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Chapter 50: All the Way
This year, the cities responsible for hosting the March Madness games are Syracuse (East Division), Austin (South Division), Albuquerque (West Division), and Chicago (Central and Western Division). (Note ①)

Previously, Wake Forest, which qualified as the ACC Tournament champion, will play as the No. 1 seed in the Syracuse Division.

Compared to last year's experience of being "exiled" across half of the United States.
After the final schedule was released this year, Wake Forest was not only the home team in the eyes of all neutral fans in the Eastern Conference, but also, playing at home greatly reduced the travel fatigue caused by the long journey.

Historically, the North Carolina Tar Heels, who would have received support from Eastern Conference fans and made it all the way to the finals to win the championship this year, were "taken over" by Wake Forest.

And, even worse than being “possessed,” the Tar Heels will play this year as the No. 2 seed in the Albuquerque Conference.

this means
They are about to embark on a journey across most of the United States, and at the same time, in Albuquerque, they will not have the support of neutral fans from across the division as they have historically received.

And, according to the matchup table
To advance to the finals, the Tar Heels must defeat Illinois, which Qin Yue had previously labeled a “serious threat.”

In Qin Yue's opinion, this undoubtedly greatly reduced the pressure on Wake Forest to win the championship as it entered the March Madness with an undefeated record.

On the 16th, according to tradition, the warm-up game, also known as the qualifying game, between Oakland University and Alabama A&M University was held at the gymnasium of the University of Dayton.

Led by star forward Rawle-Marshall, Oakland University defeated Alabama A&M 79-69.

Since the winner of this qualifying match will challenge Wake Forest as the sixteenth seed in the Syracuse Division, Qin Yue and his teammates patiently watched the entire game in the hotel that day.

Marshall, who is 201 cm tall and weighs 90 kg, is tall and slender with comprehensive offensive skills.

Nicknamed "Oakland Kobe", he can put the basketball into the basket in various ways on the court.

Of course, at a higher level, players like Marshall can be simply understood as:

What can't be done?

It is impossible for Qin Yue to remember the names and deeds of every player who will play in the NBA in the future.
However, in history, Marshall's experience of being eliminated from the NBA after playing for two years as an undrafted player fully proves that talents like him are
In fact, he should play in the CBA.

A day later, on the evening of the 18th.

Amid the thunderous cheers of tens of thousands of spectators, Wake Forest, the No. 1 seed in the Syracuse Division, officially opened their March Madness debut with an aura that made the Oakland University players envious.

That night, in order to thank the neutral fans from the East District for their support, Qin Yue scored a stunning goal that shocked the entire audience right after the start of the game, in full view of all eyes.

On the court, Qin Yue changed direction in front of Marshall on the outside, faced the help defense of Cortney Scott, glided in the air, grabbed the ball with one hand, pulled up and made a reverse layup.

This goal completely defied common sense and cognition, and immediately set off the entire stadium.

Marshall, who followed Qin Yue all the way under the basket of Oakland University and witnessed the gliding one-handed pull-up shot, still can't forget this goal many years later. "Can you imagine an M1A2 tank taking off like a Raptor fighter? Yes, that's what I saw that night."

Although after getting the [Flying Man] badge, Qin Yue's height and weight determined that he could not glide freely in the sky like Jordan did back then, but Qin Yue, who obtained the ability to stay in the air granted by the [Flying Man], combined with his dynamic and static talents, staged his own famous scene in the crazy March of that year.

That night, with the enthusiastic support of the fans, Wake Forest defeated Oakland with a score of 108 to 64.

After the game, many American media outlets said that the Demon Deacons had shown championship qualities in their debut.

比赛里，秦岳与保罗分别拿到了30分14篮板5助攻5封盖2抢断和18分14助攻3篮板3抢断。

After a day of rest, Wake Forest welcomed their second opponent:

— Iowa State Cyclones.

Compared to the ability to stay in the air that he showed to the world in his debut, what impressed people more in this game was Qin Yue's soft shooting.

In the first half, he made 6 of 6 three-point shots. After hitting his sixth three-pointer, he imitated Jordan and shrugged at Yao Ming who was watching the game that night, saying, "I really don't know why my three-pointers are so accurate."

Seeing this, Yao Ming immediately cooperated and gave Qin Yue his signature grin.

