Slam Dunk: Muguro

Chapter 254 Coach of the Year!
The next day, Kanagawa National Gymnasium.

At eight o'clock in the morning, Mu Mu appeared at the entrance of the gymnasium on time.

With the warm hospitality of the staff, Murasakibara entered the stadium through a special channel.

The moment he stepped into the stadium, the audience fell into a brief silence.

"Mu Mu, it's Mu Mu Gongyan!"

"Why is Mumu here?"

……

The silence did not last long. After they reacted, the audience burst into crazy noise, with cheers, applause and screams one after another, echoing throughout the stadium.

They never expected that Murasakibara would appear in the county junior high school competition.

This is undoubtedly a huge surprise for these audiences!

As the top high school student in the country and with a refined and handsome appearance, one can imagine how popular Murasakibara is in Kanagawa.

The appearance of Murasakibara brought the atmosphere in the gymnasium to a boiling point.

Feeling the warm welcome, Murasakibara smiled and waved to everyone around him, then walked towards the judges' seat prepared for him by the organizing committee.

The judges' seats are located on one side of the competition field, and can clearly see the competition situation on the field.

When the audience saw Murasakibara sitting on the judges' panel, they all showed a look of sudden enlightenment.

However, they did not express any doubts about whether Murasakibara was qualified to serve as a judge for the junior high school finals.

With Murasakibara's ability, he is fully qualified to serve as a junior high school judge.

There are two seats on the judges' panel, and there is obviously another judge besides him.

This is just like TNT, the two judges have completely opposite positions, making the competition more entertaining.

As for who the other judge is, Murasakibara guessed that it was most likely Coach Tagore.

It's well known that Coach Tanaoka loves to scout out junior high school players!
In SD, Coach Tanaoka and Coach Anzai once served as judges for the county junior high school finals together.

In that game, Mitsui, under the guidance of "chicken soup master" coach Anzai, finally turned defeat into victory and won the junior high school MVP.

Also in this game, Coach Takeo was afraid that Coach Anzai would recruit Mitsui, but Coach Anzai stated that Shohoku was a public high school.

In order to repay Coach Anzai, Mitsui gave up the treatment of a top student, rejected Coach Tiangang's recruitment, and joined the unknown Shohoku team.

It didn't take long before a middle-aged man entered the arena.

He waved the paper fan in his hand, pretending to be elegant.

Well, if you ignore his ape-like head and pot-bellied body.

To Murasaki's surprise, the other judge was Coach Takato.

I thought that his commentary partner would be Coach Tanaoka, but it turned out to be Coach Takato.

This is interesting!

On the other side, Coach Takato was obviously stunned when he saw Murasakibara.

He also didn't expect Murasakibara to be here.

After seeing Muguro sitting on the judges' panel, Coach Takato asked, holding a paper fan in his hand, "Mumure-san, isn't Coach Anzai going to be the judge?"

"The coach has something urgent to do, so let me take his place as the judge."

Mu Mu answered truthfully.

"It seems that Coach Anxi is already old. I wonder how long he can continue coaching?"

Coach Gaotou opened the paper fan again and pretended to sigh.

It seems to be a sigh of emotion, but it is actually a mockery!
How could Mu Mu not hear the tone of Coach Takato? He immediately retorted: "Even if Coach Anxi is old, he is still the best coach of the year!"

Last year, Coach Anxi was named Coach of the Year by the national organizing committee.

Not only did he lead the weak Xiangbei team to win the Winter Championship and the top four in the National Championship, he also led the Kanagawa team to win the Autumn National Sports Championship.

In the three major national competitions, with two championships and one semi-finalist, it is reasonable for him to be named the best coach of the year.

What Murasakibara meant was simple: he thought Coach Takato was not worthy of being compared with Coach Anzai.

Coach Gaotou couldn't help but reveal an expression of envy and jealousy. Although he had coached Hainan High School for many years, he had never won the Coach of the Year award.

The Coach of the Year award was basically won by Coach Sanno and Coach Hakata.

Mu Mu started to fight back: "Coach Gaotou, I heard that you haven't been having a good time at Hainan High School recently?

If we lose the winter competition again, Hainan High School will not participate in the national competition for two consecutive years. How do you think the school will view this?"

Although he wanted to refute, Coach Takato had to admit that what Murasakibara said made sense.

The consecutive defeats have put Coach Gaotou’s position as the head coach of Hainan High School in jeopardy.

Before Coach Gaotou became the coach of Hainan High School, Hainan High School was already the king of Kanagawa.

This can be seen from Coach Tanaoka's recollections.

In addition, Coach Tanaoka is one year older than Coach Takato.

At this moment, Coach Gaotou was not only anxious about the team's performance, but also worried about his own career prospects.

