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Chapter 26: The Political Commissar of Wake Forest
Before the final game of the regular season, Wake Forest, which aims to win the ACC championship this season, received good news.

Justin Gray, the team's second-leading scorer last season, has recovered from his injury and officially returned to the team's roster after a long recovery period. (Note ①)

On the day Gray recovered from his injury, the Demon Deacons prepared a grand welcome ceremony for him.

In a corner of the welcome ceremony, through exploring his memory, Qin Yue took the blame for "him" with a helpless look on his face.

Because, in "his" memory, Qin Yue discovered that he was the culprit that caused the long-term absence of this Wake Forest backcourt general.

In the original timeline, although Gray would also suffer injuries during his freshman year, after a summer of recuperation, he would soon be fully recovered in his sophomore season.

Moreover, he will form the once-famous "Wake Forest Double Guns" combination with Paul while fighting side by side.

So, now the question is, why did "he" become the culprit that caused Gray's destiny to change in this life?
In his memory.
This is really a past event that makes people not know how to evaluate:
In the training session he participated in as a freshman, he was beaten from all sides by Ellis. As a result, his mentality completely collapsed on the court, and he inadvertently caused an accident.

On the training ground, Gray, who was actively fighting for the frontcourt rebound, accidentally stepped on the instep of "Qin Yue" who was completely numb at that time.
At that moment, "he" who found Gray lying on the ground in pain was very panicked and helpless.

Qin Yue knew that considering the mental state of the original owner of this body at the time, this training accident was purely an accident.

But this accident quietly changed the fate of Gray and "Qin Yue".

Because of his poor performance in training and resulting injuries to his teammates, "Qin Yue" completely lost the confidence to continue playing.

Although Gray recovered and returned to the team soon after the accident, this step on the ground made Gray's right ankle become his "Achilles heel" thereafter.

Last March, in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament, Gray, whose old ankle injury recurred, ignored advice and forced himself to play with the injury. The cruciate ligament in his right knee soon punished him with a year-long recovery period.

This long recovery period from injury almost destroyed Gray's basketball dream.

But at the same time, after getting through it bravely, this accident also made Gray have a much stronger heart than before.

On the day he returned to the team, looking at Qin Yue who was completely different from a year ago, Gray walked slowly towards Qin Yue under the gaze of his teammates who were very worried that he would bring up the past. He took a deep breath and said, "I never took that accident to heart. In fact, when I learned that you gave up basketball because of guilt, I wanted to find you more than once.

Fortunately, you picked yourself up again. To be honest, until now I still can't believe that you, who didn't even dare to fight with the guard for rebounds, have become our pillar in the interior today. "

After a pause, Gray continued, "Take us to March Madness, Principal!"

At this moment, looking at Gray's sincere eyes, Qin Yue was choked for a moment.

On the side, Evans, who saw this scene, hurried forward, holding Qin Yue and Gray's hands and said, "Welcome back, Justin."

……

In the final game of the regular season, Gray, who returned from injury, got 15 minutes of playing time.

恢复情况明显好于预期的他8投4中，出手全是三分，总计砍下了12分、2助攻、2篮板。

In the game, he cooperated well with Qin Yue and Paul, the two core players of the team, which made old man Prosser, who was originally worried that he would need time to reintegrate into the team, feel relieved.

In addition, Gray's return has also, in a sense, further liberated Paul on the court.

Because before Paul learned how to face those tank guards, Gray, who is 188 cm tall and weighs 91 kg, was able to do a good job of switching defense with Paul on the court and facing those tank guards directly.

In fact, this season, in addition to waiting for Gray's return, Prosser has never stopped tapping his team's potential.

Unfortunately, the Jamal Reeves who is only slightly better than him in Qin Yue's memory still needs time to grow. (Note ②)

As a future Panamanian national player, you can completely understand Jamal Reavi, who is 206 cm tall and weighs only 81 kg as a sophomore, as the "reverse Qin Yue".

Although he has good mobility on the court and his jumping ability is second only to Qin Yue in the team, his confrontation ability is too weak, so this season he is destined to play only as a substitute for the team.

Therefore, Gray's timely return will undoubtedly give Wake Forest, which is aiming to win the ACC Championship, a 10% chance of winning.

Right now, this Wake Forest team has Qin Yue in the interior and Paul on the outside.
And there are also excellent pitchers in the college basketball world such as Gray, Evans, Monk, and Taron Downey. Even if you look at the entire NCAA, in Prosser's eyes, this is also a team of champions.

Then, just as the Demon Deacons were preparing to make a big splash in the ACC Championship.
As expected, they had an accident.

On March 3, in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament, Wake Forest lost to Georgia Tech 4-84 and unfortunately missed the opportunity to advance to March Madness as the top seed in the ACC league.

In this game, Qin Yue scored 23 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks for the team.

Paul scored 21 points, 12 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals.

