Slam Dunk: Muguro

Chapter 319 Coach Gao Tou Who Wants to Poach Talent

By the time Kogure learned that Matsumoto Minoru had transferred to Ryonan High School, a week had already passed.

He had thought that Matsumoto Minoru would transfer to Ryonan after the Winter Tournament, but he hadn't expected him to be so impatient.

From this perspective, Minoru Matsumoto probably felt very uncomfortable at Sannoh Industrial and didn't want to waste any more time there.

Yes, it's a waste of time!
In Matsumoto Minoru's words, he tried his best to follow Coach Domoto's instructions, but he was really not suited to playing without the ball.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't develop his off-the-ball skills.

Simply put, Minoru Matsumoto doesn't have that kind of talent.

If this continues, his strength may decrease rather than increase.

By the time they reach the third grade, they might even be dropped from the top tier and could be replaced by Ichinokura Satoshi at any time.

Furthermore, making him play off-ball, a skill he's not good at, is utterly unenjoyable, which has made him depressed.

If this continues, he suspects he might develop depression.

Instead of doing that, it's better to break free from this cage as soon as possible, be yourself again, and enjoy the fun of basketball.

Therefore, Matsumoto Minoru decided to bring his talent to Ryonan!
With the news of Matsumoto Minoru joining Ryonan High School, coaches from various high schools in Kanagawa Prefecture were filled with regret.

Why?

Because they missed out on a huge opportunity!
Minoru Matsumoto had already proven himself in national-level competitions and was hailed as a player who could serve as an ace for most strong teams.

In addition, he was also the second-best rookie last year, after Kogure.

Minoru Matsumoto's performance last year was amazing, even slightly outshining Mitsui and Dai Moroboshi.

Although this year's performance was significantly inferior, and the spotlight was clearly overshadowed by Sawakita, it can all be attributed to issues with ball possession.

Sannoh Industrial's ball possession is mostly controlled by Fukatsu and Sawakita, followed by Okawata, and finally Ito and Matsumoto.

Whichever prestigious university acquires Minoru Matsumoto will undoubtedly see a significant boost in their strength, including Shohoku and Shoyo.

Whether Shohoku or Shoyo acquires Minoru Matsumoto, they can form a five-man lineup.

Unfortunately, Matsumoto Minoru was beaten to it by Ryonan.

While A-Shen and Fukuda were still leveling up, there was a significant gap between Ryonan's lineup and Shoyo's.

Shohoku has F4, while Ryonan only has two and a half: two refer to Sendoh and Uozumi, and the other half refers to Ikegami.

Although Shohoku also had a defensive stalwart like Hasegawa, Ikegami, who became a 3D player, has surpassed Hasegawa and is an indispensable player in every team, including Shohoku.

If Shohoku had Ikegami, the defensive capabilities of their starting lineup would be unimaginable, especially since Ikegami wouldn't need to hog the ball.

After Minoru Matsumoto joined, Ryonan immediately submitted its player roster to the Kanagawa organizing committee.

In this way, Minoru Matsumoto will not have to miss this year's winter selection tournament.

Of course, if Matsumoto Minoru had been registered with Sannoh Industrial, he would naturally be unable to participate in this year's winter selection tournament, let alone the winter tournament.

Although he was upset that Matsumoto Minoru transferred to another school, Coach Domoto did not target him. Otherwise, if he had submitted the list to the Akita organizing committee in advance, Matsumoto Minoru would have had to wait until next year to participate in the competition.

With Minoru Matsumoto's transfer to Ryonan High School, Shoyo, Kainan, and Takezato felt a strong sense of crisis.

Since Shohoku didn't have to participate in the winter selection tournament, they naturally didn't care.

Among them, Shoyo and Takezato have begun to intensify their training, sharpening their skills and eager to compete for a spot in the Winter Tournament.

Coach Gao from Hainan High School was amazed by his old rival's move and at the same time came up with a clear idea.

If Ryonan High School can poach students, why can't Hainan High School?

Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse. In terms of both foundation and reputation, Hainan Affiliated High School is far superior to Lingnan High School, especially since they are also affiliated with Hainan University.

Outstanding players from Hainan Affiliated High School can directly enter Hainan University, which is a considerable attraction for many high school players.

After having the idea of ​​poaching players, Coach Gao Tou began to make preparations.

Besides Kanagawa, Coach Takato even set his sights on Sannoh Industrial.

Since Matsumoto Minoru was able to transfer to Ryonan High School, does that mean there are other Sannoh players who want to transfer?

Shenzhen, Dahetian, Zebei...

