The Golden Age of Basketball

() (Second update, happy weekend)

"America's universities are so damn beautiful!" This is what Micary Williams, a local leopard, said when he came to Pepperdine University in San Jose.

Pepperdine University is located in the northwest of San Jose, at the southernmost tip of San Francisco Bay. It is a medium-sized private university with about 8000 students.

The school's more famous sports are tennis, volleyball and swimming. There have also been some track and field stars and politicians here.

Only basketball is not the focus of attention here.Their basketball team can only be mixed in the low-level college league.

But on March 3, it became one of the most watched places in the high school basketball world in Northern California.Because the semi-finals of the California High School Basketball Championship in Northern California will be held here.

In the morning, while it was still raining, players from the Palo Alto High School Vikings arrived at Pepperdine University on the seashore in a bus.

The rain in San Jose has not stopped since the 20th, but this cannot dampen the enthusiasm for basketball that burned across the United States in March.

The Vikings players sat in the car, looking at the Pepperdine University campus in the rain, and they all lamented the beauty of Pepperdine University.In fact, the campus of Palo Alto High School is beautiful enough, but it is a little smaller.

Pepperdine University is built along the coastline, and the campus buildings are scattered among the coastal rocks. <In the sky, Gan Guoyang couldn't help but think of Haizi's poem "Facing the sea, the spring is warm and the flowers are blooming".

The buildings of Pepperdine University are mostly white walls and red tiles, with a distinctive Spanish style. If it is not raining outside but bright sunshine, it will make people feel that they have come to the Caribbean region of Central America.

"If I could come to study in such a place, I would be happy to take math class every day." Williams said looking at the beautiful campus.

"Don't make fun of Mikari, even if you take math class every day, your grades will not be as good as Pepperdine's!" The others laughed at him.

"What's wrong, Pepperdine University is not a famous basketball school. If we can win the state championship this time, maybe we can apply to this university to get a basketball scholarship!" Williams retorted.

As soon as he said this, the others had nothing to say, because Williams' words reached everyone's heart.

The players at Palo Alto High School are no longer a rogue team. They are now a Final Four team in Northern California and a Final Eight member of the California High School Tournament.

They have a bigger stage to show themselves. This is an excellent opportunity. If they can seize it, they can change their destiny.

"I feel like I'm dreaming..." Dippenbrock broke the silence.

After listening to Dipenbrook's words, the players in the car laughed, and at the same time they all looked at Gan Guoyang, the guy who led them so far that they couldn't believe it.

And Gan Guoyang was sleeping in the car at this time, because he was so tired.

19号的首场比赛，甘国阳在上半场比赛的最后2分钟连得10分，包括两次2加1，半场结束把维京人和征服者的分差拉大到了21分。

This made all the hard work of the Conquistadors in the second half futile. In the end, Gan Guoyang sent the Los Altos Conquistadors home with 30 points and 20 rebounds. The Vikings entered the Northern California quarterfinals.

And in the next eight-for-four match on the 23rd, facing Reese High School, Gan Guoyang scored 48 points in a single game by himself!

He pulled the Palo Alto Vikings, knocked over the stronger Reese Longhorns overall, and also set the second-highest scoring record in a single game in this California Championship.

In this game, Gan Guoyang did not rest for 1 minute.

Facing the strong front line of the Longhorns, Gan Guoyang was both a father and a mother. After finishing his offense and defense, coupled with the outstanding performance of the Vikings' back line, he won this important game.

Thinking of this game now, the hearts of the Vikings players are also pounding.

Although the others except Gan Guoyang were weak, they did try their best. Among them, Williams scored six points in the last 5 minutes, allowing the Vikings to withstand the counterattack of the Longhorns.

Behrman sat in the front seat of the bus, listening to the team members' conversation, but felt an unspeakable feeling in his heart.

He suddenly felt that his players had grown up. They had changed from an ignorant and messy team to a strong-willed and daring team.

In the past, he felt that as long as Gan Guoyang was in the Vikings, this would be a strong team, but if Gan was missing, the Vikings would lose.

But in yesterday's game, although Gan Guoyang's performance was irreplaceable like a god descending from heaven, the performance of other players was also crucial.

From Williams making three key goals, Behrman knew that these children were no longer fat. They were not sheep led by a lion, but a group of Shiba Inu reunited under the command of a tiger.

Bellman looked back at Gan Guoyang who was still dozing off on his seat, and he saw a dormant tiger!

…………

The car circled the campus and soon arrived at the school hotel of Pepperdine University.Bellman had to wake up the sweetly sleeping Gan Guoyang, and got out of the car with the whole team in the rain.

Gan Guoyang was still in a daze and didn't know what was going on. When Bellman called him, he blurted out "Aunt Jiang", which confused Bellman, and he didn't know what the kid said in Chinese. What.

In fact, when Gan Guoyang was sleeping in the car, he dreamed of his "offspring", the days he lived with Aunt Jiang in the orphanage.

