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Chapter 15: Stepping Stone (New book, please collect monthly tickets and recommend tickets!)

After the Thanksgiving holiday, the Demon Deacons, who had won nine games since the start of the season, once ascended to the top spot in the United States.

"Our playbook is to get the ball to Chris Paul, and he usually gives us a great ending at the end of a two-hour game."

This is what Prosser said about his beloved disciple Paul's performance in the new season.

This summer, the Demon Deacons, who were a scattered group when the team first assembled, have now become a tacit whole under Paul's leadership.

On the outside, Evans and Monk are responsible for providing space.

In the interior, Ellis and the emerging Qin Yue formed a double tower barrier.

For a while, this Demon Deacons team with a balanced offense and defense on the court was in the limelight.

In the first nine official games of his college career, Paul averaged 17.3 points, 6.9 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 2.9 steals per game.

Not only did his overall shooting percentage exceed 50%, but his three-point shooting percentage also reached an astonishing 48%.

As a devout artilleryman, Qin Yue remembered that Paul had always been synonymous with high efficiency during his college years.

Of course, Paul’s ability to deliver such an excellent answer in this life is also closely related to Qin Yue, who has been making continuous progress since the summer.

Thanks to the Demon Deacons' outstanding performance since the start of the season, Qin Yue, who has averaged 10.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.6 blocks per game, has successfully entered the vision of NBA scouts.

Seeing this, some people may say, with Qin Yue’s “mediocre” transcript, there are so many players with better NCAA statistics than him, so why could he enter the vision of NBA scouts?
Is it true that there is some unexplainable benefit for Chinese players playing in the United States?

In fact, if you want to truly understand the value of college players' personal data, you must first understand the American college basketball system.

In the NCAA Division I league, there are many players with better personal statistics than Qin Yue.

But the question is, is the league they play in as valuable as the ACC?

As the top division in the NCAA Division I league, the ACC is vastly different from some other weaker divisions, such as the NBA and the G League.

Especially this season, ACC is recognized as the most powerful and competitive division among the five traditional top divisions of the NCAA.

Therefore, Qin Yue, who plays in the strongest division in the United States, will naturally receive more attention, and his performance on the court will naturally be more valuable.

"Who is the next Chinese player to enter the NBA? The Eastern Duncan from Wake Forest has conquered NBA scouts!"

On this day, as the Demon Deacons ranked first in the United States, many domestic media reprinted the American media's evaluation of the Demon Deacons and Qin Yue.

Of course, when reprinting the articles, these domestic media outlets with profound knowledge of journalism did not forget to modify the original titles and content of the reports.

At this time in 03, although the Internet has emerged, compared to the future, traditional media is still the mainstream in news dissemination.

In addition, the ability of domestic netizens to discern the truth during this period was limited. Therefore, after being brainwashed by these modified news, the views of the majority of domestic basketball fans on Qin Yue were roughly as follows:
"Eastern Duncan? If you don't understand, who is better, Qin Yue or Yi Jianlian?"

"Why have I never heard of the name Qin Yue before? Has he been playing in the United States?"

"Boy, we're not going to have another top draft pick, are we?"

"But looking at the statistics, he only averages a little over 10 points per game. Is the media exaggerating? Is he really as good as Duncan?"

"Can you please stop making blind guesses? An authoritative reporter on Weibo said he is the new Duncan. What's the matter? Don't you guys usually watch the NBA and don't know how strong Duncan is?"

To be honest, Qin Yue didn't have time to climb over the wall and go home to see how the domestic media reported him, otherwise he would definitely sigh at what it means to be...
Fake.news.

In fact, in the original report of Sports Illustrated about the Demon Deacons, Sports Illustrated mainly praised Qin Yue's experience of turning over a new leaf and his recent visible progress.

As for Qin Yue’s real draft situation?

In the same position, Qin Yue is currently ranked 13th by ESPN.

Qin Yue has indeed entered the vision of NBA scouts, but this does not mean that he can soar to fame in just 9 games.

In the eyes of the vast majority of American reporters and scouts, his potential still needs more games to be tested, and only time will tell whether he is qualified to get that stepping stone to the NBA.

Just like the Demon Deacons, who were ranked No. 1 in the United States yesterday, could fall from grace the next day.