For a moment, Coach Gao was lost in his daydreams.

In order to further strengthen the strength of Hainan Affiliated High School, Coach Gaotou decided to follow Coach Taoka's example and go to Akita Prefecture to try to poach talent from Sannoh Industrial.

Even if we can't sign the starting players, signing some substitute players is still a good thing.

After all, Sannoh Industrial is the top company in the country and enjoys an extremely high reputation nationwide.

In addition, only two high schools in Slam Dunk have a history of competing overseas: Toyotama, a private high school, and Sannoh Industrial High School.

Therefore, every year countless outstanding basketball players want to join Sannoh Industrial.

This has resulted in Sannoh Industrial having a very high quality of substitute players, basically possessing the level of a starting player on a strong team, and even some who are the core players of pseudo-strong teams.

So, Coach Takato embarked on his journey to Akita Prefecture with great anticipation.

He plans to use various methods to attract players from the Sannoh team to transfer to Hainan Affiliated High School.

Although such actions may cause some controversy, it is all worthwhile for the sake of improving the basketball industry.

In Akita Prefecture, Coach Takato began his poaching operation.

He began to try to reach out to the Sannoh Industrial players, started to preach to them in a targeted manner, and made various promises.

However, things did not go as smoothly as expected.

Because the first player Coach Gao Tou contacted was the one he sold out.

Coach Domoto was very perceptive, and after learning of Coach Takato's intentions, he immediately took action.

This greatly hindered Coach Takato's actions, preventing him from entering the school and even drawing a warning from Coach Domoto.

In just a few days, Coach Gao experienced countless setbacks.

Not only that, Coach Gao Tou was also dragged into an alley at night by Okawada, who was wearing a mask, and was severely beaten, leaving him with a bruised and swollen face.

As for whether Kawada received instructions from Coach Domoto, that's hard to say.

By the way, Sannoh Industrial High School, like Shohoku High School, is a public school!

Judging from the name Sannoh, it appears to be a private middle school.

In fact, the manga featured a close-up of the school sign for Sanno Industrial, which read "Akita Prefectural Sanno Industrial"!

Coach Takato already had a poor image, and after being beaten black and blue by Kawada, he naturally became disliked.

After being turned away several times, he finally realized that trying to poach employees from Sannoh Industries was far more difficult than he had imagined.

"Why is it that Taoka was able to find Matsumoto Minoru, while I haven't found anything!"

Coach Gao was very resentful, but there was nothing he could do.

Under these circumstances, he had no choice but to abandon his idea of ​​poaching talent from Sannoh Industrial and embark on his journey back to Kanagawa.

Although the operation did not achieve the desired results, he did not give up. Instead, he became even more determined to improve the strength of Hainan Affiliated High School by poaching talent.

Since they can't poach players from Sannoh Industrial, they'll poach players from Kanagawa teams.

Upon returning to the school, Coach Gao quickly devised a new poaching plan.

In addition, he also used the influence of Hainan High School to help the Kanagawa organizing committee apply for the status of host of the Winter Games.

If Kanagawa becomes the host of the Winter Tournament, the chances of Hainan Affiliated High School qualifying will increase significantly. Besides Hainan Affiliated High School, other strong teams also showed their support by using their influence to cheer on the Kanagawa organizing committee.

This also includes the Shohoku team.

It's unclear what method the chairman of the Kanagawa organizing committee used, but Coach Anzai eventually agreed to the plan.

Of course, this comes with conditions!
As for what price was paid, that was beyond Kogure's knowledge.

Coach Anzai had students and former associates all over the country, and under his influence, Kanagawa's application to become the host city gained momentum, which had a decisive effect.

Even if you put all the coaches of the other strong teams in Kanagawa together, they wouldn't have as much influence as Coach Anzai.

In mid-October, the national organizing committee chairperson held a vote to select the host of the winter tournament, and Kanagawa Prefecture ultimately won by a landslide.

With this, Kanagawa will gain an additional spot in the Winter Championship.

In no time, Shoyo, Hainan, Ryonan, and Buri began sharpening their knives, preparing for the winter selection tournament.

Time flies by, and before we know it, it's the end of November.

This day also marked the announcement of the match schedule for the Kanagawa Winter Selection Tournament.

Unlike the somber atmosphere at other schools, Shohoku remained as usual.

The Shohoku players looked at the match schedule for the Winter Selection Tournament with relaxed expressions.

This was just delivered by Ayako.

As the champions of the Summer National Tournament, Shohoku will automatically qualify for the Winter Tournament as a seeded team.

"Tsk tsk, Hainan High School is really unlucky!"

