The Golden Age of Basketball

() From joining the basketball team to the official start of the California High School League, Gan Guoyang did not understand how the high schools in California are divided and how the basketball league arranges the schedule.

There are more than 300 high schools in California, including private high schools, public high schools, and some vocational high schools.Unlike other state leagues where public and private schools are separated, all high schools in California form the ion (California Interschool Federation) to compete, referred to as cif.

CIF consists of ten districts, and each district has a different number of schools.The largest district, Southern California, has more than 500 schools.The number of schools per district ranges from single digits to over 500.

The Palo Alto High School where Gan Guoyang is located belongs to the Central Coast District. It is a medium-sized district with a total of 140 schools.

But this number is still too large, so there are still many small subdivisions in the Central Coast area.Coupled with the small divisions of other large districts, the distribution of California high schools has become extremely large.

What is even more frightening is that these more than 1300 schools do not compete together, but are divided into five levels.The division of levels does not depend on the strength of the high school team, but on the basis of the size of the high school. Palo Alto High School is classified as the second level.

As a result, the schedule of the cif basketball game has become frighteningly complicated.Non-professionals simply don't know who should compete with whom, when to compete, and where to compete.

When Gan Guoyang saw the complicated schedule rules and regional division map, he had already given up on figuring out who to play against and where to play. Anyway, everything can be arranged by the coach.

The only thing he knows is that if he wins the first place in the division, plus an excellent record, he can directly enter the state championship of the second-tier league.If you can't get the first place, you have to wait for the evaluation of the CIF committee to select qualified teams to enter the state championship.

"Fate should be in your own hands." This is Bellman's reminder to each team member, so getting the first place is the best choice.

Of course, the premise is to be strong enough.Palo Alto High has been underpowered in the past, and their only hope of making it to the state championship is eligibility from the committee.

The qualification criteria are mainly to look at the team's record and the record of the opponent.In other words, this is a comprehensive evaluation process. If a school has a good record but its competition area is weak, then this team will not be eligible for the competition.But if a school's record is relatively average, but its division is very strong, then this team may be favored by the committee.

An important reason for this assessment is that, in addition to playing regular games with teams from the same district, teams from different districts also occasionally conduct cross-district invitational matches.In this way, the strength of the division can be judged through the results of these invitational matches and the regular season.

The biggest advantage of this is that it can try to ensure that the strongest teams can enter the state championships at all levels, and prevent some teams from taking advantage of the weak competition area.

The small division where Palo Alto High School is located is a relatively average division. Even in this division, Palo Alto had only an above-average record in the past. The favor of the cif organizing committee.

In the 6 games that have ended, Palo Alto High School has 4 wins and 2 losses, which is not bad.Especially after Gan Guoyang returned, the Vikings beat the Flame High School Wolverines at home, and the confidence of the entire team was qualitatively improved because of the return of the core.

However, there are still more than 20 games to come, and there is still a long way to go, and the outcome will not be known until March.At that time, the california state championship will go to war with the ncaa.

At this time, Gan Guoyang was walking on the way to the training ground with a basketball, playing with the crotch dribble while walking, combined with the dance steps he learned from Michael Jackson, it produced a sense of rhythm and swing, which made passers-by and classmates flock look sideways.

He is now the real star of Palo Alto High School, a foreign transfer student, a superstar recommendation, joining the team halfway, a halftime savior, a cross-border lore, and the return of the king.All of these are strung together to form a wonderful legendary story.

Just because Gan Guoyang is a Chinese, his reputation is still only spread in the basketball circle of Palo Alto High School and the San Francisco area, while in other fields and regions, he is still just an ordinary yellow man.

Such a situation, even in the United States in the 21st century, is still the case. Jeremy Lin was despised because of his Chinese identity. In the end, he was not invited by a prestigious basketball school and went to Harvard.

"Hello, booger!" Gan Guoyang walked and found a familiar figure on the way to the stadium.

"Uh... hello... Gan." This guy was Halleck.

Since the last time Gan Guoyang went to watch a football game, he inexplicably became the quarterback of the team and used a long-distance long pass to kill the opponent, Halleck was embarrassed to appear in front of Gan Guoyang.

In the past, Gan Guoyang was always hiding from Halleck in the locker, but now Halleck is hiding from Gan Guoyang.

"It's been a long time since I saw booger, and the rugby league has started?" Gan Guoyang didn't hate Halleck, although sometimes he was quite annoying.A bison seldom hates the gadfly on its back, it really feels bad, just kill it with its tail.

