Where the noise did not reach

Chapter 36 It seems you're not very good at it.

When Texas Tech defeated the University of Pittsburgh 94-78 in California to advance to the Elite Eight, the whole of Texas was thrilled.

The NCAA Tournament continues to this day, and TTU is the only remaining team in the Texas region.

As other Texas teams were eliminated, the voices supporting TTU grew louder and louder.

Moreover, reaching the quarterfinals is an unprecedented achievement for the Red Raiders.

This group of players has surpassed their predecessors and created new history.

Now, they are just one game away from the Eastern Conference championship, and that dream title—the Final Four.

The team that stands in their way is the team that once gave birth to a god.

University of North Carolina Tar Heel Team

Putting aside North Carolina's glorious history, this year's North Carolina team can be said to be another peak since the super team that dominated the country in 2005.

Their roster is full of future NBA players.

Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green, and Brandon Wright.

Meanwhile, North Carolina is a team that is clearly hostile to TTU.

The source of this hostility is Brandon Wright, a player who was considered one of the best high school players in the 2006 class before entering college. Instead of winning extra attention from scouts, he was underestimated by scouts due to his lack of soft talent, and his mock draft predictions have been hovering outside the top five.

While Wright's draft stock was declining, Xu Ling rose like a rocket to the top five, at which point Wright had already started to speak rudely to him.

According to TTU fans, Wright expressed his contempt for Xu Ling on at least three separate occasions after Xu Ling entered the lottery predictions.

But Xu Ling has not responded.

Xu Ling's reputation reached its peak when he led his team to victory over Duke.

Wright became even more anxious.

Is beating Duke this year something to brag about?

They beat Duke in the ACC like it was their son, but I've never seen anyone praise them like that.

At this point, TTU fans began writing letters to insult Wright, believing him to be a clown who was simply jealous of Eli.

This broke Wright's spirits, and on the day of the fourth round of the tournament leading to the national semifinals, Wright opened a Twitter account and posted his first tweet: "TTU fans can prepare to cry. You have no chance at all. As a shitty mediocre team, you only made it this far by taking advantage of an easy schedule. You are the only non-elite team in the elite eight. I will end this farce!"

No one knows whether Xu Ling heard Brandon Wright's breath, as he had only opened his Twitter account a few days earlier.

But he did not tweet about it.

Fans' private messages flooded his account like snowflakes.

On the day of the competition, Xu Ling posted his first tweet, which was thought to be a response to Wright, but it turned out to be a clarification: "These past few days, someone has been impersonating my Twitter account to scam money. Please retweet this tweet. This is my only account, and I will never ask fans for money online!"

This sounds a bit like a lame joke.

Tar Heels fans mocked on Twitter: "Eli Tsui is a coward, he doesn't dare to respond to Brandon!"

Xu Ling forwarded the reply and then ignored it.

That afternoon, Texas Tech University and the University of North Carolina gathered at the HP booth in San Jose.

Moreover, many important figures were present at the event.

Michael Jordan, who has become a minority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, attended the event in a blue North Carolina T-shirt to support his alma mater.

Almost all NBA teams preparing for the lottery sent executives, and some, like the SuperSonics, which attach great importance to this year's draft, even had their general manager present.

"Tonight's game is undoubtedly the most anticipated of the four matchups!" said ESPN commentator Dan Shulman. "North Carolina is the stronger team, but TTU has more supporters!"

His regular partner, Dick Vitale, chatted about off-court gossip: "The rivalry between Brandon Wright and Eli Xu is definitely worth watching. Just think how unhappy Brandon is with Eli's position. Maybe we'll see a fully committed Brandon Wright tonight!"

Texas Tech University was the team that proactively changed its formation.

Knight knew their interior defense would be completely overwhelmed; the frontcourt duo of Daryl Dora and John Plefka had no chance against Brandon Wright and Tyler Hansbrough.

Their key to victory isn't in the paint, so he's going to take a big gamble.

Daryl Dorra came off the bench, Alan Esquith started, and John Plefka started at center.

This means that TTU is actually fielding a four-guard lineup. The defense of this lineup can only rely on the zone defense and Xu Ling's energy, while on the offensive end, every player on the court can spread out and shoot three-pointers.

Before the game started, Knight called Xu Ling to his side. This freshman was the reason why he dared to field this lineup.

“You have a lot of responsibilities tonight. Besides taking down that bastard, you also need to help the others on the defensive end. Even if you do both of those things, we still need you to contribute on the offensive end.”

Xu Ling asked sarcastically, "Could Jordan have done that in college?"

“He doesn’t need it,” Knight said with a self-deprecating laugh. “His teammates back then were much better than you.”

