Where the noise did not reach

Chapter 43 Glory and Despair (Thanks to lenx for the generous donation)
Atlanta sunlight streamed in through the gaps in the hotel curtains, like an uninvited reporter relentlessly snapping photos of Xu Ling's face.

"hiss--"

He frowned and pulled the pillow over his head.

Suddenly, the door was flung open with a bang. Roderick Craig—the perpetually energetic guy—rushed in, holding up the day's Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the front page featuring a large still image of Xu Ling's step-back three-pointer over Oden, with the headline "China's Sniper."

"Yo, man, you know what? You made me the hottest roommate in the whole country last night!" Craig jumped onto the bed like a lottery winner. "This morning I went to buy coffee, and the cashier didn't even ask my name, just yelled, 'Hey, that's Eli's teammate!'"

Xu Ling lazily rolled over: "Shouldn't you be proud? This popularity is a free gift from me."

"Stop being so proud!" Craig waved the newspaper exaggeratedly. "Now the whole team thinks I should help you receive fan mail, pick out fan gifts, and some people are even asking me to help find out if you have a girlfriend."

"Then tell them I have it," Xu Ling said vaguely.

Craig blinked. "But the question is—do you really have it?"

Xu Ling was speechless at the blunt black man's words, and threw back the pillow: "Which is more important, this question or playing Florida tomorrow?"

Craig plopped down on the edge of the bed: "Just as important! But seriously, Eli, you had a few crazy plays last night, and was Oden just careless, or do you have some secret? You stole several balls from Oden last night."

"It's a matter of experience," Xu Ling said casually. "When I played in China, there was a center who had the same habit. I stole the ball from him more than ten times in one game. Later, after that guy graduated, he took his talent to a rural corporate team."

Craig laughed uncontrollably upon hearing this: "Haha! May God bless Greg Oden."

Unlike before, when a team would rest for five or six days after each match, after entering the semifinals, the teams that advanced to the final two only had one day of rest.

Tomorrow, Texas Tech will return to Georgia Dome to play the national championship game against the University of Florida.

Therefore, Texas Tech University needs to hold a day of training in Atlanta.

Moreover, you can't really learn anything in just one day.

Furthermore, having reached the championship round, neither team has any secrets left to hide in the final.

TTU's weaknesses are its interior defense and roster depth.

"Kids, look around you." The old coach's voice was unusually gentle. "Six months ago, some people said it was a miracle that we made it to the Sweet Sixteen."

His gaze swept over each player: "But now, there's a reason we're standing here."

The whiteboard displayed Florida's roster analysis—Horford and Noah forming a no-fly zone, Brewer's all-around defense, and Taurean Green's accurate three-pointers.

"But I must also tell you that since 1975, almost every defending champion that has retained its full-strength roster has achieved the feat of winning back-to-back titles."

"almost?"

Xu Ling astutely grasped another layer of meaning in this statement: "In other words, it's not all."

“Yes.” Knight’s lips curled into a slight smile. “In 1985, Georgetown lost to Villanova.”

“A surprise 22 years ago,” Plevka muttered.

“That’s right.” Xu Ling suddenly stood up. “This proves that miracles do happen. Just like before, no one believed we could beat North Carolina, and no one believed we could get past Ohio. We’ve come this far, just one last step. Does anyone still doubt that we can’t win the championship?”

“That’s right, that’s the belief we need.” Nate nodded and smiled. “You have to remember Eli’s words: in the NCAA, miracles always happen.”

Training proceeded as usual that day.

The sound of sneakers rubbing against the floor, the crisp sound of basketballs swishing through the net, the occasional laughter—everything seemed relaxed and peaceful, as if tomorrow was just an ordinary regular season game, not the final battle for the national championship.

"JJ, let's play a game. Let's have a shooting contest. Each of us will shoot ten three-pointers from a fixed position. The loser treats everyone." Xu Ling, holding the ball in one hand, challenged captain Jarius Jackson.

Jackson grinned: "Alright, rookie, get your wallets ready."

