was not developed enough, and "Basketball Pioneer" was the only source for him to learn about the NBA.
"What time is the interview?" Zhang Yu asked.
"The other party said that it depends on you. Whenever you have time, you can conduct interviews."
"Okay, no problem, please agree to come down for me." Zhang Yu said readily.
Received an invitation from the "Basketball Pioneer", which gave him a wonderful sense of excitement.
This is completely different from the interview with "USA TODAY", which is just a very ordinary interview for him, and it is no different from the post-game interview.
But this time it's "Basketball Pioneer"!
When this exclusive interview is released, he will be able to enter the attention of domestic fans.
Thinking of her parents being able to see her name in the media made Zhang Yu feel like returning home.
He chatted with Micah for a few more words, then hung up the phone with a smug smile on his lips.
Grandpa is also a celebrity!
He got refreshed, got dressed immediately, got out of bed and washed, and was ready to start a day's work.
Tomorrow is the [-]-to-[-] match. The preparation time before the match is very tight, and he must seize every minute and every second.
After washing up, he picked up the phone on the table, called the hotel front desk, and ordered a breakfast.
The food delivery staff came quickly. Zhang Yu put the American breakfast delivered by the hotel on the table, turned on the computer and ate while watching the game video.
He looked at it for a while, and gradually frowned.
Tomorrow's opponent is an unprecedented rival, and the situation facing Butler is very bad.
click!
Just when he was halfway through his meal, the door was pushed open. Zhang Yu looked up and saw Stevens coming in angrily from the door.
"Brad, what's the matter?" Zhang Yu asked suspiciously.
"Look at these newspapers!" Stevens walked to the table and sat down, and threw the stack of newspapers in his hand on the table.
Zhang Yu put down the knife and fork and picked up the newspaper. Stevens said angrily:
"Nobody likes the Bulldogs except the Indianapolis Star, and they all think we're going to lose terribly!"
Zhang Yu opened these newspapers, and the speed gradually increased.
After reading roughly, he put down the newspaper, picked up the knife and fork again, put a piece of bacon into his mouth, and said with a smile:
"Of course, that's an invincible alligator, shouldn't we lose?"
Among the pile of newspapers on the table, on the top sports front page of the "Washington Post", a ferocious green crocodile head seems to be watching Zhang Yu, and the headline next to it is "New Dark Horse Meets NCAA Overlord, Butler's Counterattack Journey" declared the end".
All NCAA fans know that this logo represents last year's national champion, the most popular University of Florida Gators in the NCAA.
Tauring Green, Joakinoah, Corey Brewer, and Al Horford in the starting lineup are talented and powerful, known as the "Florida Four".
These four are all considered to have the potential to enter the NBA, but they played team basketball under the leadership of head coach Billy Donovan. They cooperated selflessly with each other and united tacitly, allowing the University of Florida to dominate the NCAA.
After winning the championship last year, they could have participated in the draft, but they unanimously chose to stay on the team. They wanted to help the University of Florida win another NCAA championship, which made other wealthy schools almost cry.
Facing such a powerful opponent, it is no wonder that the major media are not optimistic about Butler.
Although Curry is the NCAA scoring leader, there are four quasi-NBA players on the opposite side. Except for the local Indian state fans, no one is optimistic about Butler.
Stevens suddenly sighed:
"I also know that it is difficult to win, but it is hard for me to accept that we have finally reached the top [-] and will soon break through the best results in history, but it is really unlucky to meet Buddha University."
Zhang Yu glanced at him in surprise:
"Brad, I didn't expect you to have such an irrational day. I thought you would just say coldly—Ronan, cheer up, we will definitely win!"
Stevens smiled wryly:
"I would like to, but I can't think of a way to win. We don't have Greg Oden, and Buddha University is invincible... Haven't you finished eating yet? Hurry up and study tactics!"
"Don't worry, Buddha University is very strong, but we don't have no chance at all." Zhang Yu said unhurriedly, swallowing the last bite of bacon.
...
At 11:30 in the morning, the sun gradually rose to its highest point, and the warm sunshine spread over the city of St. Louis.
Many fans from other places scattered in the streets and alleys, taking advantage of the last free time before the game to visit this city full of Catholic churches.
But there are also some Buddha fans wearing dark blue support sweaters blocking the training hall of the top [-] teams, holding up placards such as "Come on alligators".
They didn't wait too long, and the alligator team came out of the arena after training, and the cheers on the scene suddenly became louder.
Crowds of reporters rushed up, surrounded the University of Florida players, and interviewed them.
Under the coordination of the staff of the alligator team, the chaos quickly subsided, and the interview was carried out in an orderly manner.
A female reporter handed the recorder to Billy Donovan:
"Coach Donovan, are you confident about tomorrow's game? What do you think of your opponent, Butler University?"
"Butler is very strong. Coach Z is a very talented head coach. They also have a talented scorer like Stephen Curry. Tomorrow will be a tough game, but we will prepare for tomorrow's game with all our strength. I believe in my The players will not let me down, so we will win." Donovan said calmly.
His answer was quite satisfactory, and no one could find any faults, but it also made the reporter unable to arouse the slightest interest.
The female reporter smiled very politely, turned her head and came to Noah, without sloppy at all:
"Jokin, what do you think of tomorrow's game?"
"There is no doubt that we will win." Noah's answer was much more refreshing.
"What do you think of Butler, tomorrow's opponent?" the reporter asked.
"Butler?" Noah shook his head. "I didn't know it. The coach will tell us how to fight. I don't think it is any different from other opponents we have encountered. Anyway, it is..."
Horford next to him immediately held his shoulders when he heard the words, leaned over, and smiled politely:
"Butler is a strong opponent, but we have prepared well against them, and Buddha will win this game."
At this time, another male reporter squeezed over and asked loudly:
"Al, in the previous game, you took on in the team..."
Ten minutes later, the interview was over, and everyone on the Alligator team got on the bus back to the hotel.
In the car, Horford said slightly reproachfully:
"Jokin, how could you say that when you were interviewed? This will leave the outside world with the impression that your emotional intelligence is not high, and it may even have an impact on your draft market."
Among the "four young men", Horford is the most stable. He is the leader of the team's locker room and takes care of the other three.
"It's okay, isn't what I said the truth? As long as the four of us work together, we will definitely be invincible!" Noah said nonchalantly.
"Not necessarily. We are very likely to meet Ohio State University later. Greg Oden is a difficult opponent." Brewer leaned over and said with some concern.
Taoling Green also turned his head from the front row, and he said excitedly:
"Hey, tell me, do all four of us have a chance to be selected in the first round?"
"It's hard to say, Al's pick must be the highest, Jokin can also enter the lottery 100%, who let them be inside, the two of us may not be sure..." Corey Brewer heard this, serious analyzed.
Donovan, who was sitting in the front row, looked back at the four proud disciples, smiled helplessly, and turned his head away again.
"I hope to go to a weak team so that I can have enough shots in my rookie season..."
"I think it's better to go to a strong team. The winning atmosphere is very important..."
The laughter of the four echoed in the bus, but the name Butler was never mentioned again.