Now, Gan Guoyang not only did not kill Halleck with one tail, but also greatly helped Halleck and his team, because Halleck was the wide receiver who received Gan Guoyang's long pass that day.

"Yes, we have won all three games now, but the opponents are still relatively weak. It seems that we will play an invitational game against a team in Oakland next week." Although Halleck is a racist, he is even more powerful. commentator.If you are better than him, he will respect you, on the contrary, he will become more and more arrogant.

"A team from Oakland? Is it from the Oakland area? The invitational game will start so soon?" Gan Guoyang was surprised. The current schedule should be home and away double round-robin matches with the teams in the area. The invitational game will start so soon. ?

"Yes, there are only six schools in the Oakland area, and each school can play a few games with teams of the same level in the same area. So they have already started to play the invitational tournament in advance."

It turns out that the Oakland area is a large area, but there are only six high schools, so the games in the area will be finished soon.In order to make the competition in the area more intense and decisive, the teams in the Oakland area usually go to the invitational game halfway, and then come back to play the rest of the regular season.

"That's it, then you all have to work hard! I hope you don't need my help anymore." Gan Guoyang said.

"Coach Hawkins is still harassing your coach, hoping to let you join the football team." When Halleck said this, Gan Guoyang was startled.

"Oh no! I don't want to play the dangerous game of rugby anymore! I believe you are already a very strong team, and my performance that day was just luck."

"Gan, luck is also a kind of strength." Halleck and Gan Guoyang talked to each other a lot, and their language skills seemed to have improved a lot.

"Also, for those who came to school together this time, in addition to the opponent's rugby team, their basketball team will also come to play an invitational match with you." Halleck revealed some information to Gan Guoyang.

"Really? Which high school team is it?" Gan Guoyang asked curiously.

"skyline high school."

After arriving at the gymnasium, Gan Guoyang learned from Coach Behrman that Tianji High School will indeed visit Palo Alto High School next weekend to play an invitational game.

But before that, they still have four games in the same district to play.

"Gan, tomorrow we are going to play at East Palo Alto Private High School. Your back injury should be fine?" Bellman asked Gan Guoyang when he was doing individual confrontation training.

"No problem! I feel great now and I can't wait to kick their asses!"

As he said that, Gan Guoyang lowered his shoulders, pushed his back against Behrman's big cushion, gained room for action, and sent the ball into the basket with a neat turn-over jump shot.

"Look, my back is alright?" Gan Guoyang said after casting.

"Your footsteps seem to have improved a little, and you are more comfortable." Behrman said, staring at Gan Guoyang's feet.

"Yeah, I did a secret special training!"

………………

East Palo Alto Private High School is located in the east area of ​​Palo Alto, only a ten-minute drive from Palo Alto High School.So for the Vikings players, it's not so much an away game as it is a friendly game at a brother school.

"Many of my former classmates are studying in East Palo Alto Private High School. This time I can give them some surprises!" Wiggis said on the bus.

"Come on Virgis, the rich guys who went to private high schools don't remember shitty poor kids like us. Maybe they'll take their girlfriends to the game and point at us and say, 'Look at those guys , Fighting back and forth on the court for a broken ball, what a fucking brain sick'!" The Vikings' shooting guard-Micary Williams, a black player with explosive scoring power, was speaking .

"Come on, Mikali, don't you look forward to the pleasure of blowing up those sons? It's more fucking fun than picking up girls." Gan Guoyang said while gnawing on an apple in the car.

Most of the people who go to public high schools in the United States are ordinary people of color and ordinary families, while those who can go to private high schools are mostly the children of rich people.

Gan Guoyang does not hate the rich, but he knows that mobilizing some "hate" emotions at the right time will help improve the morale of the team.Now Gan Guoyang has become the out-and-out on-court and spiritual leader of the Vikings.

"That's right! Kicking their ass and ass, I think it's better than getting a big ass in San Andreas!" San Andreas is the red light district of San Francisco.

"Hey! It's like you've been to San Andreas. With your wealth, you can't even get a whore on the street there."

"Fuck you, let me tell you, when I went to San Andreas, it was one night two years ago..."

A group of high school students with excess hormones started a discussion about life on the bus, but their coach Behrman didn't care. He hoped that the players could get excited and vent their excess energy on their opponents.

"Okay ladies, we've arrived, time to come down and relax."

The ten-minute drive was very fast. The Vikings arrived at East Palo Alto Private High School at 02:30 pm on Wednesday. Here, they will challenge the East Palo Alto Bulldogs away.

The architectural style of East Palo Alto Private High School is very similar to that of Palo Alto High School. It is dominated by white exterior walls and has a strong Mediterranean style, giving people a fresh feeling like sea breeze.

