Slam Dunk: My Study Abroad Career in Northern Hunan

With the passage of time, the team practice match of Xiangbei High School entered a fierce stage.

Both the red and yellow teams have excellent players. Rukawa Kaede's individual singles and the assistance of Nango Koichiro and others can be said to be invincible on the offensive end.

Kiyota Nobunaga's advantage was evident when facing Yasuharu Yasuda's defense. Under the leadership of several first-year candidates, the red team led by Kaede Rukawa and Kiyota quickly established an advantage.

Although the yellow team led by Sakuragi Hanamichi and Katsumi Ichiro counterattacked with all their strength, their offensive efficiency was not as high as their opponents.

Kuratani Sora and Yasuda Yasuharu in the back line are really poor in height. Even though their team is playing zone defense, they are still easily broken by the red team led by Rukawa Kaede.

Both Rukawa Kaede and Kiyota Nobunaga can easily score points in the middle distance without worrying about the yellow team's defense.

After all, Komi Ichiro is the only outside player who has good height conditions. As long as he passes Komi Ichiro, the yellow team's mid-range and undefended are basically the same.

Kuratani Sora wants to prove his worth on the defensive end, but Tetsushi Shiozaki, who needs attention on his side, has played more than ten minutes of the game and hasn't touched basketball a few times.

The half of the area he guarded was not attacked at all!

There were a few times when Nobunaga Kiyota broke through, Sora Kuratani tried to double-team, but Nobunaga Kiyota had a very wide view of the court. Such an opportunity would never be given to Sora Kuratani.

This also caused Kuratani Sora to be completely invisible on the defensive end, and his role was similar to that of Yasuda Yasuharu.

On the offensive end, Sakuragi Hanamichi, Katsumi Ichiro, and Oda Ryumasa almost covered the entire team's shots.Kuratani Sora played for more than ten minutes after the fast break was completed at the beginning, and no other teammates passed him the ball.

The red team played man-to-man defensive tactics. Tetsushi Shiozaki is a rigid guy. After Kuratani Sora entered the frontcourt, Shiozaki directly focused on Kuratani Sora. On the outside, if no one picks and rolls, Kuratani Sora can Pulled away from Shiozaki, but couldn't escape at all.

Although Yasuda Yasuharu does not rule out passing the ball to Sora Kuratani, it is limited to the situation where Sora Kuratani is open.

The little gap he ran was not enough for Yasuda to risk passing the ball.

Kuratani Sora also tried to use air cuts to create offensive opportunities for himself. During the game, he did run out of space a few times, but Yasuda Yasuharu did not think Kuratani Sora's height could be used in the interior and mid-range. Where there is nothing to do, so there is no passing.

Kuratani Sora played a bit aggrieved in this practice match. He felt that he had a lot of opportunities, and he also believed that his ability could seize such opportunities and score the ball, but Yasuda Yasuharu didn't trust him at all. The targets are also Yingmu Huadao and Rukawa Feng.

While Kuratani Sora was annoyed by this, he also felt powerless.

No matter how good a player is, if his teammates don't pass the ball to him, his performance on the court is limited.Especially for a player like Kuratani Sora, because he has no rebounding ability, he has very few opportunities to get the basketball.

When the red and yellow teams were practicing, Coach Anxi had already arrived at the arena.He didn't disturb the players' game, but made a cup of tea by himself, sat down on the chair on the sidelines, and watched the game in the field.

Coach Anxi watched for a while, and his vision was also attracted by Kuratani Sora's figure.

I saw Kuratani Sora running back and forth with his teammates non-stop, trying to defend against the opponent's breakthrough player on the defensive end.

Kuratani Sora's hard work made Coach Anxi suddenly think back to himself.

"Budao, come here."

Out of curiosity, Coach Anzai waved at Jinguji Budo, and asked about Kuratani Sora after Budo came to him.

"Budao, who is that child?"

Coach Anzai pointed to Kuratani Sora in the field, and asked Jinguji Budo beside him.

"A transfer student in the first year of high school, in the same class as Sakuragi, called Kuratani Sora."

"I came to the arena directly after class, and I want to join the basketball club of Xiangbei High School."

"On this point, I have already agreed."

"However, this kid has a very high spirit, and he keeps saying that he wants to be the main force and become the main candidate."

"I thought that anyway, I would play a practice match to test the abilities of the players after returning from the holidays, so I put him on the team and planned to see his abilities."

"However ... so far, no more value is seen."

"Personal ability to hold the ball is very good. I think it should belong to the kind of player who can hold the ball strongly, but the height condition is really too bad. In my opinion, he can't play with the ball."

