Where the noise did not reach

Chapter 29 The Language Responsibility of Public Figures
The next morning, while Xu Ling was still in bed, the whole of America was in an uproar.

The headlines in college basketball weren't about Texas Tech winning the BIG 12 championship, nor were they about any other major game from other regions.

Instead—[The General's Curse: Bob Knight says he "hopes all those Indiana University guys are dead"]

ESPN, CBS, NBC, The New York Times, USA Today, and even CNN all reported on this.

Some of Knight's old friends from Indiana University expressed disappointment.

This was undoubtedly a huge uproar, but for the battle-hardened Knight, it was nothing.

He was completely unaffected.

Texas Tech University's official response to the matter was "no comment."

Therefore, the impact of this incident was very fragmented. Outside of TTU, all media outlets were discussing and analyzing it, and Knight once again became a hot topic on television news.

Meanwhile, on TTU campus, the school was immersed in the joy of its basketball team winning the BIG 12 championship.

Xu Ling went from a rising star to a sports hero recorded in the school's history, and his every move was watched and even over-interpreted.

For example, on the first day after returning from winning the championship, he carefully picked out two chicken breasts in the school cafeteria. This was immediately exposed by an alumnus on the school's Reddit board, who commented: "Don't you think this is the kind of choice a professional player would make?"

Meanwhile, ESPN's hit show "Draft Insider" is analyzing the latest draft trends.

“We can basically say that after the Big 12 championship battle, Eli’s draft stock is locked in at the top ten. If he can maintain this momentum in the national championship, he is very likely to be a top-five pick in the 2007 draft.”

Another commentator said, "No, if Eli can still perform like this in March Madness, then the question we should be discussing is who should be the second pick in the draft, him or Kevin Durant."

"Furthermore, there's another piece of news: Isaiah Thomas was fined by the league this morning for unauthorized contact with a college player, but Isaiah's attention is already completely focused on the draft a few months from now."

"Yes, according to my sources, Isaiah attempted to trade the Knicks' long-term draft picks and any players on the team for a 2007 lottery pick, but as far as I know, the Bobcats have rejected his offer."

"Oh my god, it's Isaiah again!"

Analysts burst into laughter. Rumors of Isaiah Thomas's outrageous moves were circulating throughout the league, and clearly, they weren't unfounded.

Then, a scout on ESPN gave Xu Ling high praise: "Eli's height, wingspan, athleticism, and skill combination make him a player who can play three positions at the same time. His performance in TTU is simply a combination of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. If it were me, I would never miss a player like that!"

Naturally, for every person who praises someone, there is someone who disagrees.

Jimmy King, currently an analyst at FOX Sports, was once a member of the "Fab Five," a dominant force in college basketball. However, despite their impressive reputation, only Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, and Juwan Howard ultimately made a name for themselves in the NBA. While the success rate isn't low, the disparity is striking. Those three earned hundreds of millions of dollars in their NBA careers, while King was merely a fleeting presence in the NBA, spending most of his career overseas. His entry into FOX Sports was facilitated by Webber's connections. This background has led King to be highly skeptical of all overhyped college basketball players.

He bluntly stated on FOX Sports: "I hope all the hype surrounding KD and Eli stops. If I see anyone saying they're the next MJ again, I'll go crazy! Calm down, they're just young guys who've had a good run of their game. In my opinion, they're not even as good as I was during the 'Fab Five' era. There's only one guaranteed pick in this draft class, and that's Greg Oden. He'll be the Bill Russell of this generation."

Such comments are not uncommon.

Some people want to start a debate about "Eli or KD", while others feel that Xu Ling is not qualified.

However, their consensus is absolute.

That means Oden remains the undisputed number one draft pick.

Meanwhile, Xu Ling had been feeling the lingering effects of Knight's foul language towards his enemies in front of reporters these past few days.

During class, a student asked for his opinion on Knight appearing on national television news, and a professor called on him to talk about "the language responsibility of public figures."

All of this demonstrates the immense impact of Knight's statement wishing those who expelled him from Indiana University would die.

However, within the team, this influence is almost invisible.

Because they only have less than five days to prepare for the March Madness Championship.

Two days have now passed.

The schedule for the National Championships has been released.

As the champion of the BIG 12 League and a top-five seeded team in the nation, TTU was placed in the Eastern Conference.

This is a great competition area for them.

Because the Eastern Conference doesn't have the defending champion University of Florida, nor the formidable Ohio State University.

Whenever someone expressed such thoughts, Knight would reprimand them severely.

He wants the players to understand that a decisive March Madness game holds all the possibilities.

Having coached for over forty years, Knight has witnessed far too many Cinderella comebacks that are impossible to replicate.