Because he remembered Coach Kitano who was fired by Touou.

Coach Kitano has more experience than him and his record is not much inferior to that of Hainan High School.

Even so, Coach Kitano was fired by Toyotama.

Unlike Hainan High School, Fengyu at least participated in the national competition and winter competition last year, but Hainan High School did not.

Coach Takato was filled with worry at the thought that he might be kicked out of the school like Coach Kitano.

As a nationally renowned high school coach, he doesn't want to be kicked out of the team, as that would be too embarrassing.

Click~
Perhaps because he had accumulated a lot of negative emotions in his heart, he was so excited that he angrily broke the paper fan in his hand.

Coach Takato's psychological defenses were broken by Murasakibara's counterattack, and he was furious, which formed a sharp contrast with Murasakibara's calmness and composure.

Hu~hu~
After taking two deep breaths, Coach Takato finally calmed down and began to change the subject: "Mr. Mumu, do you have any idea of ​​recruiting junior high school players in Xiangbei?"

The reason why Coach Gaotou became a judge for the junior high school finals was mainly because he wanted to be close to the water and get the moon first, win over outstanding players in advance, and improve the competitiveness of Hainan Affiliated High School.

"No, our Xiangbei is a public school!"

Murasaki directly applied Coach Anzai's famous saying.

He naturally wouldn't take the initiative to recruit players, after all, that wasn't his job.

As for the players taking the initiative to join Xiangbei, that is the players' business.

"That's good!"

Coach Gaotou was obviously relieved and then sat in another chair.

He was really afraid that Murasakibara would compete with him. After all, Shohoku is now in its heyday and its attractiveness is even higher than that of Hainan High School.

The reason is very simple. Murasakibara is still a sophomore in high school and it is still a long way to go before graduation.

Who doesn’t want to be taken flying by Murasakibara?
It was also at this time that the two teams began to leave the player tunnel and enter the stadium.

Among them, Sakuragi and Yohei immediately surrounded Murasakibara after seeing Murasakibara sitting on the judges' panel.

Mito Yohei asked curiously: "Senior, why are you here?"

"Coach Gaotou and I will serve as judges for this competition!"

At this time, Sakuragi patted his chest and assured: "Kumure-senpai, just watch me, not only will I lead the team to defeat Rukawa, I will also become the MVP of junior high school, hahaha!" Sakuragi was obviously YYing and started laughing as if no one was around.

It’s no wonder Sakuragi is arrogant. This is mainly related to the lineup of Wako Junior High School.

The Wako trident composed of Sakuragi, Yohei and Oda is already well-known in junior high school.

In contrast, Toigaoka Junior High School is still almost a one-man team of Rukawa Kaede. Apart from Rukawa Kaede, there seems to be no other outstanding players.

No, Rukawa also has a helper, and that is his junior fellow student - Mizusawa Ichiro!
At this time, Ichiro Mizusawa was just a second-year junior high school player.

Ichiro Mizusawa, the future captain of the Toigaoka Junior High School basketball team, is known as the "No. 1 forward in Kanagawa" in the junior high school basketball world of Kanagawa Prefecture.

Of course, Murasakibara was impressed by Ichiro Mizusawa.

"I remember that Ichiro Mizusawa had joint tuberculosis in his legs. In order to prevent the disease from getting worse, he had to undergo surgery. In the end, he could no longer participate in strenuous activities such as basketball!"

Thinking of this, Mu Mu subconsciously looked at the lineup of Toigaoka Junior High School.

Soon, his eyes focused on a young man full of vitality.

Judging from Ichiro Mizusawa's position in the team and his jersey number, he is very likely to be the main player of Toigaoka Junior High School.

However, Ichiro Mizusawa looked a little absent-minded and flamboyant from time to time.

Not only Ichiro Mizusawa, but other Fuqiu players and coaches are also watching.

"Hey, where's Rukawa Kaede?"

It was not until this time that Murasakibara finally discovered that Rukawa was not in the team.

"This guy must have overslept. I wonder if Caizi reminded him?"

Murasakibara sighed. Yesterday he specifically asked Ayako to remind Rukawa, but an accident still happened.

At this time, Ayako, who was sitting in the audience, also noticed that Rukawa was not present.

"This idiot, I clearly reminded him yesterday, but he still failed to keep his promise today. I hope it's not too late."

Ayako muttered something and immediately left the gym.

She knew Rukawa's phone number and was going to find a phone booth outside to make the call.

Soon, both sides started to play.

Sure enough, Rukawa Kaede did not appear on the court.

In the judges' booth, Coach Takato said with regret, "I didn't expect that Rukawa Kaede from Fugaoka Junior High School would miss such an important match. Wako Junior High School will definitely win this match."