"If I mess up, can that be an excuse for my failure?"

“No,” Knight said. “You keep saying you want to win the national championship, then go and win it for me! Don’t try to find excuses for failure! Excuses are for losers to console themselves!”

And that was it. Xu Ling had no reason to fail. Knight had ruthlessly placed a shackle on him.

But he didn't mind, because North Carolina was a team he absolutely didn't want to lose to.

The starting players for both sides entered the game.

TTU's four-defender lineup caused a stir in the stadium.

"I never imagined that Coach Knight would become a kindred spirit of Mike D'Antoni," Vitale joked from the commentary booth.

On the field, North Carolina's starting lineup quickly proved that they shared the same temperament as Wright.

Hansbrough had a wild, primitive air about him. When he came to the center circle for the jump ball, he gave the TTU players a disdainful look: "Brandon is right, you bunch of dwarfs only got this far because you were too lucky!"

The jump ball was a foregone conclusion.

Hansbrough won possession for North Carolina, and Ty Lawson quickly advanced the ball to Wright in the attacking third.

Brandon Wright started running. Despite being nearly seven feet tall, he was as agile and nimble as a deer. With long arms and legs, he looked like a promising talent with a very high potential.

Lawson's pass was very clever. When Wright received the ball, there was a wide-open space in front of him. He pushed off the ground and prepared to dunk. However, Xu Ling jumped out from the wing and quickly blocked Wright's ball with his right hand, fiercely destroying the opponent's dunk.

Wright lost his balance upon landing and fell.

The referee, of course, wouldn't let this obvious foul go unpunished. He blew the whistle, and Wright went to the free-throw line.

"I'd like to see how many fouls you commit!"

Wright glared fiercely at Xu Ling.

Xu Ling said casually, "Don't worry, I have no intention of wasting any more fouls on you."

Wright's free throws were inconsistent; he made one but missed the second. Xu Ling grabbed the defensive rebound and then passed it to Martin Zeno.

The tar heel team has returned to their defensive positions.

Because TTU fielded a small-ball lineup, Wright had to be positioned outside to guard Xu Ling.

Then, Xu Ling started running, and the space created by the five outside players made it easy for him to get open positions.

Wright's defensive judgment and positioning were extremely poor; the moment Xu Ling received the ball, the defense failed to keep up.

Xu Ling glanced at Wright, who was out of position, and immediately jumped and shot, making a clean shot.

"What else can you do besides these tricks?" Wright shouted.

Xu Ling ignored him.

Back in the backcourt, TTU's zone defense was officially in place.

In the NCAA, with its short three-point line and lack of a defensive three-second rule, zone defense is devastating in terms of spacing.

Even with North Carolina's significant advantage in the paint, they couldn't easily create scoring opportunities under the basket.

They tried to open up the game from the outside, but Wayne Ellington was tightly marked by Esquith, putting Lawson in a dilemma. Driving straight in was pointless, as there were simply too many players. And shooting from the outside? In any situation, a forced one-on-one shot from the outside is always a last resort.

Lawson raised his hand to call for Wright's screen.

However, even after the pick-and-roll, Lawson simply changed his position; there were still too many players inside the three-point line.

Wright received the pass back, and Xu Ling completely ignored his long-range mid-range shot.

Wright angrily took a jump shot.

"boom!"

Plevka grabbed the rebound and immediately found Xu Ling.

Something counterintuitive happened on the court for North Carolina.

The Tar Heels should have been using their talent to launch numerous counter-attacks, but instead they fell into the opponent's counter-attacking rhythm.

Xu Ling dribbled the ball up the court, and Wright chased after him with all his might, but Xu Ling's sudden stop and pull-up just outside the three-point line left Wright several meters behind. Wright's clumsy performance drew laughter from the entire audience.

Xu Ling regained his rhythm while pulling the ball up, gathered it, lifted it, and shot a three-pointer from the top of the arc.

"Uh-huh!!!"

“Eli is still Eli!” Dan Shulman joked, “but Brandon is not at all the Brandon he imagines himself to be.”

Commentators' jokes generally don't affect players' mentality because they rarely hear what's happening in the commentary booth. What truly strikes at the heart of the matter is often the trash talk from opponents.

Wright slammed the ball to the ground, but then heard Xu Ling's voice coming from nearby: "Besides being good at using tricks, I seem to be particularly good at creating open spaces for you. It's just that you don't seem to be able to handle even open spaces well."

Wright could hardly help but be angry and wanted to respond, but any response would be futile in the face of reality, especially since the person was already gone.

Ultimately, on the field, it's the ball that matters.

(End of this chapter)