Slam Dunk: Muguro

Chapter 160: Autumn National Sports Competition Begins

September 9, Hokkaido National Gymnasium.

Around 8 a.m., the Kanagawa team, led by two coaches, entered the gymnasium.

The host of this Autumn National Games is Hokkaido.

Like the summer national competition, the autumn national competition also has one game per day.

However, this time, Murasakibara no longer has to worry about the team's roster depth.

The Kanagawa team is full of strong players, and it is hard to find a weak one.

Soon, all 32 regional teams gathered in the gymnasium.

Not all administrative districts are eligible to participate in the Autumn National Games.

The National College Organizing Committee has its own set of selection criteria, and they will select the 32 administrative regions with the highest basketball index last year.

Last year, the Kanagawa team won the semi-finals in the Autumn National Sports Tournament and was eventually eliminated by the Fukuoka team.

Fukuoka Prefecture is where the Hakata University of Commerce is located.

For each team, standing at the front is the basketball manager, who holds a sign with the region's logo engraved on it.

The captains and vice-captains of each team followed closely behind, and the remaining players were arranged in order according to their status in the team.

As vice-captain, Murasaki stands behind Watanabe Masao.

Last in line was Uozumi, who had been booked as a water fountain attendant.

While waiting, Murasakibara began to look at the situation of his opponents, namely Akita Prefecture, Fukuoka Prefecture, Aichi Prefecture and Osaka Prefecture.

As for other teams, he doesn't care about them.

Among them, the Fukuoka team is on the left of the Kanagawa team, and they were the runner-up last year.

That’s right, the champion is still Akita Prefecture, where Sanno Industrial is located.

Murasaki glanced at Suzuki Nobisuke, whose expression was serious and unsmiling.

After losing the national competition in the summer, he seemed to have matured.

Muguro passed the Fukuoka team and landed on the Akita team.

Not surprisingly, Kaede Shimoki Kashima, the top high school student in the country, was elected captain.

The vice-captain is Kentaro Sakurai, and at this moment, he is staring at Murasakibara.

Murasaki was surprised to see Kentaro Sakurai.

At the Summer Nationals, Kogure broke Kentaro Sakurai's ribs with an elbow.

"This guy must not be fully recovered yet!"

It takes a hundred days to heal a broken bone, and only a month has passed. Unless one has an incredible recovery ability, it is normal that he has not fully recovered.

After discovering that Murasakibara was also looking at him, Kentaro Sakurai subconsciously shrank his neck and dared not look Murasakibara directly in the eye.

First, he had his ribs broken by Murasakibara's elbow, and was treated like the future Jordan. Then he was beaten by Tetsuya and Rukawa.

What kind of treatment is this?
The treatment of Jordan + Larry Bird in the future!
Seeing Sakurai Kentaro's reaction, Murasakibara smiled. This guy's personality is really like Artest.

The same mania, the same tendency to bully the weak and fear the strong.

Palace of Auburn Hills incident, Artest fouled Ben Wallace.

In a rage, Big Ben pushed Artest several meters away. If he was pushed by other players, Artest would definitely fight back immediately.

However, it was Ben who pushed him!

So, Artest instantly became scared.

At that time, it was the "Martial Saint" who rushed up to confront Big Ben, but Artest, who was always known for his "toughness", collapsed on the technical table and pretended to be dead.

In the end, Artest was hit by a cup, which led to the follow-up of hitting the fans.

He was timid in front of Ben and attacked the fans harshly.

It’s not that Ben is not to be trifled with, but that the fans are more cost-effective!
The next moment, Muguro's gaze fell on Ohkawada again.

"What on earth did this guy eat to grow so fast in just one month?"

Ohkawada's change is huge. After careful comparison, Murasakibara found that Ohkawada's height has surpassed that of Ichinokura Sou, who is only 170 cm tall, and is now about 173 cm tall.

In one month, he grew about 8 centimeters taller, which made Murasakibara extremely envious.

Of course, even if Ohkawada grows taller, he can still only play as a defender.

The difference is that Ohkawada will no longer suffer from his height as before.

At this time, Ohkawada seemed to have noticed something and subconsciously looked at Murasakibara.

After noticing that Murasakibara was looking at him, he quickly shifted his gaze like a mouse seeing a cat.

Ohkawada recalled the race under the lights that day, which was his lost youth...

In short, he was extremely scared at that time!
Neither the Akita nor the Fukuoka representative teams chose mixed teams, but used Sanno Industrial and Hakata University of Commerce as regional representatives.

This is also common sense!
On the other hand, the Osaka and Aichi teams, like the Kanagawa team, are mixed teams.

The difference is that the Osaka team is composed of Toyotama and Daiei Gakuen, and the Aichi team is composed of Aiwa Gakuen and Meiho Industry, which is not as complicated as the Kanagawa team.

Finally, Murasakibara's gaze fell on the big screen in front of him.

The big screen was showing the group situation of the Autumn National Sports Meet, in which Kanagawa's first opponent was the Chiba team.

Chiba representative team, reached the top 16 in last autumn's national sports meet.

According to the rating of Basketball Weekly, the Chiba team is a B+ level team, and there is a clear gap between it and the Kanagawa team.

The Kanagawa team was rated as an AA-level team, and the Akita team and the Fukuoka team were rated at the same level.