And when he got out of the bus, the cold rain hit his face, he remembered that he hadn't been born in the "later generation", and now it was 1982.

After yesterday's almost "Fengshen" battle, Gan Guoyang felt a little tired after the game for the first time, and he fell asleep as soon as he returned to the hotel at night.

In the morning, the whole team had to get up early to take the bus to Pepperdine University. He could only sleep in the car to recover his almost exhausted energy.

"Gan, is there any problem?" Bellman asked with concern.

"No problem. And thank you, Mr. Behrman, you helped me avoid a lot of trouble." Gan Guoyang said.

It turned out that after yesterday's game, some reporters rushed into the player tunnel to interview Gan Guoyang.

A reporter wanted to interview him. It was the first time Gan Guoyang had seen such a formation, and he was extremely tired after the game, so he was at a loss for a while.

It was Behrman who stood in front of him in time, rejected the reporter's question on the grounds that high school students were not suitable for interviews, and entered the locker room with Gan Guoyang in his arms.

Gan Guoyang feels very fortunate about this, having such a good coach who loves him; on the other hand, Gan Guoyang also knows that if he plays professional basketball in the future, it is essential to be interviewed by reporters.

Just as Gan Guoyang was thinking about the reporter's interview, and carrying his luggage into the dormitory building with the team, another team wearing purple jerseys came out of the building and collided with the Vikings head-on.

"It's the people from Sacramento High School. They arrived here yesterday, and they should be going to practice now." Dippenbrook was always able to stand up and explain when Gan Guoyang didn't know the situation.

"Sacramento High School?" Gan Guoyang looked at the purple team uniform and felt familiar.

At this time, he saw a short figure in the team, which was not very eye-catching among the tall basketball team members, but Gan Guoyang still recognized him, the person he bumped into in the toilet while watching the game that day.

And the man also saw Gan Guoyang, and nodded to Gan Guoyang friendly, and Gan Guoyang also nodded with a smile when he saw this.

"Have you friends in Sacramento High School?" Dippenbrock asked strangely.

"No, I just saw an acquaintance." Gan Guoyang laughed.

When the group arrived at the accommodation, Gan Guoyang took a comfortable bath, ate a hearty dinner with his teammates, and then returned to the room to rest.

Tomorrow there will be half a day for training, and the day after tomorrow, the first semi-final match will start. The two sides will be the Skyrim High School Eagles and the Sacramento High School Dragons.

Tianji High School, which Gan Guoyang has always cared about, also successfully broke into the semi-finals in Northern California. Gan Guoyang can imagine how many players' confidence and mood were destroyed by Payton's big mouth.

However, Gan Guoyang is not afraid of this defeated opponent. In fact, he is still looking forward to meeting Tianji High School in the final in Northern California. The confrontation with Payton made him feel very exciting.

It seems that Gan Guoyang's body already has the blood of trash talking.

When Gan Guoyang was lying on the bed, turning on the small TV to watch the game between the Kansas City Kings and the Atlanta Hawks, Dippenbrook, who had gone shopping, came back.

"Gan, something has happened! Look at you in the newspaper!" Dippenbrock said loudly as he entered the door with a newspaper in his hand.

Gan Guoyang was at a loss when he heard this, why did something happen to the newspaper?It's not the first time Gan Guoyang has appeared in a newspaper, although he used to be in local newspapers in Palo Alto.

"It's after our game yesterday, look!" Dippenbrock took out the newspaper for Gan Guoyang to read.

Gan Guoyang saw that it was a local sports newspaper in San Jose, and there was a column reporting the California high school basketball league.

The victory of the Vikings and the performance of Gan Guoyang yesterday can be said to have shocked Northern California, and it was nothing ordinary to be in the newspapers.

"Yeah, we did a good job yesterday, it's normal to report, and we still have to try to get into the New York Times!" Gan Guoyang said proudly.

"Look at the specific content again, here, it's written specifically for you!" Dippenbrock said, pointing to a place in the newspaper.

Gan Guoyang took a closer look, and his brows became more and more wrinkled, only to realize that this report was not just good words.

In the post-match character comments, Gan Guoyang was specifically mentioned, but apart from a few flattering compliments, they were all doubts about Gan Guoyang.

For example, questioning that Gan Guoyang is a proud and arrogant player, even unwilling to accept interviews; questioning that Gan Guoyang is a ball bully in the Vikings because he takes a lot of shots;

The most important thing is that it is impossible for Gan Guoyang, a man of yellow race, to be successful in basketball. His performance is just a flash in the pan.

Although the reporter's report was very cryptic, Gan Guoyang could see that there were thorns in the words, especially the last point about race, it can be said that it not only stabbed Gan Guoyang's heart, but also satisfied the tastes of some racists.

"It must be the guy who was rejected by Mr. Behrman yesterday!" Gan Guoyang thought of the reporter who was blocked by Behrman yesterday. He seemed to belong to the San Jose local newspaper.