"And compared to his attacking power, it is too difficult to defend with such a height condition."

"For us in Xiangbei, there is no way to use such players to become the main draft, and the training value is too low."

Standing beside Coach Anzai, Budou Jinguji introduced this young man named Sora Kuratani. At the same time, Budou Jinguji also shared his views on Sora Kuratani. Coach Anzai listened and nodded slightly, expressing that recognized.

Jinguji Budo has seen too many players, players who are not strong in height, but can play high-end games, Budo has also seen a lot.

But that kind of people are really too few.

Miyagi Ryota's height condition is already very difficult in the high school basketball arena. In this year's national competition, he didn't have many chances to play.

The height condition is not as good as that of Miyagi Ryota, and even the muscles on the body are far inferior to Miyagi's Kuratani Sora. Budo is really not optimistic.

Although the opponent's crossover made Budo's eyes shine before, the opponent's bounce is also terrible. Even until now, the opponent is still full of energy, obviously very energetic.

But even so, Budou still doesn't think Kuratani Sora has any value for cultivation.

To put it cruelly, in the sport of basketball, height is the entry threshold!
Corresponding to Kuratani Sora, there are these talented players from Xiangbei High School.

Sakuragi Hanamichi and Rukawa Kaede, who easily ravage the basket, need athletic ability and athletic ability, and they need height and height.Although Sakuragi doesn't have many offensive skills, but in the past year or so, the offensive skills he has mastered have been able to move proficiently, and he is full of threats on the offensive end.

Combined with Sakuragi's terrifying brute force, in the high school arena, he is completely an inside killer.

Although Rukawa Kaede's body is not as powerful as Sakuragi Hanamichi, but his explosive power is quite strong, his jumping is also very scary, and he also has good coordination and rich offensive methods. He is completely unstoppable when holding the ball. Scoring basically depends on him.

In addition to the two of them, Nango Koichiro has a good height and good defensive awareness, and is quite deterrent at the basket.

Although Ryumasa Oda's physical fitness is a bit poor, but with a height close to 190cm, it is very easy to dunk.

Katsumi Ichiro has outstanding personal characteristics, skilled perimeter skills, accurate shooting, and excellent height conditions. If you change to a weak high school team, Kemei's height can play a center.

As for Yasuda Yasuharu, Kakuda Satoru and others, although they are a little mediocre, they can find their own position and give support to their teammates on the court.

Moreover, Kuratani Sora could tell that these Xiangbei players were all physically strong, unlike his original Kuzuryu High School, these players had undergone rigorous training.

In the second grade, Satoru Kakuda has continuously experienced the era when Mitsui Hisashi and Budo were in charge of Shonhoku, and his physical fitness has long been tempered.

Even those first-year guys who were able to support the basketball club of Xiangbei High School for a semester and stay until now are already used to the team's devil training.

Che Gukong was in northern Hunan, and only then did he truly see what is powerful.

He is in the north of Hunan, so he is too inconspicuous.

The game in the stadium is still going on, Sakuragi Hanamichi, Rukawa Kaede and others are still active on the stadium, Kuratani Sora tries to follow the footsteps of his teammates, and in the back and forth running back and forth, he can't help but envy that he can "fly" in the air " teammate.

After the envy in his eyes lasted for a while, it turned into firmness.

Coach Anzai saw everything in his eyes, and suddenly said to Jinguji Budo next to him:

"Cutani Sora, you can grow into an outstanding player in the future."

"Budao, try to let him play guard, hold the ball and see."

Hearing Coach Anzai's words, Jinguji Budou was slightly surprised, then nodded, walked to Miyagi Ryota's side, and whispered a few words in the other's ear.

At this time, the yellow team was launching an attack on the court. Hanamichi Sakuragi quickly cut into the inside from the bottom corner. Yasuharu Yasuda from the outside wanted to pass the ball to Sakuragi who cut in the air, but his intention was too obvious, so he was directly caught by Kiyota. Nobunaga reached out to interfere.

The basketball deviated directly and flew out of the field.

When the ball was stopped, Ryota Miyagi also blew his whistle quickly.

The players on the field looked at Miyagi one after another, and Budao also walked to the sidelines, clapped his hands, and shouted to everyone: "Take a break."

"Adjust the lineup."

Under Budao's instruction, the players returned to the rest area one after another. After playing for more than ten minutes, everyone was somewhat tired.

Hearing the suspension of the game, Kuratani Sora reluctantly walked off the field, stood on the sidelines, clenched his fists, and looked at the field in a daze.