In December, in the team's new month of journey, the Demon Deacons encountered a group of berserkers from Illinois right at the start.

In this game, which was called "Waterloo" by the Wake Forest school newspaper the next day, the Illinois Warriors, led by Deron Williams and Luther Head, completed an all-round execution of the Demon Deacons' back line.

Chief Executioner Deron scored a total of 28 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds for the Warriors.

Paul, the North Carolina basketball player who was sent to the "guillotine" by him in the game, only got 8 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists. Another executioner from the Warriors, Hyde, was relatively light in the game, hitting only 7 three-pointers in the whole game, which was only one more than the entire Deacon team combined.

In this game, the problems that the Demon Deacons had not exposed during their winning streak were exposed one by one.

First of all, compared to other strong teams, although Monk and Evans are both good pitchers, they are obviously a bit behind in higher-level competitions.

Secondly, when Paul is unable to effectively connect the entire team, the entire team's offense will immediately stagnate.

In short, after the Warriors suffered a 74-95 defeat on the road, the media who were praising the Demon Deacons yesterday immediately saw the team's nature as a "pseudo-strong team."

However, you may not believe it.
Although the team had just suffered a crushing defeat, Qin Yue's draft stock had actually improved significantly as a result.

Because in this game against the Warriors, Qin Yue became the team's only fig leaf.

In the game, when Paul was already stunned by Deron, Qin Yue took the initiative to assume the offensive responsibility, making 14 of 9 shots, including 3 of 1 three-pointers and 4 of 4 free throws. He not only scored a personal NCAA career-high 23 points, but also grabbed 9 rebounds in the game.

The Warriors are a typical team centered on the outside, and in the future even Sean May will be able to do whatever he wants in their interior.

On the court, Qin Yue fully utilized the advantages of his height and long arms.

When the opponent focused its main attention on the outside teammates, the team scored a lot of points through active fighting and second-chance attacks.

In addition, when it comes to shooting from the outside, Qin Yue is never vague and perfectly demonstrates his desire to be Michael Jordan in the game.

Qin Yue has seen the NBA in the next 20 years. He is very clear about the development trajectory of the NBA in the next 20 years, so he has never thought of becoming a traditional inside player.

Just after a disastrous away loss to Illinois.
Even though he benefited from his outstanding performance in the game, Qin Yue's mood could only be described as terrible.

Qin Yue hated himself very much that he was not strong enough and could not help the team turn the situation around in adversity.

At the same time, he also hated that he didn't have the physical strength like Jordan to pick up girls after playing a full game.

After losing the game, he was so upset that he could only improve himself through continuous training.

And all this was seen by Mr. Prosser.

"This child's competitive spirit will definitely help him achieve great things in the future." That day, Prosser commented on Qin Yue.

Upon hearing this, assistant coach Victor said with a worried look on his face: "But he doesn't need to blame himself so much, because he did everything he could in that game."

Prosser nodded and said, "So I plan to start him in the next game."

After a pause, Prosser continued: "It's time for him to vent through the game."

As someone who has experienced this, Prosser knows very well that the negative emotions that players experience after a defeat can often only be washed away by winning one game after another.

But in this moment, it’s clear that Prosser isn’t telling Victor the whole truth.

Because he planned to let Qin Yue start in the next game.
Another reason is that the Demon Deacons' opponent in the next game is Duke.

As we all know, Duke's team name is the Blue Devils.

In 1923, after a big win over Duke, Wake Forest began calling itself the Judge of the Devil.

Yes.

The origin of the name of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons comes from Duke.

These two universities, which have been rivals for sectarian reasons since their founding, have always been a model of hatred and hostility among American universities.

Prosser knew that the battle between Wake Forest and Duke would not only attract the attention of the entire state of North Carolina, but would also attract a large number of NBA scouts and media reporters.

Therefore, in Prosser's eyes, this is undoubtedly an excellent opportunity for Qin Yue to shine.

Moreover, this year Duke does not have any players in the interior who can restrain Qin Yue.

"His future is definitely in the NBA, but if he wants to go to the NBA, he needs a stepping stone of sufficient weight."

On the training ground, looking at Qin Yue who was practicing hard, Prosser thought to himself.

……

PS: I’m begging for collection, monthly tickets, and recommendation tickets for my new book!

(End of this chapter)