Training continued as usual today.

The person who organized the training was Chris Beard, Knight's right-hand man.

In many people's eyes, Beard is the team's "assistant coach." Because Knight has a bad temper and is prone to losing his temper when players make mistakes in training, he often delegates the responsibility of organizing training to assistant coaches.

Beard essentially took on all the responsibilities of leading the team's training, and was also the team's offensive coach.

He is considered the most promising elite assistant coach in Knight's coaching team to succeed in the future.

Xu Ling interacted most with Beard during training.

He had a feeling that Beard might be a better fit as the team's head coach than Knight.

"Eli, do you know where your back-to-the-basket problem lies?"

Beard asked a question as if he were a wise and enlightened master.

Xu Ling looked at him with a puzzled expression.

“You rarely use your body to sense the opponent’s defensive intentions like Kobe did.” Beard imitated Kobe’s movements in a very convincing way. “You have to know how the opponent is defending in order to respond effectively, otherwise, your back-to-the-basket game will hardly be effective.”

Then, Xu Ling joked, "You're right, but the coach won't let me watch Kobe's game footage."

Beard said helplessly, "You can see the same thing when you watch MJ's game tapes. All these techniques eventually lead to the same result."

Just then, an assistant team manager in charge of daily affairs ran over, panting, and said to Xu Ling, "Eli, the coach wants to see you in his office."

Xu Ling nodded, and then said to Beard, "I guess he's going to criticize me again."

Beard simply smiled and said nothing more.

In the coaches' office at Wimbledon, the March Madness schedule for the Western Conference was pinned to the wall.

In a few days, TTU will have its first game of the Madness 3.

On the office television, ESPN was playing an interview, the audio drifting out intermittently: "...It's been overhyped by the media. We all know those stats were inflated against weak teams."

Knight didn't take Niagara University seriously. While he always instilled in his players that "no game in the tournament is easy," the Purple Hawks were an "easy" team. If they were to slip up against the Purple Hawks, Knight should seriously consider retiring. This was a defeat he couldn't afford; such a humiliating upset would destroy his coaching spirit.

What really concerned Knight was the team ranked below them in their group – Duke University.

According to the schedule, if both TTU and Duke win the first day of competition, they will meet in the second round.

Duke

Mike Krzyzewski.
“Coach,” Knight looked at his father with awe, “this is a great opportunity for us to prove to the world that TTU, a disciplined, legally recruited, fair and honest team with no record of misconduct, can still achieve the same success as Indiana University under your leadership, especially to prove to the media that Mike has surpassed you.”

“Pat”.

Knight looked at his son with a grim expression: "I have nothing to prove."

Knight realized he had said the wrong thing and was about to say something to make amends when there was a knock on the office door.

"Come in."

The door opened, and Xu Ling walked in. He immediately noticed the television in the office facing him, playing an ESPN program. At Knight's prompting, Knight picked up the remote and pressed the rewind button, returning the screen to the beginning of the interview.

In the footage, North Carolina's rising star, Brandon Wright, faces the camera with an arrogant and disdainful tone: "I know Eli, he's been pretty good in the Big 12, but I think he's been overhyped by the media. We all know that most of his stats are padded against weaker teams. He has unlimited shooting rights at TTU. It's nothing special. Hopefully, they can last a while in the tournament so I'll have a chance to beat him myself!"

Knight pressed the pause button, and the TV screen froze on Brandon Wright's disdainful face.

"Coach, did you call me over just to hear these things?" Xu Ling asked curiously.

"Aren't you angry?" Knight stared at him, his voice low as if he were suppressing his anger. "If it were Michael Jordan, he would have played a game that Brandon Wright would never forget!"

"Is North Carolina also in the Western Conference?" Xu Ling asked with a smile.

"Yes, if you can lead us to the fourth day of 'March Madness,' we'll have a chance to face them."

"That's all?" Xu Ling tilted his head, his tone tinged with provocation.

"What else do you think there is?" Knight asked, dissatisfied.

"I thought it was because someone felt guilty for saying something offensive on the night we won the Big 12 championship, which led to the team being criticized by the national media, and that they called me into their office to apologize. Turns out that's not what happened?"

Just as Knight was about to explode, Xu Ling continued, "Thanks to you, the professors have been telling me these past few days how significant the responsibility of public figures' language is."

At this moment, Knight was like a hound growling, ready to go berserk at any moment.

“It seems that, besides needing extra lessons,” Xu Ling’s smile widened, “someone also needs to teach Brandon Wright a lesson.”

As Xu Ling walked to the door, she added before leaving, "I would be happy to be his teacher."

(End of this chapter)