However, the Vikings will not show mercy to the Bulldogs because of this.Because in Palo Alto, the two high schools are private and public, one is in the west and the other is in the east, and they are deadly rivals in every aspect.

So after arriving at the school, the Vikings players entered the gymnasium with ease, went to the locker room to change their team uniforms, and started warm-up activities on the field.At this time, the Bulldogs players hadn't even arrived yet.

"Those young masters haven't come yet?" Gan Guoyang said, looking at the players and the sparse audience in the stadium.

Generally speaking, the home team arrives at the stadium one step ahead of the away team, and the audience will also arrive at the stadium early to build momentum for the home team.

"East Palo Alto High School has always been like this. The students here are rich people. Basketball is not an essential sport. They are not farmers in Indiana." Wiggis replied.Indiana is the most basketball-crazed state in the United States.

"Then how strong are they?" Gan Guoyang asked again, shooting the basket.

"Actually, the strength of the Bulldogs is quite good. Because the school is rich, it recruits many outstanding basketball players. They are all talented, but the team's performance is always average, similar to that of the previous Vikings." Di Pembroke spoke up.

Speaking of this, Gan Guoyang understands that the Bulldogs should be a basketball team with good talent but no fighting spirit.That doesn't quite fit their team name, "The Bulldogs."

Sure enough, after a while the home Bulldogs arrived at the stadium, and they entered the field laughing and joking, greeting the Vikings players casually.Among them, several blacks obviously know the players of the Vikings team, and they should be classmates from high school.

"Hey! Hello Wiggis, your shooting posture is still so ugly!" A tall black player with a very strong figure was speaking.

"Go away!" Wiggis didn't talk nonsense with him, and continued to warm up.This is Bellman's rule, and it is not allowed to exchange feelings with opposing players before the game.

"Who is that guy?" Gan Guoyang asked curiously.

"It's my former classmate, Bruce Carrier. A pretty good guy, you have to be careful, Gan."

The game started quickly, and while Bruce Carrier did have two brushes, Gan Guoyang realized it when he scrimmage.

Gan Guoyang's bounce and strength are quite good, even compared with blacks.Because of his great rebounding skills, his ability to scramble the ball is also very strong.

But when fighting for the ball with Kalil, Gan Guoyang clearly felt Kalil's strong body, and he was squeezed down by him when he collided in the air.

The Bulldogs won the ball.

At the beginning, Bellman arranged a "three-two defense" defensive tactic for the Vikings.That is to say, Gan Guoyang sits in the three-second zone, protected by strikers on the flanks, and at the same time, two defenders form a barrier at the horns.

This tactical arrangement is mainly aimed at the Bulldogs players' outstanding personal ability and sharp breakthrough characteristics, hoping to strangle the opponent's players on the flanks.

But in this case, the top of the frontal arc is completely exposed, and the only thing to fill this gap is the Vikings' inside defensive pillar-Gan Guoyang.

Sure enough, the Bulldogs' outside players were double-teamed in both breakthroughs on the flanks, and their bottom line firepower was insufficient, so they could only transfer the ball to the top of the arc.After the shooting guard got the ball, he made a screen with the inside player who was put up, and successfully invaded the three-second zone from the top of the arc.

However, Gan Guoyang had been prepared for a long time. He did not rush forward to press and defend, but took two steps back slightly, and released a breakthrough path.

The shooting guard on the opposite side saw this and made a layup without hesitation.But Gan Guoyang had already locked his footsteps, and had already calculated the pace in his heart to avoid the opponent's time lag.

Gan Guoyang jumped up quickly, stretched out his long arms, and tapped lightly on the opponent's defender's ball, trying his best to avoid physical contact with the opponent and prevent fouls.

The ball is released from the opposing defender's hands due to interference.

However, a strong body collided with Gan Guoyang in the air, pushed Gan Guoyang away who was unable to exert strength, and at the same time the ball in the air was caught by a pair of big hands, "哐!", the ball was smashed into the basket again!

Bruce Carrier made a successful supplementary deduction!

Gan Guoyang did a good job defending just now, but he still ignored the existence of Kalil, which made him pick up a loophole.

After Kalil successfully made the dunk, the gymnasium was full of joy. He also looked at Gan Guoyang proudly and shook his head slightly.Then twisted his butt and ran back to his own half.

"Gan, do you want to teach him a lesson later?" Dippenbrock asked.

"No, play according to the coach's arrangement, I will let him understand." Gan Guoyang remained unmoved and did not care about the opponent.But he has decided to destroy the opponent quickly and completely.