No chance. Here, he has no chance to express himself!

While Kuratani Sora was thinking about this matter, Jinguji Budo suddenly came behind Kuratani Sora and patted him on the shoulder.

Turning his head, Kuratani Sora saw that it was Budo Jinguji, and immediately looked solemn, straightened his back, and greeted Budo with honorifics: "Captain Jinguji!"

"relax."

"After the game restarts, you will be in charge of the yellow team's possession of the ball."

"Yasuda, Yasuda, take a break, Shimamura, replace Yasuda."

While Jinguji Budo was speaking, he replaced Yasuharu Yasuda and replaced him with a second-year Shonhoku player, Shimamura Yuhei, who is about 180cm tall, a player of the second team, and plays the small forward position.

After several people in the third grade withdrew from the club, this kid was the focus of Wu Dao's observation.

"Yes!" Yasuda and Shimamura agreed in unison, and Shimamura also started warm-up activities on the sidelines.

Seeing such an arrangement, Sakuragi Hanamichi and others looked at Kuratani Sora strangely, but didn't say much.

Even Sakuragi walked up to Kuratani Sora, patted Kuratani Sora on the shoulder and encouraged: "Don't be afraid!"

"When you're on the field, you just need to find a way to pass the ball to Ben."

"I will fight back the disadvantage!"

Budo didn't pay too much attention to Kuratani Sora after making the arrangements, so he went to Rukawa Kaede and the others to make some personnel adjustments.

Tetsushi Shiozaki was substituted to replace Miyagi Ryota as the referee, and Budo put Miyagi Ryota on the court at the same time.

To test the strength of a new player, of course, match him with a strong enough opponent!
Although Kiyota can be Kuratani Sora's opponent, Budo feels that Kiyota Nobunaga's height advantage is too obvious.And Ryota Miyagi just happens to be suitable for the opponent's same type of player, so let Miyagi try the depth of the opponent.

After a short break, the practice session continued.

The ball still belonged to Sakuragi and his yellow team. Shimamura Yuhei stood on the sideline and gave the ball to Kuratani Sora.

Kuratani Sora couldn't restrain his joy at all when he started with basketball, with a smile all over his face and a look full of energy.

Seeing the other party's expression, Miyagi Yoshida also twitched the corner of his mouth and smiled:
"Yo, new classmate, hello!"

"My name is Ryota Miyagi, the vice-captain of the Basketball Club of Shonhoku High School, and also the starting point guard of Shonhoku."

"You said you were going to be the main candidate, right?"

"Beat me, you can be elected!"

Today's Miyagi Ryota has grown to 170cm tall. Although he is not tall, he has a full advantage in front of Kuratani Sora.

Moreover, Miyagi Ryota's tendon flesh, compared with him, Kuratani Sora is very thin.

Hearing Miyagi Ryota's self-introduction, Kuratani Sora was stunned. He didn't expect that the player in front of him who was short in Shonhoku was actually the vice-captain?

"Distracted, boy!"

When Sora Kuratani was in a daze, Yoshida Miyagi sensed the opportunity to make a decisive shot, and directly slapped the basketball in the opponent's hand.

However, Kuratani Sora's reaction speed is also very good, his body is close to Miyagi, he quickly turns around and passes, and then directly picks up speed, quickly crosses Miyagi Liangtian, and kills towards the inside line.

The smooth and extraordinary movements are eye-catching.

"Successful!" Kuratani Sora, who successfully cut into the middle distance, did not dare to go any further, murmured in his heart, made an emergency stop and jumped up quickly, and the basketball was also raised above his head to prepare to throw.

However, at this moment, Miyagi Ryota, who was thrown away by him a second ago, suddenly appeared beside him, jumped up and gave Detani Sora a block.

Kuratani Sora has excellent athletic ability, but Miyagi Ryota is not inferior to him at all!
"Bang!!"

The basketball hit the floor and flew towards the outside of the court.

Jinguji Budo on the sidelines casually took the basketball into his hands, looked at Kuratani Sora who was a little dazed at this moment, and said with a smile:

"First grade, serve!"

"Basketball is a long way to go. You must first realize your own shortcomings before you can make progress."

"Playing with geniuses, you can improve faster. Of course, you have to hold on first!"

"Sa, serve!"

Jinguji Budo's words brought Kuratani Sora back to reality, watching Jinguji Budo who was throwing the ball on the sidelines, Kuratani Sora nodded emphatically.

"Xiangbei High School."

"Captain Jinguji is right!"

"Playing with these outstanding talents, I will definitely become stronger!"

(End of this chapter)