Slam Dunk: Muguro

Chapter 394 Sakuragi's high school grades were not ideal.

Poor Takezato, if their teamwork had been better, Shohoku might not have won so easily.

"We win, we win!"

"The playoff spot is ours!"

At the moment the game ended, the Xiangyang players cheered excitedly, their faces beaming with the joy of victory.

Judging from their excited expressions, you'd think they'd won the championship!

There's nothing we can do about it; the competition in Kanagawa this year is incredibly fierce, the most in history.

On the other side, Buri's players stood on the field, their figures appearing particularly forlorn under the lights.

Their eyes were vacant, as if they had lost their souls, and an indescribable sense of sorrow filled the air.

Among them, the more emotional Katsumi Ichiro and Godai Tomokazu had their heads bowed and their shoulders trembling slightly, seemingly unable to accept this cruel reality.

They were once full of hope and longed for the national competition, but now all their dreams and expectations have vanished.

They lost and missed out on a playoff spot!
The shadow of this defeat is destined to linger in their hearts for a long time.

Mike Okita stood with his hands on his hips, his eyes revealing deep self-reproach.

If his mid-range and long-range shots were more accurate, the team might have a chance to win.

Not far away, Coach Kazumi Kawasaki sighed, his expression a mixture of disappointment and helplessness.

At this moment, any words seem pale and powerless.

"I'll visit Professor Anzai tomorrow!"

Coach Kazumi Kawasaki made a decision: despite losing the playoff spot, Takezato may still be able to step onto the national stage.

He will definitely do his best to help Kanagawa Prefecture become the host of the national tournament and secure the host spot.

This is Buri's only hope!
Coach Anzai is undoubtedly a crucial part of this.

In terms of connections, experience, and achievements, Coach Anzai is a leading figure in the island nation's basketball world.

The chairman of the National Tournament Organizing Committee is Coach Anzai's junior in the national team, and the vice chairman is his student.

Furthermore, the promotion of the previous chairman of the Kanagawa organizing committee was also related to Coach Anzai.

With Coach Anzai's support, Kanagawa Prefecture's chances of becoming the host of the national tournament will greatly increase, and could even be described as a sure thing.

This is the true value of Coach Anzai!
Shortly after, all four teams in the joint finals entered the stadium to participate in the subsequent awards ceremony.

In this county tournament, Shohoku won the championship for the second consecutive year, which also became Kogure's sixth championship.

Two county-level competitions, one winter qualifying competition, one summer national competition, and two winter competitions.

If he wins the championship again, he will be able to fulfill the boast he made back then.

"Not one, not two, not three..."

This is the famous "guaranteed seven championships" statement!
Shohoku's strength ensured that Kogure would be able to fulfill his promise.

In contrast, gOat chose to leave without even saying goodbye after realizing that his teammates were no longer performing well.

Poor Wade and Bosh, they sacrificed their stats and status, only to be betrayed in the end.

Soon, the newly appointed chairman of the Kanagawa organizing committee took the stage to present the awards.

First and foremost, of course, are the five major data awards.

Top scorer: Rukawa Kaede, averaging 31.4 points per game.

Rebounding leader: Tetsuya Naito, averaging 14.5 rebounds per game.

Assist leader: Kenji Fujima, averaging 11.8 assists per game.

Steals leader: Kogure, averaging 2.8 steals per game.

Block leader: Uozumi, averaging 3.5 blocks per game.

In this county tournament, Kogure's average playing time was less than 20 minutes.

This is also why Kogure missed out on the scoring title and assist title, ultimately only winning the steals title.

Even so, Kogure still managed to achieve a triple-double average in less than twenty minutes per game.

Since reaching his maximum rebounding stat, Kogure's rebounding instincts have surpassed those of Akagi, Sakuragi, and Naito, making him the best in Shohoku.

His frontcourt rebounds even accounted for an astonishing 40%, which is reminiscent of the 'prophet' Moses Malone!
Compared to gOat, who likes to grab defensive rebounds from his teammates, Moses Malone prefers to grab offensive rebounds.

Moses Malone's career offensive rebounds totaled over 7,000, far surpassing the second-place player by a significant margin, making it one of the most difficult records to break in the NBA.

In addition, Moses Malone once grabbed 21 offensive rebounds in a game against the SuperSonics.

For this reason, Moses Malone is known as the NBA's offensive rebounding king and second-chance point king.

In the joint finals, even strong players like Uozumi and Nagamitsu could not completely stop Kogure from grabbing offensive rebounds.