Coach Takato is naturally very envious of Rukawa Kaede, who won the junior high school MVP last year.

Rukawa Kaede is also his biggest target of this trip, followed by the Wako Trident.

"That may not be the case. As long as Rukawa Kaede arrives in the first half, Fuqiu Junior High School still has a chance of turning defeat into victory!"

Since Coach Takato chose to support Wako Junior High School, Murasakibara can only stand on the side of Togaoka Junior High School.

He was very clear about Rukawa Kaede's strength, after all, he was the one who taught him personally.

Even if he is not as good as Zebei, he is not much inferior.

"Then let's wait and see!"

While the two were commentating, the match between the two sides finally began.

Due to the absence of Rukawa Kaede, Sakuragi seemed a little anxious.

Beep~
With the referee's whistle, the game officially started.

"Damn you, Fox. If you miss the game at this time, I won't have anything to brag about even if I win."

Sakuragi muttered to himself, not quite paying attention.

So during the jump ball phase, Sakuragi's reaction was obviously a beat slow, and center Fumioka got the ball to his side first.

Fuqiu Middle School was ready to go and quickly launched an offensive.

Soon, Ichiro Mizusawa received a pass from his teammate.

As the player second only to Rukawa Kaede in Toigaoka Junior High School, Ichiro Mizusawa automatically became the offensive core of Toigaoka Junior High School.

Without any hesitation, Ichiro Mizusawa used his excellent explosive power to pass the defensive player who didn't deserve to have a name in one step.

The defensive player tried to turn around and chase back, but Ichiro Mizusawa decisively stopped and made a jump shot.

shuh~
The basketball hits the net!

Call ~
After scoring, Ichiro Mizusawa breathed a sigh of relief, his eyes revealing an indomitable fighting spirit.

Ichiro Mizusawa's score not only won the team two valuable points, but also boosted the morale of the entire team.

The coach of Toigaoka Junior High School breathed a sigh of relief. Even though Rukawa was not there, there was still Ichiro Mizusawa, and Toigaoka Junior High School might not be without the ability to fight back.

Unlike his optimistic coach, Ichiro Mizusawa remained calm.

He knew the competition had just begun and the real challenge was yet to come.

It was Wako Junior High School's turn to attack. Mito Yohei passed the point guard Tomagaoka in one step, attracted the defense, and then passed the ball to Sakuragi, who scored a dunk.

Seeing his teammates were uneasy, Ichiro Mizusawa quickly shouted, "Everyone concentrate, we must hold out until the captain returns!"

"it is good!"

The Fuqiu players immediately agreed. Without giving it any further thought, they began to concentrate on the game.

Since the team is only one step away from the championship, they must work hard to win the game regardless of whether Rukawa Kaede returns or not.

The game on the field was still in full swing. At the beginning, under the leadership of Ichiro Mizusawa, Toigaoka Junior High School was able to fight with Wako Junior High School on equal terms.

Ichiro Mizusawa has sophisticated breakthrough skills and accurate shooting, which gives his opponents a lot of headaches.

Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. When Sakuragi shifted his defensive focus to Ichiro Mizusawa, his scoring efficiency began to decline significantly.

Whenever Ichiro Mizusawa completed a breakthrough, Sakuragi would always be able to make timely backup, making Ichiro Mizusawa miserable.

In addition, Wako Junior High School also has an absolute advantage in rebounding.

In just five minutes, Sakuragi grabbed three offensive rebounds and converted them all into points.

It is obvious that without Rukawa Kaede, Wako Junior High School is significantly stronger than Toigaoka Junior High School.

Relying on the team's tacit cooperation and outstanding individual abilities, Heguang Middle School began to firmly control the rhythm of the game.

In just ten minutes, Heguang Middle School established a nearly 20-point advantage.

However, Fuqiu Middle School did not give up and they are still struggling.

Although the hope of winning was slim, they still fought hard for every ball.

shuh~
Not long after, Yohei Mito took advantage of Sakuragi's pick-and-roll to temporarily shake off his opponent and successfully made a mid-range shot.

At this time, there were still 7 minutes left in the first half, and Heguang Middle School had established a 20-point advantage.

The Fuqiu players were obviously hit hard, the situation was already precarious and they could collapse at any time.

Just at this moment, an agile figure jumped down from the audience seats. Who else could it be but Rukawa Kaede.

The staff subconsciously rushed over and tried to stop Rukawa Kaede.

"He is Rukawa Kaede from Fugaoka Junior High School, let him in!"

Because they were close, Murasakibara immediately stopped the staff.

Under Murasakibara's stop, the staff had to leave in disappointment.

(End of this chapter)