"These reporters are really disgusting. They can make up something without any evidence."

"Oh, that's how journalists are. There's no way they can make a living on this." Gan Guoyang couldn't help sighing when he thought of the all-pervasive gossip paparazzi in later generations.

"I hope not every newspaper reporter is like this. After all, there are still fair and objective media." Dipenbrock also comforted.

But Dippenbrock obviously overestimated the media's thrift.

The next day, that is, the morning of the game on March 3, several newspapers Gan Guoyang read reported on the Vikings game the day before yesterday, but without exception, they were not optimistic about Gan Guoyang's performance.

There was even a small newspaper with an obviously racist headline like "Yellow Race Ravages California Stadium, Is American High School Basketball Declining?"

Gan Guoyang almost laughed angrily when he saw this title, because this kind of title reminded him of all kinds of bloody headlines on basketball websites in later generations. It seems that this kind of thing does not distinguish between historical periods and national boundaries.

What Gan Guoyang didn't know was that the reason why all kinds of messy newspapers used Gan Guoyang as a gimmick and made articles about race was not only because of Gan Guoyang's outstanding performance, but also because in 1982, South Korean college students burned the American Cultural Center to protest the United States. "Reactionary Behavior" in the "Gwangju Incident".

This political incident touched the nerves of some American racists, and some newspapers also took advantage of the issue to bring in Gan Guoyang, who is also of yellow race.

Anyway, in the eyes of ordinary Americans, Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese themselves are all about the same.

If Gan Guoyang knew that he had become the focus of the newspaper because of the South Korean incident, he would definitely explode his lungs.Maybe he will hang a sign when he goes out in the future, saying-"I am Chinese, not Korean, and Koreans can't play basketball."

Now, all Gan Guoyang can do is to endure until the semi-finals and even the Northern California Division Finals, and use his performance on the court to fight back against the random media reports.

But the media's random fabrications did not affect Gan Guoyang's mood, and the most important basketball tournament in the United States, the NCAA, is in full swing in March.

Even if Gan Guoyang is a unique Chinese, he is only a small person in the whole of the United States, and he can't make any waves.

So on the morning of the 25th, Gan Guoyang still trained with the team as usual. This time, because there are only four teams, each team can use the gymnasium for two hours for training and pre-match preparation.

The next game, the Palo Alto Vikings will face the Freemont Tigers.

The Fremont Tigers are the biggest dark horse in the California High School Secondary League this time, and they entered the championship by relying on the committee's selection.

In the first three games, the opponents eliminated by the Tigers were louder than them before the game, but in the end it was the Tigers who had the last laugh.

Against such a dark horse, any strong team will be under pressure, because you deserve to win, and losing becomes a stepping stone to a magical experience.

However, Gan Guoyang and the Vikings are not very worried about tomorrow's game, not only because of their confidence in their own strength, but also because the Vikings played an invitational match with the Tigers in Fremont.

Gan Guoyang scored 45 points in that game and solved his opponent in half an hour.

What impressed him the most about the Freemont Tigers was that their main uniform was emerald green like the Vikings.

Therefore, now Gan Guoyang is not more concerned about tomorrow's game, but the result of tonight's game, Tianji High School vs. Sacramento High School.

"I'm already thinking about my opponent for the next game." Gan Guoyang said casually when Dippenbrook asked him casually how he planned to play in the next game.

The two-hour training was not very intense, but it was very targeted. Because he had experience in a game, Behrman was well prepared in all aspects, and the tactical notes were also full.

"Mr. Behrman, I think the tactic you should remember the most is 'pass your ball into the hands of sunny?gump'. I believe this is our best tactic!" Gan Guoyang looked at Behrman making serious preparations, Said jokingly.

The other players also burst into laughter. In the Vikings, Gan Guoyang has long been the core boss who never says anything else. Not only will he make such jokes not make his teammates uncomfortable, but it will make them feel at ease.

Because Gan Guoyang has always followed his word.

"You'd better keep your mouth shut, and be careful that I'll push you on the bench and wave a towel. This job is not so easy to do." Behrman was also very happy to bicker with his disciples now.

The atmosphere of the whole team is harmonious, the training is over soon, and the Vikings are also preparing to leave the stadium.

At this time, another team also arrived at the gymnasium, ready to start two hours of training. They were wearing Gan Guoyang's familiar blue sportswear.

It's the Skyrim High School Eagles.

"Hey, Gan, you stinky shit can make it to the semi-finals." Same as last time, Gary Payton was at the front, and his stinky mouth was the same.

Seeing the Vikings who hadn't left yet, he took the initiative to "greet" Gan Guoyang.

"With your rat shit here, I naturally want to join in the fun. I hope we can meet each other in the game the day after tomorrow!" Gan Guoyang replied, picked up his bag and left with the team.

The day after tomorrow, the 28th, is the day of the Northern District finals of the California Secondary Championship.