The Wake Forest duo continued their excellent performance this season, but Georgia Tech, which now has four future NBA players on its roster, taught them a lesson in the ACC Championship:
As the strongest conference in the United States, ACC has always had no weak teams. In the whole game, a total of 6 players from Georgia Tech scored in double digits.

身高191公分，体重91公斤，将来被球迷戏称为“球队先发后卫克星”的贾瑞特-杰克为球队拿到了15分、6助攻、5篮板。

身高216公分，体重120公斤，未来曾在NBA效力过两年的“澳洲小巨人”卢克-申舍尔则是拿到了11分、9篮板、3封盖。

In addition, Will Bynum scored 12 points for the team and hit a key three-pointer in the final quarter, and Mario West came off the bench and scored 10 points.

There was also B.J. Eder, the current ace of Georgia Tech, who scored 18 points. In the game, the highlight of Georgia Tech was that everyone was a soldier and everyone on the court could perform well.

Obviously, in Qin Yue's memory, it is not without reason that this Demon Deacon team, which was led by Paul into March Madness for two consecutive seasons, is the only one who can play in the NBA in the future.

Because compared to the group of NBA scraps from Georgia Tech who have different styles and obvious characteristics, the players on the Demon Deacons, except for Paul and Qin Yue, are not only mediocre, but their characteristics also tend to be homogeneous.

It is true that Evans, Monk, and Downey are all excellent shooters in college basketball, but at critical moments, they do not have the ability to take the initiative to attack and can only serve as fixed-point shooters to create space for Paul and Qin Yue.

Gray, who just returned from injury, has the ability to become the team's third scoring point, but in this quarter-final, Prosser cannot let Gray play for too long.

In short, on this night, Georgia Tech, which Qin Yue remembered would reach the NCAA finals this season, told the world with their team basketball:
In college basketball, if you want to go far, you can't just rely on superstars.

Even Carmelo Anthony back then had role players like Hakeem Warrick, Gerry McNamara, and Cus Duany around him who could step up at critical moments.

After the game with Georgia Tech, Gray was very dissatisfied with the performance of other players on the team. He said bluntly in the locker room after the game: "We can't rely so much on Chris and Qin. I know that many of us will definitely not be able to play in the NBA in the future.

But in college basketball, if we want to leave ourselves with a good memory, we have to give it our all on the court.

You can ask yourself now, have you fought for every ball with all your strength and made every effort in every defensive round? "

After a pause, Gray turned his attention to his teammates who performed poorly tonight: "'Beast', after not seeing you for a year, your basketball skills haven't improved much, but your temper has improved a lot. What, now you are so famous that you need our core inside player to help you with defense?
Ronnie, I want to ask you, is the basketball really that hot tonight? As a shooter, you don't even dare to shoot when you are open. What kind of basketball are you playing?
And Tyrese, Talon, is your defense just made of paper? Damn, I really want to kick you two hard, because even my grandma is better at defense than you two!"

No one will be in a good mood after an unexpected loss.

But at this moment, Qin Yue discovered that after Gray's speech, the gloomy atmosphere that had originally permeated the locker room had disappeared.

In fact, the problems Gray pointed out after the game are exactly the tragedies that Wake Forest has repeatedly encountered when facing strong teams this season.

As team leaders, Qin Yue and Paul cannot always criticize their teammates in a condescending tone.

Just like on the court, a sigh from the team leader will often only make other players more fearful and completely unable to perform to their true level in the game.

In fact.
This is why the spiritual leader and the on-court leader of most teams, whether in the NBA or NCAA, are not the same person.

In a trance, with Gray's lecture diluting the negative emotions brought by the defeat, Qin Yue noticed.
Wake Forest has quietly added a most important piece of the puzzle.

A puzzle piece called "Political Commissar".

As a sophomore, Gray has a certain degree of seniority in the team due to the achievements he made for the team last season, but he is not the absolute core of the team like Qin Yue and Paul.

He had just returned from injury, but he played harder than anyone else on the court.

There is no doubt that Gray is the most perfect whip for Wake Forest in every aspect.

That whip can be used to spur other role players.

With this whip, Wake Forest will have the potential to go further in the upcoming March Madness.

In the locker room, after Gray beat everyone up, Qin Yue and Paul immediately played the role of comforting their teammates in tacit understanding.

In the NCAA, no team can guarantee that it will always win.

Now, after being taught a lesson by Georgia Tech.
Prosser, who had been secretly observing in the locker room tonight, discovered:
The team's temperament at this moment is even better than before.

……

Note ①: Justin Gray, the current head coach of Coastal Carolina University, played for Wake Forest University in college and is one of the best pitchers in Wake Forest's history. His later career was mainly in major European leagues. In the book, due to the plot, he was made more seriously ill through "Qin Yue".

Note ②: Jamal Levy played for Wake Forest in college and played for the Panama national team in the 06 Men's Basketball World Championships. His nickname is "Panama Spring". The foreshadowing of this guy's appearance is buried in Chapter . The original text is: The remaining guy, in Qin Yue's memory, is only slightly better than the original owner of this body.

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

(End of this chapter)