As for the Aichi and Osaka teams, they were rated A+ teams.

It didn't take long before the Autumn National Games Oath-Taking Ceremony began.

The entire process is exactly the same as the summer national competition, so I won’t go into details here.

After the swearing-in ceremony, the 32 teams began to prepare for their first match. Among them, the match between Kanagawa and Chiba Prefecture was held in a nearby stadium.

As an AA-level team, the Kanagawa team is still very impressive.

Before the game started, the stadium was not completely packed, but at least 80% to 90% of the seats were occupied by spectators.

Most of them are supporters of the Kanagawa team.

This is closely related to Basketball Weekly.

In the analysis of the major teams, Yayoi Aida focused on the Kanagawa team, believing that the Kanagawa team is the favorite to win the championship.

Among them, the chapter about Murasakibara is the most lengthy.

She described in detail Murasakibara's performance and honors in county and national competitions, as well as his humility and hard work off the court.

Due to selfish motives, Murasakibara's content occupies at least 1/3, far exceeding that of other Kanagawa players.

Unlike the plot year when the editor-in-chief of "Basketball Weekly" refused to publish Sendoh's submission, this time, the editor-in-chief did not stop Yayoi Aida's willfulness.

Because Murasakibara has proven himself in the summer national competition and even qualified to compete for the country's top high school student.

At the same time, Murasakibara's outstanding appearance and elegant temperament also made him gain countless fans in national competitions.

In the words of later generations, Murasakibara mastered the traffic code, while Sendoh had no traffic. This is the essential difference between the two.

Before the game started, two teams came to inspect the enemy situation, namely the Shizuoka team and the Osaka team.

If nothing unexpected happens, they will be the opponents of the Kanagawa team in the second and third rounds.

Among them, Mugure discovered that the coach of the Osaka team was Coach Kitano.

It's obvious that Coach Kitano has not been fired by Toyoda!

What is certain is that unless Touou makes further progress in the winter season, Coach Kitano will definitely be fired by Touou this year.

Soon, the game officially started.

Kanagawa National Team
Center: Masao Watanabe

Ohmae: Masayasu Watanabe

Xiaomae: Mumu Gongyan

Shooting guard: Mitsui Hisashi
Point Guard: Kenji Fujima

Even though the opponent was not strong, Coach Anxi still sent out the best lineup.

He intends to use competition as training to further improve the tacit understanding of the starting lineup.

On the other side, the starting players of the Chiba team also came on the court at the same time, including their ace player - Kojiro Kawai!

Although the Chiba team is far inferior to the Kanagawa team, it does not mean that there are no strong players.

Kojiro Kawai was the MVP of the Chiba Prefecture tournament and is among the top three guards in the country. His strength should not be underestimated.

beep~
After the game started, Masao Watanabe overpowered the opponent's center and easily grabbed the jump ball.

Fujima quickly dribbled the ball across half court and immediately passed it to Watanabe Masao.

Murasakibara and others immediately dispersed to give Watanabe Masao better space for singles.

bang~
Masao Watanabe started the back-to-the-basket mode, and the moment he knocked his opponent back, he quickly turned around and broke through, rushing straight to the basket.

The opponent's small forward immediately started to assist in defense. Watanabe Masao did not stick to the ball and immediately passed the ball to Murasakibara who appeared in the left corner.

shuh~
Murasakibara even adjusted himself and made a three-pointer with a flick of his hand.

Scoring, it's that simple!
On the defensive end, the opposing point guard immediately passed the ball to Kojiro Kawai as soon as he crossed half court.

Facing Mitsui's defense, Kojiro Kawai broke through in front of his body.

Compared with Kojiro Kawai, Mitsui's physical fitness is not much inferior.

Mitsui's defense was already above average, and due to frequent sparring with Murasakibara, his defensive level was further improved.

For a moment, Kojiro Kawai was obviously restricted.

However, Kojiro Kawai did not choose to pass the ball, but instead shot it.

bang~
Due to Mitsui's interference, Kojiro Kawai's shot ended up missing.

Masao Watanabe secured the rebound and immediately passed the ball to Fujima.

"Quick attack!"

The next moment, the Kanagawa team launched a fast break.

Five players rushed to the front court quickly, catching the Chiba team off guard.

Murasakibara is even more outstanding. His speed and explosive power are no less than Fujima at this stage.

In the blink of an eye, Murasakibara rushed to the front.

Without hesitation, Fujima chose a long pass.

Murasakibara received the pass from Fujima, rushed into the basket and scored a layup.

The game on the field is still going on, but unfortunately, it is destined to be a one-sided game.

Even though the Chiba team fought hard, they were unable to make up the gap between the two teams.

By the end of the first half, the Kanagawa team had established a 30-point lead.

In the second half, Coach Anxi waved his hand and sent out a substitute lineup with five players on the field.

Even with the substitute lineup, the Chiba team was still not able to match them, and the gap between the two sides continued to widen.

In order to prevent the Chiba team from losing too badly and doing irrational things out of anger and shame, Coach Anzai had to send out the weakest lineup, which consisted of Uozumi, Akagi, Ikeda Yuho, Ozawa Yusaku and Kusanagi Shibune.

But even with this weakest lineup, it is still no match for the Chiba team.

By the end of the game, the Kanagawa team had won the game with a score advantage of more than 50 points.

(End of this chapter)