The two players stood at their respective corners and began a three-point shootout. The sound of swishing shots quickly filled the arena, drawing the attention of the other players.

"Does that count?" Sophomore guard Allen Voskull suddenly interjected, pointing at Jackson's last shot, "Was his foot on the line?"

Jackson glared: "Bullshit! That ball was perfectly clean!"

“Let me check the replay,” Voskull gestured dramatically with his hands. “Hmm, it definitely hit the target. 9 to 10, Eli won. The captain should treat us.”

Jackson angrily threw the ball at him, but Voskull dodged it with a laugh.

On the other side, Martin Zeno pulled out a whistle from somewhere, solemnly put it in his mouth, blew it with a "beep," and then pointed at Xu Ling: "Traveling! This goal doesn't count!"

Xu Ling looked confused: "There's such a thing as 'walking' in this???"

Plevka and Craig were doubled over with laughter, so they sat down on the floor and began mimicking the commentator's tone: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the TTU team's three-point contest! We see Eli Xu being unfairly called! Referee Martin Zeno has clearly been bribed by Jarius!"

Meanwhile, Bob Knight and the coaching staff stood quietly in front of the tactical board in the distance.

"Aren't these guys too relaxed?" his son Pat Knight asked in a low voice.

Knight shook his head, his gaze falling on the frolicking players.

“Let them be,” Knight said softly. “At times like these, mindset is more important.”

His gaze finally settled on Xu Ling—the Chinese man had just sank a long-range three-pointer, then turned to his teammates who were pretending to protest, spreading his hands with a sly smile and absolute confidence.

Knight looked away and turned to leave.

Nothing in the night

November 2007, 4

2006-07 NCAA National Championship Game Day.

On one side is the seemingly invincible defending champions, and on the other is a fairytale-like Cinderella team. Both sides have a large number of supporters.

The match will begin at 4 p.m.

It is exactly three o'clock now.

The team was about to depart for Georgia Dome, but Texas Tech head coach Bob Knight was staring blankly at a yellowed piece of paper in his hotel room.

His thoughts drifted back to the past, to the golden age of college basketball, which was also his peak period.

The year before 1984, Knight was elected head coach of the US men's basketball team, tasked with defending American basketball honor on home soil. It was a golden year, with a plethora of exceptional talent emerging from high school basketball: Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin, Charles Barkley, Wyman Tisdale, Sam Perkins, and Alvin Robertson. Any professional basketball coach facing such a pool of talent would have been confident of winning the Olympic gold medal, not to mention the Soviet Union's boycott of the Los Angeles Olympics in retaliation for the US's boycott in 1980. From any perspective, the difficulty of winning the gold medal was significantly reduced.

Knight cannot afford to fail at the Olympics. If he does, he will be forever stigmatized like Henry Iba in 1972, which would ruin him.

(1) Head coach of the US men's basketball team at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
In order to make this hastily formed team as disciplined as his Indiana University team, Knight went so far as to cut Charles Barkley, who "didn't know what discipline was," and yelled at every player on the team, using phrases like "Is that all you've got?" to motivate Jordan. Jordan vowed that it was the last time he would be treated like that in his basketball career. This team, full of talented players, slaughtered teams from all over the world at the Olympics and reached the finals without any suspense.

On the day of the final, things seemed to be going badly. Jordan was the team's leader, but he brought the wrong jersey, and some players even forgot to bring their sportswear. This made Knight anxious. He felt that these kids didn't take the final seriously at all; they just wanted to finish the game as soon as possible and go home.

An indescribable nightmare is approaching.

The team from 1972 also didn't believe they would lose.

Before failure occurs, signs of failure will appear one after another.

Knight wanted to unleash a torrent of anger before the game to get the players focused, and then, when he arrived in the locker room, ready to unleash his fury, he found a note on the blackboard, which usually listed the opposing team's starting players, that read: "Coach, after all this shit, we're definitely not going to lose tonight."

He recognized Michael Jordan's handwriting, took the note, put it in his pocket, and said nothing more.

That evening, the American's final opponent probably didn't even last five minutes, with the final score being 101 to 68.