At that moment, looking at Qin Yue's omnipotent figure on the court, Yao Ming was suddenly filled with emotion.

Especially in the second half of the game.
The scenes of Qin Yue grabbing rebounds and launching fast breaks himself many times refreshed Yao Ming's understanding of Chinese players' dribbling ability.

Although Yao Ming often searches for Qin Yue's playing highlights on the Internet.

But like the big guys said.
Just by watching the videos and highlights, you can't really experience the devastating impact Qin Yue has on your world view.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that after this night, Yao Ming started to call Qin Yue "Lao Qin".

After the game, patting Lao Qin on the shoulder
Yao Ming, who is three years older than Lao Qin, instantly felt the long-lost intimacy when chatting with him.

The two communicated in Chinese, and at the end of the chat, they even talked about "World of Warcraft", which has been publicly tested in North America.

This is the most popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game of this era.

At the same time, it is also the common youth of many netizens born in the 80s and 90s.

The only drawback is that even a strong man like Qin Yue
In front of Yao Ming, he encountered the same dilemma as O'Neal:

——When taking a photo with Yao Ming, Lao Qin instantly turned into Xiao Qin.

"Lao Qin, remember to call me next time you go to a dungeon!"

"No problem, Lao Yao."

In the second round, the Cyclones were no match for the Demon Deacons.

Due to the hot form, under the leadership of Qin Yue, the game actually lost its suspense at the end of the first half.

Moreover, the Cyclones don't have the Stephen Curry who would lead Davidson to a comeback in March Madness in the future.

最终，凭借秦岳全场砍下44分10篮板4助攻4封盖以及单场命中8记三分的出色表现，维克森林以112比74的比分顺利挺进甜蜜十六强。

In this game, Paul's 18 assists in a single game successfully broke the record of March Madness.

However, after these two games with clear differences in strength.
Looking at Paul who was so excited about setting a record in March Madness, Qin Yue immediately fell into a period of doubt about his life.

To be honest, the opponent played very poorly in these two big wins.

Can.
"In my memory, why did Paul lead the Hornets to a 58-point loss in the playoffs?"

Qin Yue really couldn't understand this.

Three days later, Wake Forest welcomed the Villanova Wildcats, known as "Little Illinois" this season, in the Sweet Sixteen.

Similar to Illinois, another favorite to win the championship, this Wildcats' offense is mainly initiated by their backcourt three cores.

Allan-Ray, who is 188 cm tall, averages more than 9 three-point shots per game this season and is recognized as the best shooter in the entire Big East Conference.

Randy Foye, a 193 cm tall combo guard, was the seventh pick in the first round of the 2006 NBA draft.

This season, Foye averaged 15.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game for the Wildcats, making him the second-leading scorer on the Wildcats. In college, Foye had a comprehensive offensive skill set, and could both drive and shoot.

Before the draft, he was modeled after Flash Wade.
He was even called Wade who can shoot by scouts in his template comments.

There is no way. In order to attract fans, NBA scouts always give some seemingly incredible evaluations in the template comments of young players.

As for the other backcourt core of the Wildcats, it is Kyle Lowry, who often plays as a super sixth man this season.

As the player with the highest achievements in the future NBA among the three cores of the Wildcats backcourt
In Qin Yue's memory, Lowry was not only nominated for the All-Star Game many times, but also after his growth period, he had direct conversations with Paul many times, which made Paul recall the painful memories of being dominated by this small and strong guard in the past.

But the future is the future, and the present is the present.

As far as Lowry's current experience is concerned, if Paul can be beaten by Lowry in the game
Then Qin Yue could only say
"You are just like me, Chris!"

On the evening of the 24th, as Foye and Lowry took turns ordering dishes in the first half, Wake Forest, as the favorite to win the championship, was once in a tough battle in the game.

The Demon Deacons' perimeter defense has been a constant problem for the team over the past two years.

Of course, this can’t all be blamed on Paul.

Because in fact.
Paul is already Wake Forest's best perimeter defender.

Facing the successive attacks from Foye and Lowry, Qin Yue knew very well that if someone else were to defend, it would be no different from giving away points.

In the 04/05 season, although Levi's growth freed up the front line of the Demon Deacons to a certain extent, he was able to free up his hands to help the outside defense.
However, considering Qin Yue's dominance on the court, Prosser was reluctant to let Qin Yue consume too much energy on the defensive end.