Following the announcement of the five top data leaders, individual awards were then presented.

Unsurprisingly, Rukawa Kaede won the Best Newcomer award.

Sakuragi was not convinced by this, believing that his stats were not much worse than Rukawa's.

Unexpectedly, the other two monkeys refuted Sakuragi's statement.

In Kiyota's words, that's Rukawa Kaede, he's not like ordinary high school students!
In yesterday's match, Kiyota was completely impressed by Rukawa.

Following the Best Newcomer award is the Best Team award.

Soon, the portraits of the five players slowly appeared on the giant screen.

When their images appeared, the entire audience erupted in uproar.

They are Naito, Rukawa, Matsumoto, Mitsui, and Kogure.

Because Shohoku won a total of four spots!
Furthermore, neither Sendoh nor Fujima made the list; the only one on the list was Matsumoto Minoru.

In the past, county competition champions usually won two spots, and at most three, but this time the record was broken!
The Kanagawa organizing committee expressed their helplessness, saying that the Shohoku players performed too well.

Poor Shoyo and Takezato, they came up empty-handed.

The reason why Sendoh and Fujima didn't make the list is all Kogure's fault.

Both players underperformed in their matchups against Kogure, dragging down their average stats.

In fact, Shohoku had a real chance of taking all five spots.

Because Sakuragi's stats are in no way inferior to Matsumoto Minoru's, and he also has the advantage of a better track record.

This is also why Minoru Matsumoto made the list!
This reminded Kogure of the first season of gOat in the future.

Back then, GOAT was still the GOAT; he didn't have Diddy yet, only Nike.

In the race for Rookie of the Year, Anthony's stats were in no way inferior to gOat's, and he even led his team to the playoffs.

Keep in mind, that's the wild Western Conference, where the competition is far greater than in the East.

The NBA's Western Conference dominance and Eastern Conference weakness began after Michael Jordan's retirement in 1998 and gradually became a long-term stable trend after the 1999-2000 season.

In contrast, GOay failed to lead his team to the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, and for a time, Ricky Davis was the leader of the Cavaliers.

No matter how you look at it, An Dongxi has a significant advantage.

Surprisingly, gOat ultimately won Rookie of the Year!

Some might say that Anthony's triad background ruined him, but in fact, many NBA stars have triad backgrounds.

In Kogure's view, this is simply the result of Nike's strong support!
Because gOat secured a super shoe contract with Nike right after entering the NBA, the sunk costs were too high.

In addition, after Jordan's retirement, Nike urgently needed to introduce a star player who could replace him.

At the time, Kobe was still reeling from the Eagle County incident, and Iverson had signed with Reebok.

As for O'Neal, we can ignore him; centers don't sell shoes...

"Next, the MVP award will be presented!"

At this point, the newly appointed chairman of the organizing committee began to announce the last award.

The prefectural tournament MVP is undoubtedly the championship team's prize. "Kogure, MVP!"

"Mumu, MVP!"

……

As soon as the organizing committee chairman finished speaking, the entire stadium was filled with the shouts of the audience, which eventually converged to form an exaggerated momentum.

The noise was so loud it seemed to lift the roof off the stadium.

The chairman of the Kanagawa organizing committee was at a loss for words. He didn't even bother to look at the names on the list and simply announced, "Congratulations to Kiminobu Kogure from the Shohoku team for winning the MVP of this year's Kanagawa Prefecture Tournament!"

Just like last year, it was too predictable.

Given Kogure's influence, unless he performs poorly, he is destined to win the prefectural tournament MVP again.

In less than twenty minutes, he achieved an average triple-double, a phenomenal performance that leaves everyone convinced.

Conversely, if the MVP award were given to someone else, the chairman of the Kanagawa organizing committee feared he would be implicated later.

The next moment, the big screen was completely filled with Kogure's image!
Soon after, Kogure received the MVP trophy.

After making a few perfunctory remarks, the chairman of the Kanagawa organizing committee officially announced the successful conclusion of the prefectural competition.

Upon returning to Shohoku, the group naturally received a warm welcome.

In the past two years, basketball has become the face of Shohoku High School.

However, behind the excitement, shadows still linger.

Shohoku High School continued classes after the prefectural tournament ended.

"What?! You failed seven subjects? Are you a pig?"

Akagi, in his irritable older brother form, glared angrily at Sakuragi and the seven test papers placed in front of him.

What's frustrating is that the highest score on these seven test papers was only 36 points, and some even had single-digit scores.

