So I am the god of basketball?

Chapter 44 Fighting North Carolina Again
  The greatly stimulated Hill became more diligent during the following period.

Time soon came to January, and the NCAA war reignited.

This was the first game after a month. Hill scored his season-high 1 points in this game. In addition to Meng Lang's 30 points, they easily defeated Wake Forest University.

72 is better than 55!

And this game is also a microcosm of the next few games.

From January 1th to February 5th, the Duke Blue Devils, who were unbeaten before Christmas, maintained their dominance in the second half of the season.

Among them, the second meeting with North Carolina was their most difficult game.

North Carolina is at home in this game, and there are tens of thousands of North Carolina students cheering for them. In addition, they have already experienced Meng Lang's strange move at the fourth position. This time they used the method of expanding the zone defense to block Meng Lang in the bottom corner, and appropriately let go of Antonio Long, a Duke with poor shooting. On the outside, coupled with active defense changes, Duke failed to start with an overwhelming advantage like it did when they met for the first time in the season.

And when North Carolina stabilized its position, its advantage inside gradually came into play. ——They have more rebounds and more second-chance offensive opportunities.

Five minutes before the end of the game, they even became the leading side.

Leading by 52 points 50 to 2.

Old K was forced to call a timeout.

Just after the timeout, Grant Hill and Meng Lang's pick-and-roll quickly helped the team reverse the situation.

Meng Lang took advantage of the movement speed of Kevin Thompson or Montrose who could not follow the three-point line. After the pick-and-roll, he moved directly to the top of the arc, received a pass from Hill, and scored two consecutive three-pointers, helping Duke win 60-58. 30 In the last 4 seconds, North Carolina could only foul. Hurley and Meng Lang went to the free throw line one after another and made 66 consecutive free throws. North Carolina gambled and failed to make a three-pointer. In the end, Duke won 62-4, [-] The point advantage once again had the last laugh, a "double kill" of North Carolina in the regular season!
  Meng Lang scored Duke's highest 19 points.

尤其是最后2记3分球以及2个罚球，不到2分钟的时间连得8分，帮助球队生生完成了逆转。

It wasn't until mid-February that Duke faced its last opponent of the season, the Georgia Tech Hornets, and lost 2-61. It was only then that Duke suffered its first and last defeat of the season.

Malcolm McGee, the core of the Hornets, defeated Duke with an incredible three-pointer from the backcourt!
  It is said that after this game, his predicted pick in the 93 draft soared directly from the second round to the first round.

This defeat is insignificant to Duke. After the "double kill" of North Carolina, the team with the second-best record in the ACC has lost at least 2 games. They had secured first place in the ACC League before the start of this game.

Although the 13-1 record is not the best record in the ACC, it is still impressive enough.

In the history of this league, there have been many "undefeated records." Just in terms of gold content, even if they lose one game, Duke's dominance this season is even better than most of the teams with "undefeated records" in the past.

After all, in the past, the ACC League was "outstanding" most of the time. ——This is also the norm in other sub-leagues of the NCAA Division I league.

Today's ACC is different. There are many capable teams. Each team has at least ten or twenty "quasi-NBA level" players. It's really not easy for Duke to lose only one game. Already It's an exaggeration.

This dominance continued into the next ACC Championship, commonly known as the "ACC Playoffs."

Unlike the NBA, although the "ACC playoffs" are also an elimination system based on group competition, the two teams only play one game.

Winners advance and losers are eliminated. Even if Duke is ranked first in the regular season, they can only win but not lose.

Lose one game and go home!
  This competition system is also to allow players to adapt to the NCAA "March Madness" in advance. ——The NCAA national competition is such a competition system. From the initial top 64 to the final NCAA championship, there are only 6 games at most.

Every round is a determined outcome!

This competition system, full of uncertainties, has just created the charming "March Madness".

But for the general NCAA fans, this craziness doesn't start until March; for fans of various college teams and students, this crazy feeling has already started since the conference championships in February.

Duke's strength has caused many media to clamor that "a proud soldier will be defeated."

As a result, Duke won the quarterfinals and semifinals by 20 points and 18 points respectively. The combination of Hill and Meng Lang still looked so flawless.

After taking down the "fake North Carolina" team, the North Carolina State University Wolfpack, Duke successfully slapped the outside media in the face and made it all the way to the finals of the ACC Championship.

At the end of February, the finals began, and Duke's final opponent was none other than the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, who had been "double-killed" by them this season.

There was nothing wrong with the huge attention when the two teams met for the first time. It was indeed a preview of this year's ACC finals.

Although Duke has done it twice in the regular season, the mentality of North Carolina players in interviews before the game was different from what everyone thought.

"Our first time was a rout, and our second time we held on until the end before we unfortunately lost. We adapted to that rhythm, and we are getting better and better, so we all believe that we will beat Duke. , win the final ACC championship!" Montrose faced the camera and expressed the common sentiment of all North Carolina players.

Smith also said: "I am very happy that my players still maintain their fighting spirit. This will allow them to grow and become better and better! Maybe tonight, we will prove this with victory!"

The finals will not be played at Duke or North Carolina, but will be held in a neutral arena like the national competition in March Madness.

Therefore, the venue for the finals is different every year.

This year's venue is held at the Charlotte Arena, home of the NBA team Charlotte Hornets. The venue is slightly larger than Duke's "Cameron Arena" and can accommodate more than 1 fans to watch at the same time.

However, even though it was a neutral arena, there were still many "blue people" covered in paint.

Duke fans spend their own money every year to follow the team around.

Let me say it again, the title of "Cameron Madman" really does not come casually.

Just like the NBA, it doesn't take an arena with a little atmosphere to be called the "Devil's home stadium" like Salt Lake City.

Crazy love!
  Restore God than the original God!

This is Duke fans!
  Similarly, many North Carolina fans flocked to the scene. Even if they were "double-killed" by Duke in the regular season, they still firmly believed that the team could win the ACC Championship finals and win the ACC championship trophy...

(End of this chapter)