Fortunately, on this night, Villanova's backcourt three were still a little lacking in quality.

Thanks to Qin Yue's amazing performance in the second half, with an anti-Kobe-like performance of 11 of 10 shots in the first half, Wake Forest finally won 88-74.

全场比赛，秦岳总计砍下了38分17篮板3助攻5封盖1抢断。

Paul, who contributed a lot to the team on the defensive end (he was always being beaten), scored 15 points, 8 assists, 3 rebounds and 3 steals.

After the game, looking at Paul who looked aggrieved, Qin Yue decisively invited him to have a delicious meal.
Junk food feast.

Qin Yue knew that in addition to fried chicken, French fries were also Paul's favorite.

Therefore, at times like this, in Qin Yue's eyes, only a meal of junk food could appease Paul.

In fact, for these basketball players who exercise in incredible amounts, so-called junk food is not completely off-limits.

As long as they know how to be moderate, they can still live a normal life in their daily life.

On the contrary, in Qin Yue's opinion, those future NBA stars mentioned by marketing accounts are all anti-human.

……

After sending off the Wildcats and appeasing Paul with a big meal, Wake Forest successfully advanced to the Elite Eight and will face the Wisconsin Badgers, the sixth seed in the division, in the next round.

The Badgers, who are known for their defense this season, can limit their opponents' offensive rounds to about 50 rounds per game on average.

The team's top star Alando Tucker is 198 cm tall and averages 15.2 points per game for the Badgers this season.

In terms of overall strength, the Badgers have no other particularly outstanding points on the court except Tucker.

The main reason this team was able to make it all the way to the Elite Eight was their extremely torturous defense.

In the three March Madness games they have played so far, their opponents averaged only 3 points per game.

And if it was just defense and torture, that would be fine.
As a team that likes to make reasonable use of the 30-second offensive rule in the game, the Badgers also like to deliberately delay time after the opponent scores.

是 的
In NCAA games, the game clock will be stopped only when a goal is scored in the last 2 minutes of the second half or overtime.

In short, this is a team that fully utilizes its own characteristics and is extremely good at using the NCAA stop-clock rules.

Qin Yue knew very well that if Wake Forest's mentality was affected by the Badgers' playing style,
It is not impossible for the Demon Deacons to be defeated by the weaker team.

After all, this is a March Madness tournament.

On the evening of the 28th, as the last game to kick off in the Elite Eight and also the last game of the Syracuse Division, Wake Forest welcomed the challenge of the Wisconsin Badgers amid great anticipation.

Since this year's final four games will be held in St. Louis, "March on to St. Louis" has become the slogan of Wake Forest fans when they cheer for the team that night.

On the court, as soon as the game started, Wake Forest felt the Badgers' extremely slow offensive and defensive rhythm.

This night, Qin Yue deliberately reduced the frequency of his outside shots.

Because against an opponent like the Badgers, if you can't guarantee your success rate in every round.
Then your mentality will only be further broken by them.

Qin Yue knew very well that only if he sat in the inside could he effectively contain the Badgers' defense and compress the Badgers' defense zone.

At this time, Paul's value was fully demonstrated.

In the game, the Badgers were hit by Wake Forest's offensive climax right from the start because they were unable to stop Paul from passing the ball to Qin Yue.

The scoreboard showed 18 to 4, with Wake Forest ahead.

This opening climax established Wake Forest's victory.

At the same time, Duncan, who was watching the game on TV, also made up his mind:
Early the next morning, he will take the initiative to go out and chat with reporters.

You asked Duncan what he wanted to talk about?
That was of course a praise for the dominance Qin Yue showed in the low post during the game against the Badgers.

Did you see my junior classmate’s graceful and elegant turning over and leaning back?

Did you see my junior’s sharp turning and attacking skills?
Have you seen my junior's dreamy footwork that made his opponent stunned by the change of rhythm?

"Yes, I taught Qin all his post-up techniques. Although his comprehension is slightly worse than mine back then, I am still proud of the progress he has made in college."

……

Note ①: Chicago this year is the Midwest Division. Readers who often watch the NBA should not find this strange. After all, the NCAA's geographical concept is different from the NBA's East-West division.

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

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(End of this chapter)