After reviewing the match schedule, Mitsui couldn't help but sigh.

Judging from the group stage matchups, after entering the quarterfinals, Hainan High School will first face Buri, and then their opponent will be Ryonan High School.

As for the Shoyo team, they stand out in another group. This group seems to have Tsukubu, Miura Dai, and Takezono, but they are no match for Shoyo.

If the first group is the group of death, then the second group is the group that gets guaranteed admission.

Akagi complained, "This year's group assignments are rather biased. What's wrong with the organizing committee?"

Kogure laughed and said, "This can only be blamed on Coach Takato's bad luck; he drew the worst possible draw!"

He participated in the lottery last year, so he naturally understands the process.

The draw for high school leagues is relatively straightforward, with very little chance of any behind-the-scenes manipulation.

In contrast, the professional league's draw is almost entirely superficial.

As we all know, the NBA's number one draft pick is almost never drawn by lottery; it involves personal connections and interests!
This is just like gOat's behavior; everything is geared towards making money and seeking personal gain.

"His hands are so dirty. Coach Gao definitely didn't wash his hands!"

The Shohoku players all joined in the吐槽 (tu cao, meaning to complain or criticize).

Which two teams do you think will qualify for the Winter Tournament?

"It's most likely Shohoku and Ryonan!"

"Me too!"

……

The Shohoku players were buzzing with discussion, and the basketball court was as lively as a market.

"Alright everyone, let's get to training. We need to prepare for the Winter Games too."

Kogure interrupted them in time to prevent them from focusing their attention elsewhere.

Soon, the Shohoku players began their daily training.

Coach Anzai doesn't really get involved; the usual training is handled by Kogure, Ichiro Sato, and Ayako.

Due to the team's excellent performance, many players would voluntarily do extra training after the daily training session in order to avoid being eliminated.

The Shohoku team has gone down the path of becoming a cabbage and there is no turning back.

Hainan Affiliated High School Basketball Gymnasium!
Unlike the relaxed atmosphere at Shohoku High School, the atmosphere at Hainan High School could be described as somber.

Coach Gao Tou stared at the match schedule with a livid face, saying nothing.

He originally hoped to draw the best possible lot, but he ended up with the worst one, being grouped with Ryonan and Takeshi.

In fact, Coach Buri was also unlucky.

After the two teams have decided their match, they will face the rested Ryonan team.

It's almost certain that Ryonan's opponent in the quarterfinals will be Minowa.

Although Jilin is strong, it is only at the top eight level in the prefecture, and poses little threat to Ryonan.

During this period, the Kanagawa football teams were roughly divided into two tiers: the five permanent members of the national team and other teams.

The so-called Five Chang's consist of Shohoku, Shoyo, Kainan, Ryonan, and Takezato.

They are also an upper-tier team in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a significant gap compared to other teams.

Even the weakest of the top five teams, Takezato, is a level above Tsukubu and Minowa.

"Amu, what do you think?"

After a long silence, Coach Gao Tou finally broke the silence.

Amu was speechless for a moment, not knowing what to say.

"Coach, now that it's a fait accompli, we should prepare actively. With our strength, we may still have a chance."

As the team's ace, Amu is well aware of the impact his words have on the team's morale.

He had to rack his brains and say some polite things.

His words revealed his desire for victory and his trust in his teammates.

Despite the extremely dire situation facing Hainan Affiliated High School, he believes that as long as the team is united, there is no obstacle they cannot overcome.

This time, he's determined to make it into the Winter Championship no matter what.

Amu has never been very lucky and has never led his team to a national-level competition.

Even in the Autumn National Sports Competition, he couldn't become a key player, but that wasn't his fault; it was simply that Hainan High School wasn't performing well enough.

Without experiencing the baptism of high-intensity national competitions, Amu's strength may not have changed, but his mentality and spirit are probably inferior to those of his contemporaries.

“Everyone has their own strengths. As long as we can make good use of our strengths, neither Buri nor Ryonan are insurmountable mountains.”

Coach Gao's words were full of passion and power.

He is also adept at giving motivational speeches, a skill that every coach must possess.

After speaking, Coach Gao took out his tactics board and began to analyze the opponent's weaknesses and formulate targeted tactics.

In this atmosphere, the team's morale gradually rose, and everyone focused intently on preparing for the match.

They knew very well that if they wanted to qualify for the Winter Games, they had to keep giving it their all; otherwise, failure was the only outcome for them.

While Hainan High School was preparing for the competition, Xiangyang, Ryonan, and Wuli were also making their own preparations.

(End of this chapter)