When it all came to an end, Knight reached his golden moment, the highest peak he had ever climbed in his life.

From that moment on, Robert Montgomery Knight achieved all the highest honors in nonprofessional basketball. His Indiana Mountain Men went 63-1 from 1974 to 1976, and the 1976 Mountain Men remain the last undefeated team in college basketball history to win a championship. This also made Knight's Indiana surpass UCLA as the greatest college basketball program of that era. Five years later, Indiana won the championship again, further solidifying Knight's status as the best active college basketball coach.

Olympic champion, Pan American Games champion, two-time NCAA national champion, 43-year-old Knight stood at the pinnacle of non-professional basketball. He never imagined that good things always come to an end. Twenty-two years later, he won another NCAA championship during that time, but everything else had changed.

Knight put the historic note into the box and took a deep breath.

Why am I still coaching?

Knight couldn't help but think of his great mentor, Reid Auerbach, who chose to leave coaching at the age of 49 to focus on behind-the-scenes work.

Because Auerbach knew that his achievements were irreplaceable.

However, he lacked the wisdom and determination to know when to stop.

However, just last year, he realized there might not be any point in going any further.

Knight arrived at Texas Tech with great ambition, hoping to win a championship and prove to the world that he still had the ability to take a college program from the middle to the top. However, in an era where Michael Jordan would never stay in college for three years, his recruitment efforts were largely ineffective.

The recruitment for the 2005 class was a success. Knight got almost all the players he could get, and he believed he could build around this group to ensure the team would remain competitive after the seniors retired.

However, that year's TTU was like a scene from a disaster movie.

Knight didn't get along with the freshmen, and the freshmen didn't get along with the veterans either. The team lacked chemistry, the coaching staff was dysfunctional, and they had a failed season. This was the second time TTU had failed to qualify for March Madness since Knight took over.

An even more serious blow came after the season ended, with most freshmen choosing to transfer schools.

It's important to understand that things are very different now compared to a decade or two later, when NCAA players can sign endorsement deals and transfer schools at will. In this era, players are an absolutely vulnerable group. Forget about income; if they accidentally fall for the recruiters' lies and only realize at school that it's nothing like what they expected, most will choose to silently endure it, because transferring schools requires a year-long suspension from the league.

Under these rules, the coach's authority is as unquestionable as that of a king. However, the 2005 freshmen, on whom Knight had placed high hopes, transferred to many schools after the season, as if escaping from prison. In the end, only two remained, which dealt a heavy blow to Knight. Not only did it damage his reputation and draw criticism from the outside world, but it also made it difficult for the team's youth development.

Six months ago, Knight had already fallen into despair, feeling that his TTU career was turning into a joke.

Every time he walked into the training facility, it felt like a reminder of his failure. Knight had thought about resigning more than once, and even wrote several drafts of his resignation letter.

Then, the Chinese man appeared like a savior.

Miraculously, TTU began winning. First, they defeated Kansas to win the Big 12 championship, and then they swept through March Madness, defeating strong teams like Duke, North Carolina, and Ohio State one after another.

Knight stood by the hotel window, the Georgia Dome gleaming in the sunlight in the distance. Twenty years later, he was back on the championship stage.

This team, underestimated by everyone, should have fallen apart at the beginning of the season, but now it is only one last victory away from making history.

"Coach, are you spacing out?"

Knight snapped out of his daze and saw Xu Ling leaning against the doorframe with a mischievous smile on his lips.

"The whole team was betting on the bus that you might have finally decided to retire."

"Is that so?" Knight scoffed.

“I told them that the great Coach Bob Knight must be working on some amazing tactics,” Xu Ling said. “But Craig insisted that you probably just couldn’t find the right clothes.”

“More than a decade ago, players wouldn’t dare to talk to coaches like that.”

“But you’re late now.” Xu Ling blinked. “Everyone’s waiting.”

Knight silently checked his belongings, closed his bag, and walked past Xu Ling to leave.

"Let's go, genius. The champion won't just hand it over to us."

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(End of this chapter)