Well, Sakuragi's high school grades weren't great!

As a top student, Akagi naturally hopes that his teammates can study hard.

When confronted by Akagi, Sakuragi waved his hand dismissively and said, "Gorilla, it's not like I'm the only one who failed!"

Besides Sakuragi, there are also Miyagi, Rukawa, and Mito Yohei.

Unlike the original story, Mitsui, who never had any bad grades, actually had excellent grades and never failed a single subject.

Poor Yohei, he successfully replaced Mitsui.

Despite his refined and scholarly appearance, Yohei often fails his courses.

In the original work, when Sakuragi failed seven subjects, the Sakuragi Army also failed several subjects without exception, only not as dramatically as Sakuragi.

Judging from the voice actors, Yohei Mito hung up two doors.

The problem is that after joining Shohoku, Yohei had to focus some of his energy on training, which made his already poor performance even worse.

Needless to say, Miyagi's energy was entirely focused on pursuing girls.

Rukawa Kaede was the one who was wronged. He originally had a chance to pass, but he didn't pay enough attention during the exam and fell asleep...

Apart from these four problem children, all the other players from Shohoku passed the test.

In addition, Kogure, Akagi, and Ayako all achieved excellent results and are also members of the elite student group.

Fun fact 1: In the setting of "Slam Dunk", the best student is Hanagata Toru, who ranked first in the grade exam for three consecutive years. He is recognized as the "academic genius" in the work.

Takehiko Inoue emphasized that Toru Hanagata's academic abilities far surpassed those of the other characters.

Fun fact 2: Kenji Fujima, who seems very smart, was described as a "poor student".

Fun fact #3: Sendoh sleeps in class, but he gets excellent grades.

"Damn it, don't you know the rule that if you fail four or more subjects, you can't participate in the national competition?"

Seeing that Miyagi was still looking around, Akagi became even angrier, and his fist hardened instantly.

"Especially you, Miyagi! You're already a second-year student, and you haven't made any progress!"

thump~
"Oh, what are you doing!"

Miyagi clutched his head and squatted on the ground in anguish.

At this moment, Kogure and Mitsui walked into the basketball court together.

As soon as he entered the stadium, he saw Akagi playing against Miyagi.

"Akagi, have they made a mistake again?"

Akagi took a deep breath and suddenly realized a problem.

Wait a minute, I'm not the team leader, why should I be in such a hurry?
Even without those four guys, Shohoku would still be a top contender for the championship.

Thinking of this, Akagi stopped being in a hurry.

At this moment, Rukawa Kaede spoke up, "Captain, is there a way?"

"Let's go find Mr. Koike together and hope he can give you a chance to retake the exam!"

It has to be said that Coach Koike has a special connection with the problem children's group; all of Shohoku's main players have received his guidance.

The thought of the nature of the problem children's group gave Kogure a major headache.

The others are fine, but Sakuragi is too impulsive.

Therefore, a serious warning must be issued.

"I don't think you want to miss the national competition, right? So, you must have the right attitude and be humble!"

In order to participate in the national competition, the four had no choice but to follow orders.

Soon, everyone entered the teachers' office.

Kogure and his group stood in front of Ms. Koike.

"Please, teacher, have mercy and give these idiots another chance to retake the exam! Please!"

As the captain, Kogure took the lead.

"I beg you!"

Because of Kogure's advance warning, the Problem Children's Army did not take it lightly as they did in the original story; instead, they solemnly bowed and apologized to Ms. Koike.

Because of their good attitude, the teachers began to discuss whether to give them a chance to reform.

Just then, the office door opened again.

"Haha, I didn't expect your basketball team to have four players who failed. Looks like our judo team won!"

Aota Tatsuhiko's voice arrived before he did!
The true God has come!

At the entrance, Akagi asked the smug Aota Tatsuhiko, "Aota, how's your judo club?"

"I'm all alone!"

Aota Tatsuhiko pointed at himself with his thumb, his eyes filled with arrogance.

Then, the scene of the underworld reappeared!

Unexpectedly, the next moment, Aota Tatsuhiko knelt down directly in front of several teachers as if a mountain of gold had been pushed over and a jade pillar had been overturned.

"Please, teacher, give me another chance to be resurrected!"

Qingtian was very sincere and immediately began to kowtow.

Sakuragi and the others were taken aback at first, then burst into laughter: "So you're just as disheveled as we are!"

"This is a headache!"

Kogure scratched the back of his head, thinking that such a scene in the underworld was worthwhile.

(End of this chapter)