no shortcuts in basketball

Chapter 48 The Top Seed
Time came to the beginning of March in a blink of an eye. After two months of competition, the regular season of the Pac3 League came to an end, and the league's internal record rankings were also announced.

First, Arizona State University (16 wins and 2 losses)
Second, University of Washington (14 wins and 4 losses)
Third, UCLA (13 wins and 5 losses)
Fourth, UC Berkeley (11 wins and 7 losses)
Fifth, University of Arizona (9 wins and 9 losses)
Sixth, Washington State University (8 wins and 10 losses)
Seventh, Oregon State University (7 wins and 11 losses)
Eighth, Stanford University (6 wins and 12 losses)
End of the season: Bad, the Devils are really the top of the Pac10.

However, this result is not surprising, because this team has shown its strength since the opening game of the invitational tournament.

Whether it is core ability or game experience, they have reached this level, and the lack of key talents has also been alleviated to the greatest extent under Sandek's rotation adjustment.

The regular season is over, and the next thing to do is the league playoffs.

Arizona State University's opponent in the first round is Stanford University.

Stanford was the second-ranked team in the Pac10 last season, but after the Lopez brothers left, they didn't even recruit a four-star high school student this season. plummeted.

Facing this opponent in the semifinals of last season, they led by double digits at halftime, and finally won easily and advanced to the semifinals.

Their opponent in the semifinals was the University of Arizona.

The Wildcats failed to complete revenge after being beaten by the Devils last season. At the end of the season, Bayless "ran" to the NBA. Budinger and Hill remained in the Trident, and their strength was greatly damaged.

Faced with this mortal enemy, the Devils naturally showed no mercy, and finally wiped out their opponents 86-56, adding another rich stroke to the history of grievances between the two teams.

It is worth mentioning that this score happened to be the score that Bayless wanted to win against the Devils.

Facts have proved that as long as you run fast, you don't have to go through the trough with the team.

In the final final, Arizona State University's opponent was the University of Washington, which ranked second in the regular season.

The University of Washington is not considered a giant, and it was also the third-worst in the league last season, and it failed to recruit any four-star players in the new season.

However, the addition of one person made their strength skyrocket, "the strongest 175 on the surface" Thomas Jr.

Because of his height, Thomas failed to become a four-star high school student, but he played a freshman season at the University of Washington that beat everyone.

Averaged 15.5 points, 3 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, leading the team in scoring and assists, leading the team to beat UCLA and rank second in the league.

In addition to being short, he is almost omnipotent, with top jumping ability, lightning-fast breakthroughs, stable outside shooting, and he has a tough personality, a big heart, and a natural leader.

Of course, Xu Yong was not surprised by Thomas Jr.'s performance.

Because there may be various parallel imports in the NBA, but a small man who can enter the NBA and leave a footprint, such as "Bug" Boggs, such as Thomas Jr., it is impossible for him not to be strong.

The Devils played very hard in the finals. Their offense was fine, but they really couldn't take Thomas Jr..

Because Thomas Jr. was so fast, especially the first step was lightning fast, no one on the Devils side could keep up.

And although he is short, his organizational skills are not weak at all, and he can always deliver the ball to his teammates in time after encountering a help defense.

This game is a bit like last season's tournament game against Memphis.

But unlike that game, the Devils were ultimately the winners.

It's not that they finally found a way to defend Thomas Jr., but that they won the attack.

Harden and Xu Yong both scored 20+ points, DeRozan and Ayres also scored 16 and 14 points respectively.

The four scored 70+ points. Last season, they hit them with precision, and this season they directly covered them with firepower.

After winning the league championship and hoisting that small championship trophy, their expectations, or ambitions, were also raised.

"Xu, now we have a chance to compete for the bigger trophy?" Albert asked Xu Yong again with a smile.

The bigger trophy is naturally the league championship.

This time Xu Yong nodded.

Compared to the beginning of the season, they do have this possibility now.

Two days after the conference finals, the Devils were once again sitting in front of the TV watching the division.

In the same scene, except DeRozan seemed a little nervous, everyone else was already relatively relaxed.

After all, it is the first time that everything is tense, and after you get familiar with it, you will be familiar with it.

And more importantly, they have absolute confidence in their own strength this season. Even if they are placed in the same area as North Carolina, it is completely worthwhile.

Xu Yong didn't know where he found melon seeds and peanut mineral water, and a group of people waited and kowtowed.

This year's divisions are faster than in previous years, and soon the divisions of the Eastern District, Central West District, and Southern District will be completed one after another, leaving the last Western District.

Because it is the last area, there are advertisements in the middle.

"By the way, why is there no North District?" DeRozan couldn't help asking curiously.

As a "virgin" who has not played in the championship, he is inevitably curious about this division.

In fact, Xu Yong was also curious about this at the beginning, but later he figured it out.

"Have you heard of Beigua?" Xu Yong asked.

DeRozan was taken aback for a moment, then shook his head, as if there were indeed no pumpkins!

Xu Yong smiled. In fact, there is no serious reason why there is no North District.

If you have to delve into it, it is probably the population.

If you include Canada, the largest state in the northern United States, into the NCAA map, then the North District will naturally exist.

"The seed rankings of our league teams are relatively low this year." Harden discovered Huadian.

Xu Yong took a melon seed and recalled it. It seems that this is indeed the case. The second-ranked Washington State is only the fourth seed in the Southern District.

Although there are still 10 teams in the Pac6 league this year, it is clear that the NCAA organizing committee is not very optimistic about the strength of the Pac10 league this year.

"It won't be lower than last year." Xu Yong said in a firm tone.

His words made the team members nod one after another, and then kowtowed their seeds with peace of mind.

Although I don't know the reason, most of Xu Yong's words have been proven to be correct, and this time I can't be wrong.

[What Xu Yong said is correct], this has become their habitual thinking.

Of course, Xu Yong didn't just come here, because after observing this division for two years in a row, he can roughly come to a conclusion: these people from the NCAA organizing committee really don't have nothing to eat.

UCLA’s record last season may not be as high as the other three championship teams, but the content and strength of the game can be seen, so they were still the No. 1 seed in the division, and they deserved to reach the semi-finals their seeding order.

In fact, Crazy Three is indeed prone to upsets, but that is the standard [survivor bias]. More often than not, the championship is still a process of big fish eating small fish. Last season, the final four finalists were all from their respective divisions number one seed.

The content of the game presented by Arizona State University this season is also similar to that of UCLA last season.

Because the University of Connecticut has no division, they may not be able to become the No. 1 seed, but there is a high probability that they will be the No. 2 seed.

Not long after Xu Yong finished speaking, the division of the last district, the West District, also began.

The eyes of the team members became more and more excited as the seed columns were filled one after another.

No. 4 seed, University of Memphis.

No. 3 seed, University of Missouri.

When he was the No. 2 seed, Xu Yong also set his sights on the TV.

No. 2 seed, UConn Huskies!

The No. 1 seed isn't out yet, but the answer is already out, because they're the only team left unranked.

"We are No.1!" Albert couldn't help shouting excitedly.

Cheers also sounded in the locker room, they are the number one seed!
Xu Yong couldn't help but nodded again and again.

This result was even better than he expected.

And it is not in the same district as North Carolina or Duke, which is already a very good result.

Because the biggest weakness of the Devils is the rotation, but UConn's rotation is actually average.

The championship may still be a little far away, but the chances of reaching the semi-finals are already very high.

And this No. 1 seed can be regarded as giving them their time.

After the end of the division, the program also announced the venues for the three stages of competition.

The divisions of the first stage are also different, but the location of the second stage is fixed.

When seeing the venue of the second stage, the cheers once again rang through the locker room.

University of Phoenix Stadium, home of the NFL Cardinals.

You can tell by the name, this is Phoenix!
Now it's all right, not only the weather, but also the location and people are in place.

It's not appropriate not to make it to the semi-finals now!

　Thank you for not caring about the stars and Wandi Zun for the reward. Also, please continue to ask for votes. Every vote you give is the most sincere love for the short eggplant~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)